Brain.fm vs myNoise

Brain.fm

• People who find lyrics distracting while they work
• Timed work sprints with a built-in interval timer
• One subscription that also covers sleep and meditation audio

myNoise

• People masking office chatter or household noise while they work
• Listeners who want to tune each layer of a soundscape themselves
• Sleep, tinnitus relief and meditation as well as focus
• Anyone who prefers a one-time payment to a subscription

Brain.fm

• There is no free plan; listening after the free trial requires a subscription.
• The pricing page does not state how long the trial lasts; the 14-day figure comes from the App Store listing.
• The yearly plan is charged as a single $99.99 payment; paying monthly costs $14.99 a month.
• The student discount and team pricing are arranged by contacting the company rather than at checkout.

myNoise

• Free visitors see only a curated selection of generators; the full index needs a donation.
• A website donation does not unlock the mobile apps, which are sold separately through the app stores.
• App pricing is not on the website: the US App Store lists unlocks at $14.99 and $19.99, and Google Play lists in-app items from $0.99 to $24.99.
• The sounds are for personal use only; commercial or public use needs a license from myNoise.

Brain.fm

Modes for different activities

Focus covers Deep Work, Creativity, Learning, Light Work and Motivation. Separate modes handle relaxation, sleep, including power naps, and guided or unguided meditation.

Adjustable neural effect level

The intensity of the modulation in the music can be turned up or down. A short quiz at sign-up sets a starting level, and a high level is aimed at listeners with ADHD.

Built-in timers

A count-up timer tracks how long you have worked, a countdown timer ends a session, and an interval timer alternates work and breaks in the Pomodoro style.

Music made to stay in the background

Tracks have no lyrics or intrusive sounds and run extra long so that a work session is not broken up by song changes.

Offline listening on mobile

The App Store listing says music can be downloaded for offline use, including in airplane mode.

Desktop apps with menu bar control

Apps for macOS 12 or later and Windows 10 or later sit alongside the web player, with playback control from the Mac menu bar.

myNoise

Adjustable sound generators

Each soundscape has its own sliders, so you set the level of every layer, such as waves, wind and rain, instead of playing a fixed recording.

Noise colors and speech masking

White Noise & Co plays white, pink, brown and gray noise, and the Speech Blocker generator is set to the average speech spectrum to cover background chatter.

Generators grouped by purpose

The index sorts sounds by use, including focus, sleep, tinnitus relief, ADHD, open-plan offices, baby sleep, relaxing music and binaural beats.

Animation and advanced controls

Patrons get Animation Control, which moves the sliders over time, plus slider randomization and tape speed control on every generator.

Community sound combinations

Patrons can browse thousands of user-made combinations on the Community page, and post, vote and comment on them.

Mobile apps with offline listening

The app's store listing describes 300+ soundscapes, a Creation Mode that combines up to 10 sliders from any soundscape, a meditation bell and offline listening.

Brain.fm

• Yearly plan$99.99

  per year, billed annually

  Full access to the focus, relax, sleep and meditate modes on web, desktop and mobile. Starts with a free trial.

• Monthly plan$14.99

  per month, billed monthly

  The same access paid month to month, with cancellation at any time.

myNoise

• Free$0

  The ad-free website with a curated selection of sound generators, and the mobile apps with a selection of free soundscapes.

• Patron (recurring)$5

  per month, donation; cancel anytime

  Lifetime privileged access to the website, kept after canceling, plus the private Slack discussion board for monthly donors.

• Patron (one time)$10 to $30

  one-time donation

  Lifetime website access: all generators, advanced controls, favorites, cloud sync of settings, and MP3 downloads that scale with the donation.

• Mobile app unlock$14.99 or $19.99

  one-time purchase, US App Store

  Unlocks the whole catalog in the iOS app for life. The listing shows All You Can Hear at $14.99 and Full Access at $19.99 without explaining the difference.

Brain.fm

• Annual discount

  Yearly plan costs less than paying monthly

  The yearly plan is $99.99 against $14.99 a month, which comes to $179.88 over twelve months. The pricing page marks the yearly plan with a 40% discount badge.

• Education

  20% discount for active students

  Students can email support from a .edu address, or send a copy of a student ID or other proof of enrollment, to receive 20% off.

• Other savings

  Special pricing for teams

  Brain.fm supports team accounts for companies and classrooms and asks teams to get in touch through a form for special pricing.

myNoise

• Lifetime license

  Any donation gives lifetime website access

  A one-time donation of $10 to $30, or a $5 monthly contribution that can be canceled at any time, gives lifetime privileged access to myNoise.net.