Comparison

Sober January vs Mindful Drinking

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

Head to head
About

Sober January

Embark on an alcohol-free challenge to start the new year. This app acts as your personal coach, offering daily motivation, reminders, and highlighting the benefits of a dry month. Track your progress and celebrate your streaks throughout the challenge.

Highlights
  • Alcohol-free challenge
  • Daily motivation
  • Helpful reminders
  • Benefit highlights
  • Progress tracking
  • Statistics and streaks
Features
Read full description

Kick off the new year with an alcohol-free challenge! Sober January is the ultimate app to help you make it through the month without drinking. The best part? It's completely free and packed with fun features to keep you motivated. Think of it as your personal coach for a dry January. We'll be there with you every step of the way, providing daily motivation and helpful reminders. Each day of the month, we’ll highlight a new benefit of staying on track – it's like an advent calendar for sobriety! The benefits of a dry month go far beyond just feeling good. By taking a break from alcohol, you'll experience: • More energy • Better sleep • Less stress • More money in your pocket • No more hangovers and hangxiety • Improved mental clarity and focus • Stronger relationships • A healthier liver, brain, and more! Why try the Sober January app? • Daily motivation and inspiration • Progress tracking • Statistics and streaks • Completely free, with no ads or hidden costs • Privacy conscious, with no need to register or provide personal information So why wait? Begin your journey to a healthier, happier you today with Sober January. Make January your best month ever and start the new year strong!

About

Mindful Drinking

Monitor your alcohol consumption and its impact on your mood. Accurately log drink sizes and alcohol content to understand your habits, manage calories and expenses, and compare your intake with low-risk guidelines.

Highlights
  • Track drinks and mood
  • Accurate alcohol content and serving size logging
  • Monitor daily calories and expenses
  • Compare consumption with low-risk guidelines
  • Plan sober days
  • Daily reminders
Features
Read full description

Track your drinks and mood with Mindful Drinking! With Mindful Drinking, you can monitor, comprehend, and positively impact your drinking habits and their effect on your mood. We convert various types of beverages, which come in different serving sizes, into units of alcohol, also known as standard drinks. This way, you can stay within the moderate (low-risk) alcohol limits, get motivated, spend less, lose weight, or even quit drinking entirely. Unlike most apps, Mindful Drinking allows you to accurately record the size and alcohol content of your drinks, so you don't have to worry about inaccurate consumption measures. Using Mindful Drinking, you will quickly understand how not all beers and wines are created equally. You can improve your tipsy decision-making skills and enhance your nights out with friends without regretting it the next day. Features: - Easily track your drinks for the current week - Accurately record alcohol content and serving size up to 2 decimal places with ABV helper - Track your mood to see how your alcohol use might be affecting it - Monitor your daily alcohol calories and expenses - Compare your alcohol consumption with the moderate (low-risk) drinking guidelines of different countries - Plan and complete sober days - Observe an annual sober days vs. drinking days chart and important numbers - Receive daily reminders to help you keep consistent records Premium features: - Get Last Call and Hydration reminders to minimize hangovers - Set up future messages from your sober self to your tipsy self - Quickly record drinks and mood logs from Profile tab charts - Record your drinks and daily mood logs for previous time periods without limitations - All-access to previous years for grid chart and numbers Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dosEKZx-QnJUMKiMPHSgW_P1QF0T8cI4AwRXzpQ907M/edit?usp=sharing

Screenshots

Sober January4 screens
Mindful Drinking4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mindful Drinking at every 3 months against Sober January's every 11 months. Sober January's advantage is ratings volume (575 vs 55) and review sentiment (69% vs 60%). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sober January sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Mindful Drinking sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Sober January against 4.7 for Mindful Drinking. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sober January has 575 ratings behind it against 55, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Sober January's written reviews are positive against 60% of Mindful Drinking's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sober January ships an update every 11 months, Mindful Drinking every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 27, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Sober January versus Mindful Drinking: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSober JanuaryMindful Drinking
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (575 ratings) — better4.7 (55 ratings)
Positive reviews69.2% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings575 — better55
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15 — better15.3
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB18 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperClarity ApplicationsMihaly Setalo

Customer experience

Sober January

All ratings576 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral3.8%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive69.2%
Neutral23.1%
Negative7.7%

Mindful Drinking

All ratings55 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral3.6%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral30.0%
Negative10.0%

Bugs and requests

Sober January

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • 🐛 Text cut off mid-sentence

Requested features

2 requests
  • 💡 All-year-round version of the app
  • 💡 More ways to view progress (e.g., graphs, stats)

Mindful Drinking

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Sober January

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
3 purchases

Mindful Drinking

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Access$9.991 Month
  • Premium Access3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime AccessFree

Questions

Is Sober January free?
Sober January is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mindful Drinking free?
Mindful Drinking is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sober January or Mindful Drinking?
Sober January is rated higher. Sober January averages 4.8 out of 5 from 575 ratings, while Mindful Drinking averages 4.7 from 55 ratings.
Do Sober January or Mindful Drinking have ads?
Neither Sober January nor Mindful Drinking shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sober January or Mindful Drinking?
Sober January ships an update every 11 months, and Mindful Drinking every 3 months. Most recently, Sober January was updated on October 27, 2026 and Mindful Drinking on October 27, 2026.

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