Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

1 Writer VS Bear

Compare 1 Writer VS Bear and see what are their differences

1 Writer logo 1 Writer

Beautiful & easy to use Markdown editor w/ powerful features

Bear logo Bear

Bear.app is a note-taking and content writing app that helps you boost productivity with its intuitive tools.
  • 1 Writer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-17
  • Bear Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

1 Writer features and specs

  • Markdown Support
    1Writer provides excellent support for Markdown, allowing users to format documents with ease and create clean, readable text.
  • iCloud and Dropbox Sync
    This app offers seamless integration with iCloud and Dropbox, enabling users to sync their documents across multiple devices effortlessly.
  • Customizable Editor
    1Writer allows users to customize the editing interface, including themes and font options, to create a personalized writing environment.
  • JavaScript Automation
    Users can automate repetitive tasks using JavaScript, enhancing productivity by creating their own scripts for common actions.
  • In-App Browser
    The built-in browser allows users to research content without leaving the app, providing a more streamlined writing and editing workflow.

Possible disadvantages of 1 Writer

  • Limited Platform Availability
    1Writer is only available on iOS devices, restricting access for those who primarily use other operating systems like Android or Windows.
  • No Native Collaboration Features
    The app lacks built-in collaboration tools, which can be a drawback for users who need real-time collaboration on documents.
  • One-Time Purchase Cost
    While the app is available for a one-time purchase, the absence of a free version may be a barrier for users unwilling to pay upfront without trying the full feature set.
  • Learning Curve for Automation
    Utilizing JavaScript for automation may be challenging for users unfamiliar with programming, posing a potential learning curve.
  • Basic File Management
    File management within the app is relatively basic, which might not meet the needs of users seeking advanced organizational features.

Bear features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Bear features a clean, intuitive design that makes it easy for users to navigate and manage their notes, even for those who are not tech-savvy.
  • Markdown Support
    Bear supports Markdown, allowing users to format their text efficiently and maintain consistency across documents with simple syntax.
  • Cross-Device Synchronization
    Bear offers seamless synchronization across iOS and macOS devices, ensuring your notes are always up-to-date regardless of which device you use.
  • Powerful Tagging System
    The app includes an advanced tagging mechanism, enabling users to easily categorize and find their notes through hashtags.
  • Focus Mode
    Bear offers a Focus Mode that hides distractions, allowing users to concentrate entirely on their writing.
  • Export Options
    Users can export their notes in various formats including PDF, HTML, DOCX, and others, making it versatile for different use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Bear

  • Apple Ecosystem Only
    Bear is only available on iOS and macOS devices, limiting its accessibility to users who are not within the Apple ecosystem.
  • Limited Free Version
    The free version of Bear comes with restricted features, requiring users to subscribe to Bear Pro for full functionality, including cross-device sync and export options.
  • No Collaboration Features
    Bear does not support real-time collaboration, which can be a significant drawback for users looking to work on notes with others simultaneously.
  • Storage Constraints
    Bear stores data locally and does not offer cloud storage, which could be a limitation for users with multiple devices or those who need extensive storage capabilities.
  • Learning Curve for Markdown
    While Markdown is powerful, it can be challenging for new users to learn and use effectively, potentially slowing down the note-taking process initially.

Analysis of Bear

Overall verdict

  • Bear is an excellent note-taking app for individuals who value a minimalist design coupled with powerful features. It's especially appealing to users who need a reliable, aesthetically pleasing application for organizing and capturing notes.

Why this product is good

  • Bear is highly praised for its clean and intuitive interface, allowing users to focus on writing without distractions. It supports Markdown, making it easy to format notes, and offers seamless organization with tags and nested tags. Additionally, Bear provides robust search functionality, cross-note linking, and impressive export options to various formats. It's also known for its synchronization capabilities across Apple devices, making it convenient for users in the Apple ecosystem.

Recommended for

  • Writers
  • Students
  • Apple device users
  • Markdown enthusiasts
  • People who prefer a focused writing environment

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to 1 Writer and Bear)
Markdown Editor
100 100%
0% 0
Note Taking
0 0%
100% 100
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare 1 Writer and Bear

1 Writer Reviews

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Bear Reviews

20 Obsidian Alternatives: Top Note-Taking Tools to Consider
When Bear users talk about it, the common theme you will hear across all people is Bear’s minimalistic UI. Bear comes with no bells and whistles save for a few formatting options. Bear users can link their notes to each other and sync them across all their apple devices.
Source: clickup.com
The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
Bear Markdown Notes is an app for macOS and iOS devices with an excellent interface and selection of features that could make me regret my faithfulness to Android. Even the free version offers a number of tweaks — for example, the header can either be the first sentence of the note or the date and time (or you can leave it empty and put in anything you want). You have a wide...
7 minimalist alternatives to CherryTree
With Bear Pro, you can encrypt individual notes to keep them safe and lock Bear to keep away nosy friends, family, and coworkers. Set a unique password that only you know, use Face/Touch ID to open your notes, and know that your Bear is safe from everyone.
Source: papereditor.app
15 Best Notability Alternatives 2022
Other handy features that Bear provides include an advanced markup editor, rich previews, multiple export options, and smart data recognition for elements like emails, links, and addresses. In terms of pricing, Bear is a very affordable alternative.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bear seems to be a lot more popular than 1 Writer. While we know about 52 links to Bear, we've tracked only 4 mentions of 1 Writer. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

1 Writer mentions (4)

  • Typewriter 2.0: search for the perfect writing experience on iPad
    This made me try several significantly cheaper alternatives to iA Writer: iWriter Pro, 1Writer, and Byword. All have the same issue: Markdown syntax highlighting is too bright for my taste. I can recommend iWriter Pro, though, if you could live with bright colors — it’s a decent app and almost ten times cheaper than iA Writer. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • FSNotes v5: Notes manager for macOS and iOS – native, open source
    Lot's of discussion about other apps but none cover the main selling point for me. FSNotes was created initially as an open source Notational Velocity / NVAlt replacement when NVAlt broke on one of the MacOS version upgrades. It can be configured to replicate the amazing modal search / create interface from those apps. There is also NVUltra [0] from Brett Terpstra, his successor to NVAlt. It is still in beta after... - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
  • ZK and Apple Notes (or alternative)
    To get started with Zettelkasten on iOS for free, I recommend either Craft, 1Writer, or Remnote. With 1Writer, you can work directly with markdown files (unlike Craft) as well as use bidirectional linking which can easily interface well with other top-tier apps like Obsidian, Logseq, etc. later. With Remnote, there's no official iOS app yet but you can create, edit and access your notes from any web browser,... Source: about 4 years ago
  • [FEATURE] A Bunch of Feature Requests From a Passionate New NotePlan User
    1Writer does this really well and is pretty easy for non-technical users. Drafts has insanely powerful custom keyboard features, and is generally just a beast of a text editor, but it’s much more complicated and not particularly user friendly for the less geeky crowd. Source: about 4 years ago

Bear mentions (52)

  • Markdown Is Meant to Be Shown: Stop Hiding the Syntax (2021)
    This is precisely why I use Bear [0] (although Bear does hide the link URLs) and just cannot get on with Notion. The worse thing about editing in Notion (and other editors where the syntax is hidden) is trying to adjust `mono-space text`. It always seems to get confused about whether I'm inside the mono-space area or outside it and I end up making stuff mono-space stuff that shouldn't be or vice versa. [0]... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Ask HN: How do you stay organized for solo dev?
    Https://bear.app with GitHub flavoured todo lists. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • A Day In My Dev Life
    So a couple days ago I was asked to analyze a certain app and provide feedback in terms of UI/UX experience. For that same app today I was asked to inventorize the entire app in terms of features. We probably want to rebuild the app so a good overview of what the app can do now is where we start. I’m a big fan of Notion. I have most of my important documents in there terms of work and life, however when I started... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Apple Notes has jumped the shark, what should I replace it with?
    I'm still happy with Apple Notes for its integration with all of Apple Apps, easy sharing with family members, etc. I have tamed it more as an ephemeral and quick Notes App. The notes that starts there are usually transferred to a more permanent and organized Plain-Text setup[1] (currently guardian-ed by Obsidian). If I had to replace Apple Notes, I'd look at either one of these; - https://simplenote.com -... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • How I stay (more) focused with ADHD
    Bear for most of my notes and freeform project planning. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing 1 Writer and Bear, you can also consider the following products

Pine - A lightweight, modern macOS markdown editor written in Swift

Evernote - Bring your life's work together in one digital workspace. Evernote is the place to collect inspirational ideas, write meaningful words, and move your important projects forward.

Dillinger - joemccann has 95 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

OneNote - Get the OneNote app for free on your tablet, phone, and computer, so you can capture your ideas and to-do lists in one place wherever you are. Or try OneNote with Office for free.

EME - Elegant Markdown editor

Obsidian.md - A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.