Insight Timer is our top pick. Its free tier of more than 250,000 tracks is the biggest free library among the apps we compared, and it is the main product, not a sample. If you want an app that never asks you to pay, the non-profit apps Medito, Healthy Minds Program, Plum Village, and Smiling Mind are free all the way through. Headspace and Calm are paid apps: Headspace gives you the full app on a free trial, and Calm keeps a limited free sample.
Most meditation apps use the same model: a free sample, then a subscription to unlock the rest. A few do not. Some are run by non-profits and are free from start to finish, and Insight Timer gives away most of its library and charges only for extras. Here is what each app actually gives you without paying, checked against each company’s own site and help pages.
How the free tiers compare
| App | Best for | Price (annual) | Rating | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insight Timer | Most generous free tier | Free / $59.99 yr | 8.5 | iOS, Android, Web |
| Headspace | Full app on a 14-day trial | 14-day trial / $69.99 yr | 8.8 | iOS, Android, Web |
| Calm | Limited free sample | Limited / $69.99-$79.99 yr | 9.0 | iOS, Android, Web |
| Smiling Mind | Fully free non-profit option | Fully free | 7.8 | iOS, Android, Web |
Four apps on this list are free all the way through, with no subscription to unlock. Three of them are not yet scored on our rating framework, so they sit outside the rated table above. Here is how they compare at a glance:
| App | Who runs it | What it costs | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medito | Medito Foundation, a non-profit in the Netherlands | Free, no ads, no account needed | iOS, Android |
| Healthy Minds Program | Humin (formerly Healthy Minds Innovations), a nonprofit | Free, optional donations | iOS, Android |
| Plum Village | Plum Village monastic community, funded by donations | Free, no ads, no in-app purchases | iOS, Android, Web |
| Smiling Mind | An Australian not-for-profit | Free for individuals and families | iOS, Android, Web |
Insight Timer — the clear winner for free meditation
Insight Timer is our top pick because its free tier is the main product, not a teaser. The free version includes more than 250,000 guided meditations, talks, and music tracks from thousands of teachers, hundreds of free courses, live meditation and yoga classes, and a customizable meditation timer. Its help center says you can build a meaningful practice on the free offering alone, and that matches our hands-on use: you could meditate with it for years without paying.
The optional MemberPlus subscription costs $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds thousands more courses, offline downloads, higher-quality audio, and ad-free listening. Because Insight Timer lists ad-free listening as a MemberPlus perk, the free tier may include ads. The other trade-off is curation: the library is far less guided than Headspace or Calm, so finding teachers you like takes some browsing. Our guides to whether Insight Timer is free and Insight Timer Premium vs free cover the details.
Medito — free, non-profit, and no account needed
Medito is made by the Medito Foundation, a registered non-profit in the Netherlands. It is free with no trial, no premium tier, and no ads, and you do not even need to create an account. The app includes guided meditations, courses (including 30-day challenges), sleep stories, breathing exercises, and an unguided timer with ambient sounds, and its App Store listing notes offline downloads. It is on iPhone and Android, and its code is open source.
The trade-off is size. Medito offers hundreds of sessions rather than hundreds of thousands, and it runs on donations, so it will not match Insight Timer’s range. If you want a calm, ad-free app with clear courses and nothing to buy, Medito is the one to try first.
Healthy Minds Program — free, structured skill training
Healthy Minds Program comes from Humin, a nonprofit formerly called Healthy Minds Innovations. Humin was founded on the research of neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson and works with the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The app is free, with optional donations, and it is on iPhone and Android.
It is built as a training program rather than a library to browse. Guided meditations and short podcast-style lessons are organized around four pillars (awareness, connection, insight, and purpose), with up to 600 days of guided practice. That suits people who like a set path. If you would rather dip into whatever you feel like each day, Insight Timer or Medito will feel more open.
Plum Village — free meditations from Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition
The Plum Village app shares guided meditations, deep relaxations, and talks from Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village monastic community. Its App Store listing says it is free forever, with no ads or in-app purchases, and the app is supported by donations. You get more than 100 guided meditations, more than 300 video sessions and Q&As, 15 guided meditations for children, a meditation timer, a mindfulness bell, and offline downloads. It works on iPhone, Android, and the web.
The teaching comes from one Buddhist tradition, which is the point for many people. If you want strictly secular mindfulness practice, Healthy Minds Program or Medito may suit you better.
Smiling Mind — the genuinely free non-profit option
Smiling Mind is run by an Australian not-for-profit and has been free for individuals and families for more than 12 years. It has more than 700 sessions, with programs for children, teens, adults, families, and schools, and it works on iPhone, Android, and the web. The library is smaller than Insight Timer’s and the production is simpler than Calm or Headspace, but it is a credible free app and an especially good fit for families.
Headspace — best free trial for beginners
Headspace is a paid app with no real free tier. What it does offer is a free trial of the full app: 14 days when you choose the annual plan ($69.99 a year), or 7 days on the monthly plan. The trial turns into a paid subscription unless you cancel, so set a reminder. Its Basics course is one of the clearest structured introductions to meditation in any app, and the trial gives you time to try it properly.
Outside the trial, the library needs a subscription. Headspace’s help center points non-subscribers to its free YouTube channel, Radio Headspace, and articles instead. If you are brand new and deciding where to start, our guide to the best meditation app for beginners compares the options in more detail.
Calm — limited free sample
Calm’s free tier is a sample, but a bigger one than many people expect. Its help center lists more than 230 free meditations, 8 free sleep sessions including Sleep Stories, the first session of every program, and a Daily Calm preview. The rest of the library, including most Sleep Stories, is behind the Premium paywall.
If you want the full app, Calm offers a free trial of Premium (7 days when you start it in the iPhone app) that turns into a paid plan unless you cancel. On its own, the free tier works as a taster rather than a standalone app.
Are free meditation apps worth using?
Yes. For most people, a good free app is more than enough to build a meditation habit. As we explain in our meditation apps roundup, the right app is the one whose voice you want to keep listening to, and a free app you actually use is worth far more than a subscription you stop opening after a month.
The bigger question is not free versus paid but whether you will actually sit down and practice. Start free, build the habit, and only consider paying when the limits of a free tier are genuinely getting in your way.
The bottom line
For most people, Insight Timer is the best free meditation app: the free library is enormous and the timer is excellent. If you want an app that never asks for money, choose Medito for courses and sleep content, Healthy Minds Program for structured skill training, Plum Village for teaching in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition, or Smiling Mind for families. Headspace’s 14-day trial and Calm’s free sample are worth a look, but both are tasters of paid apps. Pick the one whose approach fits you and start meditating.
Sources
- Insight Timer help center: What free features does Insight Timer offer?
- Insight Timer help center: How much does Insight Timer cost?
- Medito Foundation: The Medito app
- Humin: Healthy Minds Program and other wellbeing tools
- Plum Village: Mindfulness on the App Store
- Smiling Mind: The Smiling Mind app
- Headspace help center: What’s included for free?
- Calm help center: What free content is available on the Calm app?