Caveday vs Focusmate

Caveday

• Remote workers who focus better with other people on camera
• People with ADHD who use body doubling to get started
• Long stretches of deep work with a facilitator keeping time

Focusmate

• People who start tasks more easily with someone else present
• Remote workers and students who put work off when alone
• Body doubling on a schedule, including for members with ADHD

Caveday

• There is no free plan: after the 14-day trial the membership renews automatically at $39.99 a month or $105 a quarter.
• Sessions take place on Zoom with cameras encouraged and microphones muted; Caveday lists no app of its own.
• Each session closes 10 minutes after its start time, and latecomers are not admitted.
• Memberships can be refunded only within 7 days of a purchase or renewal.

Focusmate

• The free plan is limited to 3 sessions per week; unlimited sessions need Plus.
• A camera is required and has to stay on for the whole session.
• There is no native app. On a phone or tablet it runs in the browser and can be added to the home screen.
• Business pricing is not published; the pricing page links to an inquiry form.

Caveday

Live focus sessions every day

Sessions of 30 minutes, 1 hour and 3 hours run seven days a week, adding up to more than 20 hours of live sessions a day. Members can reserve as many as they like.

Sprints and guided breaks

Work sprints last 45 to 52 minutes, with the exact length left unannounced, and the guide leads short breaks between them. Check-in and check-out happen in small breakout groups.

Trained Cave Guides

Every session is led by a human facilitator. Caveday says it has more than 35 guides around the world from a range of professional backgrounds.

24/7 Focus Lounge

A virtual body-doubling room that stays open around the clock for working alongside other members outside scheduled sessions.

Weekly planning workshops

Members-only workshops for planning the week ahead and reviewing the month, alongside accountability groups.

Community forum and friend invites

A member forum for conversations and events, and 20 invites a month for bringing a friend into a session with one click.

Focusmate

25, 50 and 75-minute sessions

Book a session for a time you choose and Focusmate matches you with a partner. It says over 99% of bookings are matched; if one is not, the next slot is 15 minutes later.

Favorite partners

Star a partner you worked well with, or a friend, to make it easy to book sessions with that person again instead of a random match.

Task modes

Mark a session as Desk, Moving or Anything, so a partner knows whether you will be at a computer or doing something like cooking or cleaning.

Quiet Mode and session chat

Quiet Mode tells your partner you cannot use a microphone, for libraries and shared offices. Goals and progress go in the in-session text chat instead.

Video in the browser

Sessions run on Focusmate's own video, with virtual backgrounds, screen sharing and picture-in-picture, so no separate video call app is needed.

Calendar invites

Each booking sends a calendar invite, which Focusmate says works with Apple, Google and Outlook calendars. There is also a Google Calendar integration.

Caveday

• Membership (quarterly)$35

  per month, billed quarterly ($105 every 3 months)

  Unlimited session reservations, 20 friend invites a month, weekly planning workshops, the 24/7 Focus Lounge and the community forum.

• Membership (monthly)$39.99

  per month, billed monthly

  The same membership renewing every month, cancellable at any time from account settings.

• Caveday for TeamsCustom

  In-person and virtual sessions for company teams, arranged through a contact form.

Focusmate

• Free$0

  3 sessions per week, with no credit card required.

• Plus$8

  per month, billed annually; $12 billed monthly

  Unlimited sessions. The pricing page notes that taxes may be added at checkout.

• BusinessCustom

  For enterprises, small businesses and learning communities. No price is listed; the page links to more information and an inquiry form.

Caveday

• Other savings

  Save 13% with quarterly billing

  Billed quarterly, membership is $105 every three months, or $35 a month, against $39.99 when billed monthly. Caveday labels the difference a 13% saving.

Focusmate

• Annual discount

  Annual billing costs a third less than monthly

  Plus is $8 a month when billed annually and $12 a month when billed monthly, which works out to about 33% less over a year.

• Other savings

  Help for people who cannot afford Plus

  The pricing FAQ invites anyone who cannot afford the full price of Plus to contact the company. It does not state an amount or eligibility rules.