Best Open Source Alternatives to Bear App

Compare the best free and open-source alternatives to Bear App — self-hosted and desktop replacements you fully control, ranked by GitHub stars, license and platform support.

Curated by open-source.store · Updated November 2026 · 6 alternatives

Bear App

Proprietary SaaS

PricingSubscription

Platformsdesktop, mobile, macos, ios

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Bear App alternatives compared

Open-source alternatives to Bear App, compared by stars, license and platform
Tool		License	Platforms	Self-hosted
AppFlowy	78,147	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsandroid	No	Nov 2026	Visit
Joplin	57,007	MIT	LinuxmacOSWindowsandroid	No	Nov 2026	Visit
Trilium Notes	38,685	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Nov 2026	Visit
Notesnook	14,881	GPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsWeb	Yes	Nov 2026	Visit
Standard Notes	6,696	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Nov 2026	Visit
CherryTree	3,988	GPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindows	No	Nov 2026	Visit

Top open-source Bear App alternatives

AppFlowy78,147AGPL-3.0

AppFlowy is an open-source, local-first alternative to Craft and Notion that provides block editing, Kanban boards, and offline databases with zero fees.

LinuxmacOSWindowsandroidios

vs Bear App: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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Joplin57,007MIT

Joplin is an open-source, encrypted note-taking app that replaces Evernote with offline-first Markdown, terminal CLI access, and flexible self-hosted sync.

LinuxmacOSWindowsandroidios

vs Bear App: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed MIT.

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Trilium Notes38,685AGPL-3.0

Trilium Notes is an open-source personal knowledge base replacing Evernote with deep hierarchical note trees, note cloning, and private local storage.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Bear App: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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Notesnook14,881GPL-3.0

Notesnook replaces Evernote with an open-source note-taking app that provides multi-device sync, rich formatting, and local zero-knowledge encryption.

LinuxmacOSWindowsWebandroid

vs Bear App: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed GPL-3.0.

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Standard Notes6,696AGPL-3.0

Standard Notes replaces proprietary notebooks like Bear and Evernote with zero-knowledge encrypted note-taking across desktop, mobile, and web.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Bear App: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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Best Open Source Alternatives to Bear App

Bear App

Bear App alternatives compared

Top open-source Bear App alternatives

The modern standard for Protobuf workflows

Mentoring for backend developers. Consulting for startups.

More alternatives to Bear App

CherryTree