The 7 Best Meditation Apps of 2024

Most Comprehensive: Headspace

Key Specs

• Cost: Free 7- or 14-day trial; $12.99/month; $69.99/year; family plan for up to six users is $99.99/year; student plan is $9.99/year
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Meditation guides for all levels

Why We Chose It

Headspace has a user-friendly interface with hundreds of guided meditations promoting mindfulness, better sleep, reduced stress, and more for beginners to experts.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

Headspace says it's on a mission to improve the health and happiness of the world with science-backed meditation and mindfulness tools that help create life-changing habits to support better mental health. With over 70 million downloads in 190 countries, Headspace is well on its way to achieving its mission.

We tried Headspace for a month and were overwhelmingly impressed with its offerings. We could choose exercises from four different categories—Meditation, Sleep, Stress, and Mindfulness—and with the hundreds available, we never ran out of options. We liked that as soon as we signed up, we could fill out symptom trackers for our stress and anxiety, and the app followed up a few weeks later asking us to rate our stress and anxiety levels again (and they had improved!). We also appreciated that, although Headspace showed us a “featured meditation” each day, the app never forced us to do a certain exercise or follow a certain routine—we were able to choose each and every meditation we did, which made us feel more in control of our meditation practice. 

Some of our favorite exercises had to do with relaxation. We found that even in the middle of a busy day, we were consistently able to take five-minute breaks and listen to guided meditations that helped us focus on our breath and body tension. There were as many great 4-minute options as 30-minute ones, so we felt like Headspace was supporting our meditation no matter how much time we had to practice. Our favorite exercise of all was a visual meditation that showed us beautiful pictures of national parks while soothing music played. We were able to clear our mind and feel calm, even if it was just for a few minutes, and that helped us lower our stress levels throughout the day.

Plans & Pricing

Headspace does offer a free version with limited content, but note that to take advantage of the full benefits offered by the app, you will need a membership. The prices are as follows:

•  $12.99 a month 
• $69.99 a year 
• Family plan (6 users): $99.99 a year
• Student plan: $9.99 a year

Those new to the app can take advantage of a 7- to 14-day free trial depending on subscription level (monthly or annual).

Best for Beginners: Ten Percent Happier Meditation

Key Specs

• Cost: Free 7-day trial; $99/year ($8.33/month)
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Access to meditation courses, expert-led talks, and podcasts

Why We Chose It

We selected Ten Percent Happier for people beginning their road to meditation enlightenment because this app caters to newbies with easy-to-follow guided meditations. It also has shorter sessions that can be increased over time.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

Based on ABC news anchor Dan Harris's book, "10% Happier," the Ten Percent Happier app teaches meditation basics in a fun, easy, and accessible way. It's well suited for anyone, but especially those who think they're "not the meditation type" and can't find the time to start a meditation practice.

When we signed up to test Ten Percent Happier for a month, we were meditation novices—so we were pleased to find over 50 meditations that were labeled “Great for Beginners” right off the bat. (There was also a course called “Meditation for Skeptics” that called out any misconceptions we might have had, including that meditation just means sitting with our eyes closed and thinking about nothing.) Ten Percent Happier has meditation exercises as short as three minutes and as long as 15 minutes or more, so no matter what we were in the mood for or had time for, there was always a meditation we could fit into even our busiest of days. 

We found the app most useful when we scheduled a short window of time every day to devote to our meditation. There is no set curriculum or schedule that the app made us follow, so we could design our own practice easily. We could even search for meditations based on topic, like “parenting” or “money,” which let us tackle our specific worries. Ten Percent Happier definitely made meditation feel more accessible, and we noticed a change in our anxiety for the better almost immediately. 

Plans & Pricing

An annual subscription to Ten Percent Happier costs $99, which comes out to $8.33 a month. It offers a 7-day free trial.

Best for Sleep: Calm

Key Specs

• Cost: 7-day free trial; $14.99/month; $69.99/year
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Calming background sounds, short meditations, and sleep stories
  

Why We Chose It

Calm is well known for promoting relaxation and sleep thanks to its soothing background sounds, to-the-point meditations, and sleep stories.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

What's keeping you up at night? Anxious thoughts? Lack of focus? A stressed-out psyche? Calm’s guided meditations will have you sleeping soundly and feeling more relaxed almost instantly. When we tried Calm, we were immediately impressed with the breadth of content available—everything from soothing soundscapes to narrated meditations to sleep stories. Since we have always been the type of person who needs background noise to sleep, we found the wide variety of soundscapes to be especially useful. Calm had everything from office noises (the clinking of mugs and tapping of keyboards) to thunderstorms (as well as 14 other rain-related themes) to a spaceship engine room (which we could only imagine was accurate).  

But we got the most out of the sleep stories, which are designed to lull you to sleep before you can reach the end. In fact, for the whole month we tested Calm, we never heard the end of our favorite 39-minute sleep story, “Mr. Calm.” We considered that a true success.

Plans & Pricing

After a 7-day free trial, you can sign up for a monthly subscription for $14.99 per month, an annual subscription for $69.99 per year, or a lifetime subscription for $399.99.

Best Budget: Insight Timer

Key Specs

• Cost: Free; premium subscription is $59.99/year
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Over 150,000 free meditations
  

Why We Chose It

Insight Timer has a giant library of free meditations, so if your budget is tight, this is the meditation app for you.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

Insight Timer offers more than 150,000 free meditations—that’s a big deal, since one of the biggest complaints about other meditation apps is their lack of free content. When we tried Insight Timer, the sheer number of free options blew us away. The library allowed us to filter by need (e.g., stress, sleep, self-esteem); time, from five to 30 or more minutes; and specific benefit, such as pain relief, relationship woes, or teaching kids to meditate. It even offered us a mood tracker, where we could indicate via smiley face how we were feeling that day and see our progress right on the app as we checked in each day (for a month)—all for free.

We found the “Explore” section of the app to be incredibly useful, helping us look for meditation exercises under eight categories: beginner, meditation, breathwork, sleep, music, yoga, live events, and courses. We could also choose topics to focus on, such as stress and anxiety, which is where we most often found ourselves when looking for meditation exercises. While Insight Timer offered everything from guided meditations to yoga classes to soothing music, as well as exercises that ranged from a few minutes to over an hour, we made the most use of the shorter meditations, usually sticking around 15 minutes or fewer. 

Another cool feature is the community of fellow mindful folks we were able to interact with on the app. We could connect in group chat rooms like "Be Here Now" and "Loving Kindness and Compassion," or choose a group by topic, like LGBTQIA+, relationships, nutrition and wellness, or weight loss. The sheer extent of resources on Insight Timer already sets it apart from other apps; the fact that most of them are free is a huge bonus.

Plans & Pricing

Insight Timer is free to use, with over 150,000 meditations and exercises available at no charge. If you’d like access to every resource on Insight Timer, a premium subscription costs $59.99 per year.

Best Guided: Buddhify

Key Specs

• Cost: $4.99 for iOS users; $3.99 for Google Play users; in-app purchases; optional $30 membership
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Wheel of guided meditation practices

Why We Chose it

Buddhify’s specialty is guided meditations, which hold your hand as they lead you through exercises that address anxiety, stress, sleep, and more.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

We tested Buddhify for a month and were impressed with how simple and intuitive the app was. There are over 200 guided meditations available, and as a beginner to meditation, we found it especially helpful that the exercises were guided. We never felt lost or like we didn’t know what we were supposed to do because the narrators of the exercises led us through things like body scans to identify how we were feeling and use that insight to improve our mood, focus, and productivity.

The main feature of the app is a pinwheel featuring different categories of meditations we could choose from—the straightforward design made it easy to dive into any meditation. With options like “Waking Up,” “Stress and Difficult Emotion,” and “Can’t Sleep,” we were able to quickly identify how we were feeling at the moment and choose a meditation to suit our needs at that time. Our favorite category was “Work Break,” which included exercises we could set up when we were feeling a midday slump. The speaker asked us to check in with our body to identify physical changes, like being hunched over at our workdesk, as well as the emotions we were feeling at the time (which was usually a lack of motivation to keep working). Our guide helped us recognize how we were feeling in that moment and be compassionate with ourselves as we worked.

Plans & Pricing

It costs $4.99 to download Buddhify on the Apple App Store and $3.99 on Google Play. There are also in-app purchases available, as well as a $30 membership fee that gives you access to extra features like additional meditations and courses. There is no free trial available.

Best for Breathing Techniques: Breathwrk

Key Specs

• Cost: Premium subscription for $12/month or $69/year with a seven-day free trial; discounts for teachers, students, military, veterans, and first responders
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Learn breathing techniques you can use anytime

Why We Chose It

While many breathing apps only focus on meditation and relaxation, Breathwrk also offers classes and programs promoting the long list of benefits of focused breathing.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

The Breathwrk app has numerous breathing exercise programs that promote calm, relaxation, and pain management, and offer an energy boost to help carry you through your workday. When we tested Breathwrk for a month, we were pleasantly surprised by the range and depth of content available. For example, not only did Breathwrk offer us breathing exercises, but it also provides classes, which consist of multiple exercises and education in areas like Calm, Sleep, Awake, Energize, Anxiety, Ease Pain Relief, Unwind, Reboot, Recharge, and Stamina. We were also impressed with the fact that Breathwrk lets you do any classes or exercises you want, in any order, at any time. This way, we were able to really personalize our experience with the app.

We found Breathwrk especially helpful with our insomnia. Our favorites were the sleep-based classes (because the shorter exercises that only last a few minutes weren’t ever enough to calm our overactive brain when we woke up in the middle of the night). Guiding us through inhaling and exhaling with a soothing voice, the classes were always helpful lulling us back to sleep. We did enjoy the shorter exercises, though, for creating a bedtime routine. It was easy to squeeze in a minute or two of breathing before bed, and doing some breathing exercises earlier in the evening to prepare for bedtime took away the anxiety of being able to fall asleep later when we wanted to.

Plans & Pricing

A premium subscription to Breathwrk costs $12 per month or $69 per year, with a 7-day free trial.

The free options on Breathwrk are limited—you can access 50 exercises and classes, as well as 7-day challenges. However, if cost is an issue for you, you can contact the company about more affordable options. In addition, it offers discounts for students, teachers, military, veterans, and first responders.

Best for Kids: Smiling Mind

Key Specs

• Cost: Free
• Platforms: iOS, Android
• Features: Meditations for children and the entire family

Why We Chose It

Smiling Mind has guided meditations and activities designed specifically for children, including easy one-minute meditations and fun guided meditations like The Bubble Journey.

Pros & Cons

Our Experience

Smiling Mind was developed by psychologists and educators in Australia to help bring mindful balance to children and adults. Smiling Mind is perfect for children 3 and older thanks to programs like The Bubble Journey, a guided meditation exercise that involves children filling in bubbles representing moments in their day when they really noticed what was going on around them. There are also guided meditations for older children that focus on being a better student, being more present, and using mindfulness to excel while playing your favorite sports. And while we did not test Smiling Mind’s children-focused exercises ourselves, we did have a great experience with the app’s more grown-up content.

We found Smiling Mind’s programs, which are collections of exercises meant to help develop different kinds of skills, to be highly customizable—we could pick any programs we wanted without the app telling us what to do or in what order. We especially liked the mindfulness programs that taught us the basics of meditation and how to be more mindful in our everyday lives, such as appreciating food before we ate it or having a conversation with a friend while practicing mindful listening (this was one of our favorite activities that the app suggested). We could jump around to any exercise we wanted in these programs and tailor our experience to what we were in the mood for that day. 

This kind of personalization could be especially beneficial to kids and teens to help them feel like they have more control over their lives and the way they practice meditation and mindfulness. In fact, these skills can help lead to better attention, memory, regulation of emotions, and self-awareness, and improvements in these areas can bring about reduced stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as better academic skills, social skills, and self-esteem.