Comparison

Meditation Timer | Samsara vs ZenPace

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

ZenPace

This app helps practitioners stay on schedule with a seamless soundtrack and gentle gongs instead of jarring alarms. Design sessions visually with named segments and precise timestamps, choosing from a curated sound library. It offers background playback and works offline, ideal for maintaining a calm atmosphere during treatments.

Highlights
  • Customizable ambient soundscapes
  • Visual session timeline editor
  • Harmonic gong transitions
  • Curated music and gong library
  • Offline functionality
  • Background playback
  • Keep-awake mode
Features
Read full description

ZenPace is an ambient session-management app built for therapists, masseuses, and practitioners who need to stay on schedule without breaking the atmosphere. STAY IN FLOW Instead of jarring alarms or constant clock-watching, ZenPace lets you curate a seamless soundtrack of relaxing music with soft, harmonic gongs at the exact moments you need them. These gentle transitions signal when to move to the next phase of a treatment — without disrupting your client's experience. VISUAL SESSION BUILDER Design your sessions with an intuitive visual timeline. Add gongs at precise timestamps, name each segment (e.g. "Head & Neck", "Back Work", "Cool Down"), and preview sounds before committing. Use smart presets to quickly create evenly-spaced intervals. CURATED SOUND LIBRARY Choose from a growing catalog of ambient music tracks that loop seamlessly in the background, and handpicked gong sounds — from singing bowls to temple bells, wood taps to brass chimes. Every sound is designed to blend naturally into a calm environment. KEY FEATURES - Create unlimited custom sessions with named segments - Visual timeline editor with drag-and-insert gong placement - Expanding library of ambient music tracks + gong sounds - Smart presets: "Every X minutes" or "N equal parts" - Beautiful glass morphism UI with animated aurora backdrop - Background playback — audio continues when your phone is locked - Keep-awake mode for hands-free use during sessions - Haptic feedback on transitions - Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese - Works 100% offline — no account, no internet, no tracking DESIGNED FOR PROFESSIONALS - Massage therapists - Physical therapists - Osteopaths and chiropractors - Yoga and meditation instructors - Spa and wellness professionals - Sound healers and energy workers - Any practitioner who values presence SUPPORT THE DEVELOPER If ZenPace brings value to your practice, you can show your appreciation with an optional tip — right from the app. Every contribution helps keep ZenPace alive and growing. No ads. No subscriptions. No data collection. Just a calm, reliable tool for your practice — with an optional tip jar if you'd like to show your support.

Screenshots

Meditation Timer | Samsara4 screens
ZenPace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: ZenPace at free against Meditation Timer | Samsara's free with in-app purchases. ZenPace also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). Meditation Timer | Samsara's advantage is ratings volume (435 vs 1) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

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 ZenPace sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ZenPace holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Meditation Timer | Samsara has 435 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, ZenPace every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Meditation Timer | Samsara versus ZenPace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeditation Timer | SamsaraZenPace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (435 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings435 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBart JacobsLouis Perreau

Customer experience

Meditation Timer | Samsara

All ratings431 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews478 reviews
Positive90.6%
Neutral4.2%
Negative5.2%

ZenPace

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

ZenPace

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
3 purchases

ZenPace

One-time3
  • A Kind Breath$1.99
  • A Warm Embrace$3.99
  • A Deep Bow$8.99

Questions

Is Meditation Timer | Samsara free?
Meditation Timer | Samsara is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ZenPace free?
ZenPace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Meditation Timer | Samsara or ZenPace?
ZenPace is rated higher. Meditation Timer | Samsara averages 4.7 out of 5 from 435 ratings, while ZenPace averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Meditation Timer | Samsara or ZenPace have ads?
Neither Meditation Timer | Samsara nor ZenPace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meditation Timer | Samsara or ZenPace?
Meditation Timer | Samsara ships an update every 10 days, and ZenPace every 2 months. Most recently, Meditation Timer | Samsara was updated on October 20, 2026 and ZenPace on October 1, 2026.

Other comparisons