What's the difference between bear spray and regular pepper spray?

Bear spray is an EPA-registered deterrent designed to discharge a wide fog cloud at long range (typically 25 to 40 feet) with a large volume canister, so a fleeing person can create a barrier between themselves and a charging animal. Regular pepper spray ships in much smaller canisters with a tighter stream meant for close-range human self-defense. Several products in our pool (compact OC sprays and pepper gels) are not bear spray and were excluded from this ranking.