Comparison

The Self Compassion App vs NVC Guide

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

NVC Guide

Learn Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to express yourself honestly and listen empathetically. This app guides you through the four key steps of NVC: observation, emotion, need, and request, helping you craft effective statements for conflict resolution and express gratitude.

Highlights
  • Nonviolent Communication framework
  • Conflict resolution guidance
  • Expressing emotions and needs
  • Formulating requests
  • Gratitude journaling
  • Tracking met needs
Features
Read full description

At its core, Nonviolent Communication is about communicating honestly and receiving empathetically, a way of communicating that “leads us to give from the heart” (Rosenberg). For conflicts, this app will walk you through the four key parts: observation, emotion, need, and request. This app will walk you through these four key steps to create statements that you can use with the person you are in conflict with. Did you know that this app can also help you write meaningful gratitudes? It be used to express gratefulness in a way that explains what underlying need was met. This app can function as a gratitude journal, keeping track of your daily met needs.

Screenshots

The Self Compassion App4 screens
NVC Guide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NVC Guide at none against The Self Compassion App's 2. NVC Guide also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). The Self Compassion App's advantage is ratings volume (247 vs 3). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. NVC Guide asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

NVC Guide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Self Compassion App has 247 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Self Compassion App ships an update monthly, NVC Guide weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
The Self Compassion App versus NVC Guide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Self Compassion AppNVC Guide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (247 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings247 — better3
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size476 MB21 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperPSYTGiselle Jhunjhnuwala

Customer experience

The Self Compassion App

All ratings243 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.5%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews135 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral1.5%
Negative4.4%

NVC Guide

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

NVC Guide

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

NVC Guide

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 NVC Guide free?
NVC Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Self Compassion App or NVC Guide?
NVC Guide is rated higher. The Self Compassion App averages 4.8 out of 5 from 247 ratings, while NVC Guide averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do The Self Compassion App or NVC Guide have ads?
The Self Compassion App shows ads; NVC Guide does not.
Which is updated more often, The Self Compassion App or NVC Guide?
The Self Compassion App ships an update monthly, and NVC Guide weekly. Most recently, The Self Compassion App was updated on October 25, 2026 and NVC Guide on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons