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Bear VS Noticky

Compare Bear VS Noticky and see what are their differences

Bear

Bear.app is a note-taking and content writing app that helps you boost productivity with its intuitive tools.

Rating
0 reviews
1 VibeVoted session
Alternatives Is it good?
Noticky

Noticky keeps your sticky notes visible above every app — even in fullscreen. Global hotkey ⌘⇧N, Markdown, iCloud Sync, Touch ID. macOS 15+. $9.99 one-time.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid $9.99 / One-off
Promote on VibeVoted
Alternatives Is it good?
DocRaptor
As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more sponsored

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Bear seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 60 times since March 2021.

social mentions
60 vs 0
Note Taking popularity
99% vs 1%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 12

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Bear
Noticky
Website bear.app noticky.app
Pricing
Official pricing
Paid $9.99 / One-off Official pricing
Platforms —
Mac MacOS Mac OSX
Company Startup from Italy Startup from Belgium · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in
Office & Productivity Word Lifestyle Note Taking Todos +2
Productivity Utilities Writing Tools Note Taking +1

About Bear and Noticky

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Bear
Noticky

No description of Bear yet.

Noticky puts colorful sticky notes on your desktop that stay on top of every window. Capture ideas instantly without switching apps. ALWAYS ON TOP Your notes float above everything — browsers, code editors, Zoom calls. Never lose sight of important info while you work. INSTANT CAPTURE Press a...

Read more about Noticky

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Bear 6 features
Noticky 6 features
  • 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

  • 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.
  • ALWAYS ON TOP
    Your notes float above everything — browsers, code editors, Zoom calls. Never lose sight of important info while you work.
  • INSTANT CAPTURE
    Press a keyboard shortcut from any app to create a note in seconds. No clicking through menus, no context switching. A Spotlight-style quick capture field lets you type and go.
  • MENU BAR ACCESS
    Noticky lives in your menu bar. Click to see all your notes, create new ones, or open the notes board — all without a Dock icon cluttering your workspace.
  • WIDGETS
    See your notes right on your desktop or Notification Center with 3 widget styles: single note, multi-note grid, or notes list.
  • LOCK SENSITIVE NOTES
    Protect private notes with Touch ID or your Mac password.
  • TAGS & REMINDERS
    Organize notes with tags. Set reminders so you never forget a to-do.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Bear
Noticky

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

Overall verdict

  • Noticky appears to be a niche notification/monitoring app; without extensive independent reviews, it seems to be a functional, lightweight tool suited for users wanting simple alerting rather than an enterprise-grade solution.

Why this product is good

  • Simple, easy-to-use interface for setting up notifications
  • Lightweight app that doesn't require heavy setup or configuration
  • Likely offers quick alerts for specific triggers or events users care about
  • May be budget-friendly or offer a free tier for basic use

Recommended for

  • Individuals or small teams needing basic notification tracking
  • Users looking for a lightweight alternative to complex monitoring platforms
  • People who want quick setup without extensive technical configuration
  • Casual users monitoring a small number of triggers or events

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Bear
Noticky
99% 99%
Note Taking
1% 1%
95% 95%
Productivity
5% 5%
100% 100%
Markdown Editor
0% 0%
0% 0%
Writing Tools
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Bear and Noticky.

What makes your product unique?

Noticky's answer:

Noticky is the only sticky note app on macOS that stays visible above fullscreen apps. It's a native Swift/SwiftUI menu bar app (not Electron), launches instantly with ⌘⇧N, and uses the right macOS window level to overlay everything — coding sessions, video calls, presentations. macOS 15 Sequoia and later only, built specifically for the latest Apple APIs.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Noticky's answer:

Apple Stickies disappears in fullscreen and hasn't been updated in years. SideNotes uses a sidebar drawer that hides itself. Tot is great for jot-and-toss but vanishes in fullscreen too. Noticky is the only one that stays on screen no matter what you're doing — even above a fullscreen Xcode, Premiere Pro, or Zoom call. $6.99 one-time on the Mac App Store, no subscription, every future update included.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Noticky's answer:

macOS power users who spend their day in fullscreen apps: developers, writers, designers, video editors, students taking lecture notes, and people in back-to-back video calls. Anyone who needs a piece of information — a checklist, a script, a snippet, a meeting agenda — to stay one glance away while they work in another app. Not for long-form note-taking. For keeping critical info visible.

What's the story behind your product?

Noticky's answer:

Built solo by Leonidas, a Belgian indie developer, because every sticky note app on macOS disappears the moment you go fullscreen. He needed his standup checklist to stay visible during fullscreen Xcode sessions, and Apple Stickies couldn't do it. macOS treats fullscreen as a separate Space — most third-party tools fail there. Noticky uses a specific window level to overlay everything, even fullscreen. Launched on Product Hunt in May 2026, then approved on the Mac App Store. Sold direct via Stripe in the EU and via the Mac App Store everywhere else.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Noticky's answer:

Swift 6 and SwiftUI for the UI, AppKit for window-level management (the trick that makes fullscreen overlay work), Core Data with CloudKit for iCloud Sync across Macs, Foundation Models framework for on-device smart tagging, LocalAuthentication for Touch ID lock. Zero third-party dependencies, no Electron, no telemetry. Requires macOS 15 Sequoia minimum.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Noticky's answer:

  • Independent macOS developers working in fullscreen IDEs (Xcode, Cursor, VS Code)
  • Solo founders and indie hackers tracking daily metrics
  • Writers and researchers using fullscreen text editors (iA Writer, Ulysses, Scrivener)
  • Students taking notes during fullscreen lectures and video courses
  • Designers working in fullscreen Figma, Sketch, or Affinity
  • Power users running macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe

User comments

Share your experience with using Bear and Noticky. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

Bear no reviews yet
Noticky no reviews yet

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We have no reviews of Noticky yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Bear 60 mentions
Noticky 0 mentions
  • Bear turns 10, and it still feels like day one
    Agreed! You’d have to navigate to the top level on the site… “Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown note taking app to capture, write, and organize your life.” https://bear.app/. - Source: Hacker News / 12 days ago
  • Make Your Vault Look and Read the Way You Want
    What I liked was Bear. Its dark sidebar, the calm light page next to it, the way nothing competes with the text. So my example is a Bear-style vault with a dark blue rail in the Tokyo Night palette. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Show HN: Write.md, a free, open-source, themeable Markdown editor for macOS
    I can recommend Bear (https://bear.app) been using for ~6 years or more. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago

View more

Tracking Noticky since May 2026.

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