Is Headspace free?

You can download Headspace and use everything in it for a week or two without paying. After that it costs $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the US. Headspace's own help article on what is free lists five things, and none of them is inside the app.

What Headspace charges, and where it says so

All read on 24 September 2026. US prices throughout.

The monthly and annual prices agree on all three surfaces, which is less common than it should be. Twelve monthly payments come to $155.88, so the annual plan costs less than half as much. The trial lengths appear only on headspace.com; both store descriptions say “start your free trial” without saying for how long. Headspace's terms allow one free trial per person “regardless of your subscription method”.

What “free” covers, in Headspace's words

The help center has an article titled “What's included for free?”. It says the trial unlocks the entire library. For anyone “not quite ready for a Headspace subscription”, it then lists the Headspace YouTube channel, Radio Headspace, Headspace articles, a “Guide to Meditation” and “Guide to Sleep” series on Netflix, and three social media accounts. The Netflix series needs a Netflix subscription.

Headspace's answer to the question it asks itself names nothing that plays inside the app. That is a clear answer, not a hidden one. It is also a different kind of free from Calm or Duolingo, where a free tier inside the app is part of the offer.

The student plan steps up twice

The student page leads with “85% off” and prints no dollar figure. The price and what follows it are in the FAQ entry “Does the Student plan automatically renew?”, which is collapsed by default.

Headspace says it emails before each step, and the FAQ spells the sequence out plainly, so nothing here is concealed. But the only place it is written down is that FAQ. The terms, which run to about 78,000 characters, contain neither “student” nor “alumni”. A graduate who forgets the plan exists goes from $9.99 to about $41.99 to $69.99 in two years without choosing either change.

Apple lists a price Headspace does not publish

There is no promoted purchase above the App Privacy panel. Expanding the In-App Purchases row under Information gives ten items, which is Apple's cap, so the list may be a sample.

Eight of the ten match the two published prices. $94.99 appears twice, and no Headspace page we read mentions it. The names do not help: “Headspace Plus” appears at $12.99, $69.99 and $94.99, and Apple attaches no billing period to any item. On Google Play the badge reads In-app purchases with no figure, and there is no items-and-offers section under either of its headings. The description carries the same $12.99 and $69.99.

Renewal, cancellation and refunds

The help article titled “What price will I be charged for my subscription renewal?” names no price. It sends you to Profile, the gear icon and Account & Subscription inside the app, or to Apple or Google if they billed you.

The deadline is in the App Store description rather than the terms: auto-renew must be turned off “at least 24 hours before the current period ends”. The terms say only to cancel before renewal, and define a month as 30 calendar days and a year as 365.

What the two stores say it collects

Both are self-declarations rather than audits, and they do not agree. Apple's panel lists health and fitness data; Google's lists none. Google's page declares precise location shared with other companies while listing only approximate location as collected. We report both rather than choose one.

What Headspace does better

• It prints its price. The same two figures appear on the website and in both store descriptions. Compare Rocket Money, which prints none, or Calm, whose own checkout was $10 above the stores when we checked it on 8 September 2026.
• It is free for US schoolteachers, and for their support staff, with no trial clock. A US teacher who signs up through headspace.com/educators pays nothing.
• No advertising. The Google Play badge line has no Contains ads, and Apple's panel has no tracking section.
• The student FAQ tells you the whole sequence, including the part that costs you more, and promises an email before each step.
• A pre-tax route. Headspace documents paying with an HSA or FSA card and generates the Letter of Medical Necessity at checkout. Headspace puts the saving at up to 30%.

What we could not check

Nothing behind a Headspace login was read. So we could not confirm whether any session plays after a trial ends without a subscription, or which product Apple's two $94.99 items are. The alumni price in dollars is also unconfirmed, because Headspace publishes it only as a percentage. A banner on every headspace.com page on 24 September 2026 said Sword is acquiring Headspace. The undated announcement says nothing about prices.