Productivity · head to head
Bear Notes vs Rows
Rows
Productivity
Browser spreadsheet whose formulas call live data from analytics, CRM and payment services
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Bear Notes apple only: Bear runs on Mac, iPhone and iPad with no Windows, Android or web app; Rows refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.
- They diverge on capability: Bear Notes covers Markdown-based notes, Rows covers Integrations in formulas.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Bear Notes and Rows actually diverge.
| Attribute | Bear Notes | Rows |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | MacOS, IOS, IPadOS | Web |
| Founded | 2015 | Unknown |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Bear Notes
- Markdown-based notes
- Powerful tag system
- Rich text formatting
- Image support
- iCloud sync
- Dark and light themes
- Encryption support
- Backup and restore
Only in Rows
- Integrations in formulas
- Scheduled refresh
- Publishable sheets
- Cell enrichment
- AI tasks
- Guests
- API access
- Version history
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Bear Notes
- Markdown note taking on Apple devicesnot Rows
- Organising notes with nested hashtags rather than foldersnot Rows
- Exporting notes to PDF, DOCX, HTML or ePubnot Rows
Rows
- A weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and CRM figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports.not Bear Notes
- Agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts.not Bear Notes
- Enriching a list of companies or contacts from inside the sheet rather than through a separate tool and a re-import.not Bear Notes
- A small team that needs live numbers in a familiar grid and has nobody available to build a proper reporting stack.not Bear Notes
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Bear Notes
- Apple only: Bear runs on Mac, iPhone and iPad with no Windows, Android or web app
- Sync across devices requires Bear Pro and works through iCloud only
- The free version is limited to 3 export formats, 3 themes and 1 app icon
- OCR search inside images and PDFs is Pro only
- Note encryption is Pro only
- The Pro trial lasts 7 days
Rows
- Refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.
- Exports carry values rather than connections, so a downloaded file from Rows is a dead snapshot and anything you built has to be reconstructed from scratch elsewhere, which makes recurring reports quietly expensive to move.
- Guests are capped by tier at three on free and ten on the entry plan, so sharing a report with a client's team or a group of stakeholders pushes you up a tier for people who only ever look at a page.
- It is not Excel or Google Sheets, so the function library, add-ins, pivot behaviour, scripting and offline files people rely on are not all present, and it works as a reporting surface rather than as an organisation's general spreadsheet.
- The Pro tier adds a fixed monthly platform charge on top of the per-user price, so moving from daily to intra-day refresh, or from ten guests to a real audience, is a step change in cost rather than an increment.
Pricing, plan by plan
Bear Notes
Free- FreeFree
- Note creation and organization
- Tags
- Local sync
- Premium$1.99/month
- iCloud sync
- Themes
- Markdown export
Rows
Free- FreeFree
- 5 AI Tasks per month
- Manual data imports
- 10 integration accounts
- Plus$8/month
- 200 AI Tasks per month
- Daily data table automation
- 10 integration accounts
- Pro$79/month
- 1,000 AI Tasks per month
- Per-minute data automation
- 100 integration accounts
- Enterprise$null/mo
- Unlimited AI Tasks
- Custom integrations and API endpoints
- Unlimited guest members
Which should you pick?
Choose Bear Notes if
- You need markdown-based notes.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.
- You also want powerful tag system.
Choose Rows if
- You need integrations in formulas.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want scheduled refresh.
Questions people ask
- Is Bear Notes or Rows better?
- Neither clearly leads. Bear Notes starts at Free and Rows at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Bear Notes or Rows?
- Bear Notes starts at Free and Rows at Free.
- Does Bear Notes or Rows run on more platforms?
- Bear Notes runs on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS. Rows runs on Web.
- Can I use Bear Notes for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Bear Notes best used for?
- Bear Notes is most often used for markdown note taking on apple devices, organising notes with nested hashtags rather than folders, exporting notes to pdf, docx, html or epub. Of those, markdown note taking on apple devices and organising notes with nested hashtags rather than folders are not what Rows is typically brought in for.
- What can Bear Notes do that Rows cannot?
- Bear Notes covers Markdown-based notes, Powerful tag system, Rich text formatting, Image support. Rows covers Integrations in formulas, Scheduled refresh, Publishable sheets, Cell enrichment.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Bear Notes: How much does Bear Pro cost per month or year?
Bear Pro costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. Annual subscribers receive a 15% discount compared to monthly pricing.
SourceRows: Can it replace Excel or Google Sheets?
Not for general spreadsheet work. It is for reports and sheets that pull live data, and most teams end up running it alongside a conventional spreadsheet rather than instead of one.
Bear Notes: Does Bear offer a free trial before committing to a subscription?
Yes, Bear Pro includes a 7-day free trial with no credit card required.
SourceRows: What can I actually do on the free plan?
Real building: unlimited members, ten integration accounts, five AI tasks a month, 1 MB imports, three guests and seven days of version history. What you cannot do is schedule a refresh.
Bear Notes: What export formats are available with Bear Pro?
Bear Pro subscribers can export notes in multiple formats including TXT, Markdown, TextBundle, RTF, PDF, JPG, HTML, DOCX, and ePub.
SourceRows: Does the data stay live after I export?
No. Exports contain values only, so the connections and the scheduling do not travel and the file stops updating the moment it leaves.
Bear Notes: Can I sync my notes across devices with the free Bear plan?
No, iCloud sync is only available with Bear Pro. The free plan allows local note access but does not support cloud synchronization across devices.
SourceRows: Is pricing per user?
Yes on the paid tiers, with a fixed platform fee added at Pro. Guests are counted and capped separately from members.
Bear Notes: What features are included in the free Bear plan?
The free plan includes local note access, document scanning, limited export formats, 3 themes, and 1 app icon. PDF and image search requires Bear Pro.
SourceRelated pages
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- Rows vs OmniFocus 3
- Rows vs Todoist
- Rows vs Brain.fm
- Rows vs Ulysses
- Rows vs iA Writer
- Rows vs Capacities
- Rows vs Bluedot
- Rows vs Microsoft OneNote
- Rows vs Supernormal
- Rows vs Reflect
- Rows vs RemNote
- Rows vs Remember The Milk
- Rows vs Streaks
- Rows vs Structured
- Rows vs Tana
- Rows vs Time Doctor
- Rows vs RowShare
- Rows vs Mimestream
- Rows vs Google Slides
- Rows vs Alfred
- Rows vs Milanote
- Rows vs iLovePDF
- Rows vs Bluemail
- Rows vs Habitica
- Rows vs Lazy
- Rows vs LibreOffice
- Rows vs MeetGeek
- Rows vs Memberstack