HabitKit vs LazyHabits: Which Simple Habit Tracker?

What is HabitKit and how does it work?

HabitKit is a simple habit tracker by independent developer Sebastian Roehl that turns each completed day into a filled tile on a grid, like a contribution graph. The idea, in its own words, is that visible progress keeps you going: do it, log it, watch the grid grow.

According to its App Store listing, HabitKit offers:

• Build and quit habits: quit habits count clean days, and you can set a daily maximum, such as two coffees.
• Yes or no check-offs, counts (glasses, pages) and amounts with your own unit (liters, kilometers).
• Flexible schedules: every day, intervals, or a number of times per week or month.
• A dashboard with Classic, Compact and Split views, shareable progress snapshots and home screen widgets.
• Current and best streaks, streak goals, completion statistics, monthly charts and a note on any day.
• Reminders, including a daily check-in to review your day.
• No account, no sign-up, no ads, and offline use.

HabitKit runs on iPhone and iPad and is available in many languages.

What is LazyHabits?

LazyHabits is an iPhone habit tracker for people who want maximum results with minimum effort. Instead of tracking more, it helps you track less and adjust more.

Each habit has days of the week, a time, a place, a duration, a reward and a way to make it enjoyable (music, podcast). One habit becomes your High Impact Habit, the habit with a ripple effect (for example a fixed bedtime), which earns extra points. The Master Habit, "the habit of working on your habits", is a scheduled check-in. Ideas wait in the Backlog, break days protect rest, and a Lazy Buddy grows from Seed to Mighty Oak with your points. The app recommends starting with 2 to 3 habits and warns before you overload. Our simple habit tracker page covers the basics.

How do HabitKit and LazyHabits compare?

HabitKit is stronger on visual tracking, measurement options and widgets; LazyHabits is stronger on habit design and a structured review.

How does the Master Habit compare with how HabitKit handles reviewing habits?

HabitKit lets you look back at your grid, statistics and notes; LazyHabits schedules a review where you actively redesign habits that are not working. One shows the pattern, the other gives you a routine for changing it.

HabitKit's notes are useful: you can write what went well and what got in the way on any day, and a daily check-in reminder prompts you to look at the whole day. What it does not describe is a recurring session for rethinking a habit's time, place or size.

In LazyHabits, the Master Habit (in the app: Review My Habits) has its own day, time and place. You rate each habit for consistency and enjoyment from 1 to 5 stars, note your biggest win and what to do differently, then change one thing: a new time, a new place, a better reward, a smaller version, or a move to the Backlog. The first review is suggested after about 14 days.

This matters because a grid with gaps tells you that a habit is slipping, not why. Lally et al. (2009) found habit formation took a median of 66 days, with a wide range, so the weeks between start and automatic are where habits quietly die. A 10-minute weekly review is how you catch it. Try our habit review questions. Fix the system, not yourself.

Who should choose HabitKit?

Choose HabitKit if seeing your progress is what keeps you going. Its grid is one of the clearest ways to visualize consistency.

• You want to measure amounts, like liters of water or kilometers run.
• You want to quit a habit or stay under a daily limit.
• You want home screen widgets or use an iPad.
• You need four free habits rather than three, or prefer a lifetime purchase option.
• You already have a good sense of which habits fit your life.

Who should choose LazyHabits?

Choose LazyHabits if your habits start strong and fade within a few weeks. It is built for the redesign, not just the record.

• You keep adding habits and burning out (too many habits at once).
• Gaps in a grid make you feel guilty, and you prefer progress that only goes up (streak guilt).
• You want one High Impact Habit to focus on.
• You want a weekly check-in that is part of the system, not an optional extra.

LazyHabits is free to download, and the free plan includes up to 3 habits with all core features. LazyHabits Pro unlocks unlimited habits for $0.99 per week or $24.99 per year in the US (prices vary by country).

How do you switch from HabitKit to LazyHabits, or use both?

You can use both: keep HabitKit for measurement habits such as water or running distance, and use LazyHabits for the few habits you are actively building. To move over:

1. Look at your HabitKit grids and pick the 2 to 3 habits with the most gaps you care about.
2. Recreate them in LazyHabits with a specific time, place and reward.
3. Mark the one with the biggest ripple effect as your High Impact Habit.
4. Set your Master Habit, for example Sunday at 7 pm, 10 minutes, on the sofa.
5. Park other ideas in the Backlog and schedule break days for known busy days.
6. Run your first review after about 14 days and adjust one habit.

Avoid tracking the same habit in both apps; double logging is extra effort that tends to fade. If you missed a day while switching, the never miss twice rule applies.