The best meditation apps, compared: Calm vs Headspace, Waking Up, Insight Timer and free picks

Short answer: Headspace teaches beginners through short step-by-step courses and now adds coaching and therapy; Calm leads with sleep; Waking Up pairs meditation with theory and offers scholarships; Insight Timer has the largest free library; and Medito, the Healthy Minds Program and UCLA Mindful are free in full. Trials of these apps show small benefits for stress, anxiety and depression, and most people stop using an app within weeks, so start free and pay once you know you will use it. An app is not treatment. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.

Meditation app prices and free tiers (as of October 28, 2026)

App	Price on the maker’s site	Free trial	Free version
Headspace	$69.99 a year or $12.99 a month	14 days (yearly) or 7 days (monthly)	Previews only
Calm	$79.99 a year, or $499.99 once for life; family plan $119.99 a year for up to 6 adults	7 days	Some programs and a few Sleep Stories
Waking Up	$129.99 a year or $19.99 a month; full or partial scholarships	7 days	None, but scholarships on request
Insight Timer	Free; optional subscription US$60 a year	7 days	Large free library and a timer
Happier Meditation (formerly Ten Percent Happier)	$99.99 a year or $14.99 a month	Not stated	A few courses and about 50 meditations
Balance	$69.99 a year, $11.99 a month or $399.99 for life (App Store)	Yes	None stated
Medito	Free	Not needed	Everything
Healthy Minds Program	Free, funded by donations	Not needed	Everything
UCLA Mindful	Free	Not needed	Everything
Smiling Mind	Free	Not needed	Everything
YouTube	Free with ads	Not needed	Everything, with ads

Prices are each maker’s own US price on October 28, 2026. Prices inside the iPhone app can be higher (Waking Up charges $149.99 a year there). Most free trials turn into a paid plan unless you cancel, and Calm’s in-app trials default to a yearly plan, so set a reminder.

Calm vs Headspace: what each app is built for

Headspace starts beginners on Basics: three courses of 10 short sessions each, which its help center encourages new users to finish first. It has since grown into a mental health service. Alongside meditation and sleep content, the app offers text-based coaching, an AI chat companion called Ebb and, in the US, therapy with licensed providers. Headspace’s own terms say its meditation, sleep and coaching content “should not be considered health care”.

Calm puts sleep first. Sleep Stories, soundscapes and sleep music sit alongside guided meditations, and beginners can start with 7 Days of Calm and then 21 Days of Calm. The free version is limited to some programs and a few Sleep Stories.

No trial has compared Calm and Headspace head to head, for anxiety, sleep or anything else.

Waking Up and Happier Meditation: meditation with the why

Waking Up, created by Sam Harris, pairs guided practice with lessons on the theory behind it. It describes its approach as rational and secular and draws on teachers from Zen, Vipassana, Dzogchen and Advaita. Anyone who cannot afford the $129.99 yearly price can request a full or partial scholarship, with no proof of income, and the company refunds members who do not find it valuable.

Happier Meditation (formerly Ten Percent Happier) began in 2015, when news anchor Dan Harris joined the founders of an existing app and relaunched it as Ten Percent Happier; it took its current name in 2024. Its teachers include Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, and it describes its style as practical and plain-spoken, with core practices drawn from Buddhism. It runs on phones, tablets and Apple Watch, not in a web browser.

Insight Timer and free meditation apps without a subscription

Insight Timer says it has more than 300,000 free tracks (meditations, music and talks) from about 20,000 teachers, plus a free meditation timer. With that much choice, a structured course is an easy way in: its free Learn How To Meditate In Seven Days is one. The optional subscription (US$60 a year) adds thousands of multi-day courses, offline listening and an advanced player.

If you want no paywall at all, four apps give everything away: Medito, run by a registered charity, with no account needed; the Healthy Minds Program, from the nonprofit Humin (formerly Healthy Minds Innovations), funded by donations; UCLA Mindful, from UCLA Health; and Smiling Mind, from an Australian not-for-profit. YouTube is free too, but ads can break into a session unless you pay for Premium.

Do meditation apps work? What trials of these apps found

The apps themselves have been tested in randomized trials. A 2024 meta-analysis of 45 trials found that mindfulness apps reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety by a small amount compared with control groups (Linardon, Clinical Psychology Review, 2024). Three examples:

• Headspace: among 2,182 NHS staff in England, Headspace reduced stress more than a comparison app, with small effects (Taylor, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2022).
• Calm: 88 stressed college students who were asked to meditate with Calm at least 10 minutes a day for 8 weeks reported lower stress than a waitlist group (Huberty, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2019).
• Healthy Minds Program: among 662 school employees, four weeks of the app reduced psychological distress compared with a waitlist (Hirshberg, Journal of Educational Psychology, 2022).

Three limits apply. The effects are small, and most trials compared an app with a waitlist rather than with another treatment; against active treatments, the 2024 meta-analysis found no significant difference, from few studies. Many trials are linked to the companies: a review found half of 14 Headspace trials reported a tie to Headspace (O’Daffer, JMIR Mental Health, 2022), and the Calm trials were led by a researcher who became Calm’s director of science. And whether an app alone matches an in-person course is not settled: in one trial with 211 public-sector employees, Smiling Mind’s app alone produced no significant change, while the app plus four classes gave small benefits (Bartlett, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2022).

Most people do not keep going. Across 93 popular mental health apps, a median of 3.3% of users were still active 30 days after installing (Baumel, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2019), and half of new Medito users used it for 16 minutes or less in their first month (Adams, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2026).

How long should you meditate with an app?

Ten minutes a day is a reasonable start: it is the daily dose in most of the Calm and Headspace trials above. Researchers have not settled the best dose (Riordan, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2024). In one large observational study of Insight Timer users, practicing on most days of the week predicted more improvement than longer sessions did; its lead author works for Insight Timer (Cearns, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2023).

Do meditation apps help with sleep?

The better evidence is for meditation practice, not bedtime stories. Adults with sleep problems who meditated with Calm at least 10 minutes a day for 8 weeks reported less daytime fatigue and sleepiness than a waitlist group (Huberty, PLOS ONE, 2021), and university staff who used Headspace 10 minutes a day reported better sleep quality (Torok, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2026). A 2026 trial of bedtime stories and sleep sounds in another app found no clear benefit over a control (Vazzaz, Sleep, 2026). NCCIH says mindfulness meditation may help reduce insomnia and improve sleep quality. If insomnia lasts, talk with a clinician, and see our guide on whether a sauna or cold plunge before bed helps you sleep for a non-app option.

Is meditation safe? When an app is not enough

Meditation is usually considered low risk, but NCCIH notes that few studies have looked for harms, so “it isn’t possible to make definite statements about safety.” Difficult experiences are not rare. In a US population survey, 32.3% of people who had meditated reported an unwanted effect, 10.6% some impairment in daily life and 1.2% impairment lasting a month or more (Goldberg, Psychotherapy Research, 2022). In a review of 83 studies, 8.3% of participants had an adverse event, most often anxiety or depression (Farias, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2020). In two trials of the Healthy Minds Program app, people with more depression or anxiety at the start reported more difficult experiences, although rates were similar whether or not they did the meditations (Beloborodova, JMIR Mental Health, 2026).

• Meditation is not a substitute for care. NCCIH advises: “Don’t use meditation or mindfulness to replace conventional care or as a reason to postpone seeing a health care provider about a medical problem.”
• If you have a mental health condition, talk with your clinician before you start. Headspace’s own terms give the same advice.
• If it makes you feel worse, stop. The NHS notes that mindfulness is not right for everyone and can make some people feel worse.
• If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, at any hour. In an emergency, call 911.

Meditation or breathwork: which calms you faster?

If your goal is to calm down quickly rather than to train attention over months, a breathing exercise may work faster: in a month-long randomized study, five minutes a day of cyclic sighing, which stresses long exhales, improved mood more than five minutes of mindfulness meditation (Balban, Cell Reports Medicine, 2023). Our comparison of meditation vs breathwork covers which suits which goal.

FAQ: meditation apps

What is the best meditation app for beginners? Pick by what you need. Headspace’s Basics courses teach step by step, Calm starts beginners on 7 Days of Calm, Insight Timer has a free seven-day course, and Medito is free in full. Start with a free app or a trial before you pay.

Is there a completely free meditation app? Yes. Medito, the Healthy Minds Program, UCLA Mindful and Smiling Mind charge nothing for their full libraries. Insight Timer’s library is free, with an optional subscription for courses and offline listening.

Is Headspace free? Not beyond previews. Headspace costs $69.99 a year after a 14-day free trial, or $12.99 a month after a 7-day trial (as of October 28, 2026). Some employers offer it as a workplace benefit.

Is Calm free? Partly. Calm is free to download, with some free programs and a few Sleep Stories; the full library costs $79.99 a year on Calm’s site (as of October 28, 2026), or $499.99 once for life. Calm’s help center says some people get access through an employer or through partners such as AARP and Kaiser Permanente.

How much does Waking Up cost, and can I get it free? $129.99 a year or $19.99 a month on its site, and more inside the iPhone app ($149.99 a year), as of October 28, 2026. Anyone who cannot afford it can request a full or partial scholarship, with no proof of income.

Is Calm or Headspace better for anxiety? No trial has compared them. Each has trials showing small drops in stress or anxiety against a comparison group, and Headspace now also offers coaching and therapy. For an anxiety disorder, an app is not a substitute for treatment.

Can a meditation app replace therapy? No. Headspace’s own terms say its meditation content “should not be considered health care”, and NCCIH advises against using meditation in place of care. Headspace also sells therapy with licensed providers, which is a separate clinical service.

The bottom line on meditation apps

Choose the app that fits why you want to meditate, start with a free app or a trial, and expect small, real benefits if you keep practicing. Most people stop within weeks, so building the habit matters more than which app you pick. If meditation makes you feel worse, stop and talk with a clinician; in a crisis, call or text 988.