Forming good habits and breaking bad ones is one of life’s most significant challenges. It requires a conscious effort to rewire your daily routines and resist the pull of established behaviors. The journey is tough, but the right tools can make it significantly easier. This is where habit tracking apps come into play.
Habit tracking apps are powerful because they provide clear, visual feedback on your progress. They transform your efforts into a tangible chain of successes. Seeing that unbroken chain grow longer each day creates a powerful psychological incentive to keep going. You become invested in your streak and are far less likely to skip a day. It’s a simple concept, but incredibly effective for building momentum.
However, the sheer number of options in the app store can be overwhelming. With hundreds of habit trackers available, how do you know which one is right for you? To save you time and effort, we’ve researched and tested dozens of apps to bring you this definitive list. Each app below offers unique features designed to help you monitor your progress, stay motivated, and achieve your goals on your path to self-improvement.
How to Choose the Best Habit Tracker for You
Before diving into our list, consider what you need in an app. The “best” app is subjective and depends on your personality and goals. Ask yourself these questions:
- What’s Your Personality? Are you motivated by games and competition? An app like Habitica might be perfect. Do you prefer a clean, minimalist design? Habitify or Today could be a better fit. Are you data-driven and love seeing graphs and stats? Strides or Beeminder will appeal to you.
- Do You Need Accountability? If you work better with social pressure, look for apps with community features like Coach.me or SnapHabit. For the ultimate accountability, Beeminder’s financial stakes are hard to beat.
- What’s Your Budget? Many apps on this list offer robust free versions. However, premium features often unlock advanced analytics, unlimited habits, and other perks. Decide if a monthly subscription or a one-time payment is worth it for you.
- Which Platforms Do You Use? Ensure the app is available on all your devices—your phone, tablet, and computer. Cross-platform sync is crucial for tracking habits on the go.
With these points in mind, let’s explore the best habit tracking apps available today.
1. Habitica: Gamify Your Life
Overview: Habitica ingeniously transforms the process of building habits into a role-playing game (RPG). If you’ve ever been hooked on a video game, this app uses those same motivational triggers for self-improvement.
In Habitica, your real-life actions have consequences in a virtual world. When you complete a positive habit (like exercising) or a daily task, your custom avatar gains experience points and gold. This allows you to level up, unlock armor, acquire pets, and even go on quests. Conversely, if you miss a habit or engage in a bad one (like eating junk food), your character loses health.
The true genius of Habitica lies in its social features. You can form a party with friends to take on quests and fight monsters together. This introduces a powerful layer of accountability; if you fail to complete your daily tasks, the entire party takes damage from the boss. This social pressure can be a massive motivator. While the RPG elements might be a bit complex for those unfamiliar with the genre, its core gamification principles are compelling for anyone seeking a more engaging way to track their goals. Best of all, the core experience is completely free.
Price: Free; Premium version available for $4.99/month for additional features.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
2. Habitify: Simple, Clean, and Effective
Overview: For those who prefer a more straightforward and aesthetically pleasing experience, Habitify is an excellent choice. It excels in its simplicity and elegant design.
Habitify provides a clean list of the habits you’ve scheduled for the day. As you complete them, you simply check them off. The satisfaction comes from seeing your list cleared and your progress visualized through beautiful graphs and charts. The app makes it easy to see your completion rates, streaks, and weekly performance at a glance, providing the data-driven feedback many people crave without being overwhelming.
It also includes thoughtful features like a Dark Mode to reduce eye strain and home screen widgets for iOS users, allowing you to track your progress without even opening the app. If you value design and want a no-fuss tool that does its job exceptionally well, Habitify is a top contender.
Price: Free; Premium version for $4.99/month unlocks unlimited habits and advanced analytics.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac
3. Strides: Flexible Tracking for Every Goal
Overview: Strides looks similar to Habitify with its clean interface, but its real power lies in its remarkable flexibility. It acknowledges that not all habits are the same and provides different ways to track them.
Strides offers four unique tracker types. You can track a classic “Habit” with a simple yes/no for daily tasks like flossing. For goals with a specific deadline, like a 30-day challenge, you can set a “Streak” goal. If your goal is quantitative, like drinking 8 glasses of water, you can set a “Quantity” goal. The most innovative feature, however, is the “Average” tracker. This is perfect for habits that don’t need to be done every single day, such as going to the gym an average of 3 times per week. This flexibility allows for off days without breaking your overall momentum, making it a more realistic approach for many people.
This level of customization makes Strides an incredibly powerful tool for anyone with diverse goals, from fitness and finance to productivity and personal growth.
Price: Free; Premium version for $4.99/month for unlimited trackers and more features.
Platforms: iOS
4. Notion: The All-in-One Customizable Tracker
Overview: Notion is not a dedicated habit tracker; it’s a powerful all-in-one workspace for notes, project management, and databases. However, its infinite customizability makes it one of the best platforms for creating a personalized habit tracking system.
You can build your own tracker from scratch or use a pre-made template. A typical Notion habit tracker uses a simple database with checkboxes for each day of the week. This minimalist approach is perfect for those who find the features of other apps distracting. Where Notion shines is its ability to integrate habit tracking directly into your daily planning and journaling. You can link your habits to larger goals, write weekly reflections on your progress, and keep all your self-improvement efforts in one organized place.
If you’re already a Notion user or love the idea of building a system that is perfectly tailored to your needs, using it as your habit tracker is a fantastic and free option.
Price: Free for personal use.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Web
5. Coach.me: Community and Professional Coaching
Overview: Sometimes, tracking alone isn’t enough. If you thrive on external support and accountability, Coach.me is the app for you.
At its base, Coach.me is a solid habit tracker. But its standout features are its integrated community and coaching marketplace. For any habit you choose to track, you can join a community discussion to ask questions, share successes, and get encouragement from others on the same journey. This sense of shared experience can be a powerful motivator.
For those who need an even bigger push, you can hire a professional coach directly through the app. For a weekly fee, a coach will provide personalized advice and regular check-ins to help you stay on track. This makes professional coaching more accessible and is ideal for anyone struggling to build a particularly difficult habit on their own.
Price: Free for habit tracking; Coaching starts at $20/week.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
6. Beeminder: High-Stakes Accountability
Overview: If positive reinforcement isn’t cutting it, Beeminder introduces a powerful motivator: loss aversion. This app makes you put your money where your mouth is.
Beeminder is for those who are serious about their goals. When you set up a habit, you also set a pledge. If you fall off track and fail to meet your goal, Beeminder charges your credit card. The amount starts small (e.g., $5) but increases with each subsequent failure. This “sting” provides a potent incentive to stick with your commitments. The app visualizes your progress on a “Yellow Brick Road” graph, showing you exactly how much you need to do each day to stay on track.
Furthermore, Beeminder integrates with dozens of other services like Apple Health, Duolingo, and Github, allowing you to automatically track quantifiable goals without manual data entry. If you perform best when the stakes are high, Beeminder is an unparalleled tool for ensuring you follow through.
Price: Free for a limited number of goals; Premium plans from $8/month.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
7. TickTick: To-Do List and Habit Tracker in One
Overview: TickTick is a highly-rated to-do list app that has a fully-featured habit tracker built right in. It’s the perfect solution for those who want to manage their tasks and habits in a single, unified app.
As a task manager, TickTick is powerful and intuitive, with a design similar to popular apps like Todoist. The habit tracking feature is seamlessly integrated. You can view your habits alongside your daily tasks, making it easy to incorporate them into your schedule. The tracker itself is simple but effective, showing your streaks and completion history with a clean calendar view. It also includes motivating statistics and performance logs.
If you’re looking to streamline your productivity tools and want to avoid switching between multiple apps, TickTick offers an excellent all-in-one solution. It’s available on virtually every platform, ensuring your lists and habits are always in sync.
Price: Free; Premium version for $2.79/month unlocks more features.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Web, and more.
8. Today: A Beautiful and Mindful Approach
Overview: Today is arguably the most visually stunning app on this list. It combines powerful habit tracking with a mindful and inspiring user experience.
Beyond its gorgeous design, Today offers robust features. A standout capability is the ability to set a custom cover image for each habit. This allows you to connect your daily action with a visual reminder of your larger goal, which can be highly motivating. You can also add “Custom Cards” to each habit, integrating data from other sources like Apple Health or adding your own photo galleries and journal entries. This enriches the tracking process, turning it into a more holistic record of your journey.
With a full suite of standard tracking features, widgets, and reminders, Today is a perfect choice for iOS users who appreciate beautiful design and want a more reflective and personalized tracking experience.
Price: Free; Premium version for $1.99/month.
Platforms: iOS
Start Building Better Habits Now
Choosing a tool is the first step, but the most important action is to begin. Any of the apps on this list can help you build good habits and break bad ones, but their effectiveness depends on your consistency. Don’t get stuck in “analysis paralysis” trying to find the absolute perfect app.
Instead, pick one that resonates with you, set up your first simple habit, and start tracking today. The real magic happens not in the app, but in the daily commitment you make to yourself. By visually tracking your progress, you create a powerful feedback loop that reinforces your dedication and makes the journey to self-improvement both manageable and rewarding.