Comparison

Meditation Timer | Samsara vs Zen Timer.

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

Head to head
About

Meditation Timer | Samsara

This minimalist app provides a customizable timer for various meditation and mindfulness practices. It features calming chimes, detailed statistics, and iCloud support for seamless data syncing across devices. Designed for simplicity, it helps users focus on their practice without distractions.

Highlights
  • Customizable meditation timer
  • Support for various practices (mantra, mindfulness, zazen, yoga, reiki)
  • Collection of calming chimes (Tibetan bells, singing bowls)
  • Detailed practice statistics and progress tracking
  • iCloud support for data syncing across devices
  • Profile management for easy switching between practices
Read full description

For the past twelve years, Samsara has been the meditation timer of tens of thousands of people around the world. This meditation timer is designed for iPad and iPhone, and caters to a wide range of practices, including mantra meditation, transcendental meditation, tm for short, mindfulness, zazen, yoga, reiki, shiatsu, and more. This elegant mindfulness app brings a unique approach to incorporating mindfulness into your everyday life. It's a perfect choice for practitioners of various flavors of meditation and mindfulness. Samsara's clean and minimalist design keeps your focus steady. The app's interface is thoughtfully crafted with simplicity at its core, ensuring your yoga, meditation, or mindfulness session isn't interrupted by complex features or visually overwhelming elements. Profiles make it easy to switch between practices. Switching between profiles takes a second. Whether you are moving between a yoga session and a mindfulness timer, or shifting between personal and group sessions, your settings can be adjusted with just a few simple taps. This meditation timer includes a collection of calming chimes, such as Tibetan bells, singing bowls, and meditation bells. They allow you to personalize your sessions and create the ideal atmosphere for your practice. The bells and chimes are gentle reminders, guiding your yoga or meditation journey and helping you build a deeper connection with your practice. The app provides detailed, insightful statistics for those who want it. Stay motivated by tracking your progress and patterns over time. Monitor the duration, frequency, and type of your practices to get a deeper understanding of your journey and gain insights into your personal growth. Samsara optionally integrates with Apple's HealthKit. This meditation timer comes with iCloud support, one of the most requested features. Your profiles and sessions are stored in iCloud on Apple's servers. Communication with iCloud is encrypted end-to-end, which means it is safe and secure. What does that mean for you? You don't run the risk of losing your data when you lose your device. Switching to a new device is also a breeze. Another benefit is that you can use Samsara on multiple devices, sharing profiles and sessions. It works like magic. Download Samsara for free and let it be your meditation timer during your practice. Privacy Policy: https://www.adropofzen.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Zen Timer.

This app helps you focus on meditation and mindfulness with customizable timers. Set preparation, meditation, interval, and cool-down times with various alert sounds and background music. Track your progress and maintain logs for a more peaceful practice.

Highlights
  • Create unlimited custom timers
  • Adjust preparation, meditation, and interval times
  • Select from 18 free interval sounds
  • Choose background music
  • Supports background and lock screen operation
  • Meditation log and report tracking
  • Multiple profiles and reminders
Features
Read full description

Zen Timer is a handy app to help you focusing on zen/meditation/insight, you can totally relax without worrying about time. It has four default timers and you can create and custom your own timers. You can custom the preparation time, meditation time, interval number & interval time (each interval time can be different), cool down time. 18 free sounds are available to be chosen as switch interval alert sound. Start the timer and enjoy the peace... Key Features: ⁃ Custom and create unlimited timers. ⁃ Custom preparation time, meditation time, interval number, interval time, cool down time and background picture. ⁃ Each interval time can be set as different duration. ⁃ Choose background music to be played from device. ⁃ Supports running in background and lock screen. ⁃ 18 free interval switch sounds. ⁃ Set switch sounds to be played one, two or three times. ⁃ Keep and share meditation logs. ⁃ Meditation time reports. ⁃ Multiple profiles. ⁃ Create unlimited reminders. ⁃ Passcode protection. ⁃ Dropbox backup and restore. ⁃ Supports transferring to Health app. ⁃ Supports Today Widget. ⁃ Supports Apple Watch version. ⁃ Supports universal version (available on both iPhone and iPad). If you have any question or suggestion, please email to linklinksapp@tom.com.

Screenshots

Meditation Timer | Samsara4 screens
Zen Timer.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Meditation Timer | Samsara at 4.7 against Zen Timer.'s 3.4. Meditation Timer | Samsara also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 11 months). Zen Timer.'s advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Meditation Timer | Samsara sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Zen Timer. sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 6 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Meditation Timer | Samsara holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meditation Timer | Samsara has 431 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Meditation Timer | Samsara's written reviews are positive against 65% of Zen Timer.'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, Zen Timer. every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Meditation Timer | Samsara versus Zen Timer.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeditation Timer | SamsaraZen Timer.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (431 ratings) — better3.4 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews90.5% of reviews — better65.2% of reviews
Number of ratings431 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.615.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB76 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperBart JacobsLINKLINKS LTD

Customer experience

Meditation Timer | Samsara

All ratings431 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews475 reviews
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.2%
Negative5.3%

Zen Timer.

All ratings13 ratings
Positive46.2%
Neutral23.1%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive65.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative30.4%

Bugs and requests

Meditation Timer | Samsara

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashing on launch for some users
  • Chimes cutting off prematurely

Requested features

6 requests
  • Apple Watch support
  • More color options for highlights
  • Additional sound effects like other bells and instruments
  • Ability to delete saved profiles
  • Option to continue timer after initial duration
Show 1 more
  • Ability to set multiple timers within a single session

Zen Timer.

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Meditation Timer | Samsara

Subscriptions5
  • Samsara Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Samsara Premium Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Samsara Premium Yearly14 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Samsara Premium Yearly14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Samsara Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Samsara Premium Lifetime$59.99
2 purchases

Zen Timer.

Subscriptions1
  • Premium - 6 months14 Days trial$4.996 Months
One-time1
  • Pro Version$49.99

Questions

Is Meditation Timer | Samsara free?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Zen Timer. free?
Zen Timer. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Meditation Timer | Samsara or Zen Timer.?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is rated higher. Meditation Timer | Samsara averages 4.7 out of 5 from 431 ratings, while Zen Timer. averages 3.4 from 13 ratings.
Do Meditation Timer | Samsara or Zen Timer. have ads?
Zen Timer. shows ads; Meditation Timer | Samsara does not.
Which is updated more often, Meditation Timer | Samsara or Zen Timer.?
Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, and Zen Timer. every 11 months. Most recently, Meditation Timer | Samsara was updated on September 20, 2026 and Zen Timer. on September 9, 2026.

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