Day One
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you journal daily across devices and want encrypted sync.
New check
Comparison
Day One vs Daylio
Day One lands on Depends, and Daylio lands on Worth it.
Daylio
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you want a dead-simple personal mood and habit tracker . the free tier works, and a ~€40 one-time lifetime upgrade beats subscribing.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Worth it |
| Best for | Daily personal journalers | Personal mood and habit tracking |
| Who it's not for | Businesses or teams . this is a personal diary, not collaboration software | Chronic illness symptom tracking . Bearable fits better |
| Privacy | End-to-end encryption for sync, dedicated security and privacy pages.⁴ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; vendor claims local, locked data, but users flag unencrypted cloud backups. |
| Support quality | Only forum chatter found, no verdict | No evidence either way |
| Public sentiment | Longtime users love the app, but the $50/year price hike and lag complaints are pushing some toward alternatives.⁶ | Users love Daylio as a lightweight, two-tap mood and habit logger with genuinely useful long-term insights, though a minority report logging fatigue.11 |
| Biggest gotcha | Price jumped to $49.99/year; several public posts describe quitting over the hike.⁵ | Users report cloud backups are unencrypted; check backup settings before storing sensitive entries |
Pick Day One when
- Daily personal journalers
- Multi-device Apple users
- Privacy-minded diary writers
- Photo and audio memory keepers
When Day One is not a fit
- Businesses or teams . this is a personal diary, not collaboration software
- Anyone unwilling to pay $50/year to keep a journal
- Casual writers content with Apple's free Journal app
- People needing confidence in the vendor's long-term survival
Pick Daylio when
- Personal mood and habit tracking
- People who won't write long journal entries
- Multi-year mood pattern spotting
- Privacy-minded users avoiding subscriptions
When Daylio is not a fit
- Chronic illness symptom tracking . Bearable fits better
- Teams or employers . single-user app, no dashboards
- Long-form diary writers wanting rich prose
- Anyone wanting AI analysis or HRV/wearables data
Sources
- Day One Journal App . official sitedayoneapp.comofficial
- Day One Plans (pricing)dayoneapp.comofficial
- Day One security pagedayoneapp.comsecurity
- End-to-End Encryption for Day One Syncmedium.comsecurity
- Reddit: price raised to $50/yearreddit.comreview
- Reddit: 15+ years, still top 5 appreddit.comreview
- Forum: app lag complaintsforums.dayoneapp.comreview
- Reddit: Is Day One going under?reddit.comreview
- Reddit: replacement after price changesreddit.comreview
- Everpaper: Day One alternatives 2026everpaper.appreview
- Daylio App Review 2026choosingtherapy.comreview
review
- Bearable vs Daylio, which one should you choose?bearable.appreview
- Free vs Premium : r/Daylioreddit.comreview
- 40 euro one-time purchase : r/Daylioreddit.comreview
review