Sunnyside vs Sobermark: moderation or sobriety?

This comparison has a clean answer, because Sunnyside and Sobermark are not really competing. Sunnyside is a mindful drinking app: it helps you cut down, plan your drinking week and stay within limits you choose, with human coaching over text. Sobermark is a sobriety app: it helps you stop, count the days since you stopped, and get through the moments when you want to start again. One is about drinking less. The other is about not drinking at all.

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.

So the real question is not which app is better. It is which goal is yours. Get that right and the app choice mostly makes itself.

Two different goals, honestly stated

Sunnyside deliberately avoids the language of sobriety. Its whole pitch is that you do not have to quit to have a healthier relationship with alcohol. You set weekly targets, log your drinks, plan ahead for big nights, and get encouragement from coaches by text. It is subscription based, and for people who want to drink less without stopping, that framing removes a lot of shame and all-or-nothing pressure. That is a legitimate approach, and for many drinkers it is the right first step.

Sobermark starts from the other side of the line. You have a quit date, and the app counts forward from it. There are no drink logs and no weekly allowances, because the goal is zero. Instead you get milestones, money saved, time reclaimed and units avoided, all calculated from your own numbers, plus craving SOS tools for the hard minutes and a mood journal for the rest. Bern, our sun bear, keeps the tone kind rather than clinical.

How each app handles a bad night

The philosophical difference shows up most clearly when things go wrong. In Sunnyside, a heavier night than planned is data. You log it, look at the week, and adjust. Nothing resets, because there is no streak, and the coaching is there to help you rebalance. That gentleness with imperfection is one of the best things about the moderation approach.

In Sobermark, a drink means the day counter resets, because the number only means something if it is true. What Sobermark refuses to do is shame you for it. There is no red screen and no lecture. You log the slip, the counter starts again, and Bern is still on your side. Judgment free does not mean pretending it did not happen; it means treating it as a reset, not a verdict.

Before the bad night, Sobermark also tries to prevent it: a hold-on breathing exercise and a ride-it-out timer exist for exactly the moment a craving peaks.

Privacy, platforms and price

Sunnyside is built around an account and text-based coaching, so your data and your conversations live with the service. That is how coaching has to work, but it is a different privacy model. Sobermark has no account and no sign up; your entries stay on your phone, and there are no feeds or forums by design.

Sunnyside is subscription based and available on iOS and Android; check its store listing for current pricing. Sobermark is Android only for now, free for core tracking, with an optional Pro tier at £14.99 a year with a 7 day free trial, £2.99 a week, or £24.99 lifetime as a single payment.

	Sunnyside	Sobermark
Goal	Mindful drinking, cutting down	Stopping completely, counting days
Method	Drink plans, logging, text coaching	Day counter, stats, craving SOS tools
Human support	Coaches by text	None, calm and solo by design
Scope	Alcohol	Alcohol, smoking, vaping, weed, gambling, custom
Platforms	iOS and Android	Android only for now
Account needed	Yes	No, data stays on your phone
Price	Subscription based, see store listing	Free core, optional Pro from £14.99 a year

Who should pick what

Pick Sunnyside if your honest goal is to drink less, not to stop. If you want to keep alcohol in your life but shrink its footprint, and you like the idea of a coach checking in, Sunnyside is built for you and Sobermark is not. The same goes if you are on iPhone. We would rather send you to the right app than stretch ours to fit.

Pick Sobermark if you have decided to stop, whether for a season or for good, and you want your days counted honestly, your savings made visible and a tool to reach for when cravings bite. It also works for habits beyond alcohol, which Sunnyside does not cover.

If you are genuinely unsure which goal is yours, some people start with moderation and discover that stopping is easier for them than limiting. Others go the opposite way. A conversation with a doctor is a better tiebreaker than any app.

Common questions

Can Sobermark track moderation, like drinks per week?

No. Sobermark counts days since you stopped. If you want to log and limit drinks rather than quit, Sunnyside or the UCL Drink Less app are better tools for that.

Does Sunnyside support full sobriety?

Sunnyside is known for the mindful drinking and cutting down approach. Some people use it on the way to stopping, but its design centres on moderation. Check its site for how it frames alcohol-free goals.

Which app is free?

Sobermark's core tracking is free, with an optional Pro tier from £14.99 a year. Sunnyside is subscription based; see its store listing for current pricing and any trial.

Is moderation or abstinence better?

That depends on you, your health and your history with alcohol, and it is a question for a professional rather than an app comparison. If dependence is a possibility, talk to a doctor before changing anything.