Iliad vs Bear: notes in a beautiful database, or documents as plain files

Iliad wrote this. We make Iliad, so read our claims about it with that in mind. Every claim about Bear below comes from Bear's own pages and App Store listing, linked at the end, and was checked on October 14, 2026.

Bear is one of the best-designed note apps on Apple devices: fast, tag-based, with linked notes and sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Iliad is a writing app rather than a notes app. It edits documents as plain Markdown files in a folder, offers AI only when you ask, and shows every change an agent such as Claude Code makes before you keep it. The two overlap less than they first seem, and the biggest difference is where your text lives.

In short. Choose Bear for quick, beautiful notes on every Apple device, organized with tags. Choose Iliad if you are writing longer documents on a Mac, want them to stay as plain .md files, and want AI or an agent to help with each change reviewed.

At a glance #

Where Bear is the better choice #

Every Apple device, beautifully. Bear runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with sync through iCloud for Pro users and a web app in public beta. It has won an Apple Design Award. Iliad is a Mac app with no mobile version.

Notes, not documents. Bear is built for capturing and finding many short notes: nested tags, wiki links between notes, per-note encryption, OCR search in images (Pro) and a web clipper. Iliad is built for writing one longer document at a time and has none of those note-taking features.

Agents only when you invite them. Bear 2.8 added a command-line tool, an MCP server and a connector for the Claude desktop app, all running locally. Bear puts it this way: "Nothing connects to your notes unless you set it up, and no notes are shared with any tool until you choose to." Encrypted notes can be listed by these tools but never read.

Where Iliad is different #

Your files are the format. Bear stores notes in a SQLite database inside the app's container, and warns that changing it while Bear is running is likely to lose data. You can export to Markdown, but the working copy is Bear's. In Iliad there is no database: the .md files in your folder are the documents, and any other app, script or agent can open them.

A review of what your agent wrote. With Bear, an agent reads and writes notes through bearcli or the MCP server, and the note simply changes. Iliad shows each change an agent makes in the page, old text above new, and you keep or restore it. A restore never overwrites work you did since.

AI that waits to be asked. Bear has no built-in AI that we could find. Iliad's AI is built in and only acts when you press a key for a suggestion or pick an ✦ AI action on a selection; every result appears in place for you to accept or reject.

Comments you and your agent share. In Iliad you comment on passages, and the comments live in a plain Markdown file next to the document. An agent can act on them or leave its own, marked ✦, when you ask for feedback, and you read them in the margin.

Who should choose which #

Choose Bear if you want fast, lovely notes on your iPhone and Mac, organized with tags, and you are happy with your notes living inside the app.

Choose Iliad if you write longer pieces on a Mac, want them as plain files you fully control, and work with AI or an agent while deciding on every change yourself.

Using both #

Many people keep notes in one app and write in another. Bear can export notes as Markdown files, which Iliad opens directly, so a note that grows into a draft can move to Iliad. Changes made in Iliad do not flow back into Bear's database.

Sources #