Bear vs Craft
A personal Apple-only notebook vs designed documents for sharing
Bear and Craft are both polished, both Apple-native at heart, and both loved by writers — which is why people compare them. The real difference is the audience: Bear is a personal notebook with the best plain writing view of the two, while Craft is a document tool whose pages are meant to be seen, shared, and co-edited.
The short version: if your notes are yours alone and you value a calm editor, Bear fits. If your notes turn into shared pages and you want layouts, comments, and collaboration, Craft fits. The table below is compiled from both apps' own pages, linked at the bottom.
Bear
CraftThe third option
Both apps put your notes somewhere other than plain files — Bear in its database, Craft in its cloud. Octarine keeps them as Markdown files in a folder you choose, with a WYSIWYG editor in Bear's calm register, backlinks and a graph neither app has, and sync through built-in Git or any folder service at no extra cost. It also runs on Windows and Linux, and Pro is a one-time purchase instead of either subscription.
What Octarine doesn't give you: Bear's Apple Watch app, Pencil sketching, and locked notes, and Craft's document design, co-editing, web and Android apps. If sharing designed documents is the job, Craft is the right pick of the two. See the full tables at Octarine vs Bear and Octarine vs Craft.
Sources · Checked Nov 9, 2026
Compiled from both apps' own pricing pages, help centers, and platform lists — the same sources as our Octarine-vs-each comparisons, last verified November 4, 2026. Facts were re-checked against those sources when this page was compiled.
- Bear 2 release notes
- Bear export formats
- Bear syncing and privacy
- Encrypting notes in Bear
- Searching text in attachments
- Bear for Apple Watch
- Craft platforms
- Craft plans and pricing
- Craft External Locations
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Something wrong or out of date, including if you work on Bear or Craft? Suggest a correction
Octarine.