The best sleep story apps, compared
Slumber Studios makes Slumber, so Slumber is ours. The four other apps on this page are not. Each pick says who it suits, and every competitor price in the table links to its source.
What a sleep story app has to get right
A sleep story has one job: to give a tired mind something gentle to follow until it lets go. The app around it decides whether that works. The voice has to be slow and even. The story has to end quietly or keep a background sound going; a hard stop can wake you. It has to play offline, because a hotel or a flight is when you need it most. New stories have to arrive at a pace you will use, or the catalog becomes the same five favorites. And the price has to match how often you open it.
The picks below are sorted by the kind of listener each app suits. The table under them puts all five side by side, with every competitor fact linked to its source and the day it was checked.
The picks, by listener
1. For a new story every night: Slumber (ours)
New sleep stories and meditations are added every day. Every episode downloads for offline play, and you choose whether the background sound keeps playing after the story ends. Stories, meditations, soundscapes, and music in one subscription.
Slumber2. For well-known narrators and a daily meditation: Calm
Calm's Sleep Stories are read by names you know, and a few are free. The Daily Calm, the Masterclasses, and most of the library need Calm Premium, which costs more per year than Slumber's annual plan.
Calm3. For a meditation course with sleep content beside it: Headspace
Headspace is a structured mindfulness program with sleepcasts and sleep music beside it. Headspace offers previews and a trial; it has no free tier. Its student plan costs less per year than any other plan in the table.
Headspace4. For a story-first catalog: Sleepiest
Sleepiest's App Store listing describes a range of more than 3,120 bedtime stories, sleep meditations, and sleep sounds, with a mixer to layer them and a sleep tracker on the side.
Sleepiest5. For a free library first: Insight Timer
Thousands of guided meditations, music tracks, and bedtime stories are free. The paid tier adds courses and offline listening. If you want to try sleep audio before paying anything, start here.
Insight TimerAll five, side by side
| Feature | Slumber (ours) | Calm | Headspace | Sleepiest | Insight Timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Slumber Studios | Calm.com, Inc. | Headspace Inc. | Happiest LTD | Insight Network Inc |
| US prices |
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| Content | Sleep stories, Meditations, Sounds and noise, Music | Sleep stories, Meditations, Music, Sounds and noise, Courses, Breathing exercises | Meditations, Sleep stories, Music, Sounds and noise, Courses | Sleep stories, Meditations, Sounds and noise, Sleep tracking | Meditations, Sleep stories, Music, Courses, Sounds and noise, Breathing exercises |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad, Android | iPhone and iPad, Android, Web | iPhone and iPad, Android | iPhone and iPad, Android | iPhone and iPad, Android |
Slumber (ours)
Free to download. A subscription opens the full library of sleep stories, meditations, soundscapes, and music.
- Annual + Family Sharing: iOS only (Apple Family Sharing)
Our own record.
Calm
Free to download, with no ads. The free version includes a few selected Sleep Stories and a limited set of music tracks; the Daily Calm, Masterclasses and the rest of the library need Calm Premium. Calm's help center says the in-app price can differ from the website price.
- Monthly: no free trial; from the in-app paywall captured 2026-07-14
- Annual: after a 7-day free trial
- Lifetime: Calm for Life, sold on calm.com; one account, no family plan
- Family: up to 6 accounts, sold on calm.com and shown on the in-app paywall; not Apple Family Sharing
- Calm subscription plans (annual and lifetime)
- Calm Help Center: Family Plan price
- Calm Help Center: Premium vs. Free
- Calm on Google Play (no ads)
- Calm on the App Store (free, no ads, in-app purchases)
- Calm Help Center: how to check subscription pricing (7-day trial, app vs web price)
- Calm's in-app paywall, Adapty paywall library (in-app, captured July 14, 2026)
Headspace
Free to download, but the library opens only during the free trial or with a subscription; outside those, Headspace offers previews of its meditations, sleep content and focus music.
- Monthly: after a 7-day free trial
- Annual: after a 14-day free trial
- Family: up to 6 members; Headspace's help center renewal table lists $99.00 and its family-plan page $99.99
- Student: verified post-secondary students
- Subscribe to Headspace (monthly, annual, trials)
- Headspace Help Center: 2026 renewal rates (Solo, Family, Student)
- Headspace Help Center: what the Family plan offers
- Headspace content previews
- Headspace Family plan page ($99.99 a year, 6 people)
- Headspace on sleep stories and sleepcasts
- Headspace on the App Store (free with in-app purchases)
- Headspace's in-app trial screen, Adapty paywall library (in-app, captured July 27, 2026)
Sleepiest
Free to download, with a free trial (7 days on the in-app paywall captured 2026-07-06) that renews into a monthly or annual Sleepiest+ subscription. Neither store listing says which content stays free after the trial.
- Monthly: Sleepiest+; a $4.99 monthly entry is also listed on the App Store
- Annual: Sleepiest+, after a 7-day free trial, from the in-app paywall captured 2026-07-06; Google Play's description states $69.99 a year, and the App Store listing also carries $49.99, $59.99 and $69.99 annual entries
Insight Timer
Thousands of guided meditations, music tracks, ambient sounds, bedtime stories and the meditation timer are free; Insight Timer calls it the largest free library in the world. The one paid subscription, Insight Premium (called MemberPlus in the app's release notes), adds courses, offline listening, an advanced player and high-quality audio. The App Store still lists a MemberPlus Family product, but Insight Timer's help center says the family plan is no longer offered, so none is listed here.
- Monthly: Insight Premium
- Annual: Insight Premium
US App Store prices in USD unless a row says otherwise; Google Play and each company's website can differ. Last checked November 5, 2026.
Who should skip all of these
If noise is the problem, a story app is the wrong tool. A sound app that masks a snoring partner or a busy street often costs less and asks less of you; our sleep sounds roundup compares those, and our own Deep Sleep Sounds offers 35 sounds free. If you want to measure your sleep, you want a dedicated tracker; of the five, only Sleepiest's listing mentions sleep tracking, and none is built around it.
Common questions
Do sleep stories help you fall asleep?
The evidence is thin. A company-funded trial against a waitlist reported large gains; the largest trial so far, with 495 adults and a fair control group, found bedtime stories no better than the control. A story is most likely to help when the problem is a mind that will not settle. Our guides to sleep stories and to sleeping with sound walk through the studies. Two weeks of nightly use is the fair test; most trials here last 7 days.
Which sleep story app is free?
Insight Timer's free library is the largest of the five by its own account; its website calls it the largest free library in the world. Calm includes a few free stories, and Slumber is free to download, with a subscription that covers the whole catalog. Headspace offers previews and a trial rather than a free tier.
Can I listen to sleep stories offline?
Slumber downloads every episode for offline play. Insight Timer offers offline listening on its paid tier. For the other apps, check the table's sources.
Download Slumber
