Comparison

Grateful vs Beneath

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Grateful

This app helps you cultivate a more positive outlook by making gratitude easy and fun. It offers daily prompts, allows you to add photos, and lets you easily browse past entries. Your journal remains completely private, stored only on your device.

Highlights
  • Daily gratitude prompts
  • Add photos to entries
  • Browse entries by time or prompt
  • Customizable prompts
  • Private and local storage
  • Edit past entries
Read full description

According to researchers at the Harvard Medical School, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.” Grateful was created to make expressing gratitude in your life both easy and fun, as well as to remind you, during those down moments, of the many blessings in your life (that you've documented in Grateful). *Daily Prompts to Start You Off* With its simple interface and daily prompts, Grateful is designed to make reflection and giving thanks both a joyful and easy process. Daunted by a blank page? Not quite sure where to start? Grateful will greet you with one question, such as. 'What made you smile today'? or 'What made today a good day?'. All you have to do is answer. It can be a simple word. Or a simple paragraph. Grateful allows for both. You can also add a photo to support your thoughts. *Easy to Browse your Past Entries* Grateful's simple journal feed lets you browse your entries by TIME or by PROMPT. Want to see all the things that made you smile this year? Jump to those entries in your timeline. Want to see what your state of mind was last January? Jump to that month in your timeline. *Our Prompts or Yours* Grateful gives you the flexibility to make the journal truly yours. When sit down to write an entry, Grateful will start you off with a prompt. You have the option of: 1.) Answering the prompt 2.) Choosing a different prompt 3.) Writing your own prompt *Totally Private* No sign ups. No logins. No Facebook integration. All you data resides only on your device. FREE Features: • 15 journal entries • Unlimited reminders • No login of any kind required. This journal is for you only. • Each session starts with a prompt, making writing easy. • Grateful lets you answer the prompt and also save any additional thoughts for later reading. • Ability to edit past entries • Customize your timeline - show entries by time, prompt, tag, or randomly Additional PREMIUM Features (available with one-time upgrade or with a Growth Bundle subscription): • Unlimited entries (Free version allows 15 entries) • Data backup with Dropbox and iCloud • Passcode with Face ID for added privacy security • Ability to create your own prompts to answer • Export your entries to file (PDF or CSV format) Grateful‘s GROWTH BUNDLE is an optional monthly or annual subscription. If you choose to upgrade, payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, for the chosen plan's price. Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your iTunes/App Store Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. Read more about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy here: • Terms of Service: https://growthbundle.com/terms-of-service/ • Privacy Policy: https://growthbundle.com/privacy-policy/

About

Beneath

This app helps you capture significant personal insights and achievements. It encourages you to write down moments of realization and success, organizing them into personalized categories. Reflect on your journey with gentle prompts and summaries.

Highlights
  • Capture personal truths and wins
  • Organize entries into custom Rooms
  • Receive personalized reflections
  • Generate weekly, monthly, and yearly recaps
  • Send 'Letters to You' via email
  • Offline access to all written content
Features
Read full description

Beneath is a journal for honest moments and small wins. Capture what feels true, organize it into Rooms, and revisit the patterns when you’re ready. Goals come from somewhere. Beneath is for the moment beneath the goal. WRITE IT DOWN WHILE IT'S TRUE A Truth is that moment, in your own words — what happened, and what it made you see. Not the goal; the thing underneath it. The only prompt is "What's true right now?" — a fragment counts, so write the part you have. Add Wins when something goes the way you wanted. That's the whole practice: a few honest sentences, captured while they're still warm. ROOMS, NOT SYSTEMS Group what matters into Rooms — Health, Work, Family, or whatever fits your life. There's no blueprint, no streaks, no scores, and no correct way to organize a life. Empty is normal. Reflect and Try This are there when you ask; Recaps offer periodic looks back, and email Letters are opt-in. There is no feed. THE MIRROR When you want to look back, Beneath pays attention: • Reflect — patterns it notices across what you've written, only when you ask. • Try This — one small thing to act on or think about, drawn from your own words. • Recaps — a quiet look back at each week, month, and year. • Letters — the same idea, written as if from you to you, delivered by email when you opt in. YOUR WORDS ARE YOURS Everything you write is free, forever — capture, Rooms, editing, widgets, all of it. The mirror (Reflect, Try This, Recaps, Letters) is a subscription: $4.99/month or $29.99/year. If you ever stop subscribing, every word you wrote stays readable, editable, and exportable, and reflections already written stay readable too. Nothing you made is ever held hostage. Beneath doesn't think it knows how you should live. You're the coach here. It simply remembers — so the person you're becoming doesn't lose track of the moments that started everything. Privacy Policy: https://beneath.ink/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Grateful4 screens
Beneath4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Beneath at 100% against Grateful's 48%. Beneath also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Grateful's advantage is ratings volume (3K vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Grateful sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Beneath sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beneath holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Grateful has 3K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Grateful's written reviews are positive against 100% of Beneath's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Grateful ships an update every 2 months, Beneath every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Grateful versus Beneath: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGratefulBeneath
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (3K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3K — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size126 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKodeon, Inc.SteadyLife LLC

Customer experience

Grateful

All ratings3,044 ratings
Positive91.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews264 reviews
Positive48.1%
Neutral8.7%
Negative43.2%

Beneath

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Grateful

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashing on launch
  • Inability to restore previous purchases
  • Entries disappearing or not saving properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Calendar view to track progress
  • Custom prompt writing
  • Improved photo handling and display
  • Cloud sync across devices

Beneath

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Grateful

Subscriptions8
  • Grateful Growth Bundle: Month$3.991 Month
  • Grateful Premium$14.991 Year
  • Grateful Premium7 Days trial$14.991 Year
Show 5 more
  • Annual Subscription$14.991 Year
  • Grateful Growth Bundle: Yearly$18.991 Year
  • Grateful Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Grateful Premium1 Year trial2 variants$29.991 Year
  • Grateful Growth Bundle: Yearly1 Year trial$59.991 Year
One-time1
  • One-Time Premium Upgrade$4.99
2 purchases

Beneath

Subscriptions2
  • Beneath — Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Beneath — Yearly$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Grateful free?
Grateful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Beneath free?
Beneath is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Grateful or Beneath?
Beneath is rated higher. Grateful averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3K ratings, while Beneath averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Grateful or Beneath have ads?
Neither Grateful nor Beneath shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grateful or Beneath?
Grateful ships an update every 2 months, and Beneath every 4 days. Most recently, Grateful was updated on November 6, 2026 and Beneath on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons