Comparison

Elephant Journal vs Sacred Spin

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

Head to head
About

Elephant Journal

Explore mindful living through articles, videos, and podcasts on topics like meditation, relationships, and environmental tips. Engage with content, support authors, and join discussions to foster a sense of community and personal growth.

Highlights
  • Daily Front Page updates
  • Browse articles by topic
  • Comment and share content
  • Heart articles to boost scores
  • Follow favorite writers
  • Receive notifications
Features
Read full description

From Meditation to Relationships, Family to Environmental Tips, Yoga and Meditation to Travel and Recipes—we cover all the issues and topics that matter with a sense of humor and journalistic integrity—cutting through fads and making fun of spiritual materialism. Our app is simple: it’s not here to clutter your life, but to help open it up. Most apps we enjoy fill the gaps in our lives—whether in line or in a waiting room, or at a restaurant waiting for a friend or colleague to return. Elephant offers space and inspiration within this busyness, enabling us to return to our basic goodness with knowledge and empathy. Every day, check our Front Page for uplifted discussions and new articles, videos and podcasts. Then, your reading, hearting, sharing, and commenting directly increase the article's score, helping that author “win,” get paid by our mindful community, and get featured on our Front Page. FRONT PAGE: A clear scrollable display of our community’s favorite articles, timely issues, and editor’s picks. Scroll ’til you find something that inspires you. TOPICS: Browse articles by category (Yoga, Family, Green, Politics, Recipes…), bookmark those you love, and snooze the ones you don’t. NOTIFICATIONS: See if someone replies to your comment, get alerts from writers who you follow, and find our best new articles. SEARCH: Find that article or subject you’re curious about, and see other trending searches HEART: Tap the “heart” icon on your favorite articles to boost their score to help the issue get featured on our Front Page and increase the author’s chances of winning our weekly Ecosystem payout. COMMENT: Join the uplifted discussions happening on each story to increase the article’s score and create mindful community. SHARE: Share your favorite articles with your network, directly from the app. SUBSCRIBE: You can read two articles free, every day—if you want to read unlimited articles, and see fewer ads, you can subscribe for $3/month (billed annually at $36/year). You can cancel your renewal at any time from the Account Settings of your device at least 24 hours before your renewal date. Questions? Feedback? Confused? Contact our Support at: elephantjournal.com/support We respect your Privacy: elephantjournal.com/privacy Elephant’s Terms of Service: elephantjournal.com/terms-of-service/

About

Sacred Spin

Create and customize intricate spinning mandalas. Explore unique designs, adjust their properties, and save or share your creations. Enjoy a meditative, goal-free creative experience.

Highlights
  • Spinning mandala creation
  • Pinch-to-zoom functionality
  • Dice for random design elements
  • Detailed design refinement (symmetry, line weight, glow)
  • Save and share custom designs
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Sacred Spin started as a question: what would a fidget spinner say if it had something to say? You drag a mandala into motion with one finger. Pinch to zoom. Tap the dice to land somewhere new, or open the gear and refine what's there — symmetry, line weight, glow, fill, the count of every layer. Fifty-seven hand-tuned designs to start from. Save the ones you love. Share a design as an image, or as a small recipe file that any other Sacred Spin user can rebuild down to the last decimal. There's no goal. No streak. No level. The point is the play, and the thing you take away is whatever you noticed while you were absorbed in it. No accounts. No ads. No network calls. An optional ambient drone if you want one; silence if you don't. The whole app fits in your pocket and runs offline.

Screenshots

Elephant Journal4 screens
Sacred Spin4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Elephant Journal at Free against Sacred Spin's $1.99. Elephant Journal also leads on ratings volume (14K vs 3). Sacred Spin's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). On rating, ads and device support 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

Elephant Journal is free to download; Sacred Spin costs $1.99 up front. Elephant Journal sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Sacred Spin asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Elephant Journal against 5.0 for Sacred Spin. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Elephant Journal has 14K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Elephant Journal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Sacred Spin's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Elephant Journal ships an update every 3 weeks, Sacred Spin every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Elephant Journal versus Sacred Spin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElephant JournalSacred Spin
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.9 (14K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14K — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB9 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperElephant JournalBradley Tompkins

Customer experience

Elephant Journal

All ratings14,205 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews98 reviews
Positive83.7%
Neutral3.1%
Negative13.3%

Sacred Spin

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Elephant Journal

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Subscription cancellation button not working
  • Articles not loading properly
  • Inconsistent reading limits

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add dark mode option
  • Implement a 'read later' feature
  • Improve navigation and article tracking
  • Increase free article limits

Sacred Spin

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Elephant Journal

Subscriptions2
  • Elephant Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Elephant Subscription$35.991 Year
One-time2
  • Article Boost$2.99
  • Big Article Boost$9.99
None

Sacred Spin

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Elephant Journal free?
Elephant Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sacred Spin free?
Sacred Spin costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Elephant Journal or Sacred Spin?
Sacred Spin is rated higher. Elephant Journal averages 4.9 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while Sacred Spin averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Elephant Journal or Sacred Spin have ads?
Neither Elephant Journal nor Sacred Spin shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Elephant Journal or Sacred Spin?
Elephant Journal ships an update every 3 weeks, and Sacred Spin every 9 days. Most recently, Elephant Journal was updated on November 5, 2026 and Sacred Spin on October 31, 2026.

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