Calm vs Meditation Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Calm
This app offers guided meditations, sleep stories, music, and breathing exercises to help users reduce stress, anxiety, and improve sleep. It caters to all experience levels, integrating mindfulness into daily routines for enhanced mental well-being.
- Guided meditations
- Sleep Stories
- Breathwork exercises
- Relaxing music
- Stretching exercises
- Mindfulness programs
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Calm is the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation. Find anxiety relief, stress relief, and better sleep through breathing exercises, sleep sounds, deep sleep music, and mindfulness programs for insomnia, beginner meditation, and beyond. Downloaded by 180 million people worldwide. Fall asleep faster with Sleep Stories, bedtime stories for adults narrated by Matthew McConaughey, Stephen Fry, P\!nk, Bob Ross, and more. Only on Calm. Manage stress, relieve anxiety, improve your sleep cycle, and refocus your attention. Apple App of the Year. Apple Editors' Choice. Happiest App in the World (Center for Humane Technology). 3M+ five-star reviews. Recommended by top psychologists, therapists, and mental health experts. SLEEP STORIES — ONLY ON CALM * Drift off to Matthew McConaughey's Wonder — a dreamy journey through the mysteries of the universe * Travel through the village of Provence with master storyteller Stephen Fry in Blue Gold * Fall asleep to the soothing brush strokes of beloved painter Bob Ross in Happy Little Zzzs * Tackle insomnia with 100+ exclusive Sleep Stories, new content added every month MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS * Beginner meditation to advanced practice — guided sessions for every experience level * Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt, Daily Jay with Jay Shetty, Daily Trip with Jeff Warren * Mindfulness topics: deep sleep, anxiety relief, stress relief, focus, breaking habits, self-care, personal growth, and more * 7- and 21-day mindfulness programs to build a lasting practice ANXIETY RELIEF & RELAXATION * Breathing exercises and breathwork to ease anxiety, stress, and insomnia * Bilateral stimulation music and neuroacoustic sounds for nervous system regulation and somatic relaxation * Guided breathwork for stress relief, anxiety relief, and deep calm * Stress management and self-healing through Dailies: programs for social anxiety, personal growth, and mood balance * Mindful movement and stretching with Daily Move SLEEP SOUNDS, MUSIC & SOUNDSCAPES * Calming music, nature sounds, and sleep sounds: ocean waves, heavy rain, campfire, and more * Exclusive focus and sleep music from top artists * Full soundscapes and sleep sounds to help you relax, meditate, and sleep soundly ALSO FEATURING * Daily Streaks & Mindful Minutes — emotion and mental health tracker * Calm saves your meditation and sleep sessions to your Apple Health app. Mental health is health. Calm is for anyone looking to improve their sleep, manage stress, and address everyday anxiety. Meditation novice or seasoned expert. Take a deep breath and find your Calm. Calm is free to download and use. There are never any ads and some of the programs and features are free forever. Some content is only available through an optional paid subscription. Be sure to check out our Apple Watch app to quick-start breathing exercises and track your meditations. Subscription pricing and terms: Calm offers an auto-renewing monthly subscription at $14.99/month and an auto-renewing yearly subscription at $69.99/year to provide you with unlimited access to the Calm Collection while you maintain an active subscription. Payment will be charged to the credit card connected to your iTunes Account when you confirm the initial subscription purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and the cost of the renewal will be identified. You may manage your subscription and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after the purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription, where applicable. Read more about our terms and conditions here: Terms of service: https://www.calm.com/terms Privacy policy: https://www.calm.com/privacy
Meditation Studio
Reduce stress, ease anxiety, and improve sleep with guided meditations on various topics. Explore collections tailored for specific needs like health, happiness, and kindness, or create your own unguided sessions. Features expert teachers and progress tracking.
- Guided meditations on diverse topics
- Customizable unguided meditations
- Collections for specific life areas
- Courses for deeper practice
- Expert meditation teachers
- Progress tracking and scheduling
- Offline access
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⁃ Featured by Forbes as "Best Health And Fitness Apps Of 2017" ⁃ Featured by Apple as "10 Best Apps of the Year” 2016 ⁃ Featured by TIME as "50 Best Apps of the Year" 2016 ⁃ Recommended by: Refinery 29, Inc., Huffington Post, Well and Good, Greatist, Celebuzz, Yahoo! Beauty, and many more Reduce stress, ease anxiety, improve sleep, and boost confidence; it’s all here. Enjoy guided meditations on topics from happiness to performance, plus meditations custom made for moms, teens, kids and more. ------------------------------- Refinery 29 – "If you're looking to get your Zen on, Meditation Studio is a simple, beautiful way to get guidance." Forbes – "Meditation Studio is a powerful solution to your problems” Greatist – “Meditation Studio. A meditation app you’ll actually use” ------------------------------- COLLECTIONS Each collection is designed to give a specific area of your life some extra love. Got a challenge? We’re here for you. Collections and topics include: Be Healthy: Receive the tools you need to keep your mind and body healthy ◦ Stress, Sleep, Deep Sleep, Calm, Eating, Pain, Fertility Be Awesome: Boost your mood and find your inner awesome ◦ Happiness, Joy, Motivation, Work, Performance, Muse Mindset Talks, Confidence, Focus, Creativity, Life Transitions, Pep Talks Be Kind: Cultivate a sense of forgiveness, compassion, and self-love ◦ Gratitude, Compassion, Grief, Relationships, Leadership Be Curious: Find your perfect fit by exploring different meditation styles ◦ Day to Night, Travel, Outdoors, Mantras, Quick Breaks, Long Breaks, Zen, Singing Bowls Just For: Meditations to meet the needs of specific communities, people, and careers ◦ Moms, Kids, Goodnight Kiddo, Teens, College, Quarterlife, Baseball, Entrepreneurs, Special Occasions, Climate Awareness, First Responders, Veterans COURSES Get step-by-step guidance for a deeper dive into specific meditation topics: ◦ Starter Series, Meditation Essentials, Foundations of Mindfulness, Deepening Your Practice, Sleep Basics, Uncovering Happiness, Mindful Relationships, Mindful Work, Changing Habits FAVORITES Tap the heart icon to mark a meditation as a favorite. Sort by Favorites in Studio, Collection Detail, Teacher Detail and Search Results to quickly access favorite meditations. UNGUIDED Create your own unguided meditations with start, interval and end sounds. Choose silence or background sounds to add to your custom meditation experience. TEACHERS Today’s leading meditation experts. Featuring over 60 teachers including Elisha Goldstein, Chrissy Carter, Michael Apollo, Ashley Turner and more, with a diverse range of styles to explore. STUDIO Build a personalized library of your favorite guided and unguided meditations. Play meditations anytime, anywhere – no internet connection needed. SCHEDULE Track your progress, schedule meditation sessions, and stay focused on your practice. BACKGROUND SOUNDS Choose from calming ambient sounds or original music tracks by tapping the musical note at the bottom of the player. Meditation Studio saves your meditation sessions to your Apple Health App. PRICING & TERMS We offer three auto-renewing subscription options: $7.99 per month $49.99 per year These prices are for U.S. customers. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. Payment will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hrs prior to the end of the subscription period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings but refunds will not be provided for any unused portion. Terms & Conditions- https://www.meditationstudioapp.com/terms Privacy Policy- https://www.meditationstudioapp.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Meditation Studio at none against Calm's shown. Meditation Studio also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 64%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). Calm's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly) and ratings volume (2M vs 9K). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Calm sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Meditation Studio sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Calm against 4.8 for Meditation Studio. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calm has 2M ratings behind it against 9K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of Calm's written reviews are positive against 79% of Meditation Studio's.
Calm ships an update every 4 days, Meditation Studio monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Calm | Meditation Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2M ratings) | 4.8 (9K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.1% of reviews | 79.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2M — better | 9K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #9 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 167 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Calm.com | InteraXon |
Customer experience
Calm
Meditation Studio
User reviews
Calm
From 2M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💤 Helpful for sleep
- 🧘♀️ Effective for meditation and relaxation
- 🎨 Variety of content (sleep stories, meditations, music)
- 🙏 Positive impact on mental health
- 🤗 Soothing narrators
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Limited free content
- 🕰️ Difficulty finding specific content
- 🔁 Repetitive sleep stories
- 🙃 Accessibility issues for disabled users
Meditation Studio
From 9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Variety of meditation options
- 🕰️ Short meditations for busy schedules
- 🎨 Customizable background sounds
- 💻 Offline access to meditations
- 🧘♀️ Helpful for anxiety, sleep, and relaxation
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes or freezes
- 🔒 Locked content after subscription change
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🔍 Lack of search/sort functionality
- 🔊 Meditations too fast-paced
Bugs and requests
Calm
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes or freezes
- Playback issues with audio and video
- Difficulty cancelling subscription
Requested features
6 requests- Add repeat button for sleep stories
- Separate kids and adult content
- Allow creating custom playlists
- Improve search and navigation
- Add more diverse narrator voices
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- Provide text-based instructions for techniques
Meditation Studio
Reported bugs
3 issues- Meditations not playing after download
- Inability to access content on multiple devices
- Incompatibility issues with iPad landscape mode
Requested features
6 requests- Playlist feature to play multiple meditations in a row
- More long-form (30+ minute) meditation options
- Ability to customize meditations (e.g. add own background music)
- Integration with fitness trackers or Apple Health
- Dark mode or night theme
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- Progress tracking and streaks
In-app purchases
Calm
- Calm Subscription$14.991 Month
- Calm Premium$14.991 Month
- Calm Premium$16.991 Month
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- Calm Premium$29.991 Month
- Calm Premium$69.991 Year
- Calm Premium7 Days trial2 variants$69.991 Year
- Calm Premium7 Days trial3 variants$79.991 Year
- Calm Premium$79.991 Year
Meditation Studio
- Meditation Studio Monthly$3.991 Month
- Meditation Studio Monthly$7.991 Month
- Meditation Studio Quarterly$17.993 Months
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- Meditation Studio Yearly$23.991 Year
- Meditation Studio - Yearly1 Year trial$49.991 Year
Questions
Is Calm free?
Is Meditation Studio free?
Which has better reviews, Calm or Meditation Studio?
Do Calm or Meditation Studio have ads?
Which is updated more often, Calm or Meditation Studio?
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