Best of 2026
The 10 health & fitness apps our editors rate highest, ranked by editor score with the store ratings alongside.
Our pick: Plum Village: Mindfulness leads with an editor score of 4.7. Plum Village is one of the most genuinely free and philosophically grounded mindfulness apps available, rooted in Thich Nhat Hanh's Zen tradition rather than wellness branding. How we score.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Editor score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plum Village: Mindfulness | Practitioners drawn to Thich Nhat... | Free | 4.7 |
| 2 | Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep | Budget-conscious and self-directed... | Free | 4.6 |
| 3 | Meditation | Down Dog | Beginners and busy adults who want a... | Free | 4.6 |
| 4 | Medito: Mindfulness Meditation | Budget-conscious or subscription-averse... | Free | 4.6 |
| 5 | Calm | Stress-prone adults who struggle with... | Free | 4.5 |
| 6 | Headspace: Sleep & Meditation | Meditation newcomers who want... | Free | 4.5 |
| 7 | Balance: Meditation & Sleep | Habit-builders and beginners who want... | Free | 4.5 |
| 8 | Waking Up: Meditation & Wisdom | Curious, analytically minded adults who... | Free | 4.5 |
| 9 | The Way - Guided Meditation | Committed beginners and intermediate... | Free | 4.5 |
| 10 | Hallow: Prayer & Meditation | Practicing Catholics seeking structured... | Free | 4.4 |
Plum Village is one of the most genuinely free and philosophically grounded mindfulness apps available, rooted in Thich Nhat Hanh's Zen tradition rather than wellness branding.
Read the full Plum Village: Mindfulness review
Insight Timer is the meditation category's best free value, pairing a near-bottomless guided library with a best-in-class customizable timer that rivals cost nothing to access.
Read the full Insight Timer: Meditate, Sleep review
Meditation by Down Dog earns its high rating by solving a genuine problem, decision fatigue, with a clean generate-and-go session engine that works especially well for beginners and inconsistent practitioners.
Read the full Meditation | Down Dog review
Medito delivers a credible, evidence-backed meditation toolkit at a price that is genuinely zero, not conditionally zero, making it the most principled free option in a category dominated by aggressive subscription...
Read the full Medito: Mindfulness Meditation review
Calm is the most beautifully produced relaxation app on the App Store, delivering a near-cinematic sleep and stress experience that is hard to match, provided you are willing to pay for a subscription.
Read the full Calm review
Headspace remains the gentlest, best-taught introduction to meditation available on iOS, now embedded inside an ambitious mental-wellness platform that impresses beginners and occasionally overwhelms everyone else.
Read the full Headspace: Sleep & Meditation review
Balance builds every meditation session on the fly around your mood and goals, making it the most coach-like personalization engine in the crowded wellness app market.
Read the full Balance: Meditation & Sleep review
Waking Up earns its near-perfect 4.92 store rating by treating meditation as an intellectual discipline rather than a wellness accessory, making it the most rigorously grounded option in a crowded category.
Read the full Waking Up: Meditation & Wisdom review
The Way bets everything on a single, teacher-led Zen curriculum and, judging by its near-perfect 4.96 rating across 3,000 reviews, that opinionated structure is resonating strongly with users who are tired of endless...
Read the full The Way - Guided Meditation review
Hallow is the most fully realized Catholic prayer app available, backed by an extraordinary 4.89-star average across 370,000 ratings, though the free tier's limits remain frustratingly opaque until you hit them.
Read the full Hallow: Prayer & Meditation review