Comparison

The Self Compassion App vs Gratitude Forest

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

Head to head
About

The Self Compassion App

This app offers scientifically-validated practices from Compassion Focused Therapy to help users feel happier, calmer, and more connected. It provides over 50 tools, including guided meditations, breathing exercises, and journaling prompts, to manage stress, anxiety, and self-criticism.

Highlights
  • Compassion Focused Therapy practices
  • Guided meditations and mindfulness audio
  • Breathing tools for present moment awareness
  • Journaling for positivity habits
  • Reflective exercises for difficult emotions
  • Progress tracking surveys
  • Sleep stories and yoga videos
Features
Read full description

The Self-Compassion App is for you if you want to feel happier, calmer & more connected. Whether you get caught up in cycles of stress and anxiety, regularly give yourself a hard time or struggle to relax and enjoy the moment – this app can help. The app includes scientifically-validated practices from Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), with 50+ tools to help you when life gets hard. Be guided by Drs Chris Irons and Elaine Beaumont – leading authorities on self-compassion, who collectively have 40+ years of experience as therapists and have helped tens of thousands of people. This app has undergone a nationwide study, with participants showing significant reductions in stress, anxiety, self criticism, and increases in wellbeing. Anyone can develop self-compassion and enjoy all its benefits – we look forward to showing you how. Why self-compassion? We are often our own harshest critic, talking to ourselves in ways that we would never do our close friends. Given that we spend more time with ourselves than anyone else, isn’t it strange that many of us don’t treat ourselves with the same level of kindness, care and support as we do our close friends? Now is your time to start. With evidence based ideas and exercises from CFT, this app will teach you how to cultivate compassion for yourself and others. Through the course, you’ll learn how to strike a balance between self improvement & self acceptance: teaching you how to have a realistic but kind view of difficulties that arise in life, and giving you the confidence you need to achieve your goals in life, work and relationships. A toolkit for managing the ups and downs of life. Reduce anxiety, stress & depression Improve mood & wellbeing Reduce feelings of shame & low self-esteem Better understand yourself Increase your confidence Improve your productivity Appreciate the good in every day Develop your relationships Feel calm & grounded Be kinder to yourself And more... There’s something for everyone: Visual breathing tools to bring you back to the present Sleep stories & meditations HIIT and yoga videos to get you moving Mindfulness audio guides Cutting-edge tools to measure & improve your heart rate variability Journaling to create habits of positivity Step-by-step reflective exercises to help you manage difficult emotions Surveys to measure your progress And more! About Chris Irons & Elaine Beaumont Dr Chris Irons and Dr Elaine Beaumont are leading therapists and researchers in the field of CFT and compassionate mind training. They have written extensively about the topic, publishing the best seller The Compassionate Mind Workbook: A Step by Step Guide to Cultivating your Compassionate self. Join our community We’re so excited to see you all loving the app – we’re passionate about the benefits of self-compassion and feel very lucky to be able to share the joys of it with others. "I've had a problem with low self-esteem, always thinking that I'm not good enough and this app has helped me immensely." Stacey Hodkinson "It's been really helpful and made me much more aware of my negative thought patterns ... I'm feeling more confident and more courageous." Patricia Quinn "It's almost like 28 therapy sessions, but with tools to support you when you need." Dan Stone We know how tricky it can be on your own to turn advice into action. That’s why we’ve created this app – to guide you into applying the best insights from CFT to your own life in daily, actionable steps so that you can create meaningful change. We know therapy isn’t an option for everyone – our mission is to create an app that is more effective than a book, and more accessible than therapy. Terms of use https://www.psyt.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

About

Gratitude Forest

Cultivate mental strength by visually journaling your gratitude. Plant seeds that grow into trees, bearing fruit for each thankful entry. This gamified approach helps reduce stress and foster optimism.

Highlights
  • Visual gratitude journaling
  • Plant and grow gratitude trees
  • Collect magic fruits
  • Build mental strength
  • Reduce stress and negative thinking
  • Schedule counseling calls
Read full description

Gratitude forest is the very first phase of One S'more, our gamified mental health app. Essentially, Gratitude Forest is a place to record and store everything you’re thankful for, whether it’s a person, a kind act, or a positive detail in your everyday life. It's a fun way to create a visual journal of all the blessings in our life, which is more powerful than just thinking about it or a text-based journal. Every month, you will receive a seed that you can plant and let it grow into a gratitude tree. Each day that you input anything you are thankful for, a magic fruit will appear on your tree. Over time, you will amass a forest full of gratitude trees and fruits, which is a visual reminder of all the good things in life. The reason we pick Gratitude Forest to be our first phase is that gratitude is such a powerful practice for mental strength, especially considering how little time it takes each day. The simple habit of reflecting on what you’re grateful for regularly can decrease stress and negative thinking and help you lead a more optimistic and joyful life. Within our apps, you can also schedule paid counseling calls with our trained listeners. Soon, you will be able to power up and unlock features by completing challenges such as maintaining the gratitude streak, etc. We are adding more game elements and mental health practices that we are currently testing and building for you. The next feature to be released is a mental health Toolbox, which consists of different activities that can help you cope with different situations. Why play One S'more? 1. Building more mental muscle can prevent mental health issues before they even start. Plus, It can help you to better deal with problems in life and simply have a more joyful life. 2. Game elements help motivate people to adopt healthy habits consistently until seeing results. 3. The most effective way to boost well-being is to be a part of a community that you can both receive support from and contribute to.

Screenshots

The Self Compassion App4 screens
Gratitude Forest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Gratitude Forest at none against The Self Compassion App's 2. Gratitude Forest also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). The Self Compassion App's advantage is review sentiment (94% vs 69%) and ratings volume (249 vs 9). On price 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

Both are free to download. The Self Compassion App sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $56.99 per year. Gratitude Forest asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

The Self Compassion App holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Self Compassion App has 249 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of The Self Compassion App's written reviews are positive against 69% of Gratitude Forest's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Self Compassion App ships an update monthly, Gratitude Forest every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
The Self Compassion App versus Gratitude Forest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Self Compassion AppGratitude Forest
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (249 ratings) — better4.6 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews94.1% of reviews — better69.2% of reviews
Number of ratings249 — better9
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.2
Further details — not scored
Size476 MB16 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperPSYTYulibar Husni

Customer experience

The Self Compassion App

All ratings249 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral2.4%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews135 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral1.5%
Negative4.4%

Gratitude Forest

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive69.2%
Neutral15.4%
Negative15.4%

Bugs and requests

The Self Compassion App

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Abrupt ending of audio sessions
  • Occasional issues with sound and connectivity

Requested features

3 requests
  • Quarterly payment plan option
  • Improved synchronization across devices
  • Simpler version with fewer features

Gratitude Forest

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

The Self Compassion App

Subscriptions2
  • Self-Compassion Premium7 Days trial$56.991 Year
  • Self-Compassion App Premium3 Days trial$56.991 Year
None

Gratitude Forest

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Self Compassion App free?
The Self Compassion App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gratitude Forest free?
Gratitude Forest is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Self Compassion App or Gratitude Forest?
The Self Compassion App is rated higher. The Self Compassion App averages 4.8 out of 5 from 249 ratings, while Gratitude Forest averages 4.6 from 9 ratings.
Do The Self Compassion App or Gratitude Forest have ads?
The Self Compassion App shows ads; Gratitude Forest does not.
Which is updated more often, The Self Compassion App or Gratitude Forest?
The Self Compassion App ships an update monthly, and Gratitude Forest every 10 days. Most recently, The Self Compassion App was updated on November 11, 2026 and Gratitude Forest on November 3, 2026.

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