Best Gratitude Journal Apps in 2026: 8 Compared (Free & Paid)

Reviewed October 23, 2026. Features, free-plan details and prices come from each developer's own site and the US App Store and Google Play listings on that date. We reviewed these apps from those pages and from published studies. We did not use each one for weeks.

A gratitude journal app is a phone or web app built to help you write down what you are thankful for, usually with a daily prompt, a reminder and a way to look back at past entries.

Most gratitude apps share the same core: a short entry, a nudge to come back tomorrow, and a feed of what you wrote last week or last year. They differ on the parts that decide whether you keep going. Some guide you through a fixed morning and evening format. Some ask for exactly three good things and nothing else. Some turn gratitude into photos you share with your partner, and some bundle affirmations, vision boards and an AI coach on top. We compared eight apps, checked every free-plan detail and price against the company's own pages, and noted where each one stops being free.

If you want a general journaling app, our best journaling apps guide covers the wider field. If you want something to write about, start with our gratitude journal prompts. This page answers one question: which app should you keep your gratitude journal in?

Best gratitude journal apps at a glance

The Five Minute Journal is the best guided gratitude app, Presently is the best free one on Android, and Three Good Things is the simplest on iPhone.

• Best guided gratitude routine: Five Minute Journal. Morning and evening prompts in about five minutes, on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android.
• Best free gratitude app for Android: Presently. Free, ad-free and open source, with entries kept on your device.
• Best for the three good things exercise: Three Good Things Journal. Three entries a day on iPhone and iPad, no account and no ads.
• Best for gratitude with affirmations and vision boards: Gratitude: Self-Care Journal. A gratitude journal plus affirmations, vision boards and daily quotes.
• Best photo gratitude journal for sharing: Orca, formerly Happyfeed. Photo and video entries you can share in small private groups.
• Best social gratitude app: Gratitude Plus. Private Circles with family and friends plus an optional public feed.
• Best for gratitude inside a full journal: Day One. Daily, weekly and in-depth gratitude templates on a free Basic plan.
• Best for daily challenges and community: 365 Gratitude. Daily prompts, streaks, a community feed and an AI coach.

How we chose these gratitude apps

We picked apps built around gratitude, checked each one against its developer's site or US store listing on October 23, 2026, and ranked them by how well they support a daily gratitude habit and how clearly they state what is free.

• Built for gratitude: gratitude has to be the main purpose of the app, or a named feature such as a gratitude template. General journals with no gratitude features were left out.
• Still alive: each app had to be listed on the US App Store or Google Play, with an update in 2026.
• Free plan: what you can do without paying, in the developer's own words. Where a company does not say, we write "not stated."
• Paid price: US prices from the developer's site or the store listing.
• Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and web, as each listing names them.

What we did: read store listings, developer pages, release notes and published studies. What we did not do: use each app for weeks, so we do not rank on hands-on feel. We also do not use star ratings. Prices change often and can differ by region, so check the app before you subscribe. Life Note is our own app, so it has its own disclosed section and is not in the ranking.

Gratitude apps compared: free plan, price and platforms

This table shows whether each app has a free plan, what the paid tier costs and where it runs, as each developer listed it on October 23, 2026.

Where the App Store lists several in-app purchase prices without naming the billing period, we show the range. "Not stated" means the pages we read do not say which features are free, which is different from the app having no free features.

The 8 best gratitude journal apps in 2026

These eight apps are ordered by how well they support a daily gratitude habit and how clearly the developer states what you get for free.

1. Five Minute Journal — Best for a guided morning and evening gratitude routine

Best for people who want the same short gratitude format twice a day, with no blank page to fill.

Free plan: yes; Premium is optional | Paid: the App Store lists 1-month Premium at $9.99 and annual Premium at $39.99, with older plans from $4.99 | Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android

The Five Minute Journal app comes from Intelligent Change, the company behind the paper journal of the same name. Its App Store listing describes a guided gratitude journaling format with a flow for both morning and evening entries. The listing also names reminders, a timeline of past entries, a calendar view, daily quotes and weekly challenges, passcode and Face ID protection, streaks, and export to PDF, HTML and Dropbox.

The listing says the app "offers an optional monthly or yearly subscriptions with free trials or lifetime license." Premium adds a daily photo or video, your own custom questions, a notes section for free writing, a mood tracker, On This Day reminders, a photo timeline and a home-screen widget. The October 2026 release notes introduce Eva, an AI journaling coach that reflects on a finished entry with you; the listing does not say whether Eva is free or Premium. Intelligent Change's app page says the app is "100% FREE to download" and "Available on iOS and Android." For the paper method behind it, read our five minute journaling guide.

• Free version includes: guided morning and evening gratitude prompts, reminders, timeline and calendar, quotes and weekly challenges, passcode, streaks, export.
• Premium adds: photos and video, custom questions, free-writing notes, mood tracker, On This Day, widget.

2. Presently — Best free gratitude journal for Android

Best for Android users who want a plain gratitude journal with nothing to buy and nothing to sign up for.

Free plan: the whole app is free | Paid: none | Platforms: Android

Presently's Google Play listing calls it a "simple, always free, and private gratitude journaling app" and says it is "100% free and ad free." The listing shows no in-app purchases and no ads, and the app was updated on October 7, 2026. You record daily entries, look back at past ones, get quotes and prompts, set a daily reminder, lock entries with fingerprint or face ID, search, share an entry, export and import, and change the color scheme.

The listing says "all of your entries stay on your device and in your control." Presently's own site describes it as "a minimal daily gratitude journal for Android," says it "will always be free and ad free," and notes that the app is 100% open source. The trade-off is reach. There is no iPhone version of this app; an iOS app with a similar name is a different product for anxiety. If you want prompts to type into it, our gratitude prompt generator gives you a fresh one each time.

• Free version includes: everything: entries, look-back, quotes and prompts, reminders, biometric lock, search, sharing, export and import.
• Limits: Android only; entries stay on your device, so back them up with the export option.

3. Three Good Things Journal — Best for the three good things exercise on iPhone

Best for people who have quit journaling before and want the smallest possible daily habit: three good things, then done.

Free plan: yes | Paid: Premium, listed at $4.99 on the App Store (billing period not named) | Platforms: iPhone and iPad

Three Good Things Journal calls itself "the gratitude journal for people who don't journal." Its App Store listing asks you to write down three good things that happened today and says the practice "takes about a minute." There is no account to create and no ads. You can add photos and videos, browse your history as a list or calendar, mark favorite days, set a daily reminder, customize the look, and build a streak with achievements.

In September 2026 the developer added Premium, described in the release notes as "an optional subscription with iCloud sync, journal export, App Lock, and room for more than three good things a day. Everything you use today stays free, with no ads." So the free version keeps the daily practice, and Premium adds sync, export, a lock and extra entries. On Android, a separate app from a different developer, Three Good Things - Gratitude, offers the same exercise; its listing says "the daily practice is free" and the free app includes three exports. For a printable version of the method, see our gratitude list guide.

• Free version includes: three good things a day, photos and videos, history, favorites, reminder, streaks and achievements.
• Premium adds: iCloud sync between iPhone and iPad, PDF or text export, App Lock, more than three entries a day.

4. Gratitude: Self-Care Journal — Best for gratitude with affirmations and vision boards

Best for people who want gratitude as one part of a wider self-care routine that also includes affirmations and goal-setting.

Free plan: free to download; the split between free and Pro is not stated | Paid: the App Store lists Pro plans from $4.99 (monthly) to $39.99 | Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android

The app from Hapjoy, listed simply as Gratitude, has four main tools on its App Store listing. The gratitude journal sends reminders with prompts, lets you add photos, record entries in your voice, build a streak and pick from "hundreds of journal prompts." The affirmations section has hundreds you can read or listen to, and you can write your own and record them with music. Vision boards collect photos, quotes and goals, and you can make several. Daily Zen adds gratitude quotes, thank-you cards and stories.

The listing says the app is "completely private" and that your entries, affirmations and vision boards "are for your eyes only." The in-app purchase list shows a monthly Pro plan at $4.99, a quarterly plan at $9.99, an annual plan at $29.99 and Gratitude Pro options at $34.99 and $39.99. Neither the listing, the Google Play page nor the developer's site says which features need Pro. If affirmations are what draws you in, our affirmation journal guide shows how to pair them with a written practice.

• What the listing describes: gratitude journal with prompts, voice entries and streaks; affirmations; vision boards; daily quotes and stories.
• Free version limits: not stated on the pages we read; Pro is sold as a subscription.

5. Orca (formerly Happyfeed) — Best photo gratitude journal for sharing with people you love

Best for couples, families and long-distance friends who want to record good moments in photos and share some of them.

Free plan: yes, with unlimited days of posts | Paid: Orca Plus $3.99/month or $39.99/year | Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android and web

If you used Happyfeed, this is the same app under a new name. Its App Store listing says "Orca (formerly Happyfeed) is a gratitude journal that focuses on beautiful photos, short videos, and sharing options." You post good things each day with photos, video and location, get a daily prompt, quote or fun fact, and shake a Gratitude Jar to see a random past post. Posts are private by default. Pods are private groups where you send selected moments to a partner, friends or family.

The listing includes "unlimited days you can post for free." Orca's site says a Plus subscription "is available but never required" and lists iPhone, Android, iPad and web. Plus adds the unlimited calendar with map and photo grid, PDF or CSV export, search, up to 10 good things a day, up to 4 photos per post, 30-second videos and unlimited editing, at $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Some features open up as you go: memories from a week ago after one week, and the jar after two weeks. An account is required so your posts sync across devices.

• Free version includes: daily posts with photos and video, Pods, daily prompts, Gratitude Jar, throwbacks, passcode and Face ID.
• Plus adds: search, export, unlimited calendar, more good things and photos per post, longer videos, unlimited editing.

6. Gratitude Plus — Best social gratitude journal

Best for people who stay consistent when other people are doing it with them.

Free plan: yes | Paid: $10.99/month or $39.99/year | Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Android

Gratitude Plus describes itself on the App Store as a "social gratitude journal." You keep a private gratitude journal, and you can create or join Gratitude Circles with your partner, family or friends. A public feed shows what people around the world are grateful for, and you can send them encouragement. The app also includes memories of past entries, prompts, affirmations and quotes, push reminders, daily mood tracking and insights such as your most frequent words and moods.

The listing states: "Gratitude Plus is free to use, with an option to unlock additional features by upgrading to an auto-renewing subscription: $10.99/month and $39.99/year." It does not list which features are in the paid tier. The in-app purchase list also shows a family plan at $89.99. The Android version is on Google Play as Gratitude Plus: Social Journal. If sharing gratitude is the point for you, our guide to nightly gratitude prompts gives a family something to answer together at bedtime.

• Free version includes: the app is "free to use"; the listing names a private journal, Circles, public feed, prompts, mood tracking and insights.
• Paid limits: the features in the paid tier are not stated on the listing.

7. Day One — Best for gratitude inside a full journal

Best for people who want gratitude entries to sit next to everything else they write, in one private journal.

Free plan: Basic, $0 | Paid: Silver $49.99/year, Gold $74.99/year | Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android, Windows and web

Day One is a general journal, but its App Store listing carries the subtitle "Private Gratitude Journaling," and its template gallery has a Gratitude section with Daily Gratitude, Weekly and Gratitude (In-depth) templates, available on iOS, Mac, Android and web. You can keep a separate gratitude journal next to your main one, since multiple journals are part of the free plan.

Day One's plans page lists Basic at $0 per year with unlimited entries and journals, one photo per entry, the Daily Prompt and prompt library, journal templates, search, On This Day and streaks. Basic is limited to one device. Silver adds journaling across all your devices and unlimited photos and videos, and Gold adds AI features such as Daily Chat. Thinking about moving later? See our Day One alternatives.

• Free version includes: unlimited entries and journals, gratitude templates, prompts, search, On This Day, streaks.
• Free version limits: one device and one photo per entry.

8. 365 Gratitude — Best for daily gratitude challenges and community

Best for people motivated by streaks, badges and a large community, who are open to a paid tier.

Free plan: free to download; which features are free is not stated | Paid: GratPlus; the App Store lists $4.99 to $47.99 | Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Android

365 Gratitude's App Store listing describes a gratitude journal built around daily prompts, mood tracking and a digital gratitude jar, plus a library of affirmations and a community feed. It also describes a "ChatGPT-powered AI coach" that offers interactive CBT exercises for anxiety and stressful situations. A recent release lets you listen to the day's prompt aloud and speak your reply. The developer's site adds streaks, points and badges, and says the app is available on iOS and Android.

The listing says "Premium features are available with a subscription," and the site's buttons offer a 7-day free trial. The in-app purchase list shows GratPlus monthly plans at $4.99 and $9.99 and yearly plans from $17.99 to $47.99. Neither page says which features stay free after the trial, so check inside the app before you rely on it.

• What the listing describes: daily prompts, mood tracking, gratitude jar, affirmations, community, AI coach, spoken replies.
• Free version limits: not stated; premium features need a GratPlus subscription.

Also considered, and why they are not ranked

• Grateful: A Gratitude Journal (iPhone and iPad): a journal that opens each session with a prompt and keeps your data on your device, with no login. Its listing says the free version allows 15 journal entries; unlimited entries need a one-time $4.99 upgrade or a subscription. Fifteen entries is about two weeks of a daily habit.
• Good Things gratitude journal (iPhone only): another three good things app, which asks how each good thing made you feel, with no account, no ads and no AI, and entries stored locally per its listing. The free and paid split is not stated.
• Stoic: gratitude is one of many guided-journal topics inside a wider morning and evening routine app. We cover it in the best free journaling apps and Stoic app alternatives.
• Reflectly: mentions gratitude, but its listing describes Premium and a free trial without saying what stays free. See our Reflectly alternatives.
• Happyfeed: renamed Orca, ranked above as #5.

Our app: Life Note

Life Note is our own app, so we list it here with full disclosure and do not rank it against the others. It suits people who want a reply to what they are grateful for, from a mentor inspired by a thinker.

Free plan: yes, with weekly limits | Paid: Premium $10.99/month or $99.99/year (US App Store) | Platforms: iOS, Android and web

In Life Note you write an entry and a mentor replies. The mentors are inspired by 1,000+ thinkers, such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Carl Jung, and replies are grounded in their writings. Roots shows the passage a reply drew on, so you can read the source yourself.

For gratitude, that means tonight's three good things can get an answer. Write them as an ordinary entry and pick a mentor inspired by Seneca, who wrote at length about giving and receiving kindness, or by Marcus Aurelius. Then open Roots to see which passage the reply came from. If the reply raises a question, you can keep talking with the mentor in chat.

On the free plan, your main mentor replies to 10 entries in your first week, then 3 entries a week, and you can chat with mentors up to 10 times a day. Premium, at $10.99 a month or $99.99 a year on the US App Store, removes those limits and lets up to three mentors reply. Life Note is a general journal, so it works best alongside one of the gratitude apps above, or on its own if a reply matters more to you than a set format.

What to look for in a gratitude app

A good gratitude app makes the entry quick, reminds you at the right time, and shows you old entries so the habit pays you back.

• A fixed format: three good things, or a morning and evening prompt, removes the question of what to write. Five Minute Journal and Three Good Things are built on this.
• A reminder you control: most apps in our list name reminders. Pick a time you are reliably free, such as right before bed.
• A way to look back: Orca's Gratitude Jar, Gratitude Plus memories and Day One's On This Day all bring old entries back to you.
• Specific prompts when you are stuck: "What made you smile today?" is easier to answer than "What are you grateful for?" Our gratitude prompts list has more.
• Clear privacy: where entries are stored (on your device, in your own iCloud, or on the company's servers) and whether you can export them.

Extras such as affirmations, vision boards, mood charts and AI coaches can help, but they also make each session longer. If you keep dropping the habit, a smaller app may serve you better than a bigger one.

Does gratitude journaling work? What the research says

Randomized studies find that gratitude exercises raise well-being, but meta-analyses put the average effect at small, and no study we found tests any app on this list.

What this means for you: writing down what you are grateful for is a reasonable thing to try, and positive mood is the most consistent gain. Expect a modest lift. The Davis meta-analysis is the useful reality check: gratitude exercises beat doing nothing, but they performed about as well as other active exercises, and the reviews disagree on anxiety. The Boggiss review found the most support for sleep, which is one reason people journal at night; our guide to nightly gratitude prompts for sleep covers that routine, and benefits of journaling covers the wider evidence. None of these studies tested an app, so the best app is the one you will open tomorrow.

How to choose a gratitude journal app

Pick by your phone, by whether you want to write alone or with others, and by how much you want the app to do besides gratitude.

Match the app to how you want to practice

• A short routine twice a day: Five Minute Journal.
• One minute at night: Three Good Things on iPhone, or Presently on Android.
• Photos more than words: Orca.
• Gratitude with your partner, family or friends: Orca's Pods or Gratitude Plus Circles.
• Gratitude plus affirmations and goals: Gratitude: Self-Care Journal or 365 Gratitude.
• Gratitude as one part of a longer journal: Day One's gratitude templates.
• A reply to what you wrote: Life Note (our app).

Check your platform first

Several of the best options run on one platform only. Presently is Android only, while Three Good Things Journal and Grateful are iPhone and iPad only. If you switch phones every few years, pick an app with export, or one that runs on both, such as Five Minute Journal, Orca, Gratitude Plus or Day One.

Know where the free version stops

Free gratitude apps usually cap one thing: entries (Grateful), devices or sync (Day One, Three Good Things), photos and search (Orca), or extra features such as mood tracking and custom questions (Five Minute Journal). For 365 Gratitude and Gratitude: Self-Care Journal, the free limits are not stated, so open the app and check before you build a habit in it. For a wider list of free tools, see our best free journaling apps.

Privacy questions to ask

• Are entries stored only on your device (Presently, Good Things), in your own iCloud (Three Good Things Premium), or on the company's servers (Orca, which requires an account)?
• Can you lock the app with a passcode or Face ID on the free version?
• Can you export everything in a format another app can read?
• If you share entries in a group or public feed, which posts are private by default?

Start small

Try one app for two weeks before paying. Write three specific things each night, and keep each one short. If you want a starting routine, our how to start journaling guide walks through the first week, and morning journal prompts help if you prefer to write at the start of the day.

Frequently asked questions

These six answers cover the most common questions about gratitude apps, from the best pick to free options, Android, sharing and the research.

What is the best gratitude journal app?

For most people, the Five Minute Journal. It guides a short gratitude entry every morning and evening, runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android, and sells Premium as an option. Presently is the best fully free choice on Android, Three Good Things is the simplest on iPhone, and Orca and Gratitude Plus are best for sharing gratitude with others. We checked these apps on October 23, 2026.

Is there a free gratitude journal app?

Yes. Presently is completely free on Android, with no in-app purchases and no ads. Three Good Things Journal says everything in its free version stays free. Orca lets you post on unlimited days for free, Gratitude Plus says it is free to use, and Day One's Basic plan costs $0 and includes gratitude templates. Grateful's free version is capped at 15 entries.

What is the best gratitude app for Android?

Presently, if you want a free and simple journal: its Google Play listing says it is 100% free and ad-free and keeps entries on your device. Five Minute Journal, Gratitude: Self-Care Journal, Orca, Gratitude Plus, Day One and 365 Gratitude also have Android apps. Three Good Things Journal and Grateful are iPhone and iPad only.

What happened to the Happyfeed app?

Happyfeed was renamed Orca. Its App Store listing reads "Orca (formerly Happyfeed)" and describes the same photo and video gratitude journal. Posting is free on unlimited days, and Orca Plus costs $3.99 a month or $39.99 a year for search, export and more photos per post. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.

Can I share a gratitude journal with my partner or family?

Yes. Orca's Pods are private groups where you send selected photos, videos and entries to a partner, friends or family. Gratitude Plus lets you create or join Gratitude Circles and also has a public feed. Orca posts are private by default, and Gratitude Plus keeps a private journal alongside its Circles. 365 Gratitude has a community feed as well.

Does a gratitude journal actually work?

It helps a little, on average. In Emmons and McCullough's 2003 experiments, people who listed what they were grateful for had higher well-being on several measures, with positive mood the clearest gain. A 2016 meta-analysis found a small advantage over other activities and no advantage over other psychologically active exercises. No study we found tests a specific gratitude app.

Related reading

• Gratitude Journal Prompts
• Gratitude List
• Gratitude Prompt Generator
• Nightly Gratitude Prompts for Better Sleep
• Best Free Journaling Apps
• Best Dream Journal Apps
• 5-Minute Journaling
• Daily Reflection Journal

Sources

• Emmons RA, McCullough ME. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2003;84(2):377-389. PubMed 12585811 | doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377
• Davis DE, Choe E, Meyers J, et al. Thankful for the little things: a meta-analysis of gratitude interventions. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2016;63(1):20-31. PubMed 26575348 | doi:10.1037/cou0000107
• Boggiss AL, Consedine NS, Brenton-Peters JM, Hofman PL, Serlachius AS. A systematic review of gratitude interventions: effects on physical health and health behaviors. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2020;135:110165. PubMed 32590219 | doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110165
• Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM. The effects of gratitude interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Einstein (São Paulo). 2023;21:eRW0371. PubMed 37585888 | doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371

Last updated October 2026.