marginMargin vs Bear: Markdown notes in a database or in a folder
People ask how Margin compares to Bear, usually right after asking why I didn't just use Bear. Both are Markdown notes apps for the Mac. The difference is where the notes live, and most of the others, folders included, follow from that one.
I like Bear. I used it for years, and if you want a notes app that works on your iPhone and your Mac with no setup, it's still the one I'd point you at. Margin is a different bet, and I'd rather you know what it is before you download anything.
The one difference that explains the rest
Bear's notes are Markdown, but they're rows in a database. One SQLite file under ~/Library/Group Containers, and Bear's FAQ says it's "safe to access the database for reading only" and asks you to quit Bear before writing to it. Everything that gets notes in or out of that file (sync, export, the CLI, the MCP server) is something Bear had to build.
In Margin a space is a folder and each note is one .md file in it. The app is a view over the folder. Open the same file in vim, grep it, put the folder in git, point Claude Code at it. None of that needed a feature. I wrote about the agent side in Your notes don't need an MCP server, so I won't repeat it.
Margin keeps two things outside the note text: a margin_id line in each file's frontmatter so a note survives a rename, and .margin/meta.json in the space for pins, pinned tags and where trashed notes came from. Delete both and the notes read the same in any other app.
The second difference follows from the first. A folder can hold folders, so Margin has hierarchy: spaces, and notes inside notes. Bear chose tags over folders at the start and still has no folders. Nested tags and, since 2.9, a tag as a Workspace are its answer. If you've ever wanted a project to be a thing with notes inside it rather than a tag on each note, that's the line between the two apps.
Bear's maker has an app on the folder side too. In June Shiny Frog put Lettera into beta. It "started its life as Panda, the code name for the new editor we built for Bear 2.0", and you "open a folder as your writing workspace". The post says nothing about Bear changing course, and Bear 2.9 shipped a month later, so I read Lettera as a second product rather than a shift. It does tell me the question in this post is one they've been asked too.
Side by side
Bear is at 2.9. Margin is at 0.8 and still in alpha, and ships most weeks, so this table will go out of date. I'll keep updating it as things land. Last checked 2026-10-05.
| Bear 2.9 | Margin 0.8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where notes live | One SQLite database | One .md file per note, in a folder you choose |
| Platforms | Mac, iPhone, iPad | Mac only, macOS 14, Apple silicon |
| Sync | iCloud (CloudKit), Pro only | None built in. A space is a plain folder, so it can live in a folder you already sync |
| Price | Free without sync. Pro $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, 7-day trial | Free during the alpha. 1.0 will be paid, $45 once for two Macs if you buy early |
| Organising | Tags, nested tags, any tag as a Workspace | Spaces (one folder each), nested notes as folders, tags, nested tags |
| Links | [[Note Title]], aliases, heading links, backlinks with unlinked mentions |
[[Note]] and [Title](note.md), aliases, renames repoint. No backlinks pane yet |
| Editor | Bear's own, rendered in place, Mermaid diagrams | CodeMirror, Source / Live Preview / Rendered, tables, callouts, footnotes, folding, 29 themes |
| Attachments | Images, PDFs, files, OCR search (Pro) | Images and PDFs with previews, other files linked in place |
| Encryption | Per-note encryption and app lock (Pro) | None in the app. FileVault covers the disk |
| AI | None built in. CLI, Claude connector and MCP server for outside tools | Built in, on request only: your own Anthropic key, Claude Code or Codex, or a model running on the Mac. Every edit is a diff you accept or reject |
| Quick capture | x-callback-url | ⌃⌥Space from any app, still works after you quit Margin |
| Export | .md, .txt, .textbundle, .rtf free. PDF, HTML, DOCX, ePub with Pro | A space as Markdown, HTML, RTF or PDF. The folder is already the export |
| Import | Evernote, Apple Notes, Obsidian, Drafts, Day One, UpNote | A folder of Markdown or TXT. Bear backup import is on the list, not shipped |
Where Bear is better
Bear runs on your iPhone and iPad and syncs through iCloud. Margin has no mobile app, and a folder on a Mac is not the same thing. It's on the roadmap as an idea, and the open question there is how the files get to the phone.
Bear has had ten years of polish. Bear 1.0 shipped in November 2016. Margin went from 0.5 to 0.8 in the last three weeks. Bear has a backlinks panel with unlinked mentions, per-note encryption, OCR inside images and PDFs, Mermaid diagrams, sketching with Apple Pencil, and importers for six other apps. Margin has none of those.
The tag sidebar. The tags themselves are the same in both apps (more on that below), but Bear's whole sidebar is built from them, with a tag as a Workspace since 2.9. Margin lists tags in the sidebar and lets you pin them. It doesn't turn one into a workspace, because a space is a folder.
Bear's export is good, and that matters in a post like this. Select all, File > Export Notes, pick Markdown, and you have a folder of files with your tags kept. Bear doesn't lock you in. The difference with Margin is only that there's no export step to take, because the folder is already there.
Where Margin is different
A space is a folder, so the ordinary tools work on it. Back up a space by copying the folder. Diff two versions with git. Search with rg. Edit a note from a terminal while the app is open and watch it update. Let an agent work in the folder with no server in the middle.
Margin has folders, and notes that hold notes. Spaces are one folder each, so work and personal never share a screen or a search. Inside a space a note can hold notes: a folder with the same name beside it is its subtree. The whole thing stays a plain directory tree, and Finder shows the same tree the app does.
There's no subscription. Margin is free while it's in alpha. 1.0 will be a paid licence, and the early price is $45 once for two Macs, and that price doesn't go up for you later. If a licence ever lapses the notes don't, because they're files.
The AI does nothing until you ask. Bear has no AI in the app, which I think is a fair choice. Margin has it, with three routes: your own Anthropic key kept in the keychain, the claude or codex command already on your Mac, or a model that runs on the Mac with nothing leaving it. It doesn't index or read along as you type, and every edit arrives as a diff you accept or reject.
You can capture with the app closed. ⌃⌥Space opens a quick note from anywhere, and a small agent keeps the shortcut alive after you quit Margin. The chord is rebindable.
Moving from Bear
In Bear on the Mac, select Notes, press ⌘A, then File > Export Notes. Pick Markdown or TextBundle, both free. Turn on "keep tags" in Preferences first so the #tags stay in the text.
In Margin, add that folder as a space, or import it into one. Tags are the same syntax in both apps, #tag and #parent/child, and Margin reads them out of the text, so they come across as they are. Two forms don't: Bear's multi-word tags written as #meeting notes#, and tags that start with a digit like #2024/01. Margin reads neither yet.
[[Note Title]] links from Bear are the syntax Margin uses. Margin resolves [[Name]] by filename first and then by note title, so they should keep working.
Attachments come along in both the Markdown and TextBundle exports. Where they land next to the .md file depends on which you picked, and I'd try a handful of notes before the whole library.
If you use Bear Pro's encrypted notes, check those ones after the export.
You lose the backlinks panel, the iPhone app and Bear's themes. The text itself comes across whole, since it was Markdown the whole time.
Who should stay on Bear
If you write on your phone, Bear is the better choice today. Same if you want encryption inside the app, or if you'd rather use something with ten years of bug reports behind it.
If you want your notes as files you can open anywhere, in a Mac app that renders them well, and you can live with an alpha, try Margin. It's free until 1.0.
Questions I get asked
Is Margin a Bear alternative? For Mac-only Markdown notes, yes. For Mac plus iPhone with sync, not yet. Margin has no mobile app.
Can I import Bear notes into Margin? Export from Bear as Markdown, then add the folder as a space. A direct .bear2bk import is on Margin's list but hasn't shipped.
Does Margin sync? Not by itself. A space is a folder, so a folder that already syncs keeps syncing. iCloud Drive and git sync show as coming soon in Settings.
Does Margin have a subscription? No. Free during the alpha, a one-time licence at 1.0.
If you've moved from Bear to a folder of files, in either direction, I'd like to hear what broke. It'll probably end up in the importer, and in the next revision of this post.