bear alternatives for Mac
bear — Generate compilation database for clang tooling — is installed 806 times a month through Homebrew. These are hand-picked alternatives that occupy the same slot, ordered by how comparable their user base is.
Run
brew install bear to install bear itself.- Obsidian24.5× the installs
- Typora958 installs/mo
- Zotero2.1× the installs
- Craft7.6× smaller user base
- Joplin463 installs/mo
- Anytype4.6× smaller user base
- Logseq2.3× smaller user base
- Notion6.2× the installs
Full comparison
| bear | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | CLI tool | GUI app |
| Category | Data & Databases | Productivity |
| Open source | Yes | Not declared |
| Licence | GPL-3.0-or-later | Not declared |
| Apple silicon | All Macs (binary package) | Universal |
| Latest version | 4.2.3 | 1.14.5 |
| Dependencies | 0 | 0 |
| Installs (30 days) | 806 | 19,786 |
| Install command | brew install bear | brew install --cask obsidian |
How we picked these
The list comes from a hand-maintained set of same-purpose apps, not from keyword matching. Alternatives are removed automatically when Homebrew no longer carries them. Ordering reflects 30-day install volume, not paid placement. Data updated 2026-10-26.