Markdown Library ML-42 is a native macOS app for reading and editing markdown files already on disk, across as many folders and projects as you want, for $12.99 once.
Bear is a native Apple notes app that stores notes in its own database, with tagging, sketching, and iCloud sync as part of a $2.99-a-month Pro subscription.
| Question | ML-42 | Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | A sidebar of your folders, the document, and an inspector with the table of contents and a summary, ready on launch | Full notes app: tag sidebar, rich editor, sketching and OCR panels |
| Storage model | Plain .md files in your folders | SQLite database owned by the app; markdown-compatible syntax stored inside it |
| File ownership | Files exist on disk whether or not the app is installed | Notes live inside the app; getting them out means exporting (PDF, HTML, DOCX or markdown) or using a community script against the database |
| Works on existing folders and repos | Yes, that is the product | No. Notes are created inside Bear; import brings content into its database |
| Native or Electron | Native SwiftUI (Mac) | Also native Apple development; no Electron angle here |
| Platforms | macOS 26 or later, Mac only | Mac, iPhone and iPad, with well-regarded iOS apps |
| Sync | None built in. Your folders, your sync method | iCloud sync as a Pro feature, automatic, with support for Advanced Data Protection |
| Price model | $12.99 once (introductory; it will rise) | Free tier without sync; Pro is $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year |
| Track record | A new app | Apple Design Award winner and an App Store Editors' Choice, with years of refinement |
| Tags and organization | Folders and favorites: whatever structure your disk already has | Nestable hashtag tags with 250+ customizable icons, plus OCR search inside photos and PDFs (Pro) |
| AI-agent workflow | Agents edit the same files you see, and the app reloads them automatically | Agents can't easily write into Bear's database; automation is limited to x-callback-url and Shortcuts |
| Extra media features | Embedded local images; markdown focus | Sketching, document scanning, photo and PDF OCR |
| Learning curve | Minimal | Also minimal |
What you see when you open each app
Open ML-42 and it behaves like a native Mac window. You are reading the folder you pointed it at straight away, with no note to create first and no database to import into. The window has a sidebar of folders and files, the document, and an inspector.
Bear's interface is also native, polished and an Apple Design Award winner: a tag sidebar, a rich editor, sketching and OCR tools, all built around notes that live inside its own database. Both apps are well made. Bear packs an app's worth of note-taking features around your writing, while ML-42 stays a window over files that already exist outside it.
Where your notes actually live
Bear stores notes in a SQLite database inside its own app container, as opposed to individual files on disk. The syntax you type is markdown-compatible, and the storage underneath is a database that Bear's own developers discourage touching directly.
ML-42 works the other way: the files it shows you are plain markdown files in whatever folder you pointed it at, before and after you open the app. There is no database in between.
Getting your notes back out
To get content out of Bear, you export (PDF, HTML, DOCX or markdown, with richer formats reserved for Pro) or reach for one of the community scripts built to bulk-export the database to markdown files. That those scripts exist and are still maintained says something about the demand for a way out.
ML-42 has no export step, because there is nothing to export: the files are already on disk in the folder you opened, with or without ML-42 installed.
Two different jobs
Bear is a personal notes app: nestable hashtag tags, sketching, document scanning, and photo and PDF OCR search on Pro, backed by an Apple Design Award and years of refinement. ML-42 has none of that: no tags beyond your folder structure, no sketching, no OCR.
What ML-42 does instead is stay out of the way of files that already exist for other reasons: a git repo, a docs directory, the context files an AI agent reads and writes. Agents can write directly into those files and ML-42 picks up the change automatically; they cannot easily write into Bear's database at all.
ML-42 is a reader and editor for folders that exist for other reasons: repos, docs directories, agent context. If you are choosing a home for personal notes, Bear may simply be the better fit. ML-42 competes when the files already exist and need to stay where they are.
- You live on iPhone and iPad. Bear's iOS apps are well regarded, and ML-42 has no mobile version, by design.
- You want a polished notes app with no setup and automatic iCloud sync for about $30 a year.
- Your notes are personal thoughts more than project files, and Bear's tags, OCR and sketching fit a personal notebook better than a folder browser does.
- Your notes are already markdown files in a repo, a docs directory or another folder that exists for reasons beyond note-taking, and you want to read and edit them without moving them into an app's database.
- You want your files to keep existing on disk with or without the app installed, with no export step.
- You use AI agents or other tools that write to those same files, and want the reload to happen automatically.
Also compare: Obsidian, Typora and iA Writer. All four side by side are on the home page.
Markdown Library ML-42
A native Mac reader and editor for the markdown in your repos and docs folders. No import, no vault.
Download on theMac App Store$12.99 once. Introductory price. It goes up later.