Best Daily Meditation Apps [We Pick Our Faves]
As a meditation teacher, I’ve tested countless mindfulness apps. While apps like Headspace and Calm dominate the market, I wanted to offer my perspective on the best meditation apps based on real practice.
That said, meditation apps have their limits. Studies from Harvard Medical School suggest they aren’t as effective as traditional meditation, and mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn has criticized them as “McMindfulness.” They’re great tools for beginners, but at some point, I recommend moving beyond the app and learning meditation properly—ideally with a teacher.
Still, apps can help you build a habit, provide structure, and offer guided meditations when you need them. Here’s my breakdown of the best meditation apps today.
Best Meditation Apps
1. Headspace (Best for Habit Building)
Headspace makes daily meditation simple. Founded by former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe, this app focuses on consistency, offering structured programs for stress, sleep, and focus. It’s ideal for beginners who want a guided introduction to meditation.
Pros:
✔️ User-friendly, structured programs
✔️ Great for habit formation
✔️ Playful, engaging design
Cons:
❌ Subscription required for full access
❌ Less variety compared to other apps
2. Calm (Best for Relaxation & Sleep)
Calm is visually stunning and packed with guided meditations, bedtime stories, and relaxing soundscapes. If you’re looking for stress relief or sleep support, this is one of the best apps out there.
Pros:
✔️ Beautiful design & nature sounds
✔️ Great for anxiety & sleep
✔️ Variety of meditation styles
Cons:
❌ Subscription required for premium features
❌ Some guided meditations feel overly scripted
3. Insight Timer (Best for Learning Different Techniques)
Insight Timer offers thousands of guided meditations from top teachers like Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. It’s one of the best free meditation apps and a great way to explore different meditation styles.
Pros:
✔️ Huge free library of meditations
✔️ Customizable meditation timer
✔️ Lessons from experienced teachers
Cons:
❌ Less structured for beginners
❌ The design could use an update
4. Buddhify (Best for Meditating in Daily Life)
Buddhify helps you integrate mindfulness into everyday activities. Whether you’re commuting, working, or exercising, it offers guided meditations tailored to different situations.
Pros:
✔️ Focuses on real-life mindfulness
✔️ One-time payment (no subscription)
✔️ Unique meditation styles
Cons:
❌ Not ideal for structured daily practice
❌ Fewer traditional meditation programs
5. Simple Habit (Best for Busy Schedules)
This app specializes in 5-minute meditations, making it perfect for people who struggle to find time to meditate. It covers a range of topics like stress, productivity, and relationships.
Pros:
✔️ Quick & easy sessions
✔️ Great variety of topics
✔️ Designed for busy professionals
Cons:
❌ Monthly subscription required for full access
❌ Less depth than other apps
6. Aura (Best for Personalized Meditations)
Aura adapts meditations to your mood, using AI to recommend sessions based on how you feel. It also includes gratitude exercises and life coaching content.
Pros:
✔️ Personalized meditation recommendations
✔️ Focus on gratitude & positivity
✔️ Mood tracking feature
Cons:
❌ Subscription required for premium content
❌ AI-based recommendations aren’t always perfect
7. Sattva (Best for Traditional Practices)
Sattva combines meditation with Vedic wisdom, featuring guided sessions, chants, and mantras. If you’re looking for a more spiritual meditation app, this is a great choice.
Pros:
✔️ Includes Vedic mantras & chants
✔️ Insight tracking to monitor progress
✔️ Authentic traditional approach
Cons:
❌ Limited free content
❌ More spiritual than some users prefer
Best Meditation Apps by Purpose
- Best for Habit Building: Headspace, Simple Habit
- Best for Relaxation & Sleep: Calm
- Best for Learning Meditation Techniques: Insight Timer
- Best for Real-Life Mindfulness: Buddhify
- Best for Quick Meditations: Simple Habit
- Best for Personalized Experience: Aura
- Best for Traditional Practices: Sattva
Final Thoughts
While meditation apps can be helpful, they’re not a substitute for learning meditation properly. If you’re serious about your practice, consider working with a teacher or joining a meditation group.
That said, the right app can help you build a habit, reduce stress, and make mindfulness part of your daily life. Hopefully, this guide helps you find the best meditation app for your needs!
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Paul Harrison is a meditation teacher with 25 years of experience and a deep passion for helping others. Known for his empathy and authentic approach, he’s dedicated to guiding individuals and teams toward mindfulness, clarity, and well-being.
Thanks for this great article! I’ve been an Insight Timer for more than a year, and like it, but wasn’t to learn more mindfulness. So now I’m going to try Aura.
Thank you for the detailed review. This was really helpful b/c I need to learn how to control my emotions but there were so many options out there it was hard to know where to start. I’m going to start meditating using headspace.
My pleasure Brian. Thanks for your comment.
Paul, thank you for this comprehensive article that you’ve taken the time to write.
However, despite the 2019 headings I feel it’s a little out of date now, particularly regarding Insight Timer. Insight timer now has 12 million users, not 2 million and this, I believe, is largely because it’s ENTIRE content library of single meditations (which is actually 32,000 now) is available to use completely for free… like you say, from the likes of Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, Thich Nhat Hanh etc. This is the biggest difference between it and the 2 “big guns” Calm and Headspace. Both of those offer very limited content for free (like the first 7 or 10 days) and expect you to pay to unlock further content so they’re very limited for people on a budget.
The only thing you don’t get for free with Insight Timer is the ability to fast forward and rewind meditations and access to their multi-day courses, although these can be purchased individually for around £5 each or unlocked with the subscription, which is about £40 per year.. half of Headspace and about the same as Calm I think.
The design of Insight Timer has also come on leaps and bounds so to class it as being inferior to the others in this respect in 2019/2020 in my view is incorrect.
As a lay person (I don’t work for Isight Timer!) who, in 2 years, has gone from zero meditation to meditating 30-60 mins per day and attending workshops/retreats etc. this would be my humble opinion:
Headspace – fantastic for beginners and starting a 10-15 min meditation habit per day. Andy Puddicombe is great and makes the practice super-accessible. Not so great for longer meditations as these tend to be the same meditations but with added pauses to lengthen them out. Worth using for a year. A bit expensive but I’ve seen Anxiety UK actually offer it as a free value-add to their £40 annual subscription. It’s all about Andy though so don’t expect much variation in technique or style.
Insight Timer – Also has great beginners courses but really shines if you want access to buckets of meditation content COMPLETELY FREE. The size of the library can be a bit overwhelming but it allows you to find some teachers and styles that you really like and stick with them and explore others whenever you want. The timer and stats also help you cultivate your own non-guided practice which, in my view, is an essential component to combine with guided practice, once you’re ready.
Calm – I haven’t paid the subscription for Calm so I don’t have the full experience and I can imagine Tamara Levitt is very good but something about the app puts me off. To me it feels a bit more commercial and “designed to get you in” than the others. Although you could say the same about Headspace I suppose. The celebrity angle they’re going for doesn’t sit that well with me personally. I will try it one day though.
I won’t comment on any of the others that I don’t have experience of but I can say that Insight Timer is the only app I’ve tried that “truly” feels free. I pay the subscription both for the extra features and to support their ambition to keep it free.
I am a beginner to meditation. Thanks to this article I downloaded Calm and Headspace. I really liked both the apps. The guided meditations are great in these two. I also found another app called Meditaide which tracks your breathing and alerts you when your mind starts wandering when you are doing unguided meditation, the kind I mostly do because I learnt Vipassana.
Thank you for taking the time to explain and share. I really needed guidance and found your blog, like most things I’ve needed.
I am an avid Calm user, live with MS and do do a (real) meditation session with an instructor weekly.
Looking to expand what’s available, this article is fantastic. I have tried others (many listed above) and I now may try Aura, Insight and Aware.
Remaining nonjudgmental with thanks,
Roger Cook
From the “dangers of guided meditations” that you referenced in this article, you said, “But for most people they are ineffective.” I read your reasoning and explanation, but do you have any scientific sources that back-up this claim? I’m not being argumentative, I’m just curious. It seems a very strong claim against something that a lot of people are using to help manage day to day stress. And many people anecdotally claim it helps. Thank you. (No comment section on that article).
I used Headspace for a while, but I found the look is too cartoonish for me. Calm is an app that I used the most, it is beautifully designed with great features. I tried Simple Habit and Aware too, but I didn’t attach to those apps much. Recently, I tried a new app called Masters of Mindfulness, I found the functionalities are pretty interesting, and it’s beautifully designed too. And I just tried Aura from your suggestion, looks great so far, I’m going to test it out more.
How do you feel 10% happier compares? I’ve been trying an assortment of apps to see which works best for me. I like Simple Habit but the meditations seem almost too short to have a real impact. I like Insight but I don’t find there is enough structure. Calm is good but I like exploring different teachers. Thanks!
Thanks, Paul, for writing this helpful article. I have used Calm for almost three years, since its beta phase, and love it, but I did not know about the new options. I just downloaded Insight and Stop, Breathe & Think to complement Calm – Thanks!
For me personally, it has to be Aware – unarguably. I am saying this after trying out every other app you have mentioned except Aura.
For meditation, one needs a consistent progress, guidance and a curated journey. Only Headspace and Aware offer that. Aware beats Headspace hands down in the quality of their meditation sessions. Headspace, after a while, confuses you, contradicts in their guidance; while Aware teaches mindfulness exactly the way it should be (I am saying this from the years I have spent in Bhutan learning meditation). I guess Aware is built in India, the country of origin of the practice.
Most importantly, Aware has a terrific support team – they go beyond what is required to personally assist people. The developers of Aware personally wrote to me, called me and guided me when I wrote to them how I was suffering after my divorce. It blew me out. They really care for their users. They really do.
Hi Robert, thank you for your comment. I agree, Aware is a fantastic app with great staff.