The Best Free Sobriety Apps in 2026

Short answer: For a dry month or cutting down on alcohol, Try Dry is completely free and charity run. Nomo is free to download and lets an accountability partner see your clocks, and SoberTool (now listed as Sober) has a free version with daily guidance. I Am Sober has a useful free tier if you want a big community.

"Free" means different things in app stores. Sometimes it means genuinely free. Sometimes it means a counter that works for three days and then asks for a subscription before it will show you your own progress. If you are quitting drinking partly to save money, being pushed towards a paid plan on day two is a sour joke.

Full disclosure: Sobermark is our app, so we are not neutral. We have tried to keep everything below fair, and we tell you when a rival is the better fit.

This list only includes apps you can actually use without paying: either completely free apps, or free tiers that cover the essentials rather than acting as a locked shop window.

Nomo

Nomo is free to download (Google Play lists ads and optional in-app purchases), and it was made by someone in recovery rather than by a growth team. You can run several sobriety clocks at once, earn small milestone chips, and, most usefully, add accountability partners who can see your clocks and check in on you. That partner feature is something plenty of paid apps do not have.

The design is on the plain side and has not changed much in years, which some people find reassuring and others find clunky. If you want a free app that connects you to a real person who has your back, Nomo is the strongest choice here.

Try Dry

Try Dry is the official app from Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind Dry January, and it is free. It focuses on alcohol specifically: you track drinks and dry days, see units and calories, and take on challenges like a dry month. Because it comes from a charity, there is no upsell lurking behind the tracking, and the advice is grounded in public health guidance rather than app-store psychology.

It suits people cutting down as well as people stopping completely, which most sobriety counters do not really accommodate. If your goal is a dry month or a gentler reset around alcohol, start here. If you are quitting something other than alcohol, it is not built for that.

SoberTool

SoberTool (now listed in the stores as Sober) was developed with an addiction counsellor. It is free to download, with ads and a paid Premium tier. Instead of leading with a counter, it leads with content: a daily reading each morning, and a guided flow for the moment a craving hits, where the app asks what is going on and steers you to a relevant message. The flavour is recovery-programme, closer to a meeting than a dashboard.

If that voice works for you it can feel like carrying a counsellor in your pocket, for nothing. If you just want clean tracking and numbers, the wordiness may wear on you.

I Am Sober (free tier)

I Am Sober is the biggest name in sobriety tracking, on both iOS and Android, and its free tier covers the heart of the app: the day counter, the daily pledge and review ritual, and milestones. The community is its real draw, letting you read what others felt at the same stage you are at now.

Some features sit behind a subscription, and the app will let you know about it, so expect the occasional nudge. Check the store listing for what is currently included free, as tiers shift over time. It remains the obvious free-tier pick for iPhone users, since several others on this list are not on iOS.

What the evidence says

• Relapse rates for substance use disorders are 40% to 60%, similar to illnesses like asthma and high blood pressure, according to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse. A slip is common, not a verdict.
• The US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says “urges to drink are short-lived, predictable, and controllable”, and advises riding one out because “it will soon crest like an ocean wave and pass” (Rethinking Drinking).
• University of Sussex research on Dry January 2019 found that people who used the Try Dry app, the website or the support emails were twice as likely to finish the month without drinking, and participants were still drinking less months later.

Who should pick what

If you want a person, not just an app, checking on you: Nomo. If your goal is specifically alcohol, or a dry month rather than forever: Try Dry. If you want daily counsellor-style guidance: SoberTool. If you are on iPhone, or you want a big community: I Am Sober's free tier is the one to pick.

A note on our own app: Sobermark has a free core that never expires: the sober day counter, the craving button, the 10 minute ride-it-out timer and the daily check-in. Sobermark Pro (full stats, the whole journal, badges and share cards) is paid, with a 3 day free trial. No account, and nothing leaves your phone, on Android or iPhone.

Common questions

Are free sobriety apps worse than paid ones?

Not for tracking. Counters, milestones and journals are cheap to build, so free tiers usually cover them well. Paid tiers tend to add courses, coaching or cosmetics, which some people value and many never miss.

Do free apps sell my data instead?

Business models vary, so it is worth a minute in each app's privacy policy. Charity apps like Try Dry and local-only apps like Sobermark have less incentive to monetise data, but read the policy of anything you give sensitive information to.

Can I use more than one app at once?

Yes, and plenty of people do for the first month, then keep whichever one they still open. They are free, so trialling two or three costs nothing but a little phone storage.

What if I need more than an app?

Then get more than an app. Free support exists: your GP, local services, and helplines. An app is a companion to that, not a replacement.