Best Meditation Apps · head-to-head
Calm vs Aura Health
A sourced, side-by-side comparison for meditation apps. Aura Health has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.
At a glance
- Price: Calm $5.83/mo vs Aura Health $0/mo — Aura Health is cheaper to start.
- Free tier: Calm No; Aura Health Yes.
- HIPAA: Calm —; Aura Health —.
Side by side
| Calm | Aura Health | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $5.83/mo (Premium Annual) | $0/mo (Free) |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| HIPAA (BAA) | — | — |
| SOC 2 | — | — |
| GDPR | — | — |
| Best for | Sleep improvement via celebrity Sleep Stories | Users wanting the broadest content variety (meditation, therapy, coaching, prayer, ASMR) in one app |
Sources — Calm: apps.apple.com (verified 2026-06-14). Aura Health: aurahealth.io (verified 2026-06-14).
Key features
Calm: 300+ Sleep Stories narrated by celebrities (Matthew McConaughey, Harry Styles, etc.); 50,000+ minutes of science-backed content; Daily Calm guided meditation updated each day; Mindful movement and stretching video lessons; Breathwork and body-scan sessions; Calm Kids content included in Teams licenses; 180M+ downloads; Apple App of the Year 2017; Teams analytics dashboard (unlocked at 10+ activated employees)
Aura Health: 10,000+ content pieces: meditations, soundscapes, sleep stories, life coaching, therapy foundations, prayer, ASMR, breathwork, music; 100+ new tracks added weekly by coaches, therapists, and storytellers; AI-driven personalization that adapts recommendations based on questionnaires and behavioral data; Licensed clinician-led CBT-based therapy sessions; Life coaching and health coaching modules; Live sessions with coaches and community access; Spirituality and prayer content alongside secular mindfulness; Sleep hypnosis and specialized sleep tracks