Brightmind Meditation vs Equa
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Brightmind Meditation
This app offers a comprehensive meditation system designed to be simple yet profound. It provides a structured learning path with guided meditations, a curated app design, and a supportive community to foster transformative personal growth and stress relief.
- Comprehensive guided meditations
- Structured learning Journey
- Community Chat
- Live Daily Sits
- 1-on-1 Coaching
- Retreats
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Hi, I’m Toby and I created Brightmind. If you’re here, you probably already know meditation is valuable. The real question is: why Brightmind? Most people try meditation… and don’t get very far. Either it’s explained in a way that’s overly complex and abstract, or it’s so simple it feels nice, but doesn’t really change anything. That’s the problem Brightmind solves. Everything here is built on a single principle: as simple as possible, but no simpler. I’ve spent years training in monasteries and over two decades teaching meditation. This approach comes from what actually works. I’ve stripped away the unnecessary complexity, while keeping the depth that makes meditation truly transformative. You’ll feel that in three places. First, the guided meditations. Most apps give you hundreds of sessions that blur together. Focus on the breath, notice thoughts, relax. That’s a good start, but it lacks precision. Brightmind is a complete meditation system. You’ll learn a wide range of techniques, carefully organized so it feels approachable, not overwhelming. Second, the app design. Other apps give you a big library, so every time you open it, you have to decide what to do. And your learning never really builds. Brightmind gives you a single, expert-designed Journey. Just open the app and press play. Each session builds on the last, so learning sophisticated practices is a breeze over time. Third, the community. Meditation isn’t just about feeling calm, it’s about changing your life. And that’s hard to do alone. Brightmind helps you make meditator super friends with: -- Live daily sits -- Community chat -- 1-on-1 coaching -- Immersive retreats Put all this together, and something different happens. You don’t just relax. You build real skill. You actually get good at meditation. Brightmind is meditation made simple, but not simplistic. Let’s get started. ABOUT TOBY SOLA Toby Sola is dedicated to helping you build a feedback loop between your practice and your ability to make the world a better place. The more you meditate, the more effective you are. And the more effective you are, the deeper your practice becomes. Toby has been teaching meditation for two decades. His craft as a teacher has been refined through years of monastic training and close collaboration with the world-renowned teacher Shinzen Young. Toby is an award-winning designer and the founder of Brightmind. SUBSCRIPTION PRICING AND TERMS Brightmind offers one auto-renewing subscription: $99.99 per year This price is for US customers. Pricing in other countries may vary. Actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or turn off auto-renewing subscriptions at any time from your Apple ID Settings. Refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term. Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy: https://www.brightmind.com/terms-and-privacy
Equa
This app offers a personalized mindfulness training experience with interactive feedback to build attentional control, mental resilience, and overall well-being. It addresses common challenges faced by new meditators by providing guidance and support throughout the practice.
- Attentional control training
- Mental resilience building
- Personalized mindfulness coaching
- Interactive feedback system
- Well-being improvement
- Guided meditation practice
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You’ve meditated before. Did it work? Be honest…you don’t actually know. Equa does. Equa is a meditation app that turns your practice into something you can measure. Using only the motion sensors in your phone, Equa tracks your breathing while you meditate and turns it into feedback on what actually changed during the session. No watch, no ring, and no headband needed. Using your respiration data, you can now see how your practice went, and watch your meditation skills develop over days and weeks – so you can tell whether it’s working instead of guessing. If you are new to Equa, you can try the app for free. After the trial, choose your own price on our sliding scale, or become an Equanaut and make Equa possible for someone else! Equa needs no additional hardware. Simply rest your phone on your chest and let the sensors inside do the work. How it works: Meditation Insights Equa reads your breathing from your phone’s accelerometer during a session and shows you what changed. You get your breath rate in breaths per minute, how it shifted from the start of the session to the end, and where that sits relative to your own baseline. The respiration algorithm was developed with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Breath Rate Breath rate is one of the clearest physical signals that a session is doing something, and Equa tracks it every time you sit. Trends Single sessions vary. Practice shows up over weeks. Equa charts your breath rate and session history over time so you can see your progress over time. Science We didn’t just make this up. Equa’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. David Creswell, runs the Health and Human Performance Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, where he’s spent two decades studying how mindfulness training actually changes the body’s biological stress outcomes. One study found mindfulness training reliably lowered cortisol and blood pressure under stress. But participants didn’t report feeling less stressed – they just were. “How do you feel” was never going to catch that. So we built something that does. Training & Curriculum: Equa treats meditation the way a training program treats a physical capacity. Sessions ask you to stay with discomfort rather than escape it, because that is where stress resilience is built. The curriculum offers a structured path through Unified Mindfulness’s core skills: Concentration Power, Sensory Clarity, and Equanimity. Equa offers a science-backed framework for mindfulness training. What else you can do in the Equa app: Review any past session and its breathing data Set practice reminders that fit your schedule Follow guided sessions for stress, focus, and attention Track and build on your practice Equa provides products and services designed for general wellness and education purposes. Equa is not a medical device, is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Breath rate measurement provides feedback on your meditation practice and is not a diagnostic tool. After this, Equa offers two auto-renewing subscription options: Play what you want slider Price - Varying This subscription is for six months and auto-renews after six months. - Title of auto-renewing subscription: Pay as you go. - Length of subscription: 1 month - Price of subscription: Varying - Privacy policy can be found here https://equahealth.io/privacy-policy. - Terms of Use (EULA) can be found here https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula. Year Subscription This subscription is for 12 months and auto-renews after 12 months. - Title: Annual Membership - Length of subscription: 1 year - Privacy policy can be found here https://equahealth.io/privacy-policy. - Terms of Use (EULA) can be found here https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Equa at weekly against Brightmind Meditation's every 3 weeks. Brightmind Meditation's advantage is review sentiment (80% vs 69%) and ratings volume (1K vs 245). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Brightmind Meditation sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and Equa sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Equa holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1K and 245 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 80% of Brightmind Meditation's written reviews are positive against 69% of Equa's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Brightmind Meditation ships an update every 3 weeks, Equa weekly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Brightmind Meditation | Equa |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (1K ratings) | 4.9 (245 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.1% of reviews — better | 69.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1K — better | 245 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 194 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brightmind Community LLC | Equa Health, Inc. |
Customer experience
Brightmind Meditation
Equa
User reviews
Brightmind Meditation
From 1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Structured and progressive meditation curriculum
- 👍 Clear and engaging instruction
- 🧠 Helps deepen meditation practice
- 🤝 Supportive community and live classes
- 💡 Variety of techniques beyond just breath focus
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🐛 Technical issues like app crashes and lost progress
- 🔒 Concerns about mandatory account creation and data collection
Equa
From 245 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Innovative real-time breath feedback
- 👍 Great for carving out mindful time
- 👍 Helps improve state of mind
- 👍 Great structure for mindfulness
- 👍 Developers listen to feedback
Room to improve
- 🐛 Tapping feedback inaccurate
- 🐛 Login doesn't work
- 🐛 Lack of instructions/guidance
- 🐛 No dashboard guidance
- 🐛 Inconsistent session logging
Bugs and requests
Brightmind Meditation
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login/authentication problems
- Meditations disappearing from the app
- Resets to zero for meditation streaks
Requested features
3 requests- Monthly or flexible subscription options
- Better integration of nature sounds
- Improved user experience and stability
Equa
Reported bugs
6 issues- Login page not working
- Tapping feedback not detecting double taps
- Accomplishments not logging accurately
- Cannot proceed past lesson 13 as a premium subscriber
- App redirects to subscribe screen for premium content
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- No way to reset user's meditation experience level
Requested features
8 requests- Add more content/lessons
- Sync with Apple Health
- Improve tapping detection accuracy
- Provide more guidance on dashboard usage
- Offer more than one reminder for micro-exercises
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- Add ability to reset profile/experience level
- Clarify course structure/outline
- Add more lessons beyond the initial 41
In-app purchases
Brightmind Meditation
- Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
- (No longer available) Monthly2 variants$12.991 Month
- 70% Off Annual Subscription$28.491 Year
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- 70% Off Annual Subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- 50% Off Annual Subscription$46.991 Year
- 50% Off Annual Subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- 50% Off Annual Membership7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- 30% Off Annual Subscription7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- 30% Off Annual Membership7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Annual Membership7 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Brightmind Annual Subscription7 Days trial$94.991 Year
- (No longer available) Annual3 Days trial$94.991 Year
- (No longer available) Annual7 Days trial$94.991 Year
- Annual Subscription7 Days trial$94.991 Year
- Annual Subscription$94.991 Year
- Annual Subscription7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Annual Membership7 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year
- Annual Membership7 Days trial2 variants$149.991 Year
Equa
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Monthly Subscriptoin7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
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- Monthly Subscriptoin7 Days trial$7.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$11.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$14.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$17.991 Month
- Resilience Starter Kit7 Days trial$29.996 Months
- Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$39.991 Year
- Annual Membership7 Days trial$64.991 Year
- Yearly Equanaut7 Days trial$149.991 Year
Questions
Is Brightmind Meditation free?
Is Equa free?
Which has better reviews, Brightmind Meditation or Equa?
Do Brightmind Meditation or Equa have ads?
Which is updated more often, Brightmind Meditation or Equa?
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