Is there a free alternative to Headspace for breathing?
For the breathing exercises, yes: the counts Headspace teaches are public, and the timer above runs a long-exhale pattern, four in and six out, with a tone and a buzz at each turn, offline, three sessions free with no account. For the courses, the daily guided meditation and the consistent voice, no, and that is most of what Headspace is.
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Headspace built its business on a curriculum: a sequence that starts easy and builds over weeks, taught by the same voices, with sleep content and short exercises around it. Its US App Store listing on 13 September 2026 showed $12.99 a month and $69.99 a year, and also a $94.99 purchase. A free trial is offered; the listing does not itemise what stays free after it, so the size of the free tier is not something this page can verify. Offline downloads are not mentioned on the listing either.
The honest framing is the one the apps comparison uses: do you need a metronome, or do you need a teacher? Headspace is the teacher. A pacer with the research attached is the metronome, plus the reading you would otherwise have to do yourself.
What Headspace gives you that a timer does not
A voice, so you follow instead of deciding. A path, so the second week is different from the first without you planning it. Sleepcasts and music. And the mild pressure of a streak. For someone starting from nothing, that structure is the product, and it is why a meditation subscription costs what a streaming service costs. Nothing on this page replaces it.
What Headspace does not have is a proprietary breath. Its breathing exercises use the same slow, long-exhale shapes every app and every trial uses. Once you know the shape, you no longer need to be told it each time; you need to be paced.
Side by side
Help Me Breathe's row is the house's own. Headspace's row is what its listing said on 13 September 2026; "not verified" means the listing did not say.
| Headspace | Help Me Breathe | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 a month, $69.99 a year; a $94.99 purchase also listed. | $10 a month or $100 a year, one plan, three days free, 14-day refund. |
| Free tier | A free trial; what stays free afterwards is not itemised. | Three sessions on any device with every pattern and length; the anxiety and panic pages run for anyone forever. |
| Teaching | Courses, a daily guided meditation, consistent teachers. | None. Each pattern's page explains it in prose and quotes its study. |
| Breathing patterns | Guided exercises with a voice. | Seven named patterns, custom counts in whole seconds, a tone and a vibration at each phase. |
| Offline | Not verified; the listing does not mention downloads. | Yes, once loaded; keeps running with the screen locked. |
| Account | Required. | Not for the first three sessions; then an email address, no password. |
| Sleep content | Sleepcasts and music. | A night mode and soundscapes in the plan; no narration. |
| Evidence | Not stated per exercise on the listing. | Each pattern's page quotes the study it rests on and says where the evidence stops. |
When to keep Headspace, and when a timer is enough
Keep Headspace if you are in the first months of a practice and the course is what gets you to sit down, or if the sleep content is why you open it. Keep it if a familiar voice is the difference between doing it and not.
A timer is enough once you have a pattern you trust and you skip the introduction every time. At that point you are paying for a library you do not visit. The free tier here covers three sessions a device with everything; the plan costs about what Headspace does per month and less per year, and buys your own counts, night mode and no ads, not a teacher.
How to carry the practice across
- Name the shape you learned. Most Headspace breathing exercises are a slow in-breath and a longer out-breath; that is extended exhale, which the timer above runs. An even, slow count is heart coherence. A four-sided one is box.
- Read the page for it once. Each one says what the pattern is for, who should be careful, and what the trial behind it found, in a few minutes of reading.
- Run one session with the sound on. The tone changes at each phase so you can close your eyes. Press Begin above.
- Attach it to a fixed moment, the same one Headspace's reminder used, because the habit lived in the moment, not in the app.
- If you cancel, do it in the app store's subscriptions screen, and finish any course you are in the middle of first; a timer will not teach you the rest of it.
Where this page stands. It is written by the person who runs Help Me Breathe, who is not a clinician. No link on it pays us, and we have no relationship with the company it names. Prices were read by hand off the vendor's US App Store listing on 13 September 2026 and will have moved; the apps comparison keeps the dated sources.
Common questions
Is Headspace free?
Its App Store listing on 13 September 2026 showed a free trial and then $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year, with a $94.99 purchase also listed. What stays free after the trial is not itemised on the listing, so this page cannot say how large the free tier is.
Does Headspace have breathing exercises?
Yes, short guided ones with a voice, inside a much larger catalogue of courses, daily meditations and sleep content. The patterns are the same slow, long-exhale shapes every app and every trial uses; the voice and the course are what you pay for.
Can a breathing timer replace Headspace?
For being paced through a pattern you already know, yes. For learning, for a daily guided meditation with a consistent teacher, and for sleepcasts, no. Decide which of those you open the app for.
Which pattern here matches what Headspace teaches?
Most of its breathing exercises are a slow in-breath and a longer out-breath, which is extended exhale, the pattern the timer above runs. An even slow count is heart coherence; a four-sided count is box breathing.
Is Help Me Breathe cheaper than Headspace?
At the September 2026 listed prices, $10 a month here against $12.99, and $100 a year here against $69.99: cheaper by the month, dearer by the year. The first three sessions on a device are free with no account, and two pages run free for anyone forever.
Does Help Me Breathe earn anything from this page?
No link on this page pays us. The site does carry marked affiliate links to Headspace on its apps comparison page, which this page does not use; it earns here only if you take its own plan.