Getting started in both feels totally different
When I first opened Amplenote, it hit me with tags, tasks, backlinks, and this sort of weird hybrid layout that felt more like Notion had snuck into my plain journal. Bear, on the other hand, felt like a coffee shop pen pal — minimal, focused, and tonally warm. Bear’s sidebar has a tag-based structure too, but because the UI is truly minimal (no multi-pane nonsense unless you open a note in a separate window), it doesn’t overwhelm right away.
But here’s what totally messed with me: I started writing a 3,000-word blog draft in Bear and got super into it… until I realized I couldn’t set reminders or multi-step tasks inside the note. With Amplenote, you can go full GTD while writing — meaning you can turn any bullet into a task, date it, and have it show up in your task view instantly. That alone made me say “ohhh” louder than expected 🙂
I’d say this upfront — if your brain likes simplicity and you’re manually tracking your outline and deadlines anyway, Bear’s the cleaner way to go. But if you need a little chaos coordination while writing (e.g. deciding which section to finish later, or linking between outlines), Amplenote’s unique layout actually starts to make sense the longer you survive in it.
Writing experience when working on long drafts
So here’s where things got real weird. I tried importing a novella-sized markdown file into both apps to see which one would choke first. Bear opened it like a champ — buttery smooth scrolling, no UI lag even when jumping sections. Amplenote… well… it didn’t crash, but there was noticeable lag every time I tried jumping around with backlinks or switching from writing mode to task view.
And the writing modes themselves are super different:
– Bear gives you a delightful markdown editor with subtle formatting cues. It’s fast, distraction-free, and honestly just feels good to type in. Kind of like writing in a Moleskine that automatically formats headers.
– Amplenote has what they call Jots, Notes, and Tasks. Jots are for quick thoughts, but if you write long-form inside a Note, you’ll hit the formatting limit ceiling a few times. The toolbar hides behind a click, and code blocks sometimes glitch unless formatted perfectly.
And don’t even get me started on copy-pasting a large section from a Word doc — Bear stripped the styles cleanly and preserved line breaks. Amplenote added extra spaces around numbered lists, so I spent 20 minutes cleaning it. Not ideal.
Linking and organizing big writing projects
Amplenote lives and dies by the link. And in theory, linking your thoughts like a wiki should help with complex world-building or writing research. But here’s what snagged me: cross-linking only works smoothly if you’ve used consistent titles. I had a note called “Chapter One Draft” and another called “1st Chapter” — Amplenote didn’t suggest them as the same thing. So I had to manually relink a bunch of stuff — ugh.
Bear doesn’t have backlinks, but guess what? The tag system functionally works like folders, and they’re easier to see visually. I just dumped everything related to my novel into #novelproject and sorted drafts with nested tags like #novelproject/drafts. It sounds boring, but it worked. I never lost track of my writing.
If you’re the type who outlines obsessively and builds wiki-level lore for your stories, fine — Amplenote will bend to your will (eventually). But for linear long-form writing, Bear’s tag system and smooth sidebar make it easier to stay on task. No digging through link previews. No accidental double entries prompting you to rename your own content. 😛
Task management inside your writing process
This was the dealbreaker for me the first time I tried to consolidate everything into one app. Bear has no built-in tasks. You can pretend with checklists, but they won’t notify you, they don’t appear outside that page, and they don’t sync to your calendar. It’s just dead ASCII.
Amplenote, though? You can bring in tasks straight into your note — and those tasks can be assigned dates, marked urgent, and filtered in your agenda view. I literally wrote a blog post inside Amplenote with tasks like:
“`
– [ ] Fix intro tone
– [ ] Add link to API example
– [ ] Schedule for next Friday
“`
Then I switched views, dragged the same tasks onto my weekly calendar, and instantly felt like I had my life together. That illusion lasted 2 hours, but yo — two solid hours. 🙂
Is it overkill? Sometimes. I kept adding random notes as tasks and ended up with like 14 ideas showing up every morning. But when you’re trying to finish a full-length script, having due dates *inside* your writing feels way better than toggling between Todoist and your draft.
Syncing notes between devices and workflows
Bear uses iCloud. That’s great if you live in the Apple ecosystem and terrible if you use Android. I tried accessing my Bear notes on a friend’s Chromebook once — total no-go. There are no web or Windows versions. If your Mac dies, and your iCloud sync fails — that note is toast.
Amplenote wins here by being fully cross-platform. I wrote half a blog post on my phone while walking the dog and finished it on my browser later that night. No issues, no sync delays. Just opened the same Note, kept going.
But here’s the annoying bit — Amplenote’s mobile editor is cramped. If you’ve got a smaller screen, forget outlining long documents. You’ll be scrolling blindly.
Also — I did a weird test where I intentionally wrote two versions of the same note offline (one on phone, one on PC) then reconnected to see how it resolves conflicts. Amplenote just… kept both. No merging. No alert. So I had two versions called “Morning Draft” with no way to tell which was current. That broke me slightly.
Search and recall when working from older drafts
Bear has insanely fast note search. Like, seriously. Typing part of the title or even a half-remembered paragraph will bring up useful previews almost instantly. I found an old haiku I wrote in 2020 by typing “raspberry air” — not a tag, just memory. It surfaced immediately.
Amplenote’s search has more filters — you can sort by tag, age, pinned status — but it somehow feels slower and more rigid. Plus, if your title isn’t accurate or your tagging is inconsistent, you’re screwed.
I did a comparison:
– Searched “meeting cliffhanger” in Bear — found the transcript snippet I mentioned last year.
– Same search in Amplenote? No dice. Turns out I had used the word “plot twist” instead. No fuzzy match.
If you stick to rigid naming conventions, Amplenote will serve you fine. But if you’re like me and barely remember what day it is, Bear’s looser vibe makes resurfacing old content less painful.
Exporting and backing up finished work
This is surprisingly important considering how often I forget to export stuff before switching tools. Bear nailed this. You can export a note or set of notes as plain text, markdown, rich text, or even PDF — and they look clean every time. I downloaded five chapters, zipped them, and sent them to my editor. Done.
Amplenote? Hmm. You can export, but it’s buried in the UI. And when you output long-form content that had embedded tasks, I noticed artifacts — like extra metadata or weird line breaks. It’s usable, but if you’re trying to send a clean manuscript to someone else, it needs a cleanup pass.
Also — and I’m gonna yell this because it caught me off guard — Amplenote exports don’t currently include embedded images. So if you planned a visual-rich article inside it, you’re manually re-adding those images later. Why tho ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Customization and general feel as a writing space
Bear wins this one with zero effort. You get beautiful themes, custom typography, and a writing environment that doesn’t scream “I am also a calendar.” When I switch to typewriter mode in Bear with the Dusk theme on, writing feels like a treat. It’s just me and the page.
Amplenote is cleaner than Roam or Logseq in terms of layout, but it still feels like it was built to manage data, not feelings. The default font is fine. The themes are… okay? But it never feels cozy. More like hacking a second brain than telling a story.
Good writing apps get out of the way. Bear does that. Amplenote sometimes tries to help *too much* — like when its smart date parser tries turning part of your dialogue (“She muttered on March first”) into a task.