Comparison

Onbeat Running vs Neaptide

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

Head to head
About

Onbeat Running

Improve your running form with a metronome that plays under your music. Features interval workouts, voice cues, and a four-week cadence retraining program. Works on iPhone and Apple Watch, even offline.

Highlights
  • Running metronome plays under music
  • Interval workouts with voice cues
  • Four-week cadence retraining program
  • Standalone Apple Watch app
  • Works offline
  • Customizable workouts
Features
Read full description

Sore knees? Overstriding? Quicker, lighter steps are the fix. Onbeat gives you a steady beat in your ears. Your feet lock onto it. The beat plays under your music or podcast. You can still hear it on a loud road, with your phone in your pocket or just your watch on your wrist. Run to the beat and your cadence goes up. The training layer makes it stick: interval workouts with voice cues, and a program that retrains your cadence in four weeks. THE BEAT • Exact timing at any steps per minute. No drift, no stutter • Plays under whatever you listen to. Loud enough for the road • Change tempo without breaking stride. Controls on the Lock Screen THE TRAINING LAYER • Interval workouts. A voice tells you when to push and when to recover. You never look at the screen • Cadence Builder: four weeks of small steps that raise your cadence for good • Build your own workouts and keep them APPLE WATCH • Works on its own. Leave the phone at home and the real beat plays from your wrist • Intervals and voice cues on the watch too. Every run saves to Apple Health A METRONOME YOU BUY ONCE Here's what you get: the running metronome that plays under your podcast, interval workouts with voice cues, the four week cadence program, and the standalone Apple Watch app. Try everything free for 7 days. It's a real trial and there's nothing to cancel. Then $9.99, once. It's yours for life. No subscription. No account. No ads. You can browse the app forever either way. Starting a run is what needs the unlock. Works offline.

About

Neaptide

This app offers guided breathing exercises and sensory re-entry techniques to help manage feelings of being overwhelmed. It intelligently suggests a session based on how you hold your device, with options to easily adjust or switch techniques.

Highlights
  • Adaptive session selection
  • Settle and Surface modes
  • Adjustable techniques
  • Screen-off mode
  • Lock Screen widget
  • Apple Watch app
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Neaptide opens to one thing: a circle. Hold it for a few seconds and a session starts. That is the whole interface. Most calming apps open with a menu, a questionnaire, or a sign-up. That is a reasonable design right up until the moment you actually need one — because when you are overwhelmed, deciding is the first thing that stops working. Forty exercises in a list are useless exactly when it matters. So Neaptide decides, and lets you overrule it in one tap. TWO DIRECTIONS Not everyone who feels bad needs to slow down. Some people are running fast: racing thoughts, clenched jaw, cannot sit still. Others are running slow: flat, foggy, numb, stuck. Telling someone who is already shut down to breathe more slowly points them further down. Neaptide reads which way you are going from how you held the screen, then picks accordingly. Settle — for wired. Long exhales, the physiological sigh, orienting, cold contact. The screen cools and darkens. Surface — for numb. A sharper rhythm, movement, bilateral tapping, sensory re-entry. The screen warms and lifts. Two words stay on screen the whole time: slower and brighter. If the read is wrong, one tap fixes it mid-session without losing your place. And if a technique isn't right for you, "try another" swaps it for a different one in the same direction — same place, same clock. THE READ IS A GUESS, AND SAYS SO It is three rough signals — how still you held it, how far your thumb drifted, how quickly you first tapped. A sensible default, not a measurement. The app tells you that in plain words on the screen where it matters, and you can overrule it at any point. NOTHING TO KEEP UP WITH No streaks. No scores. No "day 4". No log, no history, no chart. Miss a month and nothing is waiting for you when you come back. NO ACCOUNT, NO INTERNET No sign-up, no email address, no cloud. Nothing you do in Neaptide leaves your phone, because there is nowhere for it to go — there is no server. It works in airplane mode, on the Underground, and on a phone with no signal. WHY EACH ONE IS HERE Every reset carries a plain-language note about what the technique is generally used for, shown after the session rather than during it. Neaptide describes; it does not diagnose. WHAT YOU GET Thirteen resets across both directions. Unlimited sessions. Haptic pacing you can follow with the screen face-down. A screen-off mode that goes dark and keeps pacing you. Your own session length. A Lock Screen widget. An Apple Watch app that keeps pacing you with your wrist down. One payment. No subscription, ever. Every future update included. Neaptide is not treatment, and not a substitute for care from a professional. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency number.

Screenshots

Onbeat Running4 screens
Neaptide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Onbeat Running at Free against Neaptide's $0.99. Neaptide's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

Onbeat Running is free to download; Neaptide costs $0.99 up front. Onbeat Running sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Neaptide asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Onbeat Running against 5.0 for Neaptide. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Onbeat Running ships an update every 3 weeks, Neaptide fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Onbeat Running versus Neaptide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnbeat RunningNeaptide
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings55
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB2 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAlterras LLCBertie Allen

Customer experience

Onbeat Running

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Neaptide

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Onbeat Running

One-time1
  • Onbeat Lifetime$9.99
None

Neaptide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Onbeat Running free?
Onbeat Running is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Neaptide free?
Neaptide costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Onbeat Running or Neaptide?
Onbeat Running and Neaptide are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 5 ratings respectively.
Do Onbeat Running or Neaptide have ads?
Neither Onbeat Running nor Neaptide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Onbeat Running or Neaptide?
Onbeat Running ships an update every 3 weeks, and Neaptide fortnightly. Most recently, Onbeat Running was updated on October 14, 2026 and Neaptide on October 8, 2026.

Other comparisons