The best meditation apps now cost almost the same, so price no longer separates them. Calm, Headspace, and Balance all charge $69.99 a year in the US. What separates them is what you get before you pay, and what you get after.
That gap is wide. One app gives away more than 300,000 free practices. One builds a new session for you every morning. One offers a free scholarship if you can’t afford it. Below, you’ll see which app fits which kind of meditator, with pricing taken from the official store listings and each app’s own pricing pages.
What Does a Meditation App Actually Do?
A meditation app plays guided audio that walks you through breathing, body scans, or focus practice. Most add sleep content, a meditation timer, streaks, and a log of mindful minutes. On iPhone, some of them save those minutes to Apple Health.
The better ones also teach. A good course explains why a technique works, so you can eventually practice without a voice in your ear. That matters, because the goal is a habit you keep, not a subscription you forget to cancel. These apps support stress and sleep habits, but they are not a substitute for professional care if you are struggling.
5 Best Meditation Apps for iPhone and Android
We compared current App Store and Google Play listings on price, free content, standout features, and platform support. Prices are US list prices at the time of writing and vary by region. This is a research-based comparison of store listings, each app’s own pricing pages, and published reviews. We did not test each app for weeks, so treat the trade-offs as what the listings and reviewers report.
1. Headspace
Headspace suits beginners who want a guided path, not a giant catalog to dig through. It lists 500+ guided meditations, from 3-minute resets to longer sessions, plus sleepcasts, focus music, and mindful movement.
The standout is the support layer around the meditations. Ebb, Headspace’s AI companion, recommends sessions based on how you feel. You can also reach a mental health coach or a licensed therapist, though those services cost extra and depend on your plan or insurance.
Headspace costs $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year after a free trial. There is no full free version, so plan on paying once the trial ends. It holds a 4.8 rating on the App Store.
2. Calm
Calm is the pick if your real problem is falling asleep. It carries 100+ exclusive Sleep Stories read by voices like Matthew McConaughey and Stephen Fry, plus soundscapes, sleep music, and breathwork. New content arrives every month.
Daytime practice comes from three daily series: Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt, Daily Jay with Jay Shetty, and Daily Trip with Jeff Warren. Calm also runs on Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, and it saves your sessions to Apple Health.
The trade-off is privacy and price. Calm’s App Store privacy label, which the developer fills in itself, says purchases, identifiers, and usage data may be used to track you across other companies’ apps.
3. Insight Timer
Insight Timer is the app to install if you don’t want to pay anything. Its free library holds more than 300,000 guided meditations, talks, and music tracks from roughly 17,000 teachers. Styles run from secular mindfulness to Zen, Vipassana, yoga nidra, and metta, and the free tier includes hundreds of courses.
The namesake timer is free too. You set intervals, bells, and ambient sounds for silent sits, which few rivals offer without a paywall. Live yoga and meditation sessions stream in the app at no cost.
A library this big has uneven quality, so expect to sample before you find teachers you like. MemberPlus adds offline downloads, thousands of premium courses and tracks, ad-free listening, and an advanced player with repeat and rewind. It costs $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year, the cheapest paid plan here.
4. Balance
Balance builds a fresh session every day from your answers about mood, experience, and goals. It assembles each one from an audio library of thousands of files, inside 10-day Plans: Foundations for beginners and Advanced for regular meditators.
At night, its Wind Down activity pairs bilateral stimulation with paced breathing. On iPhone, Immersive Meditations add vibration and sound effects to the guidance. Balance holds the highest App Store rating here, 4.9.
Two caveats. The free first year Balance was known for no longer appears on its current US App Store or Google Play listings. Both now show a standard trial, then $11.99 a month, $69.99 a year, or $399.99 for lifetime access. Some older coverage still mentions the free year, so confirm the offer in the app.
Android also trails slightly. It holds 4.7 stars on Google Play, and its listing does not mention Immersive Meditations. On Apple devices, Balance is iPhone-only, with no iPad or Apple Watch app.
5. Waking Up
Waking Up is for people who want to understand meditation, not just relax. Sam Harris anchors it with a 28-day Introductory Course, then a library that pairs practice with theory. It draws on traditions such as Vipassana, loving-kindness, yoga nidra, and nondual teachings.
Recent updates added CarPlay support and a filterable Daily Wisdom feed of short, curated insights. That makes it easier to use in short moments, though the tone stays more reflective than a quick calm-down app.
It is the most expensive app here at $19.99 a month or $149.99 a year in-app. Waking Up’s own site lists the annual plan at $129.99, so subscribing there costs less. If cost blocks you, Waking Up offers a free scholarship on request through Email. The App Store rating is 4.9.
Final Thoughts
If you want to pay nothing, start with Insight Timer, and if you want a clear beginner path with extra support, Headspace fits. If sleep is the real problem, Calm earns its price. On iPhone, Balance gives the most personal daily session. And if you want to understand your mind rather than just quiet it, Waking Up goes deepest.
Pick the app that matches why you sit down to meditate, not the one with the biggest library.
Insight Timer. Its 300,000+ guided sessions and timer cost nothing; you only pay for offline downloads, courses, and the advanced player.
Both cost $69.99 a year. Pick Calm for sleep content and device coverage. Pick Headspace for a beginner course path and optional coaching or therapy.
Not on its current US listings. As of October 2026, both the App Store and Google Play show a standard trial, then $11.99/month or $69.99/year.
Not always. If calm music is enough, a Spotify playlist with a sleep timer does the job for free. Pay for Calm only if guided Sleep Stories actually help you drift off.
Calm, Headspace, Balance, and Insight Timer list Apple Health or Mindful Minutes support on iPhone, so your sessions count toward Health app totals.
