# Free alternatives to Bear Pro

> Bear Pro (Bear Pro) costs $29.99 a year. Free alternatives: Joplin and Notesnook. Data checked 2026-10-17.

- Page: https://stoprenting.dev/apps/bear-pro/
- Category: Notes & Docs (https://stoprenting.dev/categories/notes-and-docs/)
- Vendor: Shiny Frog
- Plan: Bear Pro
- Price: $2.50/month, $29.99/year
- Billing: monthly or yearly
- Price quote from the vendor's page: "A 7 day free trial, then $2.99 /month -15% $29.99 /year"
- Price source: https://bear.app/ (checked 2026-10-17)

## Alternatives

### Joplin

- Website: https://joplinapp.org
- Repository: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin (56,731 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: AGPL-3.0-or-later (server dir separate)
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: AUR: joplin-desktop; Flathub: net.cozic.joplin_desktop
- Self-hostable: no
- Install: `yay -S joplin-desktop`, `flatpak install flathub net.cozic.joplin_desktop`
- Note: Bear's inline #tags arrive as plain text, so expect to re-tag notes after importing.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/joplin/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

### Notesnook

- Website: https://notesnook.com
- Repository: https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook (14,781 stars, last push 2026-10-17)
- License: GPL-3.0
- Open source: yes, OSI-approved license
- Type: desktop app
- Linux: AUR: notesnook-bin; Flathub: com.notesnook.Notesnook
- Self-hostable: no
- Install: `yay -S notesnook-bin`, `flatpak install flathub com.notesnook.Notesnook`
- Note: Free plan caps notebooks and tags at 50 and uploads at 50 MB a month, and the self-hosted sync server is still beta.
- More: https://stoprenting.dev/alternatives/notesnook/
- Checked: 2026-10-17

## FAQ

### Is there a free alternative to Bear Pro?

Yes. The 2 free alternatives are Joplin (open source, AGPL-3.0-or-later) and Notesnook (open source, GPL-3.0).

### How much does Bear Pro cost?

Bear Pro's Bear Pro plan costs $2.50 a month, which is $29.99 a year (monthly or yearly). Source: the official pricing page at bear.app, checked Oct 17, 2026.

### Which Bear Pro alternatives run on Linux?

Joplin (AUR: joplin-desktop; Flathub: net.cozic.joplin_desktop) and Notesnook (AUR: notesnook-bin; Flathub: com.notesnook.Notesnook).

### Can you self-host a Bear Pro alternative?

Joplin and Notesnook are desktop apps that run on your own machine, so there's nothing to host.

### Are these Bear Pro alternatives open source?

Yes. All 2 use OSI-approved open-source licenses: Joplin (AGPL-3.0-or-later) and Notesnook (GPL-3.0).

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Source: Stop Renting (https://stoprenting.dev). Methodology: https://stoprenting.dev/methodology/