Streaks strips habit tracking down to a grid of buttons. Habitica turns it into a role-playing game with a character who takes damage when you skip.
They are opposite answers to the same question: what makes a person come back tomorrow. Here’s how they actually compare, plus eight alternatives sitting between them.
How this comparison is sourced
I have not run all ten of these apps for a year each, and you should distrust any blog that says it has.
Every developer name, star rating, rating count and download price below was verified against the US App Store on 11 August 2026. Feature and platform claims come from each app’s own store listing.
I’m not quoting subscription prices. Most of these apps are free to download and charge through a subscription that varies by region and promotion, and a number in a blog post rots fast. The one price here, Streaks at $5.99, is a one-time App Store purchase price, which is the kind you can actually verify.
Two corrections other comparisons still carry
Almost every “Streaks vs Habitica” article repeats two things about Streaks that are out of date.
Streaks is not iOS only. The App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision. There’s a genuine Mac app, requiring macOS 14.6 or later.
Streaks does not cap you at 12 habits. The listing says you can track up to 24 tasks. The old 12 figure has been copied between blogs for years.
Both of those matter, because “iOS only, twelve habits max” is the exact reason most articles talk you out of it.
Streaks — 4.8 stars, 27,344 ratings
Developer: Crunchy Bagel Pty Ltd. $5.99, one-time.
You get a grid of task tiles. Tap one when you’ve done it. A number counts up. That’s the product.
What it’s good at: it’s the most Apple-native option here. Watch complications, widgets, Siri, Shortcuts, Health integration, and a Mac app. One payment, no subscription, no account. The 24-task ceiling reads as a limitation and functions as a constraint, which is arguably the point.
What it isn’t: cross-platform. If you carry an Android phone or want a web dashboard, stop reading this section. There’s also no social layer and no reward loop beyond the number going up.
Best for: people already inside Apple’s stack who want a habit tracker to be a button, not an app they visit.
Habitica — 4.2 stars, 3,090 ratings
Developer: HabitRPG, Inc. Free to download, with an optional subscription. iOS, Android and web.
You make a character. Completing habits, dailies and to-dos earns experience and gold. You buy gear, level up, join a party, and fight bosses with other people. Miss your dailies and your character loses health.
What it’s good at: it’s the only app here where other humans are affected by whether you did the thing. Party bosses do damage to your teammates when you skip. For a certain kind of person that is dramatically more motivating than a streak counter. It’s also open source and covers habits, recurring dailies and one-off tasks in one system.
What it isn’t: simple. There’s a real learning curve, the interface carries a lot of information, and the game layer needs maintenance of its own. Note the rating too: 4.2 across only 3,090 ratings is the weakest signal on this page by some distance, so go in with more caution than the average alone suggests.
Best for: people who genuinely enjoy games and want accountability from other humans rather than from a number.
Head to head
| Feature | Streaks | Habitica |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Crunchy Bagel Pty Ltd | HabitRPG, Inc. |
| App Store rating | 4.8 | 4.2 |
| Rating count | 27,344 | 3,090 |
| Price to download | $5.99 one-time | Free |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Vision | iOS, Android, web |
| Task limit | 24 | Unlimited |
| Game mechanics | None | Full RPG |
| Social | No | Parties, guilds, boss fights |
| Apple Watch | Full app and complications | Limited |
| Learning curve | Minutes | Hours |
Eight alternatives between the two extremes
Most people don’t want a game and don’t want a $5.99 grid either. Verified on the US App Store, 11 August 2026. All eight are free to download.
| App | Developer | Rating | Ratings | Angle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Habit Tracker | Inner Grow Limited | 4.8 | 145,160 | Large, general purpose |
| Productive - Habit Tracker | Mosaic S.r.l. | 4.6 | 91,092 | Routines by time of day |
| Finch: Self-Care Pet | Finch Care Public Benefit Corporation | 4.9 | 738,118 | A pet, not a character sheet |
| Strides: Habit Tracker + Goals | Goals LLC | 4.8 | 19,106 | Targets and averages, not just streaks |
| Grit: Daily Habit Tracker | GrittyApps | 4.8 | 15,313 | Minimal daily check-in |
| Habitify: Habit Tracker | Unstatic Ltd Co | 4.6 | 7,050 | Cross-device with a web app |
| Habit Tracker - HabitKit | Sebastian Roehl | 4.9 | 2,328 | Contribution-graph visuals |
| Way of Life - Habit Tracker | Way of Life ApS | 4.8 | 5,219 | Yes/no/skip, long history |
Three worth calling out:
Finch — 4.9 stars, 738,118 ratings. By far the most-rated app on this page, and a useful counter-example to the idea that gamification has to mean combat. You care for a small bird instead of a character with hit points. Missing a day doesn’t punish you. If Habitica’s damage mechanic sounds stressful rather than motivating, this is the version that isn’t.
Strides — 4.8 stars, 19,106 ratings. The one that isn’t streak-shaped. It tracks targets, averages and progress toward a number, which fits habits like “run 40km this month” that a daily yes/no grid handles badly.
HabitKit — 4.9 stars, 2,328 ratings. Renders your history as a coloured contribution grid. Small rating count, so less battle-tested, but the visualisation genuinely changes how a patchy month reads.
Which philosophy actually works?
I’m not going to invent research findings for you, and this is where most habit-app articles quietly do exactly that.
What the honest version looks like: there isn’t a settled answer on whether gamified tracking beats plain tracking over the long run, and the studies that exist are mostly short, small, and run on people who volunteered for a study about an app. Anyone quoting you a clean percentage is making it up.
What you can reason about without a citation:
The app is not the habit. Every one of these tools does the same core job, which is recording that you did a thing. If tracking alone were the mechanism, the app you picked would matter far more than it does.
Friction is the one thing you can control. The tracker you check in three seconds from the lock screen gets used. The one that needs you to open it, navigate, and manage a character does not, unless you actively enjoy that part.
Streaks cut both ways. A long counter is motivating right up until you break it, at which point the number that was carrying you becomes a reason to quit entirely. Apps with a skip or a rest day, Way of Life and Habitica’s rest-day handling among them, exist because of this.
Pick by answering three questions
Do you own only Apple devices? If no, Streaks is out. Habitify, Habitica and Productive have the cross-platform story.
Does a game make you try harder or make you tired? Honest answer only. If combat and gear sound like admin, take Finch or a plain tracker instead of forcing Habitica.
Are your habits yes/no, or are they amounts? Yes/no suits Streaks, HabitKit and Way of Life. Amounts suit Strides.
The habit app graveyard
Most habit apps get downloaded, used enthusiastically, and abandoned. The pattern is common enough that it doesn’t need a fake statistic attached.
The usual causes are boring: too many habits started at once, an app with more setup than the habit itself, novelty wearing off, and a broken streak that felt like a verdict.
What helps:
- Start with one to three habits, not twelve.
- Pick the simplest app that does the job, not the most capable one.
- Decide in advance what a missed day means. “I restart” is a plan. “I’ve ruined it” is not.
- If the app has become the project, the app is the problem.
FAQ
Is Streaks worth $5.99? If you’re on iPhone and want no subscription and no account, it’s one payment for a well-made native app that also runs on Mac and Watch. That’s a low bar to clear.
Does Streaks really only work on iPhone? No. The App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision.
How many habits can Streaks track? Up to 24 tasks, per its own App Store listing. The widely-repeated figure of 12 is out of date.
Is Habitica free? Free to download and usable without paying. There’s an optional subscription, and check the current cost in the listing rather than trusting a number in a blog post.
Can Habitica work long-term? For people who actually enjoy the game layer, yes. For people who joined because the idea sounded fun, the game becomes another chore. You’ll know inside a fortnight which one you are.
What’s the best free habit tracker? On verified numbers, Finch has the highest rating count by a wide margin at 4.9 across 738,118, and HabitKit has the same 4.9 on a much smaller base. Different products, both free to download.
Should all my habits live in one app? Generally yes. Two trackers means two places to forget.
Related reads:
- Why Your Habits Don’t Stick — fix the fundamentals
- Simple Streak Tracking — the power of streaks
- Building Habits: The Science-Backed Method — the method behind the tracker
Disclosure: SimpleStreaks is mine
I build iOS apps, and SimpleStreaks is one of them.
It does not appear in either comparison table, in the eight listed alternatives, in the recommendation sections, or in any FAQ answer on this page. Scoring my own product against apps I compete with isn’t a fair test, and you shouldn’t have to take my word for it. If the plain free streak-tracking description above is what you want, it exists alongside the eight apps listed here. It is new and has very few App Store ratings so far, so there is not much of a crowd verdict to lean on either. Try it and judge for yourself.
— Dolce
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