SleepBetterSleepBest for Better sleep
Mix your own sleep soundscape, with stories and wind-down audio alongside.
Freemium · free versionView app
Calm
Sleep stories, meditations and background sound, in one calm-feeling app.
- Best for
- Better sleep, Relaxation, Beginners
- Focus
- Meditation, Mindfulness, Sleep
- Cost
- Subscription
- Runs on
- iPhone, Android, Apple Watch
- Made by
- Calm.com, Inc.
The Oria take
Calm suits someone who wants the wind-down more than the discipline: sleep stories, sound and short guided sessions in an app that is genuinely nice to open at night. If you want a structured course that teaches you to meditate, Headspace is the better fit.
What is Calm?
One of the two best-known meditation apps, built as much around sleep as around meditation. Guided sessions sit alongside Sleep Stories read by well-known voices, breathing exercises and a large library of ambient sound. It is a polished, gentle place to start, and most of it sits behind a subscription.
What it offers
- Guided meditations for sleep, stress and focus
- Sleep Stories read by well-known narrators
- Breathing exercises and ambient soundscapes
- Short daily sessions for building a habit
What we like
- The sleep content is the strongest of any mainstream meditation app
- Calm, uncluttered design that suits people new to this
- Sessions short enough to fit into an ordinary evening
Things to consider
- Most of the library needs a subscription
- Less structured than a course-based app if you want to learn technique
What it costs
Subscription.
Free to download, with a subscription for most content. Calm does not publish its Australian price on its own site, so check the price in the app store before subscribing.
Pricing last checked September 2026. Apps change their plans, so check before you subscribe.
Questions people ask
Is Calm free?
The app is free to download and includes some free content, but the bulk of the library, including most Sleep Stories, requires a subscription.
Is Calm good for sleep?
Sleep is what it is best known for. Sleep Stories, ambient sound and wind-down sessions are all designed to be used at bedtime, and many people use it for nothing else.
Take it offline
Prefer practising with other people?
An app is a good companion between sessions. These are the places in Perth doing the same thing in a room.
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