6 Free Apps Like Headspace, No Subscription (2026)

The best free apps like Headspace are Medito, Healthy Minds Program, Insight Timer, Smiling Mind and UCLA Mindful. None needs a subscription.

Headspace itself is free only during its trial, then USD $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year, per its App Store listing and its own pricing page. Headspace earned its reputation on friendly, structured meditation courses, sleep content, and focus tools, and it remains a well-made product. But in 2026 there are several apps that cover the same territory for free, including our own web-based tool, described honestly below. (Looking for a Calm alternative instead? We compared those too.)

Is Headspace free, or did it stop being free?

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Headspace is free to try, not free to keep. Its help centre's own answer to the question of what comes free is that you can "unlock the entire Headspace library during your free trial", and full access after that sits behind a paid plan. Headspace's app page also mentions a content library you can sample before signing up, so there is something to look at first, but no permanent free plan to settle into.

So if you are searching because it feels like Headspace used to be free, the useful answer is the current one: today the free part is a trial window, and the alternatives below are the way to keep practising once it closes.

What does Headspace cost in 2026?

In the United States, Headspace's pricing page lists the monthly plan at $12.99 and the annual plan at $69.99, which works out at under $6 a month; prices elsewhere vary by country. The annual plan comes with a 14-day free trial, and verified students get a much cheaper yearly rate. That is a fair business model for a polished product, but it means "free Headspace" is really a two-week preview.

What does each free alternative actually give away?

Here is what each one gives you for nothing, and what, if anything, costs money. We checked each against the provider's own site in September 2026; prices change, so confirm before you pay for anything.

• Medito. Free: every meditation, course, sleep story and feature, with no ads and no account. Paid: nothing; donations do most of the funding.
• Healthy Minds Program. Free: the app's science-based wellbeing training, from a nonprofit. Paid: no paid tier listed.
• Insight Timer. Free: a library of more than 300,000 guided meditations, talks, podcasts and music tracks, plus the timer and live group sessions. Paid: MemberPlus, USD $59.99 a year or $9.99 a month, adds courses, offline listening and premium tracks.
• Smiling Mind. Free: the whole app for any individual or family, as it has been for more than 12 years. Paid: nothing; the not-for-profit is funded by philanthropy, corporate partners and its users.
• UCLA Mindful. Free: basic meditations in 19 languages, weekly podcast recordings and a timer. Paid: no paid tier listed.
• Solace. Free: every wellness tool, usable without an account. A free account saves your Mood Tracker history (one saved check-in a day) and Gratitude Log history, and each of the three AI tools gives one free session a day with no account. Paid: Pro, AUD $79 a year (about USD $52), for unlimited AI sessions, full history and mood patterns.
• Headspace, for comparison. Free: the download, and full access while the trial runs. Paid: everything after the trial.

What made Headspace good, and what should a replacement cover?

A good replacement needs to cover three things. Structured courses that take a beginner from zero to a steady practice, rather than dropping you into an endless library. Sleep content that helps you actually put the day down. And focus tools, from timers to background sound. A good free replacement should cover at least one of these well. None of the options below is a clone of Headspace, and that is fine: you are replacing what it does for you, not the brand.

Which free apps come closest to Headspace?

Medito, Healthy Minds Program, Insight Timer, Smiling Mind, UCLA Mindful, and Solace each cover a different piece of what Headspace does, each with its core features free.

Medito (best overall free option)

The closest free equivalent to Headspace's core experience. Medito is a registered nonprofit, and everything in it is free forever: structured beginner courses, sleep sessions, breathing exercises, 30-day challenges, and a meditation timer. No ads, no locked content, no account needed, and the app is open source. It is funded mainly by voluntary donations.

Best for: the Headspace-style guided course, minus the paywall.

Healthy Minds Program (best for learning the science)

Made by Humin, a global nonprofit that works with the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and builds on the research of neuroscientist Richard Davidson. If you like knowing the science behind a practice, this is the natural place to start.

Best for: wellbeing training with a research lab behind it.

Insight Timer (best for variety and sleep tracks)

Less structured than Headspace, far larger than it. The free tier is permanent and includes hundreds of thousands of guided meditations, sleep tracks, and ambient music, searchable by topic and length. An optional paid tier adds courses and offline mode, but the free library alone is more than most people will ever use.

Best for: sleep tracks and sheer variety once you know what you like.

Smiling Mind (best for a daily routine)

An Australian not-for-profit whose app has stayed free for over twelve years. Clear adult programs and a routine builder for daily practice.

Best for: calm, structured daily practice with reminders.

UCLA Mindful (best for learning the basics)

Free guided meditations from UCLA Health, including beginner sessions offered in 19 languages. A smaller library than the others, but the teaching quality is the point: these are the basics, taught properly.

Best for: learning to meditate correctly before going deeper anywhere else.

Solace (best for breathing in a browser)

Full disclosure: Solace is ours. It takes a different shape from the others because it is a web app at try-solace.app rather than something you install. Breathing with box and 4-7-8 patterns, Grounding, Ride the Wave, a Focus Timer, a Sleep Wind-Down and an interactive Feelings Wheel all open in any browser with no sign-up and no session limits. Its three AI tools each give one free session a day with no account, including Choose, which helps you think a decision through, and signing up for free keeps a record of your moods and gratitude entries. If breathing is what you are after, our guide to breathing exercises for anxiety walks through the patterns.

Nothing you write is shared, sold, or used to train AI models. Pro adds unlimited AI sessions and your full history. Solace is for adults, and it is reflective support, not therapy or medical care.

Best for: browser-based breathing, focus, and wind-down with nothing to install and no sign-up.

Can you really build a daily practice without paying?

Yes, and the subscription was never the ingredient that made it stick. What makes a practice hold is low friction and a clear next step. A sensible free stack: Medito or Healthy Minds Program for a structured course, Solace in a browser tab for breathing and focus during the workday, and Insight Timer or Solace's Sleep Wind-Down at night. All free, and each piece is replaceable if it stops fitting.

When is Headspace still the right choice?

If its particular teachers, its sleepcasts, or its polish are what actually get you to practise, that is worth $70 a year, and you should pay it without guilt. The point of this list is narrower: paying should be a choice you make after starting, not the price of starting. Begin with a free tool today. If a subscription later earns its keep, subscribe.

Sources

• Headspace: the app
• Headspace: subscriptions
• Headspace on the App Store
• Headspace on Google Play
• Headspace: student plan
• Medito Foundation: free meditation app
• Humin (formerly Healthy Minds Innovations): about
• Insight Timer
• Insight Timer Support: how much does Insight Timer cost?
• Smiling Mind: the app
• UCLA Health: UCLA Mindful app
• Solace

This is reflective support, not therapy or medical care. If you're finding it hard to cope, please reach out to a qualified professional or a trusted person in your life.