Craft vs Bear: which should you choose in 2026?

Last updated May 2026

Craft makes beautiful documents you share with people. Bear makes beautiful writing you keep for yourself. Both are designed for Apple users who care about aesthetics. Both are fast, native, and feel like they belong on your Mac. They solve different problems.

Craft is a document tool. Block-based editor, linked pages, real-time collaboration, AI assistant, published documents with custom styling. You create things and share them.

Bear is a writing tool. Markdown editor, nested tags, focus mode, elegant typography. You write things and think with them.

The choice depends on whether your notes are for other people or for you.

Side-by-side comparison

Where Craft wins

Documents you share. Craft's published documents are genuinely impressive. Custom styling, cover images, card layouts. Share a link and the recipient sees a polished page, no account required. If your notes become deliverables, briefs, proposals, or public pages, Craft handles the full lifecycle from draft to published document. Bear exports to various formats but has no publishing or sharing platform.

Collaboration. Real-time co-editing, comments, shared spaces. Craft is designed for teams. Bear is deliberately single-user. If anyone else needs to see or edit your notes, Craft supports that. Bear doesn't.

AI. Built-in assistant for summarising, brainstorming, rewriting, and expanding text. Bear has no AI features.

Block-based flexibility. Cards, toggles, embeds, callouts, dividers. Craft's block editor supports richer document layouts than Bear's markdown. For documents with visual structure (project briefs, meeting notes with sections, research summaries), Craft's editor is more capable.

Platform breadth. Mac, iOS, Windows, and web. Bear is Apple-only: Mac, iOS, iPad. If you have a Windows machine for work or want web access, Craft covers that. Bear doesn't.

Daily Notes. Built-in daily notes that open automatically. Bear has no equivalent.

Where Bear wins

The writing experience. This is Bear's reason to exist. The markdown editor renders text beautifully. The typography is refined. Focus mode strips away everything except your words. If writing is thinking and the quality of the writing surface matters to you, Bear is the more pleasant place to write. Craft's block editor is polished, but it's a document tool. Bear is a writing tool. The difference is felt, not described.

Simplicity. Bear does one thing. Notes. Markdown. Tags. Search. Nothing else competes for your attention. No databases, no kanban views, no collaboration panels, no AI suggestions. The deliberate absence of features is the feature. Craft is simpler than Notion but still has more surface area than Bear.

Nested tags. Bear's tag system is its organisational model. #project/research/papers creates a hierarchy without folders. Tags are inline in your text. The tag tree in the sidebar organises everything. It's simple, powerful, and unique. Craft uses folders and nested pages.

Price. Bear Pro is $2.99/month ($29.99/year). Craft Personal is $4.79/month. Bear is cheaper for a tool you might use more often. Both are affordable, but Bear is notably cheap for what it delivers.

Export. Bear exports to Markdown, PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG, and its own format. Comprehensive. Craft exports to Markdown, PDF, and TextBundle. Both are good. Bear has more options.

Focus mode. A distraction-free writing environment that hides everything except your text. For writers who need to concentrate, this is a specific, valued feature Craft doesn't have.

Where both fall short

Both are text-only tools. PDFs, video, audio recordings, slide decks, images understood by AI, meeting transcripts. Neither extracts, indexes, or searches inside non-text content. If your knowledge extends beyond what you type, both leave gaps.

Neither has semantic search. Both have fast full-text search across notes. Neither searches by meaning. You can't describe what you're looking for in your own words and find it if you used different language when you wrote it.

Neither connects to your other tools. Your content in Google Drive, Dropbox, email, bookmarks, saved web articles. Craft has some integrations. Bear has none. Neither creates a unified, searchable library across all your knowledge sources.

Neither understands your content. No AI that maps relationships between notes automatically. No content extraction from files. No ability to ask questions across your entire library. Craft's AI helps you write. It doesn't understand what you've written in the context of everything else.

No Android. Bear has no Android, Windows, or web app. Craft has Windows and web but no Android. If Android matters, neither tool works.

A third option: the polish without the walls

Craft and Bear both prioritise design. The writing experience in both is clean, fast, and pleasant. What they can't do is extend that experience beyond text notes.

Fabric doesn't sacrifice design quality, and adds everything these tools are missing. A full markdown editor for writing. But also: every file type stored, extracted, and searchable. PDFs to the page. Video to the timestamp. Images by visual similarity. Semantic search by meaning across everything. An AI assistant that understands your entire library, not just the note you're editing.

Your notes live alongside your PDFs, bookmarks, design files, meeting recordings, and saved web articles. The AI connects them. Colour search finds that palette. Visual search finds similar references. Cross-platform search pulls from Google Drive, Notion, and Dropbox alongside your Fabric library.

Available on web, iOS, Android, desktop, and Chrome extension. No ecosystem walls.

If you love the polish of Craft and Bear but wish your notes lived alongside everything else in one AI-searchable library, that's what Fabric does. See also: Fabric vs Apple Notes and the best AI note-taking app comparison.

How to choose

Use Craft if you create documents that other people see. Briefs, proposals, meeting notes, published pages. You need collaboration, sharing, and AI writing assistance. You want beautiful output, not just beautiful input. You're on Apple devices (or Windows/web).

Use Bear if your notes are for you. You write to think. You want the cleanest, most focused markdown editor available with the best typography. You don't need collaboration, AI, or publishing. You organise by tags, not folders. You're entirely in the Apple ecosystem.

Try Fabric if you want clean writing alongside everything else. Your research, PDFs, bookmarks, meeting recordings, and design files, all in one library the AI understands. Semantic search across everything. Every device, including Android. Notes and docs that live in context. Generous free plan.

FAQs

Is Bear or Craft better for long-form writing?

Bear. The markdown editor, typography, and focus mode create a better environment for sustained writing. Craft is better for structured documents with visual elements, cards, and embeds. Different writing, different tools.

Does Bear have AI?

No. Bear has no AI features. Craft has a built-in AI assistant. Fabric's AI goes further: it understands your entire library across all content types, not just the note you're editing.

Can I use Bear on Windows or Android?

No. Bear is Apple-only: Mac, iOS, iPad. Craft has Mac, iOS, Windows, and web. Fabric has web, iOS, Android, desktop, and Chrome extension.

Which is cheaper?

Bear Pro at $2.99/month. Craft Personal at $4.79/month. Fabric's free plan is free; Plus is $5/month. All three are affordable.

Can either app handle PDFs, bookmarks, and research files?

Not meaningfully. Both store text notes. PDFs, images, and files are attachments neither tool understands or searches inside. Fabric handles all content types natively, with AI-powered search inside documents, video, and images.

Which has better export?

Bear. Markdown, PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG. Craft exports to Markdown, PDF, and TextBundle. Both are good. Bear has more options.