Comparison

Headache Guide vs Alison

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

Head to head
About

Headache Guide

Features
Read full description

Gain a clearer understanding of your headaches and other recurring symptoms with Headache Guide. Record several moments throughout the day and discover patterns involving symptoms, medication, sleep, activities and environmental factors. REGISTRATION PROFILES Choose a profile for Migraine, Chronic Headache, Chronic Fatigue or Long COVID. For each profile, you decide which symptoms you want to track. Record symptoms with a severity from 0 to 10 or simply indicate that they were present. QUICK AND DETAILED RECORDING Record headaches, stabbing pains, fatigue, other symptoms, medication, activities and daily summaries. For headaches, you can record the pain score, side, location and type of pain. Choose which quick actions appear on the home screen and Apple Watch. OVERVIEWS AND INSIGHTS View your daily records in a clear calendar. Track the intensity or frequency of each symptom and see average, lowest and highest values. Charts and insights help you identify possible associations with time of day, sleep, activities, medication and daily impact. ENVIRONMENT AND WEATHER Record factors such as bright light and screen use. Optionally link current weather data using Apple Weather to explore possible associations with factors such as temperature and air pressure. Your location is not stored. MEDICATION AND REMINDERS Manage daily and other medication, set medication times and optionally receive a reminder for a follow-up measurement. Reminders can be configured separately for each day, for weekdays and weekends, or identically for every day. APPLE HEALTH AND SLEEP Import sleep data, available sleep metrics and workouts from Apple Health. If no sleep data is available, you can manually record bedtime, wake-up time, sleep duration, interruptions and sleep quality. Supported symptoms can also be shared with Apple Health. APPLE WATCH Record symptoms, headaches, medication and activities directly on your Apple Watch, even when your iPhone is not nearby. Widgets and the Watch complication provide quick access to the app. REPORTS AND CONSULTATION MODE View averages and trends over a custom period. Export your data as PDF or CSV and use Consultation Mode to present important information clearly during an appointment with a doctor or healthcare professional. PRIVACY AND SECURITY Your health data is processed locally on your own devices and within Apple Health. Protect the app using Face ID or a passcode, and create an encrypted backup that you can save in a location of your choice. TRY EVERYTHING FREE FOR 14 DAYS When you first use the app, you receive 14 days of free access to all features. No payment is required, and the trial does not automatically convert into a purchase. After the trial, the free basic features remain available, including manual recording, Today, Diary, access protection and encrypted backups. The one-time Headache Guide Complete in-app purchase permanently unlocks all advanced features. There is no subscription. Headache Guide helps you record and discuss your health information. The app does not diagnose conditions, determine causes or replace professional medical advice.

About

Alison

This app helps you track headaches by logging symptoms, meals, water, and sleep. It identifies potential patterns in your data to share with a clinician. Your journal remains private and on your device.

Highlights
  • Start and stop headache tracking
  • Log meals with ingredients
  • Track water and sleep intake
  • Optional Apple Watch integration
  • Read-only Apple Health integration
  • Optional weather data
  • Generate clinic letters
Features
Read full description

Alison is a personal headache journal. Headache on? Tap Start. Headache over? Tap Stop. Log meals, water, and sleep as they happen. The journal is what you wrote. Nothing more. Alison is not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent migraine or any condition. It does not forecast. Talk to a clinician about symptoms. No account. No ads. No tracking. Your journal stays on your device. Pairs are observational. When the same thing has shown up with three of your migraine days, Alison shows a note. That is what has shown up together. It is not a cause. It is not a forecast. It is not a trigger test. Free download. Keep is a monthly subscription through Apple: 1-month free trial for new subscribers, then $0.99/month (local price varies). For the first 24 hours after you first open Alison, nothing waits on Keep. The journal stays readable without Keep. After the first 24 hours, new Start, Food, and Health pull need Keep. When the trial or Keep ends, those services end. Restore on the Keep screen. Cancel in Apple Subscriptions. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Start and Stop a headache • Log meals with ingredients. Search, scan a barcode, or type. Open Food Facts supplies the ingredients. Not a trigger test. • Log water and sleep. Water in ml or oz: you choose under Units. • Optional Apple Watch: Start and intensity • Optional Apple Health: read-only. Alison reads food, water, sleep, menstrual flow, caffeine, and alcohol, only what you allow on Apple's sheet. Deny and the journal still works. • Optional weather: tap Resample for a pressure and humidity forecast from MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute). It is a forecast estimate, not a measurement, and it does not diagnose anything. If the weather feed is unavailable, the journal still works. Deny location and the journal still works. Based on data from MET Norway. Values are grouped and simplified by Alison. • Clinic letter: after 5 episodes, 8 meals, and 7 days, share, copy, or save a PDF of what you logged to hand to your clinician. It restates your log. It is not a diagnosis. WHAT ALISON DOES NOT DO • Diagnose • Forecast a migraine • Give medical advice • Replace a clinician • Show ads • Upload your journal to Night Orders ON YOUR PHONE • Alison has no account and no Alison server. Your journal, food log, symptom entries and photos stay on your device, and we do not collect them. Alison does not sync through iCloud. • We do not sell your data, use it for ads, or track you across apps or sites. • Weather is optional and only runs when you tap Resample, never in the background. Your phone rounds your location to about 11 km (7 miles) and sends it directly to MET Norway in Oslo, Norway. MET Norway receives your IP address with the request, as any web server does. Night Orders Studio LLC does not receive or store your location. • Food lookups send your search text or barcode to Open Food Facts, which sees your network address when called. No journal rows are sent. Details: nightorders.app/privacy-alison.html • Deleting the app deletes the journal on the phone. Support: support@nightorders.app Site: https://nightorders.app Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nightorders.app/privacy-alison.html

Screenshots

Headache Guide4 screens
Alison4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Alison at every 2 weeks against Headache Guide's every 2 months. Alison also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Headache Guide sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Alison sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Headache Guide ships an update every 2 months, Alison every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Headache Guide versus Alison: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHeadache GuideAlison
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB16 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperArjen BroezePaturious Grey

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Headache Guide

One-time1
  • HoofdpijnWijzer Compleet$8.99
1 purchases

Alison

Subscriptions1
  • Keep Monthly1 Month trial$0.991 Month

Questions

Is Headache Guide free?
Headache Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Alison free?
Alison is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Headache Guide or Alison have ads?
Neither Headache Guide nor Alison shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Headache Guide or Alison?
Headache Guide ships an update every 2 months, and Alison every 2 weeks. Most recently, Headache Guide was updated on October 31, 2026 and Alison on November 6, 2026.

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