SobrMate vs Sober Time: Free Apps Compared

If you searched for a free sobriety counter, you’ve probably seen both SobrMate and Sober Time. They sit in the same category and cover the same basics, so the differences aren’t obvious until you’ve used each one for a few days.

This comparison breaks down how the two apps handle counting, community, ads, and tracking more than one habit, so you can tell which one matches what you’re looking for.

SobrMate and Sober Time are both free sobriety trackers with counters, milestones, and a community feed. The main difference is structure and depth. Sober Time runs a single sober-time clock and is ad-supported. SobrMate is ad-free, tracks multiple addictions on separate counters at once, and adds mood check-ins and a savings calculator. Choose Sober Time for a simple free counter with a big feed, SobrMate for multi-addiction tracking without ads.

What Sober Time Does Well

Sober Time has been around a long time and built a large user base on one simple promise: a free, no-friction sober counter.

The core features:

• A clean sober-time clock counting your days and hours
• Milestone notifications that mark progress as it adds up
• A motivational community feed where people post and encourage each other
• Home-screen widgets so your count is visible without opening the app
• Daily motivational messages

The app is free, supported by ads. There’s a paid option that removes them.

Sober Time’s strength is reach and simplicity. The community feed is active, so when you post a hard day, people respond. The widgets are a small thing that matters: seeing your number on your home screen is a quiet reminder every time you pick up your phone.

The trade-offs show up in two places. Ads break the experience, especially in moments when you’re already stressed. And the app is built around one sober clock, so it isn’t designed for tracking more than one habit at the same time.

What SobrMate Does Differently

SobrMate keeps the simple free counter that makes Sober Time approachable, then removes the ads and adds more underneath.

The biggest structural difference: SobrMate runs separate counters for multiple addictions at once. Alcohol, nicotine, or another behavior each get their own timeline inside one app.

Other features include:

• Daily check-ins with mood tracking to surface patterns over time
• A savings calculator showing the money you’ve kept by not spending it
• Community groups sorted by recovery stage instead of one shared feed
• Milestone badges for each marker you reach
• Relapse management that keeps your history when you reset a counter
• No ads in the core experience

The core features are free, the same as Sober Time, but without an ad layer interrupting them.

SobrMate isn’t trying to be the biggest feed. It’s aimed at people who want a free tracker that goes a little deeper, especially anyone tracking more than one thing or who finds ads distracting during recovery.

SobrMate vs Sober Time: Side-by-Side

SobrMate and Sober Time both answer the same search: a free way to count sober days. Sober Time delivers that with a single clock, milestone alerts, home-screen widgets, and a large ad-supported community feed, which makes it fast to start and easy to read at a glance. SobrMate delivers the same counter without ads, then adds simultaneous counters for multiple addictions, daily mood check-ins, a savings calculator, and community groups organized by recovery stage rather than one general feed. In a feature-for-feature comparison, Sober Time wins on community size and the simplicity of a single visible clock, while SobrMate wins on multi-addiction tracking, the absence of ads, and the extra context from mood and savings data. Both are genuinely free to use, so the decision usually comes down to whether you want one simple counter or several counters with more detail behind them.

Here’s the feature breakdown:

Feature	SobrMate	Sober Time
Sober counter	Yes	Yes
Multi-addiction tracking	Yes, simultaneous counters	Single clock
Ads	None in core app	Ad-supported (paid removal)
Mood check-ins	Yes	No
Savings calculator	Yes	No
Community	Groups by recovery stage	Large general feed
Home-screen widget	Varies by version	Yes
Milestone celebrations	Yes	Yes
Relapse handling	Resets keep full history	Resets the clock
Cost	Free, no ads	Free with ads

Both apps are free, so this isn’t a price decision. It’s about ads, depth, and whether you need more than one counter.

Which One Fits Your Recovery?

The choice is simpler here than with paid apps, because cost isn’t the deciding factor.

Sober Time is the better fit if:

• You want one clean counter and nothing more to think about
• A large, active community feed matters more than smaller groups
• You like having a widget showing your count on your home screen
• Ads don’t bother you, or you’ll pay the small fee to remove them

SobrMate is the better fit if:

• You’re tracking more than one habit and want separate counters
• You’d rather not see ads while you’re in recovery
• You want mood and savings data alongside the raw day count
• You prefer a smaller group at your stage over a general feed

If a basic free counter is all you’re after, our guide to free sobriety counter apps covers what you get without paying, and our best sobriety apps of 2026 roundup compares the wider field.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sober Time free?

Yes. Sober Time is free and supported by ads. There’s a paid option to remove the ads, but the counter, milestones, community feed, and widgets are all available at no cost in the free version.

Does SobrMate have ads?

No. SobrMate’s core experience is ad-free. The counters, check-ins, community groups, savings calculator, and milestones are free to use without ads interrupting them.

Can Sober Time track more than one addiction?

Sober Time is built around a single sober-time clock, so it isn’t designed for tracking several habits at once. SobrMate runs separate counters for multiple addictions simultaneously if you need to follow more than one.

Which app has a better community?

It depends on what you want. Sober Time has a large, general community feed with a lot of activity. SobrMate organizes its community into groups by recovery stage, so you’re more likely to be talking with people near your own point in recovery. Our sober community app guide compares the options in more detail.

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Both apps give you a free counter, which is the part that matters most early on. Sober Time keeps it simple with one clock and a big feed. SobrMate drops the ads and adds multiple counters, mood and savings data, and a stage-based community.

If you want a free tracker that handles more than one habit without ads, download SobrMate and start your first counter today.