GoodNotes 5 vs Bear
When comparing GoodNotes 5 vs Bear, the Slant community recommends Bear for most people. In the question“What is the best note taking app for Mac?” Bear is ranked 2nd while GoodNotes 5 is ranked 26th. The most important reason people chose Bear is:
Well-designed app.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Has a lot of features
Pro Organization
Pro Beautiful interface
Well-designed app.
Pro Easy to use
Pro Instant markdown preview in the editor while preserving original MD code
Pro Easy tagging
For example: #tag/sub tag/foo/bar #tag2/foo/bar
Pro Flawless sync
It's everything Dropbox Paper promised to be, but without the embarrassment. The notes are always in sync between devices.
Pro Lots of export formats
PDF, RTF, DOCX, HTML, TXT and MD.
Pro Hashtag support
Adding a hashtag with a keyword tags the note to make it easy to search.
Pro Simple to back up/export entire note database
Notes are exported as plain text, not a proprietary format, along with all embedded objects.
Cons
Con Typing is horrendous
Only recommended if you are using for Apple Pencil.
Con Only subscription-based
Can not buy it straight up.
Con No Tabs - can only view 1 note at a time
Con No inline editing and markup of pictures
The only option is to open in an editor (thereby creating a copy) and saving it again.