Atoms alternatives
Users often seek alternatives to Atoms due to its high subscription cost and restrictive habit limits, even for paid users. Many also encounter bugs and design flaws that hinder the app's effectiveness. Alternatives offer different pricing models, more flexible habit tracking, or entirely different functionalities.
Why users look for alternatives to Atoms
- The subscription cost is considered too high, especially for the features offered, with many users unwilling to pay for what they see as a simple checklist.R1R6R10R12
- Even paid users are limited to tracking only 6 habits, which many find too restrictive for their needs.R4R13R15R21
- Users report various bugs and glitches, including the app randomly stopping updates, freezing, or having connectivity issues.R7R16R25R43
- The app has design flaws such as a lack of dark mode, inability to edit habit intentions, or difficulty logging habits for specific days.R5R17R18R27
- The free trial model is seen as deceptive, as users get invested before being cut off and forced to pay for basic functionality.R1R9R22R24
- Concerns about privacy are raised, with the app reportedly collecting and selling sensitive personal data.R39R46
The alternatives
Habit Tracker is a simple and effective app for tracking and building healthy habits, offering customization options and a lifetime subscription R52R53R59.
Better for: This app is better for users who appreciate a simple, precise, and effective habit tracking experience with good customization R52R53R56. It suits those who prefer a one-time payment option over annual subscriptions R53.
Head-to-head: Atoms vs Habit TrackerAtomic Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet designed for buying, selling, and storing various cryptocurrencies, with users finding the buying process easy R66R72R78.
Better for: This app is better for individuals who need a crypto wallet for easy transactions and cold storage of their digital assets R66R72R78. It is not a habit tracking app.
Head-to-head: Atoms vs Atomic WalletGrit is a habit tracking app with an appealing aesthetic and user-friendly interface that helps users visually track progress through streaks R80R83R89.
Better for: Grit is better for users who prioritize an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly design in their habit tracker R83. It is particularly good for those motivated by visual progress tracking and streaks R89.
Head-to-head: Atoms vs GritAtomas is a puzzle game where players combine atoms, praised for its lack of ads and forced spending, offering a simple yet challenging gameplay experience R94R106.
Better for: This app is better for users looking for a casual, ad-free puzzle game that is simple to learn but difficult to master R94R106. It is not a habit tracking app.
Head-to-head: Atoms vs AtomasOnrise is a completely free habit tracker that offers a clean, aesthetic interface and smart tracking features, including monthly and yearly summaries R108R111R114.
Better for: Onrise is better for users who want a completely free habit tracker without ads or premium upgrade prompts R108R114. It suits those who need smart tracking for flexible habits, like '3 days a week (any day)' R111.
Head-to-head: Atoms vs OnriseYou should stick with Atoms if you find its specific coaching method and integration with James Clear's 'Atomic Habits' book genuinely helpful for building habits, and if you are comfortable with the subscription cost and habit limits .
Evidence note: All alternatives had sufficient reviews to form a judgment.
Frequently asked
Is Atoms a free app?
How many habits can I track with Atoms?
Does Atoms offer a lifetime subscription?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.
- [R1] Atoms SHUTS OFF AFTER A MONTH: I read the book and it helped a lot. I had heard that the author put the book everywhere to help the most people and that was very welcoming to hear. Being suddenly locked out and charged is NOT the principles the book taught, it is greedy scummy practices. I didn’t even make any account it just lied about the free capabilities until I’d been invested for a month. Growing
- [R6] Atoms Ok: It’s nice but today I went to log a habit but I couldn’t because it said I needed to pay which was disappointing. I still have one habit I can log but the other two I can’t and I’m not willing to pay for the app. So it’s great if you’re willing to pay.
- [R10] Atoms Beautiful Wrapping for mid App: I love what the app promises and the design of it but the in application subscription is overpriced and both the free and paid tiers just don’t deliver enough.
- [R12] Atoms Please add a lifetime subscription: I love this app, but the price is hard to justify. I would really love a one-time lifetime subscription. It’s leaps and bounds more expensive than any other habit tracker out there. I think it offers more value than other apps, but a lifetime subscription would make the pro version more accessible.
- [R4] Atoms I do like the book, but this app has so many design flaws: Hello James, I've read the book and I really liked it. However, this app is littered with design flaws I have to uninstall it: 1. Paid users can't create more than 6 habits. This is a pretty strange design. A paid user is supposed to create unlimited amount of habits and not get hard locked to only 6 habits. A paid user pays $5/month or
- [R13] Atoms Way too expensive: Pay 40 dollars a year for 6 habits.
- [R15] Atoms Prefer more habits: I wish we could add more habits than just 6. Some of us have a lot of change we need to go through in various areas of life so maybe 6/area would be better.
- [R21] Atoms I wish I could track more than 6 habits.: I’m enjoying the app so far and I bought premium so I could track more than one habit. I’m a depressed someone trying to get in life in order by making a lot of very small changes, small as in going to bed and waking up at a certain time, making my bed, brushing my teeth, gym for 10 min, journaling for 5 min, reading 1 page a day, 15 minutes studying per da
- [R7] Atoms Glitchy: Not a good representation of James Clear.
- [R16] Atoms Stopped updating: Randomly stopped updating when I tracked my habits. I pay for this app so it would be super cool if you all could fix it.
- [R25] Atoms No connection: Regardless of whether im on wifi or cellular, it keeps giving me “cannot connect “ errors
- [R43] Atoms Please read.: Dear Atoms Development Team, I really love what you're aiming for with this app; It's nice to get advices on helping you to commit to what you're aiming for, and it seems like a high quality app. However, I can't exactly get the advertised experince because whenever I open up the app and set up my first habit and press get started, it freezes. I don't know if this has anything to do
- [R5] Atoms Please make option to create habits without strict example: I just started using the app, which I like for simplicity, but one issue I am already dealing with is that when you want to create a habit there’s only one example of intention which impossible to change. You can only change name of the habit, time and location (which is also doesn’t work with everything, for example if I want to cut suga
- [R17] Atoms Amazing app!: I really like it so far! One suggestion I have is that the app should give the user a choice of having a certain time because I like to be flexible. I hope this helps. 😊
- [R18] Atoms Great idea, but frustrating: 2 complaints: 1) app will not allow you to enter history, so if you’ve been writing down your streak and stat using the app, you have to start over at Day 1. 2) MAJOR COMPLAINT: when you adjust/edit a goal, say from 50 up to 100 burpees, it won’t let you log THAT DAY!! You’ll have to resume the next day, still keeping your “streak”, but missing one day’s data. Not hap
- [R27] Atoms Cannot figure out how to log habit: I cannot figure out how to log an habit while I am in the app. Otherwise app is ok. GUI should be geared towards more things that you do daily vs things that you do once a months
- [R9] Atoms i WAS enjoying it: I don’t remember being told about the subscription, but I definitely am not going to pay for this because I was just checking off habits as if it’s the Reminders app. I think I would’ve considered not using the app much earlier so I guess that’s the trick, they want you to get used to it. but yeah, my criticism would be give me more clarity on the limits without the subscriptio
- [R22] Atoms Paid subscription: Downloaded the app made some habits and thought I wouldn’t have to pay a subscription. I was wrong. Read the reviews and I would need to pay to have more than one habit tracked. I’m cheap and not willing to pay for a checklist. 1 star for trying to rope me in and then cut me off. Also I feel like a habit app that genuinely wants to help people be better shouldn’t cost money to k
- [R24] Atoms Great app, ruined by subscription pricing: Love this app, fantastic conceptually and fantastic UX but it’s simply not worth the price to me. This app would be worth a one time fee of $8 to me, which I would gladly pay. Respectfully I think paying $10 or $6/ month even is ludicrous for this simple of a product. I also think the trial model is a bit sly in that it encourages people to start habits
- [R39] Atoms Disappointing and overpriced: It has a nice and well-considered design that's let down by a lack of basic features like dark mode and 24 hour time. It has a baffling need to be connected to the internet all the time to do basic tasks, so if you live in a city with patchy cell service like I do you're going to have a rough time. It also means the privacy of this app is a lot worse than it needs to
- [R46] Atoms Privacy nightmare: I want to like this app but its privacy policy openly admits it collects sensitive and personal data and sells it off to multiple parties. So not only are subscribers paying for the use of the app, the devs are collecting and selling private data on the back end. Users are the actual product here. Beware...
- [R52] Habit Tracker Simple, precise and effective.: I want to thank the team for developing such a useful app. It is constantly helping me track and build healthy habits.
- [R53] Habit Tracker Please give font size options: The app is beautiful. Love the customization. I got a lifetime subscription and am happy to not have to pay annually. Could you please consider adding the ability to increase the font size? It would be perfect then.
- [R56] Habit Tracker Great App! Could use a few options: I love the layout, style, and customization. I prefer a “checklist” style which you can set by putting every goal at a 1/1, but it is interesting this kind of goal, things you do once a day, isn’t innate in the system. Also, the app keeps asking me to rate it… almost daily. Once is enough. 🤣 -1 ⭐️ This is a pretty cool app, but there’s some glitch where even
- [R59] Habit Tracker nice: i like this app because it’s helping me keep my habits, the customer service was good too because it was a real person :)
- [R66] Atomic Wallet Perfect wallet for transactions!: Good for sending :)
- [R72] Atomic Wallet Atomic Wallet: The process of buying coins here was easy and self-explanatory. I would buy again.
- [R78] Atomic Wallet This is the best crypto wallet to cold store your crypto.: Just keep auto hosing
- [R80] Grit 5 stars: Extremely easy to navigate through
- [R83] Grit Love this !!: I love the aesthetics of this app! Very user friendly. Best ‘to-do’ app that I’ve tried. I would recommend trying it!
- [R89] Grit Streaks: My favorite feature is the streaks (fire symbol). It helps me visually track progress and stay accountable
- [R94] Atomas Been playing for years: I have been playing atomas for at least ten years at this point. I love this game. It doesn’t have any ads and doesn’t force any spendings on you to win. Also the gameplay is fun. Has different game modes, but i just play the basic one usually. Great game, great app, i appreciate the developer for not making this game a money cow
- [R106] Atomas I play this every day: How long ago did this app come out? It has to be over a decade ago now, right? Well anyway, I play this game every day and I love that it doesn't have ads, it's simple but difficult. It's calming because you go at your own pace. Easily my favorite app. Please never change!
- [R108] Onrise Very amazing: The app is completely free which I love and it doesn’t buy me everyday to “ upgrade to premium” it does exactly what I need it to and looks extremely clean and aesthetic! Would recommend and day to anyone
- [R111] Onrise Only Smart Habit Tracker: Love the update that brought us the monthly and yearly summaries. Very cool and enjoy the data! This is the only habit tracker I have found that is able to handle my “3 day a week (but ANY day of the week)” habits. It tracks them just like my daily habits. It is easy to use. It gets the job done. I don’t use the journal or focus parts, just the tracker.
- [R114] Onrise yay: the perfect basic habit tracker!! 0 ads or cash grabs
- [R31] Atoms Don’t get sucked in unless you want an expensive subscription: It bothers me that this app was setup in a way to get you in the habit of making good habits, then after you do something ten times you can’t have more than a single habit without a subscription. I would gladly pay a one-time $20 for just the habit tracking, but that’s not an option. I can’t justify this kind of money for what boils do
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store