$29.99 /yr Bear Pro Verified on bear.app, Oct 17, 2026 2 alternatives Replaces it Active Open source · AGPL-3.0-or-later Linux Arch/AUR
⚠ Bear's inline #tags arrive as plain text, so expect to re-tag notes after importing.
⇢ Imports your data: imports Bear's Markdown export, but tags arrive as plain text
Install $ yay -S joplin-desktopCopy
$ flatpak install flathub net.cozic.joplin_desktopCopy
Replaces it Active Open source · GPL-3.0 Linux Arch/AUR
⚠ Free plan caps notebooks and tags at 50 and uploads at 50 MB a month, and the self-hosted sync server is still beta.
⇢ Imports your data: imports Bear's TextBundle export
Install $ yay -S notesnook-binCopy
$ flatpak install flathub com.notesnook.NotesnookCopy
At a glance Free alternatives to Bear Pro compared Alternative Verdict License Linux AUR Self-host Stars Joplin Replaces it AGPL-3.0-or-later open source Yes Yes No 56.7k★ Notesnook Replaces it GPL-3.0 open source Yes Yes No 14.8k★
Bear Pro alternatives: questions
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). Built or know a better alternative to Bear Pro? Suggest it free , or get it featured on this page .