Brain.fm vs Viastaro Soundbath

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.

Viastaro Soundbath is an iPhone and iPad app that generates layered soundscapes for meditation, focus, or sleep. It combines recordings from 31 real instruments into a different soundbath each time, using binaural layers positioned across the stereo field and slowly moved around the listener. Two controls set how many instruments can play and how spacious or slow the result feels. Playback continues with the phone locked, and lock-screen and Control Centre controls remain available. The free plan includes ads. Premium adds a radial editor and timeline for changing and pairing instruments during playback, saving arrangements, and exporting audio as MP3, M4A, WAV, or AIFF. Premium Monthly costs £0.99 per month; Premium Yearly costs £7.99 per year. Premium is also included with a Viastaro subscription after signing in. The app requires iOS 16 or later, supports 15 languages, and follows or lets users change the device language.