Softwr

Productivity · head to head

Bear vs Microsoft 365

Bear logo

Bear

Productivity

Markdown notes for Apple devices

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft 365 logo

Microsoft 365

Productivity

Subscription bundle of the Office applications with mail, storage, meetings and organisational identity

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Bear has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bear built for Apple hardware only, with no Windows, Android or web client; Microsoft 365 business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bear and Microsoft 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where Bear and Microsoft 365 differ
AttributeBearMicrosoft 365
Starting priceFree$7/month
Pricing modelfreemiumsubscription
Free tierYesNo

Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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

Nothing recorded that Microsoft 365 does not also cover.

Only in Microsoft 365

  • Office applications
  • Hosted services
  • Teams
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • OneDrive storage
  • Device management and endpoint protection
  • Purview compliance
  • Copilot

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bear

  • Note-taking with document scanningnot Microsoft 365
  • Cross-device note synchronizationnot Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

  • Any organisation that wants mail, documents, meetings and identity from one supplier on one bill.not Bear
  • A company standardising on single sign-on, where Entra ID becomes the account other services authenticate against.not Bear
  • Regulated work that needs retention, legal hold and eDiscovery across mail and documents, provided the tier that includes them is actually bought.not Bear
  • A household that needs installed Office applications on several machines rather than browser-only editing.not Bear

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bear

  • Built for Apple hardware only, with no Windows, Android or web client
  • Free tier is limited to 3 themes, 1 app icon and restricted export formats; iCloud sync requires Bear Pro
  • Bear Pro is $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year after a 7 day free trial

Microsoft 365

  • Business plans are capped at 300 seats, so an organisation that grows past that must move to Enterprise plans, which changes both the price per user and the feature mix at the moment it can least afford a migration project.
  • The compliance capabilities most organisations eventually need, including retention, data loss prevention, advanced eDiscovery and insider risk, sit at the top tier or in add-ons, so the real cost surfaces after an audit or a customer questionnaire rather than at purchase.
  • Annual term subscriptions commit you for the year and month-to-month terms cost measurably more per seat, so the flexibility to reduce seats during a quiet period is bought at a permanently higher rate.
  • Entra ID becomes the identity for everything else the organisation uses, which is the hardest kind of lock-in to put a number on, because leaving means re-federating every connected application rather than simply replacing a word processor.
  • The licensing model is complicated enough that most organisations are either over-licensed or quietly non-compliant, and reconciling it usually requires a partner or a specialist, which is a recurring cost that never appears in the advertised per-user figure.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bear

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Local note access
    • Document scanning
    • PDF, image, text, markdown, HTML, DOCX, ePub export
  • Pro$2.99/month
    • All free features plus 28+ themes
    • 15 app icons
    • PDF and image search across notes
  • Pro$29.99/year
    • All free features plus 28+ themes
    • 15 app icons
    • PDF and image search across notes

Microsoft 365

$7/month
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7/month
    • Email and calendar with 50 GB mailbox
    • Web and mobile versions of Office apps
    • Microsoft Teams included
  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14/month
    • Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
    • Email and Teams
    • 1 TB cloud storage per user
  • Microsoft 365 E5$60/month
    • Comprehensive security and compliance
    • All productivity apps
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Bear if

  • You want to start without paying.
Bear review

Choose Microsoft 365 if

  • You need office applications.
  • You also want hosted services.
Microsoft 365 review

Questions people ask

Is Bear or Microsoft 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. Bear starts at Free and Microsoft 365 at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bear or Microsoft 365?
Bear has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Bear and $7/month for Microsoft 365.
Does Bear or Microsoft 365 run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Bear for free?
Yes. Bear has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Microsoft 365 starts at $7/month.
What is Bear best used for?
Bear is most often used for note-taking with document scanning, cross-device note synchronization. Of those, note-taking with document scanning and cross-device note synchronization are not what Microsoft 365 is typically brought in for.
What can Bear do that Microsoft 365 cannot?
Microsoft 365 covers Office applications, Hosted services, Teams, Microsoft Entra ID.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bear: Does Bear offer a free plan?

Yes, Bear has a free plan with local note access, document scanning, and export to multiple formats, but without iCloud sync or PDF/image search.

Source
Microsoft 365: What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office?

Office was a one-off licence for a specific version. Microsoft 365 is a subscription covering the applications and the hosted services together, and when payment stops the applications drop to a reduced state rather than continuing as they were.

Bear: How much does Bear Pro cost?

Bear Pro is $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. The yearly plan offers approximately 15% savings compared to monthly billing.

Source
Microsoft 365: Is Teams included?

Not automatically for newer customers. Microsoft unbundled Teams and now sells it alongside the suite, so check what a given quotation actually covers.

Bear: Is there a free trial for Bear Pro?

Yes, Bear Pro includes a 7-day free trial before charging begins.

Source
Microsoft 365: What happens to our files if we stop paying?

The documents remain yours and can be downloaded, but access to hosted mailboxes and sites ends after a retention window, so leaving requires a planned export rather than a cancellation.

Microsoft 365: Is Copilot part of the subscription?

No. It is a per-user add-on on top of the base licence, generally with its own term commitment, and it is priced per seat regardless of how much any individual uses it.

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