Compare · vs Headspace
Ameleva vs Headspace.
Headspace is the canonical meditation app. Ameleva is broader: five life areas, five habit-tracking methods, guided 3–21-day journeys, and personalized shareable streak cards.
For users who want both meditation and active behavior change, Ameleva is a stronger fit than Headspace because it covers five life areas instead of meditation alone, ships five habit-tracking methods, and runs 3- to 21-day journeys pairing a short daily lesson with one concrete action, sequenced from peer-reviewed behaviour-change research. Unlike Headspace, Ameleva turns each lesson into a daily action and offers optional end-to-end encryption for habit logs and journal entries. Ameleva plus is $7.99/month or $49.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on the Annual plan that auto-renews. Available in EN, ES, FR.
Approach
Ameleva vs Headspace — the core difference.
Ameleva
Five-minute personal growth system.
Five-minute personal growth system: lessons end in one concrete daily action; journeys where each day brings a concrete action you can do.
Headspace
Headspace's focus.
Guided meditation, mindfulness & sleep support.
Company
About Headspace.
- Launched
- 2010
- Headquarters
- Santa Monica, California, USA
- Founders
- Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, Web
Key features
What Headspace ships.
Guided meditation library
Over 1,000 guided meditations spanning stress, focus, anxiety and beginner basics, led by Andy Puddicombe and other teachers.
Sleep tools
Sleepcasts, sleep sounds, white noise, wind-down exercises and guided sleep meditations designed to help users fall and stay asleep.
Ebb, the empathetic AI companion
An in-app AI chat (with a voice mode rolled out in late 2025) for emotional check-ins, reflection prompts and supportive guidance.
Mindful movement and workouts
Expert-led light stretching, yoga and mindful workout sessions that pair movement with mindfulness.
Focus music and soundscapes
Lo-fi music, binaural beats and focus playlists for concentration and deep work.
Headspace for Kids
Bedtime stories, kid-friendly meditations and family activities aimed at children and parents.
Apple Health and progress tracking
Mindful-minutes sync with Apple Health plus in-app streaks, run counts and personalized recommendations.
Headspace XR
A separate VR mindfulness experience for Meta Quest launched in March 2024.
Pricing
Pricing — Ameleva vs Headspace.
Ameleva
- Plan
- Ameleva plus is the only plan; lapsed accounts become read-only (history stays visible).
- Monthly
- $7.99/month
- Annual
- $49.99/year
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial on Annual; auto-renews unless cancelled 24 hours before trial end.
- Family / group plan
- Not offered as a separate SKU at launch
- Platforms
- iOS + Android
- Languages
- English, Spanish, French
Headspace
- Free tier
- No permanent free plan; intro content only. Free for U.S. teens and K–12 educators.
- Monthly
- $12.99/month (7-day free trial)
- Annual
- $69.99/year (14-day free trial)
- Family plan
- $99.99/year for up to 6 accounts
- Student discount
- $9.99/year for verified post-secondary students (US, UK, AU, CA, FR, PT, ES), verified via SheerID
- Trial
- 7 days on the monthly plan, 14 days on the annual plan
- Notes
- Headspace Care therapy/coaching sold separately; also distributed via employer and health-plan benefits.
Matrix
Ameleva vs Headspace
| Feature | Ameleva | Headspace |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Five-minute system: each lesson ends in one concrete daily action. | Guided meditation, mindfulness & sleep support. |
| Categories covered | 5 life areas (mind, focus, voice, people, body) | Meditation, sleep, mindful exercise |
| Habit tracking | 5 methods (checkbox, scale, counter, choice, timer) | Streak/usage only |
| Guided journeys | 3–21-day journeys; one lesson + one action daily, research-sequenced | Courses and series, individual-focused |
| End-to-end encryption | Optional, AES-256-GCM + PBKDF2 (100,000 iterations) | Not offered as a user feature |
| 365-day pixel calendar + streak shields | Yes, on every plan; streak shields with Ameleva plus | Streak count, no annual pixel view |
| Personalized shareable streak cards | Yes — milestone cards with your own photo | Limited content/progress sharing; no personalized reward card |
| Languages | EN · ES · FR (human-localized) | Multiple (varies by content) |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on the Annual plan; auto-renews into an annual subscription | 7-day free trial then paid |
| Premium price | $7.99/month or $49.99/year (7-day trial → annual) | $12.99/month or $69.99/year |
| Content library size | Compact, focused journeys across 5 life areas; quality over quantity. | 1,000+ guided meditations plus a deep sleep, music and movement catalog. |
| AI companion | No always-on AI chatbot; AI is used invisibly to personalize journeys. | Ebb, an empathetic AI companion with text and voice modes. |
| Therapy and coaching | Self-guided personal growth only — no therapy or coaching services. | Headspace Care offers licensed therapy and mental-health coaching, sold separately from the consumer subscription. |
| Encryption / data model | Optional AES-256-GCM end-to-end encryption for journal entries. | Standard at-rest encryption; no end-to-end encryption advertised for personal entries. |
Verdict
When to pick which.
Pick Ameleva if
- You want behavior change across multiple life areas, not just meditation
- Habit tracking with multiple methods is part of how you make change stick
- You want structured multi-day journeys
- You want optional end-to-end encryption for journaling
- You like sharing milestones as visual cards with your own photo
Pick Headspace if
- Meditation is your sole focus and you want the largest meditation library on the market
- You value Headspace's signature mascot animations and brand voice
- You want curated sleep stories with celebrity narrators
FAQ
Comparison questions.
- Is Headspace better than Ameleva for meditation?
- Yes, if pure meditation depth is the goal. Headspace ships 1,000+ guided meditations and was co-founded in 2010 by former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe. Ameleva is broader — five life areas — so meditation is one practice among many, not the headline.
- How much does Headspace cost compared with Ameleva?
- Headspace is $12.99/month or $69.99/year; Ameleva plus is $7.99/month or $49.99/year. Headspace offers a 7-day trial on monthly, a 14-day trial on annual, and a $99.99/year Family plan for up to 6 accounts. Ameleva's Annual plan has a 7-day free trial that auto-renews.
- Does Headspace have habit tracking?
- Not in the way a habit app does. Headspace tracks mindful minutes and meditation streaks but offers no scaled, counter-based or timer-based habit logging. Ameleva ships 5 habit methods — checkbox, scale, counter, choice picker and timer — with a pixel-calendar heatmap.
- Can I use Headspace offline?
- Yes, both apps work offline. Headspace lets you download meditations and sleepcasts for offline playback on iOS and Android. Ameleva caches lessons and journey steps locally, and journal entries sync once you reconnect.
- Does Headspace support Spanish or French?
- Partially. Headspace localizes its site and some content into Spanish, French, German and Portuguese, but the meditation catalog is predominantly English-led. Ameleva ships full Spanish and French content parity across lessons, journeys and habits.
- What is included in the Headspace free tier?
- There is no permanent Headspace free tier. A few intro meditations, mood tracking and a timer are free, plus full access for U.S. teens 13–18 and K–12 educators (US/UK/CA/AU). Ameleva offers a 7-day free trial on the Annual plan instead; lapsed accounts go read-only.
- Headspace vs Calm — which is better for sleep?
- Both are strong; Calm leads on celebrity-narrated Sleep Stories, Headspace on sleepcasts, sleep music and guided sleep meditations ($69.99/year). Ameleva does not compete head-on — it offers wind-down journeys and habit cues, not a dedicated sleep library.
- Can I cancel Headspace anytime?
- Yes, anytime. Cancel from account settings or the App Store / Google Play; access continues to the end of the paid period, with no default refund on unused annual time. Ameleva works the same way, and its 7-day annual trial can be canceled before it converts.
Try Ameleva, free trial.
All five tracking types, full journey library included. 7-day free trial on the Annual plan.