Open-source Bear alternatives

FSNotes is a native notes app for macOS and iOS built around the idea of owning your notes. Each note is stored as a portable Markdown or plain-text file rather than in a proprietary database, so the notes can be opened with any compatible app now or years later.

The app focuses on writing and quick retrieval. It handles several folders, external editors, sync through iCloud Drive or Dropbox, and Git backups if you want them, and connects ideas with tags and double-bracket links. Private notes can be protected with AES-256 encryption, and it renders code blocks, Mermaid diagrams and MathJax math. Search and navigation are designed to stay smooth across large note collections.

FSNotes is written in Swift and released under the MIT licence. The apps are sold through the App Store, and those purchases support continued development, while the source code is open. It suits Apple users who want local Markdown notes with sync through their own storage service.

Hubble is a free, open-source note-taking app that stores notes as Markdown and HTML files in a folder you control. It aims to feel familiar to people used to Notion or Apple Notes, with slash commands, Markdown shortcuts and support for file properties and frontmatter, while keeping everything as plain files.

A key idea is working alongside AI agents. You can point a coding agent at your notes folder, and Hubble reloads live as the agent edits files. Beyond text, the app can display HTML-based apps, so with the right skills installed an agent can turn a folder of notes into a table, a bookshelf or a map, depending on what you ask for.

Hubble ships as a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with signed builds on macOS and unsigned builds elsewhere. It is written in TypeScript and licensed under MIT, and it can be compiled from source with Node.js and pnpm. It suits people who keep their notes in Markdown and want an editor that works smoothly with AI coding agents.

WitNote is a lightweight, local-first Markdown companion for macOS and Windows. Its philosophy is to stay simple: open any local Markdown or text file or a folder instantly, write on the left, and see the rendered result on the right, with GitHub-flavored Markdown and LaTeX math supported. All files stay on your local disk. It is aimed at writers and note-takers who want a quiet, fast editor rather than a heavy workspace.

The AI element is deliberately modest. Rather than an intrusive agent, it works as an offline encyclopedia, translator and writing assistant, and the repository topics point to local models through Ollama. The README says the Apple versions have moved to a native Swift and SwiftUI architecture, available from the Mac App Store, with iOS and iPadOS versions still in development. The open-source edition for Windows and Linux continues as an Electron build.

Mac users who prefer the open-source build can compile it from source. The interface supports multiple languages, including English and Simplified Chinese. The repository metadata does not specify a license, so check the repository before reuse.

Lumen is a free, open-source note-taking app written in TypeScript. Instead of keeping notes in a proprietary database, it syncs with markdown files stored in a GitHub repository, so your notes remain plain text files that you own and can read with any other tool.

The repository topics describe it as local-first, personal knowledge management and zettelkasten software that works with git. It is released under the MIT license, and the project site is uselumen.com. The repository README is very brief, so any further detail is best checked on the project site.

TakeNote is a web-based note-taking app built specifically for developers. Rather than a WYSIWYG editor, it offers a plain-text, IDE-like writing environment with Markdown preview, syntax highlighting, and keyboard shortcuts for common tasks such as creating notes and categories.

Notes support linking to one another with a UUID syntax, drag-and-drop organization into categories or favorites, multi-cursor editing through CodeMirror, search across all notes or within a category, and on-the-fly formatting with Prettier. The public demo app at takenote.dev is a static site with no database: notes persist only in the browser's local storage, can be exported as a Markdown zip, and the app performs no tracking or analytics.

A hidden alternate version of the code includes a Node and Express server with GitHub OAuth integration, letting a self-hosted deployment back up notes to a private GitHub repository called takenote-data instead of relying on local storage alone. TakeNote is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license.