The Best Meditation Apps (2025): 9 Tools to Help You Stay Present, Peaceful, and Powerful

If you’ve been searching for the best meditation app, chances are you’ve come across Headspace. A popular platform that’s well-priced and easy to use, Headspace earned the topspot on our list. At $12.99 per month or $70 for an annual subscription, Headspace received a near-perfect 4.5-out-of-5 pricing rating from our product tester. 

“The price is worth it and reasonable for someone who is interested in meditation and improving their focus, stress, and mental health, particularly if you can afford to pay up front and enjoy the discounted cost,” she says.

Don’t worry about committing right away, either. Headspace gets a 5-star free trial rating since you can try it for 14 days. This gives you ample time to explore its features, which aren’t difficult to find. 

“The app interface is very clean and it’s a pleasant user experience. Everything from the fonts to the colors to the white space in between icons is nice and obviously well-thought out,” reports our product tester, rating the ease of use a 4.75 out of 5. “The meditations, lessons, and modules are organized into categories and you can search for key terms, but there’s no filtering option. I think that would be a good addition.” 

Perhaps the most impressive feature about Headspace is the high-quality instruction for its meditation courses. Our tester gave it a 5-out-of-5 rating in this category. 

“The beginner-level meditations are nice because they’re short and sweet, and the voice talks pretty consistently, so you have something to focus on other than the fact that your thoughts are going crazy when  they shouldn’t be!”

It’s no secret that getting sufficient sleep is critical for optimal health and performance. Unfortunately, many people struggle to fall asleep — let alone stay asleep throughout the night. The Calm app could be the answer to your rest problem, as our team selected it as the best meditation app for sleep and relaxation. 

Our product tester noted that the app is “very intuitive” and only takes a few minutes to set up. She rated it a 5 out of 5 for both ease of use and setup. 

“The onboarding was very quick and easy. They only asked about two pages worth of questions and then sent you to the app,” our tester explained. 

Also earning a 5-out-of-5 rating for price, you get plenty of valuable resources for your investment, including sleep stories, different meditation types, and even motivational content. Calm offers multiple subscription options: $14.99 per month, $69.99 per year, or $399.99 for life. 

“They also offer a seven-day free trial, and once you get on the app you can give your friends a 30-day free trial,” our tester noted. 

Offering a Spotify-like interface, you can search for different “artists” or narrators and sort meditations by style (sleep, motivation, etc.). Our tester did have one minor callout, however. 

“My only complaint is that they have the amount of users who liked each exercise but not a rating. So if 88,000 people tried/listened to a sound and liked it, they have that stat but I’m curious why there’s no star rating system. I felt a little lost trying to figure out which items were the best for me but it just took some trial and error.” 

One other area where Calm fell short is extra features, as it only earned a 2-out-of-5 rating. 

“They have a streaks tool and tracking systems, but that’s about it,” our tester reports. 

You don’t necessarily have to sign up for a monthly subscription to experience the benefits of a meditation app. In fact, Insight Timer has the world’s largest library of free guided meditations, offering more than 270,000 tracks from psychologists, spiritual leaders, and mindfulness teachers. That helps it earn a 5-out-of-5 rating for price. 

There’s also a premium version available for $60 per year — a budget-friendly option worth considering.

“At about $5 a month, I think it’s worth the money if it’s something you want to use regularly,” our tester explains. 

Like many of the apps that made our list, Insight Timer earned a 5-out-of-5 rating for setup. 

“It was super intuitive. The first few questions asked about what your goals of using the app are, what you are looking to gain from their experience and a few personal questions about participation preferences. It lets you choose how little or much you’d like to engage in it in your everyday life,” our tester reports. 

Furthermore, Insight Timer took home a perfect score (5 out of 5) for instruction. You have multiple ways to access courses and information, including pre-recorded sessions and live sessions. 

“During the actual sessions, it gives you the option to respond on your phone with a gauge saying if you are feeling good, okay or not well. It lets you log these feelings throughout the session to see how your perception has changed throughout,” our tester explains. 

One lesson I’ve learned over the years that applies universally: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The concept of meditating can be confusing, which is the exact opposite of what it should be. So, if you need to lean on an app for support, Aura is a fantastic option. 

Priced comparably to several other platforms on this list, our tester rated it a 4-out-of-5 for value. 

“The price is pretty good at about $70 a year, and you get access to exclusive content and a huge variation of it,” she noted. “You also get to join in live therapy sessions or watch past ones, which is a nice bonus.” 

Earning dual 5-out-of-5 scores for setup and ease of use, our tester had high praise for the user experience. 

“The UX is amazing—bright, colorful, and super easy to understand. It also takes you through a personalized quiz at the beginning to customize your experience,” she reports. “Everything is clearly labeled and intuitive and the forms are engaging to fill out.” 

Aura also offers some extra features that earned a 4-out-of-5 rating. In addition to a personalized dashboard, there are other video resources available to help give you more guidance.

One of the few callouts our tester had was with customer service. She rated Aura a 3 out of 5 in this category. 

“You can only contact customer service through email, and I also don’t like that it leaves the app to take you to the email function.”

That said, Aura generates almost universal positive feedback on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, so this is really a small gripe in the grand scheme of things.

Studies show that controlled breathwork practices can enhance your mood¹ and help you manage stress. The GGR squad had a chance to work with a professional breathwork expert during a virtual session, and I can confirm it’s an effective tool to have in your self-care arsenal. 

Aptly named, The Breathing App easily takes the crown for the best meditation app for breathwork. We love that there’s a fully free version available, helping it earn a 5-out-of-5 rating for price. 

“The free tier option satisfies the core need of the app since you can customize the resonance and the length of the meditation even with the free subscription. The subscription unlocks a set of preset meditation options depending on what your goals are, like calming, energizing, etc.” our product tester reports. 

Also earning perfect marks for ease of use and setup, our tester liked that The Breathing App is easy to navigate and clutter-free. 

“It has a clean color palette that makes it easy to see and read text. Nothing about this app is overwhelming or confusing,” she reports. 

However, that simplicity is a bit of a double-edged sword. 

“There aren’t many options in terms of customization or variety in the meditations,” our tester reports, giving a 3-out-of-5 rating for instruction. “There are a variety of types of breathing exercises based on how long you inhale/exhale/hold, which is why I give it a three. It meets expectations but doesn’t offer much in the way of customization or variety in the overall experience.”

Unfortunately, our tester didn’t have a particularly promising customer service experience, giving The Breathing App a 1 out of 5 in this category.

“They have an easy to access ‘contact us’ form directly in the app, but after more than 24 hours they still have not responded,” she reports.

Just getting started can be half the battle. But as someone who practices meditation routinely, I can tell you that it’s not as complicated as it may seem. Beginners can lean on Buddhify to help kickstart their mindfulness journey, as this budget-friendly app offers more than 200 guided meditations on topics such as stress, sleep, anxiety, and difficult emotions. 

Earning a perfect price score of 5 out of 5, you only have to pay a one-time fee of $5 for iPhone users or $3 for Android users. There’s also an optional membership with a $30 annual fee that unlocks more features, including “Together,” “Formal,” and “Transmission” modes. 

Our team gives Buddhify a 4.5 out of 5 for ease of use, particularly because of the unique wheel interface. This colorful wheel categorizes different meditation types by activity or mood, with options such as “Waking Up” and “Can’t Sleep.” This makes it easy for inexperienced meditators to get started on addressing a specific problem they’re dealing with. 

Another reason Buddhify earned the nod as the best meditation app for beginners is the sessions are short and sweet. Most meditations are under 12 minutes, meaning you don’t have to carve out a huge chunk of time. 

Unfortunately, this affordably priced and user-friendly app lacks advanced features that you see with other platforms. With no progress tracking, reminders, or community aspect, we rate it a 2 out of 5 for extra features. 

As someone who played rugby for 12 years, I’ll be the first to tell you that having a clear head is one of the biggest keys to staying on top of your game. By the same token, a cluttered, unfocused mind, or inability to control your emotions, can prevent you from being your best.

Whether you’re into powerlifting, swimming, or any other sport, it’s a wise idea to invest in your mental health to optimize your physical performance. Our team recommends athletes look into Nordic Flow — a mindfulness-focused app that offers athlete-specific meditations, breathwork training, and recovery routines. 

Although there is a paid subscription option, GGR managing editor Amanda Dvorak doesn’t think you have to shell out your hard-earned dollars on Nordic Flow.

“The free version feels pretty robust, which I appreciate. The monthly price is $9.99 and the yearly price is $89.99, which seems a bit higher than some other apps,” she explains. 

Unlike other apps that made the cut, Nordic Flow’s setup process proved a bit challenging. Amanda rated it a 3.5 out of 5 in this category. 

“I had a few issues getting started. I at first tried the “sign up with email” option and it took a while to load, so I started over and tried to manually sign up with my email address, but it then kept asking me to confirm the email address even though I never received an email asking me to do so,” she explains. 

However, once she got everything sorted out, everything went pretty smoothly. 

“The app asks you to do an initial breathing test where you inhale and then exhale for as long as possible. Interestingly, I cannot find anywhere in the app where it logged my initial score, but I remember thinking I did better than I thought I would,” Amanda says. 

Luckily, Nordic Flow delivers where it matters most: instruction. 

“There’s a large variety of different sessions, whether you want to calm your mind, fall asleep more easily, balance your emotions, or even do some altitude training. There are several different coaches so it’s easy to find one who best suits your needs. There are also classes for things like menstrual cramp relief and various pregnancy breathwork sessions, which I think offer a unique touch,” Amanda explains. 

As someone who writes for a living, I’m not necessarily keen to wrap up my work day and do more writing. However, other folks may benefit from taking a few minutes to jot down their wins, goals, and obstacles. If you’re in that camp, Happier is a great place to start. 

At $100 a year (or $14.99 per month), the price isn’t exactly the most budget-friendly. Our tester rated it a 3 out of 5 in this category, but noted that you do get a seven-day free trial to evaluate Happier’s features. 

Luckily, it earned perfect scores for setup and ease of use.

“I liked that this app asked more questions during the setup process. With Calm, it asked very few questions and kind of threw you into the app. With the Happier app it asked 10+ questions and then gave you 3-5 courses or exercises to try,” our tester reported. 

As for instruction, Happier earned a score right in between (4 out of 5). Our tester found both positives and negatives, stating that some of the courses were “a little too simplistic.” She also offered a suggestion that would improve the user experience.

“I wish some of the courses had a background noise so I knew it was still working and then I could fully relax.”

In terms of extra features—there aren’t many.

“It has a tracking feature that shows how many minutes, courses, and days I listened/practiced meditation but that was about it,” our tester noted, giving a 3-out-of-5 rating for this category.

If you like nerding out, the Healthy Minds Program is a science-based meditation app that’s completely free. At the beginning, you complete a baseline assessment that evaluates your mental well-being across several categories, including awareness, connection, and insight. From there, the app tailors a personalized mindfulness journey complete with a roadmap of meditation courses and practices. 

Obviously earning a 5 out of 5 for price, this free app is also incredibly easy to navigate. Our tester gave it a perfect score in this category, noting that everything is laid out well. 

“The page has a simple visual to show how far you’ve progressed, with hyperlinks to the next practice picked for you. The app has a very intuitive UI and is extremely easy to use,” he reported. 

Furthermore, despite not costing a dime, this app delivers excellent instruction that rivals that of other apps that do require a subscription. 

“There are meditations for sleep, relationships, compassion, micro-meditations, attention, and more. Each category consists of multiple “series”, which follow similar structures of a combination of “practice” and “learn” modules. The app also offers an unguided practice timer, where you can set a timer, speaker, then practice in silence,” our tester explains. 

The only reason he docked a point is that Healthy Minds doesn’t offer much apart from standard meditations. 

“Other paid meditation apps offer stories, sound experiences, and movement programs that can deepen the mindfulness of a meditation practice,” he explains. 

He also gave a less-than-perfect score (3.5 out of 5) for extra features. While Healthy Minds offers reminders, streaks, and a comprehensive “path” set for each user, our tester felt it lacks interaction and community. 

Still, given the fact it’s free, it’s hard to knock Healthy Minds too much.