Free meditation apps and sites

A quick answer

• “I want an app and a clear place to start.” Medito, or Healthy Minds if you like a set programme.
• “I want the most choice.” Insight Timer.
• “I’d like to learn within one tradition.” Plum Village.
• “It’s for my child, or my family.” Smiling Mind.
• “I want to download a few recordings and keep them.” UCLA Mindful or the Free Mindfulness Project.
• “I want to press play right now, with nothing to install or sign up for.” UCLA Mindful’s web page, or ours.

Many people use more than one. A structured app on weekdays and a favourite recording at bedtime is a perfectly good plan.

At a glance

Service	Account to listen	Offline
Medito	Not needed (privacy policy)	Free downloads
Plum Village app	Optional	Free downloads
Healthy Minds Program	Needed (you register)	Couldn’t confirm
Smiling Mind	Needed	Free downloads
Insight Timer	Not needed (Guest mode)	Paid (MemberPlus)
UCLA Mindful	Not needed on the web	Save the MP3
Free Mindfulness Project	Not needed	Download the MP3
Declutter The Mind	Needed in the app. One meditation per topic plays on its website without one	Paid (Plus)
Sat-chit-ananda	Not needed	Save in your browser

“Couldn’t confirm” means its own pages don’t say.

Apps with a path to follow

Medito

Medito is made by a nonprofit foundation in the Netherlands. Its app has a 7-day starter course, 30-day challenges and themed packs. Its privacy policy says you can use it without an account, and you can download sessions for free. Its content is in English, with a few sessions in Spanish and Ukrainian.

It suits you if you want an app on your phone, a clear way to start, and nothing to buy.

Healthy Minds Program

The Healthy Minds Program is made by Humin (formerly Healthy Minds Innovations), a nonprofit linked to the neuroscientist Richard Davidson. You take a foundations course, then four skills in order. A short questionnaire every 28 days shows how you’re doing. It’s free. You register to use it, and its content is in English only.

It suits you if you like a programme that tells you what to do next.

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is an Australian not-for-profit with programmes for adults and for children aged 5 to 12, including meditations in three Indigenous Australian languages. It’s free, and you need an account.

It suits you if you’re looking for something for children, or for a family to share.

One tradition: Plum Village

The Plum Village app comes from the community founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. Its home page says the app and all its content are free, “and that’s how we’d like to keep it”. It has guided meditations, talks, a meditation timer and a bell of mindfulness, in seven languages, with a web edition too.

It’s one tradition, taught by its own monastics. If that tradition speaks to you, there’s much more behind the app: podcasts, a large archive of talks, and retreats at its monasteries.

It suits you if you’d like to learn mindfulness the way one community lives it.

Big libraries

Insight Timer

Insight Timer has the largest free library of any option here. Its own pages count hundreds of thousands of free tracks, from thousands of independent teachers across many traditions. You can listen as a guest without an account. There are free courses, groups and live events too. A paid tier, MemberPlus, adds offline listening and more courses.

You can find almost any style, voice and length here. You may also spend a while choosing.

It suits you if you want variety, and you enjoy finding teachers you like.

Declutter The Mind

Declutter The Mind has a large library read in one calm voice, and plain written guides to many kinds of meditation. It says it has no ads. Its paid plan, Plus, adds offline listening and most of its courses.

It suits you if you like one steady voice, and want a short guide alongside each practice.

Recordings to keep

UCLA Mindful offers short guided meditations, about 3 to 19 minutes, in English and around 18 other languages. They’re shared under a Creative Commons licence that lets you pass them on but not change them. UCLA also has a free app and free short online sessions. Its classes are paid.

The Free Mindfulness Project is run by one person in the UK, without charge. It gathers recordings by many teachers, from 3 to 47 minutes, under a licence that lets you share and adapt them for non-commercial use.

They suit you if you want a few good recordings to download and keep, with no app at all.

A small, spacious collection: ours

Sat-chit-ananda is 51 guided meditations, from 2 to 44 minutes, made by the four of us. Our voice speaks in short lines with long spaces between them. Some people find that restful. Others prefer more guidance. Every word is written out on each meditation’s page, with notes on what to expect and when to stop.

You listen in your browser, with no account and no ads. We count visits without cookies and don’t keep your IP address. About explains what we record and how the voices are made.

There’s no app in the app stores, no course, no reminders and no community, and the collection is small.

It suits you if you want to press play without signing up, and you like an unhurried voice.

What “free” can and can’t tell you

Who makes an app tells you a little about it. A nonprofit and a company with a paid tier will make different choices. But it can’t promise what will stay free, or how your data is used.

Several of these providers describe data sharing or tracking in their own privacy policies or app store labels, and their wording isn’t always consistent. If it matters to you, read the policy of the app you choose, and its listing in your app store.

Try one now

Pick one line from the quick answer above and try a single session today. To hear our pace first, Welcome is two minutes long, and Coming Back is a good first practice.

If you’re weighing a paid app, our guide to paying for a meditation app looks at Calm, Headspace and others. If you’d like a course, see free mindfulness courses.