Calm vs Headspace (2026): Which App Is Better, and a Free Option

Calm vs Headspace at a glance

Sources: each app's App Store and Google Play listings, Headspace's plans page and the papers listed at the end. Trial counts are from an independent review that searched up to May 2021.

Calm: what it is and who it suits

Calm is a meditation and sleep app known for its Sleep Stories: bedtime stories for adults, read by well-known voices. Its App Store listing counts more than 100 of them, alongside sleep music, nature sounds and soundscapes.

For daytime practice it has the Daily Calm, a daily guided session, plus 7- and 21-day programmes for building a habit, breathing exercises and Daily Move stretching. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Android.

Calm suits you if you mostly want to switch off in the evening and like a soft, story-led style. Its listing says the app has no ads, and that some programmes and features stay free, with the rest in a paid subscription.

What are the downsides of Calm?

• Its web plans page shows no monthly plan, only a yearly one (and a lifetime plan in the UK), so you pay for a year at a time there. A monthly price may appear in the app.
• The 7-day trial is shown as a temporary offer on that page, so it may change.
• Its research is thinner. An independent 2022 review found one randomised trial of Calm, against 14 of Headspace.

Headspace: what it is and who it suits

Headspace is built for learning to meditate. Its meditation section starts with Basics, an introductory series whose first session is five minutes, and the app has more than 500 guided meditations, some as short as three minutes. Its sleep section has sleepcasts (long, calm audio stories), wind-downs, sleep music and SOS sessions for waking in the night.

The app has grown beyond meditation. Its US App Store listing also covers focus music, mindful movement, mental health coaching, therapy through some employers and insurers, and an AI companion called Ebb. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android.

What are the downsides of Headspace?

• There is no ongoing free plan on its pricing page, only a 7-day or 14-day trial.
• Coaching, therapy, workouts and an AI companion make it a big app. That suits some people. If you only want to meditate, much of it will go unused.
• Some of its store claims are stronger than the studies behind them. See the claims table below.

Calm vs Headspace for sleep

Both apps have a large sleep library, so this comes down to style. Calm's Sleep Stories are its best-known feature: bedtime stories for adults, read by well-known voices. Headspace's sleepcasts are stories too, which Headspace describes as taking your mind to tranquil places, and it adds wind-down sessions and SOS sessions for waking in the middle of the night.

We found no trial comparing the two for sleep, so there is no fair way to say one works better. If you like being read to, try Calm. If you want a guided wind-down routine, try Headspace. If poor sleep goes on for weeks, an app is not the first step. For ongoing sleep problems, CBT-I (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) is the recommended first treatment. Ask your GP.

Calm vs Headspace for stress and anxiety

Both apps market themselves for stress and anxiety, and both have trials behind them. Most of those trials are small and were run in people without a diagnosed condition, and many have ties to the companies.

• Headspace. In Headspace's own 2018 trial, 69 healthy adults new to meditation did 10 sessions of an introductory course or listened to an audiobook about mindfulness in the same app. The meditation group reported less irritability, better mood and less stress from outside pressure. All four authors worked at Headspace.
• Calm. In a 2019 trial of Calm, 88 full-time university students with elevated stress used Calm for 8 weeks, aiming for 10 minutes a day. They reported lower stress than a waiting-list group, and the difference held at 12 weeks. The lead author became Calm's Director of Science about a year after the study.
• Across both. An independent 2022 review found 14 randomised trials of Headspace and 1 of Calm up to May 2021. Results for stress and anxiety were mixed, most trials were too small to pick up small or medium effects, and half the Headspace trials reported a tie to the company, most often free premium access.

Zoom out to meditation apps in general and the picture is similar. A 2021 meta-analysis of 34 trials with 7,566 people found small to moderate improvements in stress and anxiety scores compared with control groups. Its authors say to read the results carefully because of the small number of studies, uncertain risk of bias and differences between them.

So, does Headspace work? For everyday stress in healthy adults, the trials point to a modest, short-term benefit. The same is true of Calm, with fewer trials. Most of the trials did not include people with a diagnosed anxiety disorder.

Their claims, checked

Here is what each app's store listing says, word for word, and what we found.

Calm's later trials, on sleep in 2021 and in a workplace in 2022, declare ties to Calm: a consulting role for the lead author in 2021, and a salary and shares for two of the authors in 2022. The authors say the salary and shares do not depend on the results.

How much do Calm and Headspace cost?

Headspace's prices are from its plans page and its US App Store listing, which states them. Calm's prices are from its web plans page, read in a browser on 16 Oct 2026. That page offers a yearly plan and, in the UK, a lifetime plan, with a 7-day free trial that Calm shows as a temporary offer, so it may change. It has no monthly plan. A monthly price may appear in the app: the US and UK App Store listings show in-app prices from $14.99 to $79.99 and £13.49 to £49.99, but do not say which plan each price is for. We re-check every quarter, next by 16 Jan 2027.

A free option

NSDR.co's library has free guided sessions of non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) and yoga nidra. NSDR is a guided rest practice: you lie down and follow a voice through a body scan and slow breathing, without falling asleep. Most sessions run 10 to 30 minutes. Start with the NSDR sessions, or try a short breathing exercise like the one above.

It is not a like-for-like swap. NSDR is a different practice from the mindfulness meditation in Calm and Headspace, and the library has no Sleep Stories, no courses and no daily session. The research on NSDR itself is early. Four small trials have tested it, with mixed results. Free to use, always a free plan.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Calm if sleep is the main reason you want an app and you like being read to.
• Choose Headspace if you want to learn meditation from the ground up, or want focus music, workouts or coaching in one place.
• Try both free if you cannot decide: Calm's 7-day trial and Headspace's 7- or 14-day trial. Keep whichever one you open without being reminded.
• Start free if money is tight or you are not sure you will keep it up.

A Reddit thread that ranks near the top of Google for this question is titled "Calm vs Headspace vs Free videos on youtube". It is a fair question. Free guided meditations online cost nothing to test, and a few weeks of them will tell you whether a daily habit sticks before you pay for one.

FAQ

Sources

Prices and ratings checked 16 Oct 2026. NSDR.co is not affiliated with Calm or Headspace.

1. Headspace plans page, headspace.com/subscriptions (UK prices, checked 16 Oct 2026)
2. Headspace sleep page, headspace.com/sleep (checked 16 Oct 2026)
3. Headspace on the US App Store (US prices and rating, checked 16 Oct 2026)
4. Headspace on the UK App Store (checked 16 Oct 2026)
5. Headspace on Google Play (checked 16 Oct 2026)
6. Calm web plans page, calm.com/freetrial/plans (read in a browser, 16 Oct 2026)
7. Calm on the US App Store (in-app prices, rating, checked 16 Oct 2026)
8. Calm on the UK App Store (in-app prices, checked 16 Oct 2026)
9. Calm on Google Play (checked 16 Oct 2026)
10. Huberty J et al. (2019). Efficacy of the mindfulness meditation mobile app "Calm" to reduce stress among college students: randomized controlled trial. JMIR mHealth and uHealth 7(6):e14273
11. Huberty JL et al. (2021). Randomised controlled trial of the Calm app in adults with sleep disturbance. PLoS One 16(1):e0244717
12. Huberty JL et al. (2022). Testing the pragmatic effectiveness of a consumer-based mindfulness mobile app in the workplace: randomized controlled trial. JMIR mHealth and uHealth. PMID 36169991
13. Economides M et al. (2018). Improvements in stress, affect, and irritability following brief use of a mindfulness-based smartphone app: a randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness 9(5):1584-1593
14. O'Daffer A et al. (2022). Efficacy and conflicts of interest in randomized controlled trials evaluating Headspace and Calm apps: systematic review. JMIR Mental Health 9(9):e40924
15. Gál É, Ștefan S, Cristea IA (2021). The efficacy of mindfulness meditation apps in enhancing users' well-being and mental health related outcomes: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Affective Disorders 279:131-142
16. Insight Timer on the US App Store (checked 16 Oct 2026)