Reviewland
7 apps · Ranking
Calm alternatives for iPhone in 2026
The best Calm alternative depends on what you use Calm for. For guided meditation without paying, Medito is completely free and Insight Timer has a large free library. For sleep sounds and stories, BetterSleep is the closest paid match. For plain white noise, White Noise Lite is free with 50+ sounds. If you only want short breathing sessions with nature sounds and no ads, Drop (ours) does that, and nothing else.
Calm itself is a free download with a Premium subscription; Headspace charges $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US. All prices below are the ones listed on the App Store on 16 October 2026.
At a glance
| App | Price (US) | What it is best at | Sleep sounds / white noise | App Store privacy label | Version (date) | Rating (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep Sounds & Focus: Drop Our app | Free (10 sounds); Drop Pro listed as monthly $4.99, access $14.99 and lifetime options | Short guided-breathing sessions (2 to 20 minutes) and calming sounds with a sleep timer | 32 nature, ambient and noise sounds (fan, bus), 10 free; no white, pink or brown noise | Data Not Linked to You (usage data) | 2.9 (16 Oct 2026) | 4.4 (12 ratings) |
| Calm | Free; Calm Premium subscription (listed $14.99 to $79.99 depending on plan) | Sleep Stories, guided meditation, breathwork, music | Sleep sounds and soundscapes (ocean, heavy rain, campfire) | Data Used to Track You (purchases, identifiers, usage data); Data Linked to You (health & fitness, purchases, contact info, search history, identifiers, usage data, diagnostics) | 7.3 (8 Oct 2026) | 4.8 (1,987,792 ratings) |
| Headspace: Sleep & Meditation | Free; monthly $12.99, annual $69.99 (Plus listed up to $94.99) | Guided meditations and courses, with optional therapy and coaching | Sleep sounds, sleepcasts and sleep meditations | Data Linked to You (health & fitness, purchases, location, contact info, user content, search history, identifiers, usage data, diagnostics) | 8.36.1 (15 Oct 2026) | 4.8 (973,795 ratings) |
| Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep | Free; Premium listed $9.99 and $59.99, family $89.99 | Huge free library of guided meditations, talks and music | Thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds | Data Linked to You (health & fitness, purchases, location, contact info, user content, search history, browsing history, identifiers, usage data, diagnostics) | 20.39.0 (16 Oct 2026) | 4.9 (447,855 ratings) |
| BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep | Free; Premium listed from $11.99 to $99.99 depending on plan | Sleep sounds, sleep stories, sleep tracker and recorder | 300+ sleep sounds and music tracks, including white noise | Data Used to Track You (purchases, identifiers, usage data, other data); Data Linked to You (purchases, contact info, user content, identifiers, usage data, diagnostics, other data); Data Not Linked to You (location, diagnostics) | 26.18 (8 Oct 2026) | 4.7 (390,799 ratings) |
| Medito: Mindfulness Meditation | Free, no in-app purchases (non-profit) | Free guided meditation, courses and sleep stories | Soundscapes: rain, ocean, white noise | Data Used to Track You (identifiers); Data Linked to You (identifiers); Data Not Linked to You (usage data) | 2609.27.0 (29 Sep 2026) | 4.9 (4,262 ratings) |
| White Noise Lite | Free, no in-app purchases listed | Looped sounds, sound mixer and sleep timer | 50+ sounds incl. white, pink, brown, blue and violet noise | Data Used to Track You (identifiers); Data Linked to You (user content); Data Not Linked to You (location, user content, identifiers, usage data, diagnostics) | 8.7.3 (3 Oct 2026) | 4.8 (277,342 ratings) |
All seven are free to download. Prices are the in-app purchases listed on the US App Store on 16 October 2026 (an app can list several price points for the same plan). Ratings are the App Store average and number of ratings that day.
Sleep Sounds & Focus: Drop Our app
Best for: a quiet, ad-free app with calming sounds, a sleep timer and short breathing sessions, when a full meditation library is more than you need.
- Breathing sessions of 2, 5, 10 and 20 minutes with visual breathing guides.
- 32 sounds in three groups (nature, ambient, noise); 10 are free: rain, dewdrops, fire, forest, river, coffee shop, ocean waves, thunderstorm, bus and fan.
- Sleep timer of 15, 30 or 45 minutes, 1, 2 or 8 hours, with a 30-second fade-out.
- A plant grows through five stages as you practise; streaks and achievements.
- Home screen widgets, works offline, no ads.
- 3 languages (English, Japanese, Chinese), iOS 18 or later, 204 MB.
Limits: no sleep stories, no teacher-led meditation library, no sleep tracking and no white, pink or brown noise (its noise sounds are a fan, a bus and an electric hum). Only 12 ratings so far, and it needs iOS 18.
Calm
Best for: bedtime stories read by well-known narrators and a big, polished all-round library.
- 100+ Sleep Stories (listing says new ones every month), including ones narrated by Matthew McConaughey and Stephen Fry.
- Daily Calm, Daily Jay and other daily sessions; 7- and 21-day programs; breathing exercises.
- Saves sessions to Apple Health (Mindful Minutes).
- 10 languages, iOS 18 or later, 179 MB.
Limits: most of the content needs Premium, and the privacy label lists several kinds of data linked to you, including health and fitness data.
Headspace: Sleep & Meditation
Best for: a structured, course-style approach to meditation, with human support available.
- 500+ guided meditations, from 3-minute resets to longer sessions.
- Sleep tools: sleepcasts, sleep meditations and sleep sounds.
- Optional therapy and coaching, plus an AI companion called Ebb, per its listing.
- English only, iOS 15.6 or later, 451 MB, the largest app here.
Limits: the listing is English only, therapy and coaching are separate paid services, and it collects the most data of the apps here.
Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep
Best for: free guided meditation from many different teachers, plus a meditation timer.
- Thousands of free guided meditations and talks; the listing says 80+ new free ones are added daily.
- Meditation timer, stats and milestones, discussion groups and Apple Health Mindful Minutes.
- Thousands of music tracks and ambient sounds.
- 10 languages, iOS 15 or later, 242 MB.
Limits: the amount of content makes it harder to choose; Premium unlocks extra features, and its privacy label lists many data types linked to you.
BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep
Best for: sleep-first people who want a sound mixer, stories and a sleep tracker in one app.
- 300+ sleep sounds and music tracks (nature, ASMR, white noise, binaural beats) you can mix.
- 250+ meditations and hypnosis sessions and 100+ sleep stories.
- Sleep tracker and sleep recorder; optional HealthKit integration; bedtime reminders and timers.
- 10 languages, iOS 15 or later, 317 MB.
Limits: premium sounds and content need a subscription, and many different price points are listed for it.
Medito: Mindfulness Meditation
Best for: completely free guided meditation from a non-profit.
- Courses for daily calm, focus, anxiety and sleep; 7-day starter and 30-day programmes.
- Sleep stories and soundscapes; offline mode; breathing timers and body scans.
- English only, iOS 15 or later, 87 MB.
Limits: a smaller library than Calm or Headspace, and English only.
White Noise Lite
Best for: plain white, pink or brown noise and fans, rain or trains, with timers and alarms.
- 50+ looped sounds, including white, pink, brown, blue and violet noise.
- Mix Pad to build your own mixes; background audio so you can use other apps.
- Timers and alarms that fade audio in and out; full-screen clock.
- 3 languages (English, French, Spanish), iOS 14 or later, 94 MB.
Limits: no meditation, breathing or sleep stories: it is a sound machine only.
Who should use what
- You want guided meditation and do not want to pay: Medito or Insight Timer.
- You want bedtime stories and a polished library: Calm, or BetterSleep if sleep is your main goal.
- You want courses, and maybe a therapist or coach: Headspace.
- You only need white noise or brown noise: White Noise Lite.
- You want calming sounds with a sleep timer, short breathing sessions and no clutter: Drop (ours).
Use cases
- Falling asleep: Sleep Stories (Calm), sleep tracker and mixer (BetterSleep), constant white noise (White Noise Lite).
- A two-minute reset between meetings (Drop's 2-minute session or a short Headspace meditation).
- Daily meditation on a budget (Medito, Insight Timer).
- Masking street or household noise at night (White Noise Lite, BetterSleep).
How we checked
On 16 October 2026 we opened each app's US App Store page and Apple's lookup data: in-app purchases, version and release date, rating and number of ratings, languages, size, minimum iOS and the privacy label. Features are the ones each developer lists on its App Store page; for Drop, which is ours, the sound list comes from the app itself (version 2.9), because its listing only names five. We did not invent ratings or reviews, and we did not test the audio quality of each app.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Calm on iPhone?
Headspace is the closest for guided meditation, BetterSleep for sleep sounds and stories, Medito for a completely free option and Insight Timer for the biggest free library. It depends on whether you use Calm for meditation, sleep or sounds.
Is there a free alternative to Calm?
Yes. Medito is free with no in-app purchases, Insight Timer has a large free library with an optional Premium, and White Noise Lite is free for sounds.
Which Calm alternative has white noise?
White Noise Lite has white, pink, brown, blue and violet noise. BetterSleep lists white noise among 300+ sounds. Medito lists white noise in its soundscapes. Drop has fan and bus sounds but no white, pink or brown noise.
Does Drop have sleep stories like Calm?
No. Drop offers short guided-breathing sessions and 32 calming sounds (10 free) with a sleep timer. It has no sleep stories and no meditation library.
How much does Calm cost?
Calm is free to download and lists Premium subscription prices from $14.99 to $79.99 on the US App Store, depending on the plan. Check the in-app offer before you subscribe.
Sources
- Drop (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1462269642 (16 October 2026)
- Calm (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id571800810 (16 October 2026)
- Headspace (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id493145008 (16 October 2026)
- Insight Timer (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id337472899 (16 October 2026)
- BetterSleep (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id314498713 (16 October 2026)
- Medito (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1500780518 (16 October 2026)
- White Noise Lite (App Store): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id292987597 (16 October 2026)