Ben's Virtues vs Pocket Marcus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ben's Virtues
This app helps you cultivate personal growth by tracking your adherence to thirteen virtues, inspired by Benjamin Franklin's original plan. Review your day nightly and mark transgressions to improve your conduct over time.
- Thirteen virtue tracking chart
- Weekly virtue focus
- Daily transgression marking
- Yearly cycle completion
- Personal conduct regulation
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Follow Benjamin Franklin's 13-week virtue system used for nearly 300 years to build discipline, honesty, moderation, industry, humility, and more. • Focus on one virtue each week • Takes one minute every evening • Free, no ads, and no account necessary • Apple Watch and widget make it even easier to track your virtues In 1726, while on an 80-day ocean voyage from London to Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin developed a plan and corresponding chart for regulating his future conduct. He based his plan on a chart of thirteen virtues. He committed to giving strict attention to one virtue each week - placing a mark on his chart each time he transgressed that week’s virtue. After thirteen weeks he moved through all thirteen virtues. He would repeat the course four times a year. Use this modern incarnation of Benjamin Franklin’s original chart to improve and regulate your daily conduct. Every evening review your day. Tap the day's date to place a mark if you transgressed the week's virtue. One virtue is highlighted every week and the whole chart should be completed four times in a year. The goal is to live your days - giving strict attention to each virtue - without having to place any marks on your chart. Thank you for checking out Ben's Virtues. If you like the app please let me know what virtue you are currently focusing on by leaving a quick review.
Pocket Marcus
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Discover timeless wisdom with Pocket Marcus, your personal Stoic philosophy companion powered by AI. Connect with the teachings of Marcus Aurelius through intelligent conversations that provide practical guidance for modern life. AUTHENTIC STOIC EXPERIENCE • Opening quotes from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations • Contextual responses on key Stoic themes • Multiple AI providers for diverse perspectives • Elegant classical design inspired by ancient philosophy INTELLIGENT AI INTEGRATION • Multi-provider AI system (Gemini, OpenAI, Claude, Ollama) • Smart fallback with 40+ contextual responses • Automatic provider selection for optimal experience • Self-hosted AI support for complete privacy control FLEXIBLE SUBSCRIPTION TIERS • Seeker: Free with smart fallback responses • Student: 50 daily messages with brief & medium responses • Philosopher: 100 daily messages with all response lengths • Scholar: Unlimited with your own AI keys (BYOK) COMPREHENSIVE WISDOM TOPICS • Stoicism fundamentals and daily practices • Ethics and moral philosophy • Leadership and resilience building • Personal growth and self-reflection • Balanced wisdom for modern challenges BEAUTIFUL DESIGN THEMES • Daily Stoic: Classic brown inspired by Ryan Holiday's book • Ancient Scrolls: Aged parchment aesthetic • Dark Mode: Elegant night reading • Light Mode: Clean modern interface Whether you're new to Stoicism or a seasoned practitioner, Pocket Marcus provides personalized philosophical guidance that adapts to your journey. Transform ancient wisdom into practical daily insights. Start your Stoic journey today with Marcus Aurelius as your guide. Terms of Use: https://eplugge.github.io/pocket-marcus-support/terms-of-use.html Privacy Policy: https://eplugge.github.io/pocket-marcus-support/privacy-policy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ben's Virtues at none against Pocket Marcus's 2. Ben's Virtues also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 7 months). Pocket Marcus's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Pocket Marcus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Ben's Virtues asks for nothing beyond the download.
Ben's Virtues ships an update every 4 weeks, Pocket Marcus every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ben's Virtues | Pocket Marcus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (37 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 37 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Reason Interactive | Eelco Plugge |
Bugs and requests
Ben's Virtues
Reported bugs
25 issues- Blank screen
- Crashes every time it's opened
- App no longer works
- Keeps resetting and losing progress
- Data doesn't get stored or saved
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- App doesn't work
- Can only choose one virtue line
- Updates remove data
- Keeps losing progress
- Dots don't appear on any other virtues except the highlighted one
- History/tracking deleted on iOS update
- Impossible to put marks on any of the virtues except the one highlighted
- Impossible to put more than one mark on a virtue per day
- Rewording of Franklin's description of Chastity
- Chart boots out after 3 or 4 weeks
- Doesn't move forward each day
- No way to manually set the calendar date
- App completely reset itself
- Randomly resetting itself and deleting prior progress
- Keeps randomly reseting itself and deleting prior progress
- Just freezes immediately on opening
- App doesn't work...at all
- Wil not run on ipad
- Didn't work on my iPad
- Not working right now
Requested features
23 requests- Allow setting custom start day
- Enable marking all virtues daily
- Allow adding custom virtues
- Improve visibility of virtue tracking
- Option to export data
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Include samples of Ben Franklin's tracked virtues
- Allow multiple marks per day
- Support for more than one virtue focus at a time
- Add ability to cycle through thirteen weeks with marking on other virtues
- Make it able to put dots in EVERY spot per day
- Add ability to change "virtues" to add your own
- Add tab with passage from Franklin's bio
- Allow user to set start day
- Add ability to put more than one mark on a virtue per day
- Allow tracking of multiple virtues
- Add option to create custom virtues
- Set alarm/push notification for daily rating
- Include video and autobiography section
- Update app to 4.0
- Allow marking any virtues on any given day
- Include option of creating your own list of virtues
- Add higher level of personalization
- Add more discussion on each virtue
Pocket Marcus
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ben's Virtues
No in-app purchases
Pocket Marcus
- Student of Stoicism$2.991 Month
- Philosopher Companion$3.991 Month
Questions
Is Ben's Virtues free?
Is Pocket Marcus free?
Do Ben's Virtues or Pocket Marcus have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ben's Virtues or Pocket Marcus?
Other comparisons
