Bear’s tags, on files you own.
Free text expander, clipboard manager and markdown notes. $18 once for unlimited clips, notes sync and AI prompts.
Why people move from Bear
The specific reasons people give for switching.
Notes as files, not a database
Bear stores notes in its own SQLite database and exports markdown on request. In TypeFire the markdown file IS the note, so every other tool on your Mac can read it without an export step.
One payment
Bear is $2.99 a month for sync and premium themes. TypeFire Notes is free and Pro is $18 once for three Macs.
Nested tags, same idea
A tag lets a note appear in more than one place without duplicating it, which is exactly why Bear's tag model is good. TypeFire has nested tags too, and folders work as collections alongside them.
Reach a note from any app
Control Command Shift K searches your vault from on top of whatever you are in and pastes into the document you are already writing. Bear is an app you switch to.
It opens the vault you already have
Point it at an existing folder of markdown, including an Obsidian vault, and start with a full library rather than an empty one.
A text expander in your notes
Type an abbreviation while writing and it expands, the same as it does everywhere else on the Mac.
TypeFire compared with Bear
Prices and capabilities as of August 2026.
| TypeFire | Bear | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Plain .md files you own | Own database, markdown export |
| Nested tags | Yes | Yes, excellent |
| Price | Free, Pro $18 once | $2.99 per month |
| Opens an existing folder | Yes, in place | Import |
| Wikilinks and backlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Task lists and highlight | Yes, Obsidian syntax | Yes |
| Tables | Markdown, authored as text | Rendered as a grid |
| iPhone and iPad | No | Yes |
| Global hotkey over other apps | Yes | No |
| Text expander built in | Yes | No |
Where Bear is genuinely better
Three things Bear does better. If any of them is your deciding factor, use Bear.
It is lovelier to write in
Bear's typography, themes and editor polish are best in class, and anyone who values the writing experience above all else should try it. TypeFire's editor is good; Bear's is beautiful.
It syncs to iPhone and iPad
Bear's sync covers every Apple device for $2.99 a month. TypeFire is Mac only and syncs Mac to Mac.
Sketching and Apple Pencil
Bear supports handwriting and sketches on iPad. TypeFire does not.
What TypeFire adds
Not available in Bear at any price.
Files, not a database
The markdown file is the note, readable by anything.
A global hotkey
Your notes on top of every app, pasted where you are typing.
A text expander and clipboard manager
Both included, both working across the whole Mac.
AI on a note, free
Summarise, outline, continue, on device with Apple Intelligence or your own key.
Turn anything you copy into something you type
Right-click a clip, choose Save as snippet, give it an abbreviation. The thing you copied once becomes something you type three characters to get, forever. The same conversions run across all three surfaces: a clip becomes a note, and a note you keep rewriting becomes a snippet. Clipboard managers have no snippet engine, text expanders do not watch your clipboard, and no note app has either, which is why the loop only closes here.
- 01
Copy something
It lands in Clips alongside everything else you copied today.
- 02
Save as snippet
It leaves your rolling history and enters your permanent library.
- 03
Give it a trigger
Type
invfrom then on and never look it up again.
A clipboard manager you can tell what to ignore
A clipboard manager sees everything you copy. Until 4.0 the only control over that was a password-manager exclusion you could not see. There are three now, none of them gated, and the limits of the strongest one are stated rather than buried.
Turn image capture off
One switch. Text keeps being captured and pictures stop. Images you have already saved are kept rather than deleted, which is not what most people expect a privacy toggle to do, so it is worth saying.
Name apps to skip
Add any application and TypeFire ignores what you copy in it. Choose from the apps it has already seen, with clip counts, or browse to any app on your Mac. Each app gets one of three settings: allow it, block images only, or block everything you copy there. The middle one is what most people want for a work tool, keeping the text and losing the screenshots.
The password managers, now visible
TypeFire has always ignored password managers. That list is in Settings now, twenty-three apps including 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePassXC, Dashlane and Apple Passwords, blocked by bundle ID in code rather than by a setting you have to find. It shows which of them you have installed, and any one can be overridden.
Encrypted database, owner-only files
Clips are stored in an encrypted SQLite database on your Mac. The key is generated on your machine and kept in the macOS Keychain. Image files sit alongside the database with owner-only permissions.
Secrets expire in minutes
Card numbers and high-entropy strings are detected and deleted after five minutes by default, adjustable in Settings. Everything else follows the retention you choose.
An on-device AI option
Apple Intelligence and local models through Ollama or LM Studio run entirely on your machine. If you pick Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini instead, text goes to that provider directly; TypeFire operates no server in that path.
Where blocking by app stops being a guarantee
macOS does not tell an application which other application wrote to the clipboard. TypeFire matches on the app that was in front at the time, plus any app that identifies itself using the standard convention. That covers the overwhelming majority of real cases and it is not absolute. The protection that does not depend on a guess is the concealed-content marker: password managers mark what they copy, and TypeFire never stores it whatever else is set.
The app list also covers what you copy, not screenshots you save as a file. A PNG on your desktop records nothing about what was on screen, so TypeFire matches those to an app where it can and skips them when it does. It is right in the ordinary case and it is not a promise: to keep saved screenshots out entirely, turn off Save screenshots to Clips.
Eighteen dollars. Once.
TypeFire Pro is a single payment that unlocks unlimited clips, Selection Prompts, Prompt Chains, notes sync and note version history. There is no subscription and no per-seat pricing.
Free tier, then one payment
No free tier at all
One time
No free tier
One time
Lifetime, or $3.99/mo
Subscription, forever
Two months of Paste, or all of TypeFire.
Moving from Bear
Still not answered?
TypeFire Notes is free with no subscription, and TypeFire Pro is $18 once covering three Macs.
Notes are stored as plain markdown files in a folder you chose rather than in an app database, so they stay readable whatever you use next. Obsidian is also free for personal use.
Yes. Nested tags work in TypeFire, and folders act as collections alongside them, so a note can appear in several places through tags without being duplicated.
Bear's tag model was the explicit design reference for this.
Yes. Bear exports notes as markdown files. Export to a folder, point TypeFire at that folder, and the notes open in place with no import step.
Because TypeFire reads plain files, you can keep using Bear on the same content while you decide.
No. TypeFire is a Mac application. If you write on an iPhone or iPad, Bear covers that well for $2.99 a month and TypeFire does not.
Bear, honestly, if the writing experience itself is what matters most to you.
Its typography and themes are exceptional. TypeFire's editor renders markdown live while keeping the raw file intact, which matters more if you care about the file surviving unchanged than about how the app looks while you type.
Keep the tags. Own the files.
Nested tags and backlinks on plain markdown you can read anywhere, one keystroke from every app. Free, with a one-time $18 Pro.
Free text expander, clipboard manager and markdown notes. $18 once for unlimited clips, notes sync and AI prompts.
⌃⌘⇧V your clips⌃⌘⇧T your snippets