Beeminder vs Forfeit

Beeminder

• People who are motivated by having real money at stake
• Quantifiable goals fed automatically by a fitness tracker or another app
• Tinkerers who want an API and Zapier or IFTTT hooks on a free plan

Forfeit

• People who follow through only when money or reputation is at stake
• Habits that can be proven with a photo, GPS, health or screen-time data
• Blocking distracting apps under rules an AI coach enforces

Beeminder

• Derailing a goal charges your pledge to Beeminder, on the free plan as well as on the paid ones.
• The free Core plan tracks a limited number of goals; the limit rises each time you pay for a derailment.
• Goals with no pledges and the option to send half of a pledge to charity are limited to Beemium at $81 per month.
• The SMS bot works with US numbers only and needs Bee Plus or Beemium.

Forfeit

• No free plan is published: the web signup offers a 7-day trial, then $10.99 a month, and a 2025 App Store review says no goal can be set without a subscription.
• Penalties are charged on top of the subscription, and the FAQ says forfeited money is currently kept by Forfeit.
• The vendor does not publish what Premium and Pro each include, and the web price differs from the App Store amounts.
• The FAQ limits the Mac app to Mac blocking and says the web app is mainly for Overlord, the AI coach.

Beeminder

Bright Red Line graphs

Every goal gets a graph with a Bright Red Line showing the rate you committed to. The steepness can be adjusted as you go, and you can walk away from a goal with one week's notice.

Pledges on every goal

Crossing the line charges your pledge, which then rises through a fixed schedule from $5 to $2,430 unless you cap it. The FAQ says the first attempt is free.

Autodata integrations

Dozens of integrations report data automatically, including Fitbit, Garmin, Strava, Apple Health, Duolingo, Todoist and RescueTime. All are included in the free plan.

Several ways to report

Enter numbers on the web dashboard, in the iOS or Android app, by replying to the bot's emails or in Slack. An SMS bot for US numbers comes with Bee Plus.

API, IFTTT and Zapier

A public API and connections to IFTTT and Zapier allow custom automation, and are part of the free Core plan.

Breaks and safety buffer

Breaks can be scheduled and pledges capped on any plan. After a derailment the goal restarts with a week of safety buffer by default.

Forfeit

Habit contracts with a stake

Each goal has a task, a deadline and an amount of money. Stripe pre-authorizes the stake, and a missed deadline captures it. Goals can repeat on set days or a number of days a week.

Other consequences

Instead of money, a miss can text, call or email a contact you chose, block apps on your phone or Mac, or lock your Mac screen.

Evidence and verification

Goals are proven by photo, video, timelapse, GPS check-in, Apple Health or Health Connect data, Screen Time or Mac activity. AI or a person on the team reviews evidence before a charge.

Appeals and leniency

A missed goal can be appealed, and a person reviews each appeal within 12 hours. You write the appeal rules when creating a goal, and they lock once it is running.

Overlord AI coach

Overlord chats around the clock, reminds you before deadlines, can phone you, and grants or refuses temporary unblocks according to the rules you set.

App and website blocking

Blocking uses Apple's Screen Time framework on iOS and a native app on Mac that closes blocked sites and tracks the apps in use. Disconnecting the tracking counts as a failure.

Beeminder

• Core Beeminder$0

  A limited number of goals with unlimited data, pledge caps, scheduled breaks, every app and integration, and API access. Derailments charge your pledge.

• Infinibee$8

  per month, billed monthly

  Unlimited goals, exotic goal types and a subscription that stops renewing by itself if you stop using Beeminder.

• Bee Plus$16

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Infinibee, plus auto-ratchet, custom goals, weekends off, the graph editor and an SMS bot for US numbers.

• Beemium$81

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Bee Plus, plus goals with no pledges, pledge short-circuiting, a 50% charity option and chat access to the developers.

Forfeit

• Forfeit Premium$7.99

  billing period not shown in the US App Store list

  In-app subscription. The same list shows Premium Weekly at $3.99 and Forfeit Premium Yearly at $59.99. What Premium includes is not published.

• Web subscription$10.99

  per month

  The price on the vendor's web signup page after a 7-day free trial, paid through Stripe. The page does not say which tier it buys.

• Forfeit Pro$12.99

  billing period not shown in the US App Store list

  In-app subscription. The same list shows Pro Weekly at $5.99 and Forfeit Pro Yearly at $99.99. How Pro differs from Premium is not published.

• 1 Month Overlord Subscription$12.99

  per month

  Listed as a separate item in the US App Store. Overlord is the AI accountability coach inside the Forfeit app.

Beeminder

• Annual discount

  14% off when paying yearly

  The pricing page's discount slider gives 14% off premium plans paid yearly, and the discount grows with longer payment intervals, up to two years.

• Education

  Student and senior discounts on request

  The premium FAQ says Beeminder has student and senior discounts and asks those who may qualify to get in touch. It does not state the amounts.

• Other savings

  Discounts for jobseekers and non-OECD residents

  The same FAQ lists discounts for jobseekers and for people living in non-OECD countries, also arranged by contacting support.

Forfeit

• Annual discount

  Yearly plans cost less than weekly billing

  The US App Store lists Forfeit Premium Yearly at $59.99 against Premium Weekly at $3.99, which is $207.48 over 52 weeks. Pro is $99.99 a year against $5.99 a week.