Comparison

Forge vs Dotyo

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

Head to head
About

Forge

This app offers structured self-improvement through guided practices inspired by Benjamin Franklin's methods. It provides multi-week guides focused on essential skills, decision-making, boundary setting, and more, helping users track their growth over time.

Highlights
  • Structured multi-week self-improvement guides
  • Virtue cultivation based on Benjamin Franklin's method
  • Track progress and celebrate growth
  • Guides for essential skills, decision-making, and boundaries
  • Local data storage for privacy
  • Optional biometric authentication
Features
Read full description

Continuous self-improvement through structured practice. The method of Forge Guides comes from Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, inventor, writer, and statesman who spent years faithfully working on his own character. He identified virtues he wanted to cultivate and worked through them in rotation, focusing on one at a time, week by week, and marking his failures rather than just his successes. Forge Guides is built around that same idea, updated for modern life and expanded into six structured multi-week guides you can work through at your own pace: - Essential Skills: Core foundations for personal growth, self-management, and meaningful relationships - Decision-Making Lens: A systematic way to work through a difficult decision - Boundary Setting: Learning to protect your time and energy with clarity and confidence - Recovery Fundamentals: Rebuilding your foundation step by step after setbacks, burnout, or difficult periods - Franklin's Original: Benjamin Franklin's personal 13 virtues in original 18th-century language - Practical Life Skills: Habits that build self-esteem and a more purposeful life CELEBRATE YOUR GROWTH OVER TIME Celebrate over time marking less and less while you progress in virtue, skill, and self-mastery. "I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it." — Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography ** SECURITY & PRIVACY ** - Your data is stored locally and stays on your device. - Biometric authentication can be enabled to protect access to your app. ** SUBSCRIPTION & DONATION ** Subscribe to access Widget Studio or to support the app. Most features of the app are free, no subscription required. Widget Studio ~ Design your own personalized widget and track the virtue or skill of the week on your home screen. - Color palettes in light and dark mode - Selection of fonts, including modern, retro, handwritten, chalkboard, casual and formal styles - In-app live previews - Change your widget designs anytime Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage plans and turn off auto-renewal in Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions. Privacy: https://startinjune-apps.github.io/forge-guides/privacy/ Terms: https://startinjune-apps.github.io/forge-guides/terms/

About

Dotyo

Features
Read full description

Most mood trackers feel like homework. Dotyo feels like a deep breath. No scores. No judgment. Just colors. We built Dotyo because we were tired of wellness apps that demand your attention, guilt-trip you for breaking streaks, and ask you to choose between 47 complex emotions when you're already exhausted. Your emotional journey is not a to-do list, and missing a day is perfectly okay. So we stripped the noise away. In Dotyo, you only have three honest choices: Good, Okay, or Tough. Tap one. Add a tag, leave a note, or don't. Move on with your day in 3 seconds. That's all. Watch your year fill with color, one dot at a time. Your calendar turns into a quiet, beautiful map of your life. No overwhelming graphs or toxic positivity. Just clean, visual patterns that help you understand yourself better without overthinking. Everything you need, nothing you don't: • Year and monthly views — your life in colors • Quiet insights that reveal patterns over time • Home screen widget to log in one tap • Beautiful themes to make the space yours • Export your data anytime Your privacy is a feature, not an afterthought. Your data stays strictly on your device, backed up to your own iCloud, and locked safely behind Face ID forever. We don't track, sell, or analyze your feelings. Ever. Dotyo doesn't judge your tough days. It just helps you see them — quietly, simply, honestly. Try Premium free for 7 days. Terms of Use: https://www.dotyoapp.com/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://www.dotyoapp.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Forge4 screens
Dotyo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Forge at weekly against Dotyo's every 3 weeks. Dotyo's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). 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. Forge sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Dotyo sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Forge ships an update weekly, Dotyo every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 16, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Forge versus Dotyo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterForgeDotyo
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStart in June LLCUGUR DURMUS

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Forge

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$5.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan$39.991 Year
3 purchases

Dotyo

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Premium$1.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$19.99

Questions

Is Forge free?
Forge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dotyo free?
Dotyo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Forge or Dotyo have ads?
Neither Forge nor Dotyo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Forge or Dotyo?
Forge ships an update weekly, and Dotyo every 3 weeks. Most recently, Forge was updated on October 16, 2026 and Dotyo on October 16, 2026.

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