Comparison

FreeCBT vs CBT Thought Diary App

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

Head to head
About

FreeCBT

This app provides a digital thought diary to practice Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It helps users identify and challenge negative automatic thoughts, retrain their brains, and ultimately improve mood and behavior. It's an open-source tool for self-help and as a companion to traditional therapy.

Highlights
  • Thought diary
  • Challenge automatic thoughts
  • Identify cognitive distortions
  • Train alternative thoughts
  • Open source
  • CBT self-help tool
Features
Read full description

FreeCBT is an open source thought diary for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the "gold standard" of psychotherapy and is widely considered to be one of the most effective, evidence backed treatments for depression, anxiety, and panic. If you go into just about any therapist or psychiatrist, CBT will likely be one of the first treatments they try. FreeCBT is a companion and self-help app for one of the most common formats of CBT. You may have heard it called "the three column technique" or "catch it, check it, change it." Your brain is really good at making you feel exactly what you're thinking. Often, we find ourselves thinking "automatic negative thoughts" that lead us to fume on something that may not be true. That can cause us to feel depressed or anxious. CBT helps you record "automatic thoughts," challenge them with cognitive distortions and then train your brain with an alternative thought. If you do it enough, you can change your thoughts, your moods and your behavior. FreeCBT, a fork of Quirk, is open source under the GPL. You can find the code on Github at: https://github.com/erosson/freecbt

About

CBT Thought Diary App

This app helps you track and transform your thoughts and emotions using the ABC model of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Log your experiences, gain insights into patterns, and challenge negativity for improved mental well-being. Securely store your data and export progress for personal review or sharing with professionals.

Highlights
  • ABC model thought logging
  • Historical emotional insights
  • PDF progress export
  • Privacy-focused data storage
  • Positive thinking guidance
Features
Read full description

CBT Thought Diary: Your Path to Positive Thinking Discover the power of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with CBT Thought Diary, your personal tool for tracking and transforming thoughts and emotions. Utilize the ABC model to log thoughts, understand patterns, and challenge negativity. Features: Thought Logging: Quick and easy recording using the ABC model. Insights: Review your emotional journey with historical insights. PDF Export: Share your progress with therapists or for personal review. Privacy First: Your data is securely stored and remains confidential. CBT Thought Diary is designed for anyone looking to improve their mental health, whether you're new to CBT or an experienced practitioner. Start your journey to a healthier mind today and see the difference positive thinking can make. Please note, you will need a subscription in order to get access to some features of the app. The subscription will be automatically renewed unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current payment period. Your Apple account will be automatically charged at the same price for renewal within a 24-hour period prior to the end of the current payment period unless you change your subscription preferences in your Apple Account Settings. When a subscription is canceled, access to the features will expire at the end of the current payment period. Read more about our terms and conditions here: Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://cbt-journal.com/privacy

Screenshots

FreeCBT3 screens
CBT Thought Diary App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FreeCBT at none against CBT Thought Diary App's 2. FreeCBT also leads on review sentiment (96% vs 85%) and ratings volume (170 vs 26). CBT Thought Diary App's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 9 months). On price, rating and ads 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. CBT Thought Diary App sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per year. FreeCBT asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for FreeCBT against 4.8 for CBT Thought Diary App. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FreeCBT has 170 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 96% of FreeCBT's written reviews are positive against 85% of CBT Thought Diary App's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FreeCBT ships an update every 9 months, CBT Thought Diary App every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
FreeCBT versus CBT Thought Diary App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFreeCBTCBT Thought Diary App
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (170 ratings)4.8 (26 ratings) — better
Positive reviews96.2% of reviews — better84.6% of reviews
Number of ratings170 — better26
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB10 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperEvan RossonAly Bairamov

Customer experience

FreeCBT

All ratings134 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews79 reviews
Positive96.2%
Neutral2.5%
Negative1.3%

CBT Thought Diary App

All ratings26 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%

Bugs and requests

FreeCBT

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Swiping from distortion page selects/deselects distortions unintentionally
  • App update deleted all past user entries
  • Keyboard covers answer input area on some screens
  • Swipe navigation doesn't work properly on certain screens
  • Inconsistent touch response during navigation

Requested features

12 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Analytics to track thoughts and patterns over time
  • Export feature to share entries with therapist or notes app
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Bottom navigation bar
Show 7 more
  • Ability to tag or categorize thoughts by topic
  • Filter and view thoughts by category
  • Evidence section with for/against columns
  • Worst case scenario section with probability assessment
  • More detailed examples for alternative thought step
  • Additional cognitive distortion options (jumping to conclusions)
  • Better help documentation and explanations

CBT Thought Diary App

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

FreeCBT

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

CBT Thought Diary App

Subscriptions2
  • CBT Premium Yearly3 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • CBT Premium Yearly$29.991 Year

Questions

Is FreeCBT free?
FreeCBT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CBT Thought Diary App free?
CBT Thought Diary App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FreeCBT or CBT Thought Diary App?
CBT Thought Diary App is rated higher. FreeCBT averages 4.7 out of 5 from 170 ratings, while CBT Thought Diary App averages 4.8 from 26 ratings.
Do FreeCBT or CBT Thought Diary App have ads?
Neither FreeCBT nor CBT Thought Diary App shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FreeCBT or CBT Thought Diary App?
FreeCBT ships an update every 9 months, and CBT Thought Diary App every 3 months. Most recently, FreeCBT was updated on October 29, 2026 and CBT Thought Diary App on October 25, 2026.

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