The Five Minute Journal Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Five Minute Journal in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Five Minute Journal
The Insider’s Guide
Guided gratitude journal with short morning and evening prompts
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among journaling apps, read from Five Minute Journal’s own pages.
Made by Intelligent Change · checked Oct 9, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Five Minute Journal’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Five Minute Journal’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.6
GPA, above 15 of the 35 other journaling apps we grade
The Five Minute Journal app is the digital version of Intelligent Change's paper gratitude journal, for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android. It walks you through a short set of prompts each morning and evening, then shows past entries on a timeline and calendar. Recent versions add voice memos and an AI coach called Eva. The basic version is free; a Premium subscription adds photos and video, custom questions, a notes section and a mood tracker.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Five Minute Journal, taken from its own pages and our grades.
It asks, you answer, and you're done in a few minutes.
- 1
Best for a quick gratitude habit on your phone
If you want to write at length or at a computer, look elsewhere.
- 2
Paid plans start at $4.99 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $4.99 to $9.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase list).
- 3
There is a free plan
Free basic version: guided morning and evening entries, timeline and calendar, reminders, daily quotes, weekly challenges, streaks, passcode lock and backup or export.
- 4
It runs on 2 platforms
iOS and Android.
- 5
Guided morning and evening entries
A guided flow takes you through gratitude prompts at the start and end of the day, in a format modeled on the paper Five Minute Journal.
- 6
Timeline and calendar
Past entries appear as short daily excerpts on a timeline, and tapping a date in the calendar view opens that day's full entry.
- 7
Eva AI coach and voice memos
The App Store version notes introduce Eva, an AI coach that reflects on a finished entry with you, and voice memos that are transcribed. They do not say which plan each needs.
- 8
A 2.6 GPA, above 15 of 35
That is against the other journaling apps we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
The plain part of Five Minute Journal you could make: daily notes and mood tracking. What surrounds it you could not. The 4 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
Five Minute Journal at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $4.99 to $9.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase list)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- Subscriptions come with free trials; the US App Store lists an annual plan with a 3-day trial.
- Runs on
- iOS, Android
- Made by
- Intelligent Change
- Category
- Journaling Apps
- Our grade
- 2.6 GPA, good
- Store rating
- 4.8 on the App Store, 17,578 ratings
The report card
Best for a quick gratitude habit on your phone
The Five Minute Journal app asks a few short questions each morning and night, the format of Intelligent Change's paper book, and that routine is free. It only runs on phones and tablets, free writing, photos and your own questions need Premium, the maker publishes no prices while the App Store lists several, and entries sit on its servers with no end-to-end encryption mentioned. If you want to write at length or at a computer, look elsewhere.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | Ordinary money, as far as anyone will say. Intelligent Change publishes no prices; the US App Store lists Premium at $9.99 a month or $39.99 a year, which is $3.33 a month against a middle of $4.17 here, next to lower $4.99 and $19.99 to $24.99 items, some of which are marked for existing users. |
| Free plan and trial | B | The full morning and evening routine, timeline, calendar, reminders, streaks, the lock and export, with no entry cap. The caps are what most people would want next: free writing sits in a Premium notes section, and so do photos, custom questions and the mood tracker. |
| Features | C | One job: a short guided entry morning and night, with quotes, weekly challenges, streaks and export to PDF, HTML or Dropbox. That's a much smaller job than journaling: there's no free writing without Premium, and no photo on a day either. |
| Ease of use | A | 4.8 from about 17,600 App Store ratings. It asks, you answer, and you're done in a few minutes. Reviewers who dropped other journaling apps say they kept this one up. |
| Platforms and integrations | C | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android, and that's it. No web or desktop version, so no typing at a proper keyboard. It talks to Apple Health and Dropbox. Four languages: English, French, German and Spanish. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Five Minute Journal is for
- Fits if blank-page diaries never stick and you'd rather just answer a few questions
- Works for people who already fill in the paper Five Minute Journal and want it on a phone
Who it is not for
- Skip it if you want to write long entries, because free writing is a Premium notes section
- Not for you if you journal at a computer, since there's no web or desktop version
- Pricey if you only want a photo a day, which needs Premium at up to $39.99 a year
- Not for you if you want your diary kept only on your own device, as entries go to their servers
- Watch out: the site shows no prices, the App Store lists several, the trial is 3 days, and AI chats go to Claude once you agree
Good to know
Good for
- People who want a short guided gratitude routine each morning and evening
- Users of the paper Five Minute Journal who want the same format on a phone
- Beginners who prefer answering set prompts to free writing
Worth knowing
- Listed for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android in English, French, German and Spanish; no web or desktop version is offered.
- Photos and video, custom questions, the notes section, the mood tracker and the widget need Premium.
- The vendor's site shows no prices; the US App Store lists several monthly and annual price points, some marked for existing users.
- The privacy policy says journal entries are stored on the vendor's servers, and that AI features send your messages to Anthropic's Claude once you consent in the app.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$4.99
A month to start. There is a free plan too
Five Minute Journal has a free plan. Paid plans start at $4.99 to $9.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase list).
Ordinary money, as far as anyone will say.
Free
$0
Guided morning and evening entries, timeline and calendar views, reminders, quotes, challenges, streaks, passcode lock and export.
Premium (monthly)
$4.99 to $9.99
per month
Adds photos and video, custom questions, notes, mood tracker and On this Day. The US App Store lists $9.99 for Journaling Premium and $4.99 monthly items.
Premium (yearly)
$19.99 to $39.99
per year
The same Premium features billed yearly. The US App Store lists $39.99 for Annual Journaling Premium, plus $24.99 and $19.99 annual items.
The free plan
Free basic version: guided morning and evening entries, timeline and calendar, reminders, daily quotes, weekly challenges, streaks, passcode lock and backup or export.
Trying it first
Subscriptions come with free trials; the US App Store lists an annual plan with a 3-day trial.
Read from apps.apple.com on Oct 9, 2026.
Ways to pay less
Annual discount
About 67% less with the annual plan
The US App Store lists Journaling Premium at $9.99 for one month and $39.99 for a year, about 67% less than twelve monthly payments.
Stated on apps.apple.comLifetime license
Lifetime plan as an alternative to subscribing
Intelligent Change's help center says Premium is sold under monthly, yearly and lifetime plans. The lifetime price is not published on its site.
Stated on app.commslayer.com
What the app costs elsewhere
Each country’s App Store price for “Annual Journaling Premium”, against $39.99 in the United States, in dollars at the day’s rate. The four cheapest and the four dearest of 11.
| Country | Price there | In dollars | Against the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | ₺479,99 | $9.76 | 76% less |
| Philippines | ₱ 2,050.00 | $32.63 | 18% less |
| Indonesia | Rp 619ribu | $34.62 | 13% less |
| Canada | $49.99 | $35.14 | 12% less |
| Brazil | R$ 224,90 | $44.94 | 12% more |
| Germany | 40,99 € | $45.93 | 15% more |
| United Kingdom | £34.99 | $46.26 | 16% more |
| Mexico | $939.00 | $51.59 | 29% more |
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
2
Places it runs: iOS and Android
Guided gratitude journal with short morning and evening prompts. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: one-time purchase, AI features, daily notes, mood tracking.
One job: a short guided entry morning and night, with quotes, weekly challenges, streaks and export to PDF, HTML or Dropbox.
- Guided morning and evening entries
- A guided flow takes you through gratitude prompts at the start and end of the day, in a format modeled on the paper Five Minute Journal.
- Timeline and calendar
- Past entries appear as short daily excerpts on a timeline, and tapping a date in the calendar view opens that day's full entry.
- Eva AI coach and voice memos
- The App Store version notes introduce Eva, an AI coach that reflects on a finished entry with you, and voice memos that are transcribed. They do not say which plan each needs.
- Quotes, challenges and streaks
- The app delivers a daily quote and a weekly challenge, sends optional daily reminders and tracks your journaling streak.
- Lock and export
- Entries can be protected with a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, and backed up or exported to PDF, HTML or Dropbox for a chosen date range.
- Premium extras
- Premium adds a daily photo or video on any prompt, a photo timeline, a notes section, custom questions, a mood check-in, On this Day reminders and a home screen widget.
Where it runs
- iOS
- Android
What it works with
- Apple Health
- Dropbox
Five Minute Journal is made by Intelligent Change.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
15/35
Other journaling apps it is graded above
Five Minute Journal's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 15 of the 35 other journaling apps we grade, and level with 3.
It stands best on ease of use (A, above 19 of 35) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $4.99 a month, against a middle price of $3.66 for the category: 15 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 4 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 36 journaling apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Five Minute Journal’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 4 of 35
- BFree plan and trialAbove 21 of 35
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 35
- AEase of useAbove 19 of 35
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 2 of 35
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 29 journaling apps. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Five Minute Journal is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
The plain part of Five Minute Journal you could make: daily notes and mood tracking. What surrounds it you could not. The 4 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It costs $59.88 a year.
What you could make
- Daily notes and mood tracking: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- People on the other end: coaches. No app builder makes those.
- Hooks into the device itself: an Apple Watch app and widgets.
What this rests on. Five Minute Journal’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Stoic, Gratitude, Reflectly, Day One and Journey
The 5 tools Five Minute Journal is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.6GPA
Stoic
Free plan · from $6.99
Guided journal with morning and evening reflections and mood tracking.
- Only Stoic lists a web app.
- Only Stoic lists a macOS app.
- Five Minute Journal can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- 2.4GPA
Gratitude
Free plan · from $4.99/mo
Gratitude journal with affirmations and vision boards.
- Five Minute Journal can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Five Minute Journal also covers mood tracking.
- 2.2GPA
Reflectly
Free plan · from $4.99
AI-guided journal and mood tracker for iPhone, iPad and Android.
- Five Minute Journal can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- 3.2GPA
Day One
Free plan · from $49.99/yr
Encrypted journal for text, photos, audio and video across devices.
- Only Day One lists a web app.
- Only Day One lists macOS and Windows apps.
- Only Day One lists a browser extension.
- 2.8GPA
Journey
Free plan · from $17.99 one-time
Cross-platform diary with maps, mood tracking and guided programs.
- Only Journey lists a web app.
- Only Journey lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- Five Minute Journal can be bought with a one-time purchase.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
15
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Five Minute Journal free?
Five Minute Journal has a free plan. Free basic version: guided morning and evening entries, timeline and calendar, reminders, daily quotes, weekly challenges, streaks, passcode lock and backup or export.
How much does Five Minute Journal cost?
Five Minute Journal lists 3 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does Five Minute Journal work on?
Five Minute Journal is available on iOS and Android.
Does Five Minute Journal offer any discounts?
Five Minute Journal publicly lists the following: About 67% less with the annual plan; Lifetime plan as an alternative to subscribing.
How is Five Minute Journal rated?
Five Minute Journal's iPhone and iPad app averages 4.8 out of 5 from 17,578 ratings on the App Store in the United States, as read on Oct 5, 2026.
Does Five Minute Journal have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 9, 2026. Five Minute Journal is listed for iOS and Android.
Does Five Minute Journal have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 9, 2026. Five Minute Journal is listed for iOS and Android.
Is Five Minute Journal open source?
Five Minute Journal is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 9, 2026.
What does Five Minute Journal integrate with?
Five Minute Journal's listing names Apple Health and Dropbox. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Does Five Minute Journal have a free trial?
Yes. Subscriptions come with free trials; the US App Store lists an annual plan with a 3-day trial.
Who makes Five Minute Journal?
Five Minute Journal is made by Intelligent Change.
What are the alternatives to Five Minute Journal?
The closest alternatives to Five Minute Journal in our directory are Stoic, Gratitude, Reflectly, Day One and Journey.
How does Five Minute Journal compare with other journaling apps?
Five Minute Journal's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 15 of the 35 other journaling apps we grade, and level with 3.
Is Five Minute Journal good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Five Minute Journal C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $4.99 a month, against a middle price of $3.66 for the category: 15 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Five Minute Journal?
The plain part of Five Minute Journal you could make: daily notes and mood tracking.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Five Minute Journal’s own pages on Oct 9, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Based on Intelligent Change's apps page, help centre and app privacy policy, and the app's App Store and Google Play listings and App Store reviews, as of 9 October 2026. Hacker News had nothing about it. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-06-25.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Intelligent Change. Prices change, so check intelligentchange.com before you buy.
- apps.apple.com/us/app/5-minute-journal-daily-diary/id1062945251
- intelligentchange.com/pages/five-minute-journal-app
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intelligentchange.fiveminutejournal&hl=en_US&gl=US
- app.commslayer.com/hc/intelligent-change/articles/1790108629-do-you-have-a-five-minute-journal-app
- intelligentchange.com/pages/fmj-app-privacy-policy
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Five Minute Journal, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/five-minute-journal
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Five Minute Journal: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 9, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/five-minute-journal
Know someone choosing between journaling apps?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/five-minute-journal/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded journaling apps after Five Minute Journal, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Journaling Apps Insider's GuideEvery one of the 36 journaling apps we grade, compared
- Apple Journal Insider's GuideApple's free journaling app for iPhone, iPad and Mac3.2 GPA
- Day One Insider's GuideEncrypted journal for text, photos, audio and video across devices3.2 GPA
- Diarium Insider's GuidePrivate journal with a one-time Pro purchase and your own cloud sync3.2 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Five Minute Journal’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Five Minute Journal is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Intelligent Change. Prices and plans change: check intelligentchange.com before you buy.