Finally, an Evernote Replacement for Me (Spoiler: It's Bear)

Software
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I realize this probably isn’t the place to post this – or maybe it’s exactly the place – but I’ve been trying hard for the past few months to stop overthinking my tech setups. I’ve been down some deep rabbit holes and for me, all they seem to add to my life is frustration, anxiety (did I set it up properly?) and constant churn and tweaking. I’m so over it all. And now a post about changing apps :crazy_face:

I’ve been a long time user of Evernote as people who recognize my account will likely know. I like the graphical nature of it, the fact it will take images and Excel files (that I don’t need to re-upload with each change, audio, emails etc), and the fact that I can easily get my notes out of it. I have no trouble exporting > 100 notes at a time by exporting an entire notebook, and since I use tags to organize most of my notes are within just a few notebooks.

I’ve found myself just not capturing as much over the past year or so. The cost of Evernote with the usual 40% discount here in Canada is usually around $100. Not bad if it’s something I can’t live without, but a little high for my use as of late. It’s also slow to open, constantly updating, and I don’t love the editor, so I rarely make notes in it. It’s more my digital junk box.

I’ve tried the following apps as a replacement, but their downsides are dealbreakers. App/dealbreaker below:

  1. Apple Notes: Difficult export out, minimal format/customizing, unreliable sync in the past, no easy way to run my own backups.

  2. Obsidian: I’ve used Obsidian a lot in the past, but I don’t love its “text-first” approach. It’s sometimes needlessly complex as well. For example, last week I was trying to make it so every note I created automatically displayed the creation date. You’d think this would be an easy thing to achieve but as usual, it requires a plugin (which I try to limit) or a snippet of code. They lost me when the various methods on the forums exceeded a page of replies. I just want to add a creation date, not embark on a coding project. Also, bad mobile experience.

  3. Notion: No offline mode, no easy export, can be slow. But otherwise a great contender

The Winner (For Me)
I’ve used Bear in the past but always ran into a limitation. No PDF previews (from way back when, now resolved) and no web access (that’s coming, now in beta I believe) come to mind. But with their new version I’m quite happy. I downloaded it a week or so ago and brought a lot of my EN notes over. It was easy to get the notes into Bear and I now have an even better framework for my notes that stores them as markdown (but pretty), and I can run backups as needed (easily). I also like the privacy of an iCloud back end as opposed to some company’s servers.

I’ve also found the web clipper in Bear does a really good job for the most part. The notes look clean and crisp and aren’t all weird and “HTML’y” like with Evernote.

I will miss not being able to email into Bear but so far it’s been a really great experience.

I also enjoy the fact that Bear opens in about 2 seconds. My EN currently takes 5 “Mississippi’s” to open and then usually asks me to update when it does. Cheaper, more efficient, pretty. I need a good visual experience and I’m tired of tinkering. Bear really hit the mark for me.

…So far – it’s only been a week…but this is the MPU forum, after all. :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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Bear is nice, but IMO the best is UpNote. It has a fanatical fanbase and IMO one of the hidden gems out there!

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I hereby raise my glass for a fallen Evernote comrade. :smiley:

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I’ve shared a similar journey and also eventually landed on Bear. For me it hits the sweet spot of simplicity with just enough capability for a “Mac power user” workflow. Not to mention one of the most beautifully crafted apps out there that makes it a joy to use. If you haven’t already, check out their user forum for plenty of helpful tips https://community.bear.app

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It is good, without a doubt, but a subscription. And Bear notes team development is ridiculously slow. I stopped using them after year 2 since the feature people were asking for weren’t being released.

Apple notes is as good (in many different ways) and free for life. :slightly_smiling_face:

YMMV with the subscription fee.

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:100:

After a long and winding slow-motion breakup with Evernote, I eventually went all in on Bear. The more I use it, the more I like. Many of what I thought were shortcomings tuned out to be to features, not bugs, for the exact reasons you stated. I was a hardcore tinkerer with EN and now I’m happy to no longer pay them.

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Initially, what I appreciated about Bear was the uncluttered interface, Trackpad gestures for Navigation between sidebars, and enough features for proper note taking(Backlinks, Themes, 10 export file types, import from Drafts, Evernote, and Day One). But after trying many note taking apps some that are more feature rich, it’s the malleability of Bear to adapt to my note taking style that has me hooked.

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I’m a fan of DevonThink. I think of it as “better Evernote than Evernote.” I like that it supports both folders (which it calls “groups”) and tags, and has excellent support for PDFs and Microsoft Office documents. Also, the search and AI classification are terrific.

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I also use DEVONthink. It’s a file manager rather than a notes app, it’s just the files can include notes, if that makes sense. It’s a great app on desktop, especially if your work has loads of different fields types to manage.

The mobile app is garbage though.

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Bear 2 (now a couple years old) has been a great update. I was using the initial version of Bear a few years back, but like @andy4222, I got tired of waiting for updates, and became intrigued by apps like Drafts, Obsidian, and Notion. However, Bear 2 brought me back and I haven’t been looking for alternatives since.

I really like DEVONthink, but I use it for file management; I think of it more like a big, physical filing cabinet, whereas Bear is more like a moleskin notebook for me. (And Drafts, another essential tool for me, I use like yellow sticky notes.) Plenty of my notes in Bear have links to DEVONthink documents and groups. Notion is a useful tool for me as well, but as a relatively easy-to-use and highly customizable database—not a note-taking app. And Obsidian seems very powerful and, again, highly customizable, but I spent more time customizing it than actually using it. I didn’t love the mobile experience either.

But Bear keeps it simple and just works—the tag-based organization makes sense to me; it’s markdown support is important to me; and it’s a great app on mobile, where I often use it.

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Why do they constantly need to update the app if the app is good? And Bear is good. I would say it’s even better than Apple Notes in areas like exporting and backing up your notes, and notes with lots of text are easier to read. I also prefer the search function and keyboard navigation in Bear. (And I’m an Apple Notes lover)

I’d rather have a developer that has a slower pace than one who adds bloat and has low quality Control. Besides, Apple Notes also has a slow development pace.

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On thing I forgot to mention above is the Apple Watch app for Bear. I’ve had Drafts installed on my devices for years, but I don’t use it often. It’s just there in case I need to quickly get something written down which in actuality, is about three times a year. I have replaced the Drafts complication (and Drafts) with Bear and I’m kind of shocked that out of the notes apps I’ve used, it’s one of the very few that has the functionality to dictate a proper note from a complication. Surprisingly, a lot of notes apps don’t even come with the ability to dictate a note (i.e. Evernote).

My only gripe with Bear is that tags are all lowercase. If I type “Instruction_Manuals” it instantly becomes “instruction_manuals”. I know why they do it, but improper case in sentences and titles drives me batty. Pet peeve of mine. But I am a tag person and I prefer them over folders – a small price to pay.

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I am a folder person, and this is probably the main reason I didn’t switch to Bear. It’s a nice app!

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For as long as I can remember I’ve had requirements for anything I use to house data. These include: It must be easy to import or export the data, it should allow me locate my data very quickly and, as long as I have a backup, it should allow me to restore any file lost or corrupted, etc regardless of long ago this might have happened.

Evernote met those requirements when I was using it, and so does my current service.

I’d say this is right place. You’ve done your homework and decided Bear meets your requirements. And invited others to comment on your decision. :+1:t3:

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I just don’t like the way Bear handles, like headers too big; collapsing sections not as intuitive as, for example, Evernote or Apple Notes, on iPhone (toggle on first); returning to previous note needs two fingers or toggle on first.

Resizing images will result in saving new images with smaller sizes and can’t undo if you leave the note, and Bear said it’s a design not bug.

And the explanations of not adopting Advanced Data Protection that even turning on can be turned off by Apple (something which has drawbacks so we don’t use) makes me not decide to use Bear.

I may prefer the way how iA Writer does more who also has the slow development but iA Writer is a writing app more than note taking (and even second brain), and iA knows clearly what they are doing so I can’t blame but have to appreciate.

Evernote should suit me the most but too slow, even scrolling notes is painful (blank and wait for seconds to load). They overlook iPad version, and the so-called thousands of improvements is more like a kind of marketing but die hard fans will criticise me of not being positive. I tried many times but can’t pay.

Thus I settle on Apple Notes. Note is note which is a preparation for something actionable and permanent.

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Funny thing—I recently started looking into Bear. We use Notion at work, but I find it too slow. I personally left Apple Notes because, well, I’m 43 years old, and I struggle a bit with the text on Mac. The spacing feels too cramped, and I need more breathing room.

I moved everything over to Obsidian, and I really like it. But as you said (paraphrasing), “just adding a creation date to a note makes you a programmer.” The mobile app isn’t great either, which creates a lot of friction when I need to capture a PDF or an image for inspiration.

That said, I absolutely love all the keyboard shortcuts, tabs, and overall workflow in Obsidian.

Anyway, I started looking into Bear because it feels like the Goldilocks of note-taking apps—not too much, not too little. Plus, it’s just so beautifully designed and polished to use.

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I returned to Bear recently after they gave me access to the Web app Beta. It has just enough organization features that hit the sweet spot for me. Reading long notes there is a joy. The three-pane view also works very well for short notes.

The only thing I miss from Obsidian is canvas, but I can just create a canvas and paste the screenshot into Bear.

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I’m curious if the web app will introduce new functionality like collaboration, versioning, or the ability to share notes as links.

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Interesting how many note taking apps there are. I’ve been on Evernote since 2011 - back when it was “hot.” A year or so ago I looked at alternatives, but nothing suited me. I’m happy I stayed on with Evernote. They keep making helpful improvements. Certainly what they’ve done with note organization: table of contents auto updating, collapsible and draggable sections, and of course availability on all my devices are hardware manufacturer agnostic is what I care about.

Also its ability to transcribe images in-app is a big plus. I’m sure so many apps have this these days.

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