Apps Like Calm: Best Calm Alternatives, Free and Paid

Calm is the highest-rated meditation app on Mindkindly, at 9.0 out of 10 in our Calm review. So looking for an alternative is rarely about Calm being bad. It is usually about something more specific: the price, a free version that feels thin, wanting more structure, or wanting teaching with more depth.

Each of the other strong apps does one of those things better than Calm. Below, we match each reason to the app that answers it. Every app here already has a Mindkindly rating, based on hands-on use against our five-criterion framework, and every price was checked on the company’s own website, help center, or app store listing in October 2026.

The best Calm alternatives at a glance

Prices are US annual prices before any discount. Waking Up’s price is from its US App Store listing.

What you would be replacing

It helps to know exactly what Calm costs and includes before you switch. Calm Premium is $16.99 a month, or $69.99 to $79.99 a year depending on where you buy; Calm’s help center notes that in-app prices can differ from its website prices. A family plan for up to six adults costs $119.99 a year, and a $499.99 lifetime membership is sold only on Calm’s website. New subscribers get a 7-day free trial when they start it in the app.

Without paying, Calm’s help center lists more than 230 free meditations, 8 free sleep sessions, the first session of every multi-day program, and a preview of the Daily Calm. Most Sleep Stories, the full Daily Calm, and the masterclasses need Premium. If you are still deciding whether the subscription earns its price, our guide to whether Calm is worth it does the math.

Apps like Calm with sleep stories

This is the one area where there is no true replacement. Sleep Stories, the bedtime stories for adults narrated by famous voices such as Matthew McConaughey and Stephen Fry, are Calm’s own, and its App Store listing labels them “only on Calm.” If they are the main reason you open the app each night, Calm is probably still the right subscription.

If you want bedtime content more broadly, each alternative has some:

• Headspace includes sleepcasts, sleep meditations, and sleep sounds in its subscription.
• Insight Timer lists sleep tracks, sleep music, and ambient soundscapes among its free features, so you can try them without paying.
• Balance has sleep meditations, Sleep Sounds, and a guided Wind Down activity for the end of the day.
• Happier includes Sleep sessions alongside its meditation courses.

Waking Up has meditations for sleep too, though sleep is not its focus.

Calm alternatives for beginners

Headspace is the best choice if you are new to meditation and found Calm’s huge library hard to navigate. Rather than leaving you to browse a catalog, it points new users to the Basics: three courses of 10 sessions each. Sessions in the first course can be set to 3, 5, or 10 minutes, and Headspace encourages you to finish all three levels, though it is not required, before exploring its courses on stress, focus, sleep, and more.

Headspace costs $12.99 a month with a 7-day free trial, or $69.99 a year with a 14-day free trial. That annual price matches the low end of Calm’s range, so switching will not cost you more. At 8.8, it is also our highest-rated alternative.

Balance suits beginners who would rather the app decide what to do. Each day you answer questions about your experience, goals, and preferences, and Balance assembles a guided meditation from its audio library. The sessions are organized into 10-day Plans, with a Foundations Plan for new meditators and an Advanced Plan for people who already practice. After a free trial, it costs $11.99 a month or $69.99 a year, on iPhone and Android.

The best free app like Calm

Insight Timer is the answer if you want an app like Calm without a subscription. Its help center lists more than 300,000 guided meditation, sleep, breathing, and mindfulness practices among its free features, along with hundreds of free courses, live meditation and yoga classes, and a customizable meditation timer. You do not need a credit card to sign up.

The optional MemberPlus subscription costs $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Insight Timer says new subscriptions typically begin with a 7-day free trial of the annual plan. It adds the full library of courses, offline downloads, ad-free listening, and thousands of premium tracks. The trade-off for all that free content is curation: quality varies between teachers, and finding voices you like takes some browsing. Our Insight Timer review covers it in full.

Happier has a smaller but useful free account. Its website says a free account includes three courses (Unlearn to Meditate, The Basics, and The Dalai Lama’s Guide to Happiness) plus more than 50 guided meditations. That is enough to learn the basics before deciding whether to pay.

Calm’s own free tier is also worth using before you leave. For apps that are free all the way through, including non-profit apps, see our guide to the best free meditation apps.

Cheaper alternatives to Calm

Calm’s annual plan is closer in price to the others than its reputation suggests. At $69.99 to $79.99 a year, it costs the same as or a little more than Headspace and Balance at $69.99, and two apps on this list cost more: Happier at $99.99 a year and Waking Up at $129.99 to $149.99. The real savings are in specific plans:

• Lowest paid plan: Insight Timer MemberPlus at $59.99 a year, and its free tier means you may never need it.
• Paying monthly: Calm is $16.99 a month. Headspace is $12.99, Balance $11.99, and Insight Timer $9.99.
• Students: Headspace’s Student Plan is $9.99 a year for verified students aged 18 and over in post-secondary programs.
• Families: Headspace’s family plan is $99.99 a year for up to six people, against Calm’s $119.99.
• Lifetime: Balance offers lifetime access for $399.99, against Calm’s $499.99.

If you would rather stay with Calm, check its website for an offer first: Calm says its discounts are based on the website price, not the app store price.

Apps like Calm for a more serious practice

Waking Up is the app for people who find Calm too soothing and want to understand what they are practicing and why. It was built by neuroscientist and author Sam Harris and takes a secular, rational approach. It starts with a 28-day Introductory Course designed for both beginners and experienced meditators, then opens into a large library of meditations, theory sessions, life courses, conversations, and Q&As, plus a customizable timer. It is more lecture than lullaby, which is exactly the appeal for some people.

It is also the most expensive app here. A yearly membership is $129.99 on Waking Up’s website, and its US App Store listing shows a yearly subscription at $149.99 and a monthly plan at $19.99. Its website offers a 7-day free trial, and Waking Up’s help center promises a full refund if you do not find it valuable. Waking Up also gives a free membership to anyone who cannot afford it: you request a scholarship and get full access.

Happier, formerly Ten Percent Happier and built in collaboration with the author Dan Harris, is a good middle ground. Its website says it mostly teaches Insight Meditation, with teachers who mostly have 10 or more years of teaching experience, and the tone is practical and plain-spoken rather than spa-like. The app has more than 500 guided meditations and videos and costs $99.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial when you sign up on its website.

Headspace alternatives too

Many people searching for apps like Calm are weighing Calm and Headspace together, and this list works in both directions. If you have tried Headspace and want something different, Calm is the obvious alternative, especially for bedtime content and a deeper library, and the rest of the list still applies.

For the two big apps head to head, see our Calm vs Headspace comparison. For the full ranked field, see our roundup of the best meditation apps of 2026.

How to switch without paying twice

Cancel where you subscribed. If you started Calm through Apple, Apple handles the billing, so you cancel in your iPhone’s subscription settings, not in the Calm app. Deleting an app does not cancel a subscription.

Know what each trial turns into. Calm’s in-app trial and Insight Timer’s trial both roll into annual plans. Headspace’s 14-day trial becomes an annual plan, and its 7-day trial becomes a monthly one. Waking Up’s website describes its membership as an annual subscription after the free trial. Set a reminder a couple of days before any trial ends.

Common questions

What is the best alternative to Calm? For most people it is Headspace. At $69.99 a year it costs no more than Calm’s annual plan, it is just as polished, and its Basics courses make it easier to start from scratch. If you want to pay nothing, choose Insight Timer instead.

Is there a free app like Calm? Yes. Insight Timer’s free version includes a library of more than 300,000 practices, hundreds of free courses, and a meditation timer, with no credit card needed. Calm and Happier also have free tiers, though both are smaller.

Does any other app have Sleep Stories? Not under that name. Sleep Stories are Calm’s own. Headspace has sleepcasts, and Insight Timer, Balance, and Happier all have sleep sessions, but none offers Calm’s catalog of stories read by famous narrators.

Which is cheaper, Calm or Headspace? On the annual plan they are close: Headspace is $69.99 a year, and Calm is $69.99 to $79.99 depending on where you buy. Headspace is cheaper monthly ($12.99 against $16.99) and for families ($99.99 against $119.99), and it has a $9.99-a-year plan for verified students.

Can I get Calm for free? Calm’s free tier includes more than 230 meditations and a few sleep sessions. Some people also get Premium through work, and Calm’s help center lists partner offers through companies such as Chase, AARP, and Kaiser Permanente, so check your benefits before paying.

The bottom line

Headspace is the best app like Calm for most people, especially beginners, and it costs no more than Calm on the annual plan. Insight Timer is the best free alternative by a wide margin. Waking Up is the pick for a deeper, more thoughtful practice, and Happier and Balance are good fits if you want a plainer voice or a plan built around you. If Sleep Stories are what you love about Calm, though, the honest answer is that nothing else quite replaces them.

Whichever you try, start with the free version or the trial, use it for a week, and keep the one whose voice you actually want to come back to.

Sources

• Calm help center: How to Check Calm Premium Subscription Pricing
• Calm help center: How a Free Trial via Apple Works
• Calm help center: Calm Family Plan: Price, Invites & How to Share Premium
• Calm help center: Calm Lifetime Membership Cost & Benefits
• Calm help center: Calm Lifetime Membership: Price, Upgrade Steps & Cancellation Warning
• Calm help center: Cancel Calm on iPhone: Apple Subscription Guide
• Calm help center: What Free Content is Available on the Calm App?
• Calm help center: Calm Premium vs. Free
• Calm on the App Store
• Headspace on the App Store
• Headspace help center: How do I purchase a Headspace subscription?
• Headspace help center: How do The Basics work and why are they there?
• Headspace: Family plan
• Headspace: Student plan
• Insight Timer help center: How much does Insight Timer cost?
• Insight Timer help center: What free features does Insight Timer offer?
• Insight Timer help center: How can I subscribe to Insight Timer?
• Waking Up: official website
• Waking Up: checkout (website yearly price)
• Waking Up on the App Store
• Waking Up on Google Play
• Waking Up help center: What’s Waking Up’s risk-free pricing policy?
• Happier Meditation: official website
• Happier Meditation on the App Store
• Balance on the App Store
• Balance on Google Play