The 8 best Bear alternatives
Bear scores 7.2 out of 10 here, and its weak spots are specific: apple only, with no web access. These are the apps that fix that, ranked by overall score.
Grape
Take the note. The AI does the filing, the studying and the searching.
Mac / Win / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, speaker identification. Same territory: minimal & fast.
$3/mo
Obsidian
Plain markdown files on your disk, with a plugin ecosystem bolted on top.
Win / Mac / iOS / Android / Linux
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, meeting recording. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$4/mo
Apple Notes
Already on your phone, and better than it has any right to be.
Mac / iOS / Web
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, meeting recording. Same territory: minimal & fast.
Free
Craft
Documents that look designed before you touch anything.
Mac / iOS / Win / Android / Web
Gains you: voice recording, handwriting / stylus, drawing canvas. Same territory: minimal & fast.
$10/mo
RemNote
Take notes and generate the flashcards in the same keystroke.
Web / Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, handwriting / stylus. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$8/mo
Heptabase
Notes on whiteboards, for when the outline is not the shape of the idea.
Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Web
Gains you: drawing canvas, graph view, databases / boards. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$11.99/mo
Capacities
A studio for your mind, organised by object type instead of folders.
Web / Mac / Win / iOS / Android
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, meeting recording. Same territory: linked thinking / pkm.
$12.99/mo
Day One
A journal that has been quietly perfecting one job since 2011.
iOS / Mac / Android / Win / Web
Gains you: voice recording, audio transcription, handwriting / stylus. Same territory: minimal & fast.
$49.99/yr
Still not sure?
Filter the whole directory by the one feature you cannot live without, or browse by what you need the app for.