Sleep
The 21 Top-Rated Sleep Apps to Help You Get a Good Night’s Rest
Apps for sleep can improve sleep quality and leave you feeling rested and refreshed.
Many sleep apps are free for basic features, with low-cost subscription rates for premium features.
Sleep apps can work on several devices including a smartphone, tablet, or smartwatch.
Whether you have insomnia or just need help managing your sleep cycle, there’s likely a sleep app that can help you. There are sleep apps that track your sleep and give you insights, and other apps that play soothing melodies or provide guided breathing exercises that can lull you to sleep.
Here, we’ll take a look at 21 apps that help you sleep more soundly, develop healthy sleep habits, and track your sleep cycles. The ratings and prices are current as of the date of the article’s publication.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Search and compare options
Google rating: 4.6 stars
BetterSleep offers both free services and paid plans for additional features, starting at $9.99 per month. You can use it to create your own soothing melodies to fall asleep with brainwave beats, white noise, or nature sounds. There are also guided meditations or pillow exercises to address insomnia. The app was developed with sleep experts.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.4 stars
Calm was initially known for its guided meditations, but has introduced soundscapes and sleep stories that may lower stress and promote better relaxation and sleep. It’s free to use, but to unlock additional content, it has premium subscriptions available from $14.99 to $69.99.
Apple rating: 4.4 stars
Can medications help you sleep? If you have insomnia, you may need extra support. Talk with your primary care provider about these sleep medications.
Sleep therapy: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can be an effective treatment if you’re struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep.
How much melatonin should you take? Melatonin may help you fall asleep, but you may be taking more than you need. Find out how much is too much.
Google rating: 3.2 stars
SleepScore provides a lot of data on your sleep, including:
Sleep duration
Time it takes to fall asleep
Time in deep sleep
Time in REM sleep
Wake-up time
It can track your sleep using the microphone and speaker on your phone. It also provides personalized advice based on your sleep data. It’s free, but the annual premium subscription is available for $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year, and gives you access to advice from sleep experts.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.4 stars
Headspace initially was created to teach meditation techniques to children and adults. It has expanded into a full mental health app. It provides a range of functions including sleep sounds, focus and productivity meditations, and sessions for fitness activities and relaxation. It’s free for limited access, while premium subscriptions are at $12.99 per month or $69.99 per year.
Apple rating: 4.4 stars
Pillow integrates with Apple Watch and Apple Health to track sleep cycles. If you’re curious about whether you snore or sleep talk, this app will record you as you sleep. It’s free, with premium features available for $6.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Apple rating: 4.5 stars
Google rating: 4.4 stars
Sleep Monitor gathers information such as sleep trends, snoring, and sleep talking. You can also use the log to track lifestyle habits that may affect your sleep. It will even give you a sleep score so you can track improvements and setbacks. The app is free, with a weekly premium plan starting at $14.99 and a yearly plan for $39.99
Apple rating: 4.7 stars
Google rating: 4.3 stars
This app integrates with Apple Health to track sleep phases, graph sleep patterns, and wake you during your lightest sleep phase. It comes with a free, 1-week trial, after which the cost is $9.99 a month or $39.99 a year.
Apple rating: 4.6 stars
Google rating: 4.3 stars
Reflectly encourages you to journal before you go to sleep as a way to ease your mind. The app can track your entries and make mood correlations. It also offers positive quotes and inspiration.
Reflectly is free, with an upgraded subscription for $9.99 a month or $59.99 per year.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.6 stars
ShutEye packs in a variety of features to improve restful sleep, including:
Sleep sounds
Relaxing music
Sleep stories
Sleep tracker
Snore detector
Smart alarm
An AI-powered sleep assistant
The annual plan of $59.99 per year comes with a free, 7-day trial. There’s also a 1-month option available for $9.99.
Apple rating: 4.1 stars
This app is for Apple Watch users only. It analyzes your sleep and provides detailed charts capturing the length and quality of your sleep. It’s free, with a no-ad version available for a one-time fee of $1.99.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.5 stars
White Noise Lite contains over 50 white noise sounds you can play in a loop. It also has an alarm and timer system to fade audio in and out to wake you up more naturally. It can be helpful for taking naps or falling asleep at night. It’s free with ads or you can upgrade to the full version for $0.99 or the pro version for $2.99.
Apple rating: 4.2 stars
Google rating: 4.1 stars
Sleepa gives you access to 120 million relaxing sounds that you can mix and match, and save. Featured sounds include rain, nature, and city, along with white, brown, and pink-colored noise options. It has a timer you can set to turn off sounds when you choose. It’s free to use, with an upgrade to a monthly subscription for $2.99 per month or an annual subscription for $24.99.
Apple rating: 4.9 stars
Google rating: 4.9 stars
This app features relaxing sounds that include nature, positive affirmations, and binaural beats, which can help train your brain to relax. You can also create your own sound mixes and shortlist your favorites. The app has a sleep timer that fades sound in and out. It’s free, with specific sound packs starting at $19.99 or a subscription for $4.99 a month.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.1 stars
Pzizz uses psychoacoustics — the study of how we process sounds — to help you fall asleep quickly and stay asleep. You can start a new combination of sounds and narration each time you use the app. The classic version is free, with a pro version for $9.99 a month or a yearly cost of $69.99.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.7 stars
Relax & Sleep Well gives you access to 140 recordings for insomnia, stress, and anxiety. It was developed by a hypnotherapist. It includes six free hypnotherapy and meditation recordings, with additional recordings available for $2.99 each.
Apple rating: 4.7 stars
Google rating: 4.6 stars
Slumber offers stories for falling asleep for children and adults. It also features soothing sounds, meditations, and soundscapes for inducing sleep. You get more than 20 episodes for free, with full access and premium features available from $7.99 and up.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.4 stars
Tide combines relaxation, meditation, and guided breathing exercises. The app also provides sleep analysis. It’s free, with certain sound features available from $0.99, and monthly, quarterly, and annual pricing options.
Apple rating: 4.5 stars
Google rating: 4.1 stars
DigiPill was developed by a psychotherapist and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner. It blends sounds and language to promote new sleep as well as lifestyle behaviors. Each “pill” is a guided meditation with relaxing sounds. The app comes with one free pill, with options to purchase more, and subscriptions of $4.99 per month or $19.99 a year.
Apple rating: 4.7 stars
Sleep Time gathers insights into your sleep habits and cycles. It offers white noise and soundscapes to help you fall asleep, and wakes you at the best time depending on your sleep cycle. The app is free, with premium features for $9.99 per month or at a yearly rate of $29.99.
Apple rating: 4.3 stars
This app provides insights into your sleep habits and offers tips to improve. It features relaxing sounds and classical music to help you fall asleep easily. And it also notifies you if you have sleep debt and need to catch up on sleep. The basic version is free, with different premium options at $4.99 for a week, $6.99 for a month, or $39.99 for a year.
Apple rating: 4.8 stars
Google rating: 4.6 stars
Alarmy offers sleep sounds to help you fall asleep. It also offers a variety of free “missions,” like math problems and tasks to help you wake up and feel refreshed in the morning. It’s free, with premium packages starting at $4.99 a month.
With sleep apps, what works for one person may not work for another. It really depends on your particular sleep challenges.
If you have trouble unwinding at night, try guided meditations from apps like:
If you think soothing sounds will drift you to sleep, try
And if you like the idea of learning from your data, try:
Since many are free to try, experiment until you find the app that best suits your needs.
Many sleep apps are free for basic features, but extra features or premium features tend to cost money. Sometimes it’s a one-time purchase and some offer monthly or yearly subscriptions for a fee. These fees can range from $0.99 for a specific soothing sound to $69.99 for a year’s subscription.
Some sleep apps work with wearable devices and others use sonar technology from your phone. The wearables and sonar technology can sense or “hear” your body movements and breathing rate. They use this data to monitor your sleep.
Sleep apps can help you become more aware of your sleep patterns so that you can make necessary changes. For example, you may notice you sleep better if you go to bed at 10 p.m. rather than at midnight. They can also help lull you to sleep with guided meditation, soothing sound, or storytelling.
Many sleep apps are free for basic features, but extra features or premium features tend to cost money. Sometimes it’s a one-time purchase and some offer monthly or yearly subscriptions for a fee. These fees can range from $0.99 for a specific soothing sound to $69.99 for a year’s subscription.
Some sleep apps work with wearable devices and others use sonar technology from your phone. The wearables and sonar technology can sense or “hear” your body movements and breathing rate. They use this data to monitor your sleep.
Sleep apps can help you become more aware of your sleep patterns so that you can make necessary changes. For example, you may notice you sleep better if you go to bed at 10 p.m. rather than at midnight. They can also help lull you to sleep with guided meditation, soothing sound, or storytelling.
Apps can give people with sleep issues a chance to improve how long they sleep and the quality of their sleep. Sleep apps provide a variety of tools such as soothing sounds, meditation exercises, and alarms to wake you up during your lightest sleep stage. If you continue to struggle with sleep, you may want to talk with a healthcare professional.
ScienceDirect. (n.d.). Psychoacoustics.
Zaffaroni, A., et al. (2019). Sleep staging monitoring based on sonar smartphone technology. Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
