Trying out 9 habit tracking apps over the course of almost 3 months, I now have a good idea about the best free habit tracking app. In this article, I will share with you what I evaluated as the best free habit tracking app, the reasons I thought so and compare between all the habit tracking apps I’ve tested to come to this conclusion.
HabitShare is the best free habit tracking app because it has no paywall, is easy to use, can track an unlimited number of habits and allows interaction with friends to build better habits. Other notable free habit tracking options to consider include Coach.me and Habitica.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, the 9 apps that I tested (not in order of preference) were:
(Click on the links below to read individual reviews for each of these apps)
Like HabitShare – Habitica, Coach.me and StickK are also habit tracking apps that have little to no paywalls. But clearly, being free is only one important consideration here. More than that, the habit tracking app that I deemed to be “best” had to be free and great at what it does. Allow me to elaborate on why I thought this is the case for HabitShare.
Why HabitShare Is The Best Free Habit Tracking App
HabitShare has no paywall
Out of all the other habit tracking apps I’ve tested, HabitShare is the only app that has no paywall whatsoever. Even Habitica, Coach.me and StickK, apps that I would consider as almost completely free, offers some form of paid stuff within their app ecosystem.
HabitShare is easy to use & offers unlimited habit tracking
Apps like Stryv and Momentum were also quite easy to use but they had a limit to the number of habits they could track – a maximum of 2 habits for Stryv and 3 habits for Momentum.
The main concern I had with a limitation on the number of habits I can track is that I do not want a situation where I’m already decided and committed to a habit tracking app, wanting to track an additional habit, only to find out that I had reached the free limit.
I want a habit tracking app that I can use for the long term, that is adaptable to my demands for habit tracking even if it were to increase.
When I tested out HabitShare, I found that what sets HabitShare apart is not just that it is easy to use, but that it also allowed unlimited habit tracking.
As far as I’m concerned, the combination of ease of use + unlimited habit tracking makes Habitshare as good as, if not better than many paid habit tracking apps out there.
Allows for interaction with friends
To top it all off, HabitShare allows me to share the progress of my habit-building process with friends, encouraging one another in the process.
Community support is not a new feature in habit tracking apps – some offer this feature and some do not. But what I appreciate about this feature in HabitShare is again how simple it is.
I can interact with friends on HabitShare in 2 simple but important ways:
- I can see my friend’s habit-building process should they wish to share it with me and vice versa;
- I can chat with them.
In all, I feel like HabitShare is a nice respite in a world where it seems like every app is looking to pack more features in. For the one who values simplicity, functionality and cost-effectiveness like me, it will be hard to find a better habit tracking app than HabitShare.
2 Other Great Free Habit Tracking Apps That Can Be Considered
If you’ve tried out HabitShare and found that it wasn’t your cup of tea due to personal preference but is still looking for a free habit tracking app that you can go with, you could consider Coach.me and Habitica as well.
What makes Coach.me a great free habit tracking app
What makes Coach.me a great free habit tracking app is that it’s relatively easy to use, can track an unlimited number of habits and has community support.
Perhaps the best thing about Coach.me is its community support – not only can I add my own friends to keep myself accountable, but I can also tap on communities that are automatically generated when I track a similar habit that others are also tracking.
What’s different about Coach.me as compared with HabitShare
Here’s how I found Coach.me different when compared with HabitShare:
- It has a paywall for its coaching services whereas HabitShare is completely free;
- Community support for Coach.me is not limited to my own friends;
- Coach.me is available on web, Android and iOS while HabitShare is available only on Android and iOS.
Because of these differences, it has made Coach.me a slightly more complicated habit tracking app than HabitShare.
To me, having a simple to use app is the priority, so I’d prefer HabitShare. If HabitShare didn’t exist though, I would go with Coach.me as my main habit tracking app.
What makes Habitica a great free habit tracking app
Habitica is a unique habit tracking app in that it makes the building of good habits into a game on my phone – it allows for an unlimited number of habits to be tracked and has community support built in, unlike any other habit tracking apps I’ve used. All these factors combined make it a great free habit tracking app.
What’s different about Habitica as compared with HabitShare
Here’s how I found Habitica different when compared with HabitShare:
- Much more complicated to learn how to use;
- No gamification on HabitShare while Habitica is all about gamifying good habits;
- Difficult to track habits history and visualise how well I’m doing with each habit while HabitShare is very visual;
- There’s a paywall for a optional Habitica subscription while HabitShare is completely free.
Overall, I would recommend giving Habitica a go if you’re into games. That said, just go with HabitShare or Coach.me if you just need a simple habit tracker.
Main Reasons Why The Other Habit Tracking Apps Did Not Make The List
By now you would have realised that the top 3 habit tracking apps in order of merit are:
- HabitShare
- Coach.me
- Habitica
This is not to say that the other habit tracking apps are bad, in fact, most of them worked good.
And that’s the point, the other apps worked good, but not great. Without going into too many mind-numbing details, here are my main reasons why the other apps did not make the “great” list:
HabitBull
- Only can track up to 5 habits for free.
Strides
- Only can track up to 3 habits for free.
Momentum
- Only can track up to 3 habits for free.
Beeminder
- Only can track up to 3 habits for free;
- I felt the way the app was structured can be counterproductive for building good habits.
StickK
- Doesn’t allow me to record progress for habits if I missed them;
- The loading speed of StickK when I record my habits takes too long.
STRYV
- Only can track up to 2 habits for free;
- Only available as a web app.
A Comparison Between All Habit Tracking Apps Tested
When I began this project to uncover the best free habit tracking app, I wanted an objective measure of what made such apps great. So, I came up with the below 5 criteria and scored each of the habit tracking apps accordingly as I reviewed each of them:
- The number of habits the app can track for free
- Data recording capabilities
- Platforms the app is available on
- Versatility of the app
- How well does the app help to improve habits?
These are the scores for each of the 9 apps:
- HabitBull – 70/100 points
- Strides – 60/100 points
- Momentum – 70/100 points
- Habitica – 80/100 points
- Beeminder – 70/100 points
- Coach.me – 90/100 points
- StickK – 70/100 points
- STRYV – 60/100 points
- HabitShare – 80/100 points
The scoring is not an exact science but it provides a rough estimation for where each app stands as far as usefulness goes for a free habit tracking app – feel free to check out the individual reviews of all the habit tracking apps tested above if you want to see more of how the points were derived.
