Head-to-head
Balance vs Insight Timer
Balance
75
Winner
Tie
Insight Timer
78
Balance is better for structured, guided meditation with a focus on personal progress, while Insight Timer excels in offering a vast, diverse library of free content and a strong community.
Full reviews: Balance · Insight Timer
Balance offers structured, personalized meditation plans with clear guidance, but recent reviews highlight issues with content stagnation and subscription management. Insight Timer provides an extensive, free library of meditations and a strong community, though its user experience can be cluttered with prompts and navigation challenges.
Head to head
Balance Balance users appreciate its structured plans, guided meditations, and personalized approach, finding it effective for beginners and for specific goals like sleep or anxiety . However, many long-term users, including lifetime members, express significant disappointment over the lack of new content and stagnant 'Plans' R1R2R6R9. Some also noted a reduction in free content over time .
Insight Timer Insight Timer is highly praised for its immense and diverse library of free meditations, yoga nidras, breathwork, talks, and live sessions, with users calling it 'infinite' and 'amazing' R69R83R100. Users love the variety of teachers and content, making it easy to find something that resonates . Some users, however, find the sheer volume of content overwhelming and difficult to navigate, with '99% garbage' making it hard to find the good stuff .
Balance Balance is generally considered easy to use and follow, especially for beginners, with clear instructions and guidance . Users appreciate the simple interface and the ability to customize voices . However, recent reviews indicate significant issues with the app freezing, not working after payment, and immovable paywalls R4R7R16. Some users also wish for more flexibility, like turning off certain techniques or custom timers R19.
Insight Timer Insight Timer's core timer functionality is praised as simple and easy to use with many options . However, the overall user experience is frequently criticized for being 'nefarious' and 'beyond annoying' due to constant pop-ups, animations, and questions after meditations R61R64R68. Users are frustrated by prompts to install widgets, difficulty finding saved content after updates, and an excessive number of clicks to access content R74.
Balance Balance users report serious reliability issues, including the app stopping working immediately after payment, freezing during meditations, and general inaccessibility R4R7R16. A major concern is the difficulty or impossibility of contacting support for troubleshooting or refunds, with users describing the support experience as 'poor' and lacking clear contact details R4R7R10.
Insight Timer Insight Timer's customer service is described as 'poor' and primarily chatbot-based when issues arise, such as sound mixer problems . Some users also report glitches during live sessions where messages don't go through . While the app is generally reliable for its core function, the frequent UI changes and loss of saved content after updates suggest inconsistencies .
Balance Balance offers a free trial and various subscription options, including a lifetime membership R1R2. Many users initially found great value, especially with free trials or early access . However, there's widespread frustration among paying users, particularly lifetime members, who feel the content is stagnant and not worth the investment R1R2R6. Many free users are also upset that content previously available for free is now behind a paywall, making the free tier almost unusable . There are also significant complaints about being charged after cancelling subscriptions R10R12.
Insight Timer Insight Timer is highly valued for its extensive free content, with users repeatedly highlighting the 'infinite amount of free to use meditations' and 'over 200k guided meditations available for free' R69R83R98. The subscription is seen as 'really reasonable' and offers access to even more content R98. Some users report issues with unwanted subscription renewals and difficulty getting refunds .
Pick Balance if
you prefer a structured, guided approach to meditation, appreciate personalized plans, and are looking for clear instruction, especially as a beginner .
Evidence note: Recent reviews for Balance show a significant negative skew regarding content stagnation and subscription issues, which contrasts with its high lifetime rating. Insight Timer's negative reviews primarily focus on UX frustrations rather than content quality or availability.
Frequently asked
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What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 110 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] Balance Lifetime membership is a pointless: The app kept offering lifetime membership. It made it seem like I would have access to meditations as they were made available. I assumed some things may be limited compared to monthly membership but I was left with the same meditations as the free version. So what was the point of paying for the membership?
- [R2] Balance Life changing app: February 2026 Update: This app is very stagnant. I purchased the lifetime membership back in 2020, thinking that new meditations and content would be added periodically. It’s now 2026 and none of the meditation “Plans” have changed, nor have any new ones been added. Rarely a new meditation will be added to “Singles”. I don’t know why they haven’t evolved at all since launching.
- [R6] Balance Meh: I have the lifetime membership but honestly I don’t use this much. I use the ocean sleep soundtrack some nights but nothing else. It’s kind of a stagnant app.
- [R9] Balance Nothing new is released: Its good but nothingnew is ever addded
- [R4] Balance Contacting the App: The free trial worked, but as soon as you pay the app stops working. Not to mention it is impossible to get any support regarding anything. Not even troubleshooting. Yes, some suggestions exist. But if the app doesn’t work. You just lost all your money on nothing.
- [R7] Balance App stopped working: Hello Balance, a few days ago all the meditations I’ve tried on Balance have stopped working. As soon as the meditation is about to start it freezes. This is very upsetting. I have an iPhone 15. I recently updated the OS version and it still didn’t help. I uninstalled and reinstalled the App and still no luck. I also tried to open the Help in the settings menu and it also isn’
- [R16] Balance Disappointed: I can’t access the app now after the last update, won’t let me unless I pay
- [R19] Balance Mental health disorders: I like the breathing meditations, I just don’t like when they give therapeutic advice regarding emotions/ thoughts etc. not everyone is a one size fit all and having a mental health disorder (OCD) that isnt as simple as a neurotypical brain , I get overstimed listening to some of the meditations.
- [R10] Balance Charged me £65 even though I cancelled: I cancelled my Balance Mind and Meditation subscription well before the renewal date, yet the app still charged me £64.99. That is unacceptable. I then tried to contact support to request a refund and could not find clear contact details or a working support route in the app. The billing process lacks transparency and the support experience is poor. I expect
- [R69] Insight Timer Best App Ever: I’ve been using Insight Timer App for years and I love it! The infinite amount of free to use meditations for the huge array of topics, styles and methods is amazing! Couldn’t recommend it enough!
- [R83] Insight Timer Marvellous Free App: This app is incredible, there are over 200k guided meditations available for free! What’s not to love! ❤️
- [R98] Insight Timer Love insight timer: I love this app. It’s always there for you, ready to invite you back and cultivate relaxation whenever you’re able. You can set reminders. You can access lots of free meditations and courses and challenges. You can pay for premium which will give you access to all of them. It’s the best meditation app I’ve ever used.
- [R100] Insight Timer Best app for yoga, meditation, therapy and more: Brilliant app, thousands of videos, audio tracks and live sessions by professionals. Huge range of spiritual practices, for free!
- [R12] Balance Cancelled renewal - payment taken anyway - careful of free trial: I tried the free trial of Balance Premium and although the app was clearly well built, I didn’t use it enough to justify renewing. I cancelled ahead of renewal date and received an e-mail saying sorry to see you cancel - but payment was taken anyway. It’s hard to believe that this company doesn’t have its subscriptions and payments
- [R61] Insight Timer Nefarious UX: I use Insight Time to help me calm down and relax after stressful days. And, largely, the meditations do exactly that. But then after the meditation, the endless clicks, animations, and questions to get back out are infuriating, negating the effect of the session. Even worse, on a regular basis it replaces the “continue” button with an “install widget” button. Here’s a thought: if I
- [R64] Insight Timer I can’t stand this app: The content is great, but the app itself is beyond annoying. I’m a paying subscriber and use the app occasionally, maybe every two weeks. Each time I open the app I’m bombarded with a series of prompts asking me how I’m feeling, what I’m aiming towards, what my motivation is, when I like to meditate, etc. All of which I need to answer before it allows me to access the con
- [R68] Insight Timer App sadly ruined: I never write reviews usually, but very sad to finally be saying goodbye to this app after a decade of using it. The amount of unnecessary and unavoidable pop ups is ironically about as irritating and unmindful as possible for a meditation app. I just want to use the timer! I don’t want to commit to anything or tell you about my goals, ever!
- [R74] Insight Timer 283 days ago users complained about being prompted every time they use the app from the widget to in: 283 days ago users complained about being prompted every time they use the app from the widget to install the widget. No way to stop it and an annoying number of clicks every time the app starts to get through reminders to install the widget. This app is designed to calm people why have you not ad
Synthesized from 110 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store