Comparison

Strive Journal vs Ember

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

Head to head
About

Strive Journal

This app helps you achieve your long-term goals through structured planning, journaling, and supportive exercises. Track your progress, share your journey with others, and reflect on your achievements.

Highlights
  • Goal setting and planning
  • Progress journaling
  • Shareable goals
  • Daily Gratitude exercises
  • Affirmations
  • Dear Future Self letters
  • Wheel of Life assessment
Features
Read full description

Increase your chance of achieving your long term goals and/or help others achieve theirs. Goal setting & Journaling Set goals, make a plan, visualize and stay focused. These are the key ingredients to achieving long-term goals. Write about your progress and look back on your life with appreciation on what you have achieved. Share your goals with friends and family, or keep them private for yourself. Add extra incentive to achieve your goals or the goals of others by adding supports. Once the objective has been finished, you choose to give it or not. Strive Journal comes with several exercises to increase your chance of succeeding: - Daily Gratitude - Affirmations - Dear Future Self - Wheel of Life Daily Gratitude A daily practice to focus on the positive instead of the negative Affirmations Set affirmations for yourself to embed beliefs and activate the law of attraction Dear Future Self Write letters to your future self. Predict what your future will look like and by visualizing and writing about it, increase your chance of actually getting there. Wheel of Life Discover which area in your life needs extra attention and set goals for this. Track your progress over the long term

About

Ember

Features
Read full description

Ember is a simple, gamified habit-tracking app designed to help you build consistency and stay motivated. Track your habits, level up through progress, and turn daily actions into a rewarding system — without accounts, ads, or subscriptions. Why Ember Gamified habit progression Clean, focused iOS-native experience Your data stays private in your iCloud No tracking, no analytics, no ads No subscriptions or in-app purchases Built for Focus Ember is intentionally minimal. No distractions, no social features, no noise — just you and your habits. Start small. Stay consistent. Build momentum. Terms & Privacy: https://www.notion.so/degisner/Ember-Terms-Privacy-97408d3419bb8218bbae01249b717041?source=copy_link

Screenshots

Strive Journal4 screens
Ember4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Ember at daily against Strive Journal's fortnightly. Strive Journal's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Strive Journal ships an update fortnightly, Ember daily. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Strive Journal versus Ember: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStrive JournalEmber
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRemco SimonidesAndrew Tanchuk

In-app purchases

None

Strive Journal

No in-app purchases

None

Ember

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Strive Journal free?
Strive Journal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ember free?
Ember is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Strive Journal or Ember have ads?
Neither Strive Journal nor Ember shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Strive Journal or Ember?
Strive Journal ships an update fortnightly, and Ember daily. Most recently, Strive Journal was updated on October 24, 2026 and Ember on October 31, 2026.

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