Lapsed Free vs Pro: Which Plan Is Right for You?

Most habit tracker apps lock everything behind a paywall. You download the app, get excited, start setting things up — and then hit a screen asking for $9.99/month before you can do anything useful.

Lapsed takes a different approach. The free tier is genuinely useful. You can track, visualise, and get reminders without spending a penny. Pro exists for people who want to track their whole life — but free covers a lot of ground on its own.

What You Get for Free

The free tier is not a crippled demo. It is a real, functional days since tracker that covers the most common use case: tracking a few important things in one area of your life.

For someone who just wants to track a few key things — say, three health appointments — the free tier covers you completely. No time limit, no nag screens.

Free Tier Deep Dive

Here is exactly what free gives you and how to make the most of it:

3 Items, 1 Category

Pick the category that matters most to you right now. Health? Social? Chores? Add three items that you genuinely want to track. Three well-chosen items are more powerful than thirty random ones.

Dots Visual Style

The clean, minimal canvas. Each item is a small circle that drifts across the screen. It is beautiful, readable, and free forever.

Threshold Line and Reminders

Even on free, you get the threshold line (drag to set your target days) and one reminder per item. This means you get the core Lapsed experience — visual tracking with smart notifications — without paying anything.

What Pro Unlocks

Pro is for people who want to track their whole life. Here is what opens up:

Unlimited Items and Categories

Remove all limits. Track as many things as you want, organised into as many categories as you need. Social, Health, Chores, Habits, Quitting — use them all simultaneously.

All Three Visual Styles

Unlock Balloons and Hot Air Balloons alongside Dots. Each brings a different personality to your tracking canvas. Many users switch styles seasonally or by mood.

Charts and Statistics

See trends over time. How consistent are you with exercise? Are your social catch-ups getting more or less frequent? Charts give you the data to answer these questions — presented in the same beautiful aesthetic as everything else.

Data Export

Download your items and completion history. Your data is yours, always.

Multiple Reminders

Stack up to 3 reminders per item — threshold-based, recurring, and date-based. Layer them for items that really matter.

Compact List View

Prefer a list to a canvas? The compact view shows all your items in a dense, information-rich format. Some people use the canvas for daily checking and the list for weekly reviews.

10 Accent Colours

Personalise the entire app with your choice of 10 accent colours: Coral, Blue, Emerald, Violet, Amber, Pink, Teal, Purple, Red, and Indigo.

Pricing

Lapsed Pro is available as:

• Monthly: $3.99/month
• Yearly: $39.99/year (save 17%)
• Lifetime: $49.99 one-time purchase

All plans unlock the exact same features. The only difference is billing frequency.

The "No Pressure" Philosophy

We built Lapsed this way intentionally. Aggressive paywalls and limited trials create anxiety. They push people to subscribe before they know if the app fits their life — and then feel resentful when it does not.

With Lapsed, the path is simple:

1. Download free
2. Set up 3 items in 1 category
3. Use it for as long as you want
4. If you find yourself wishing you could add more items, more categories, or switch to balloons — that is when Pro makes sense

There is no optimal moment to upgrade. There is only the moment when you want more.

Supporting Indie Development

Lapsed is built by an independent developer. There is no venture capital, no growth-at-all-costs pressure, no decision to make the free tier worse so more people upgrade.

Every Pro subscription directly supports continued development — new features, bug fixes, performance improvements, and keeping the app alive. When you upgrade to Pro, you are not just getting features. You are supporting the kind of app development that puts users first.

Which Should You Choose?

Start free. Always start free. Use Lapsed for a week with your three most important items. See if the visual tracking resonates with you. See if the threshold line changes how you think about time.

If you find yourself wanting more items, more categories, or the balloon visuals — that is your sign. Upgrade when the app has already proven its value to you, not before.

Read more about why Lapsed is different from other day counter apps, or explore the power of visual tracking to understand the philosophy behind the design.