Calm is the better app overall, scoring 8.6 to 8.4. Calm wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Forest on 2.
Light sleepers and anxious minds who want help winding down each night
Students and procrastinators who respond to playful, visual rewards
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Calm | Forest |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Mind & Focus | Mind & Focus |
| Category rank | #5 of 9 | #7 of 9 |
| Developer | Calm.com, Inc. | Seekrtech Co., Ltd. |
| Pricing | Subscription | Paid |
| Usable for free | No | No |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | — |
Strengths and weaknesses
Calm
- Best-in-class Sleep Stories and sleep music
- Soothing, beautifully produced design
- Wide range of content for stress and anxiety
- Most content is paywalled
- Less structured for learning to meditate
Calm is the app to get if better sleep is your main goal. Its Sleep Stories are excellent at helping you drift off, and soundscapes, music and breathing exercises round it out. Guided meditations cover anxiety and focus too. Most content needs a subscription, and the meditation teaching is less structured than Headspace's. Still, few apps make winding down this easy.
Full Calm review
Forest
- Playful motivation that works well for students
- Paid once on iPhone, with no subscription required
- Group sessions keep friends accountable
- Doesn't block other apps on iPhone
- Limited stats compared with dedicated focus tools
Forest turns focus into something you can see. Start a timer and a tree grows; leave to check social media and it withers. Over time you build a forest that reflects your focused hours, and earned coins can fund real tree planting through a partner charity. It is charming and simple. On iPhone it doesn't block other apps, so it relies more on willpower than strict tools do.
Full Forest review
