Tend vs. Streaks vs. Habitify: an honest habit tracker comparison (2026)
One you buy, one you rent, one that makes you prove the rep. Where each habit tracker genuinely wins, with real prices — including where Tend loses.
If you search "habit tracker" on the App Store you'll get a wall of nearly identical grids and rings. Underneath, the apps split into two very different species: the ones you buy and the ones you rent. Here's an honest comparison of three that represent the split — Streaks, Habitify, and our own Tend — including where each one genuinely wins.
The three models
Streaks ($5.99, one-time) is the classic. Apple Design Award winner, beautiful, reliable, syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Watch. You tap a circle when you've done the thing. Pay once, own it forever. If every app were priced like Streaks, this blog category wouldn't need to exist.
Habitify (free for 3 habits, then $7.49/month, $39.99/year, or $89.99 lifetime) is the power tool. Cross-platform — Android, web, Mac — with analytics, notes, and integrations. It's genuinely capable, and if you live across ecosystems it may be the only sensible pick. But the pricing is the modern template: the free tier exists to demonstrate what you're missing, and the meter runs monthly.
Tend (free for 2 habits with everything included, then $14.99 once or $1.99/month) is the odd one out, because it changes what a check mark is.
The honest comparison
| Streaks | Habitify | Tend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 once | $39.99/yr or $89.99 lifetime | $14.99 once (or $1.99/mo) |
| Free tier | — | 3 habits, features gated | 2 habits, every feature included |
| Verified reps (camera counts push-ups, squats, jumping jacks) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Auto-check from Apple Health / Watch | ✓ (some types) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Account required | No | Yes, for sync | No |
| Works offline | ✓ | Partly | ✓ — fully, airplane mode included |
| Android / web | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Missed day punishment | Streak resets | Streak resets | Misses are quiet gaps; rest days are a choice |
| Purchase also unlocks other apps | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ — every Kraft app |
How to actually choose
Choose Streaks if you want a polished tap-to-track grid at a fair one-time price and you're all-Apple. It's the best of the traditional trackers, and we'd rather you buy it than rent anything.
Choose Habitify if you need Android or web access. That's a real requirement no iPhone-only app can wave away — just go in knowing the yearly plan costs more than most one-time apps every single year.
Choose Tend if the checkbox itself is your problem. Every tracker above records what you claim. Tend's difference is that for movement habits, your iPhone watches and counts the reps live — the streak measures effort, not honesty. Steps and workouts confirm themselves from Health. And the psychology is deliberately gentle: no red X days, no guilt machinery, a year view that reads like a harvest rather than a report card.
There's also the quiet economics: Tend's unlock is the Kraft Patron purchase, which opens Pocket PDF and RacePep too — three apps, one $14.99, no renewals. Habitify's lifetime alone costs six times that.
Where Tend honestly loses
No Android, no web, no iPad-optimized layout yet. Rep counting covers three exercises, not thirty. If you track forty habits with sub-tasks and time-of-day scheduling, Habitify's analytics run deeper. We'd rather tell you that here than have you find out after downloading.
But if you're an iPhone person who wants a tracker that's honest in both directions — about what you did, and about what it costs — Tend is free to try with two habits and no account. The download is the whole commitment.