Brain.fm vs Calm Radio

Brain.fm provides music for focus, sleep, relaxation, and meditation, with modes such as Deep Work, Creativity, Learning, Light Work, and Motivation. The company says its patented neural entrainment technology is designed to guide listeners toward a desired mental state, and that it reduces attention-grabbing elements so the music can remain in the background. Infinite, Timer, and Interval options track work and break periods. Brain.fm describes its music as designed for ADHD and offers a High Neural Effect mode. The maker says it evaluates music using attention tasks and placebo controls, as well as EEG and fMRI studies. The service works on the web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. Desktop downloads list macOS 12+ and Windows 10+, and an internet connection is required. Monthly access costs $14.99 a month; yearly access costs $99.99 a year. Both plans include Focus, Sleep, Relaxation, and Meditation modes across web, mobile, and desktop. A 14-day trial and student plan are available; there is no free plan.

Calm Radio offers curated relaxing music, classical music, nature sounds and audio for sleep, meditation, focus and relaxation. Its multi-mixer lets listeners layer nature sounds with music to make custom soundscapes. The free plan costs nothing and includes 200 music channels, while Premium access includes 800+ HD channels. Monthly Premium costs $9.99 a month; One Year Premium is listed at $5.99 a year, billed annually, and the page also shows $119.98. Offline listening is available, and maximum audio quality is high. Calm Radio supports web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Alexa, Sonos, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Android Auto and CarPlay. Free listening includes advertisements, excludes HD audio and some channels, offers smaller playlists and does not support nature-sound layering. The company says it does not sell or rent personal information to third parties; depending on service use, it may collect contact details, location, demographic and device information. Subscribers can cancel through account settings and retain Premium access until the billing period ends.