COMPARISON

A Habitica alternative for people who want the XP, not the RPG

Habitica turns your habits into a role-playing game. If you liked earning progress for showing up but not managing an avatar, here is the honest comparison.

Habitica has one of the most committed communities in habit tracking, and it earned it. It is free, it is open source, and it turns your routine into an actual role-playing game. That design is also the reason some people bounce off it. If what appealed to you was earning progress for showing up, and what wore you out was managing an avatar, that gap is the whole reason this page exists.

What Habitica does well

Credit where it is due

Genuinely free and open source. You can read the code and self-host it. Almost nothing else in this category can say that.
A deep game layer. Avatar, gold, equipment, pets, parties, boss battles. It is a real RPG, not a progress bar with a hat on.
Group accountability with stakes. In a party, your misses affect the fight. For some people that is exactly the pressure that works.
An active community and years of accumulated content.

If the game is what motivates you, Habitica is the better app for you and nothing below will change that.

Where Stelo is different

Stelo keeps the part of gamification that reliably works, progress you can feel, and drops the part that becomes a second job.

The game is a thin layer, not the product. XP, levels and streaks. No inventory, no gear, no character to dress.
A focus timer is built in. Habitica records that you did the work. Stelo also times it, with a pomodoro that feeds the same stats.
A calm interface. Habitica's pixel art is a deliberate choice. Stelo goes the other way: muted, typographic, closer to Notion.
Social without the raid mechanics. Friends, shared streaks, a leaderboard and weekly challenges. Nobody loses hit points because you missed a Tuesday.
A streak freeze. One planned day off does not erase two months of work.
Five languages, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

Feature comparison, Habitica and Stelo. Accurate as of August 2026.
	Habitica	Stelo
Gamification style	Full RPG: avatar, gear, pets, quests	Light: XP, levels, streaks
Interface	Retro pixel art, dense	Minimal, typographic, five themes
Built-in focus timer	Not included, pair an external timer	Pomodoro timer included
Open source	Yes, and self-hostable	No, closed source
Free plan	Free, optional subscription for cosmetics	Free for 3 habits, forever
Social model	Parties and boss battles with shared stakes	Friends, leaderboard, weekly challenges
Missing a day	Damages your character	Streak freeze absorbs one planned day
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web and installable app, native apps in development

Which one should you pick

Stay with Habitica

You want the game itself. You enjoy the gear and the quests, you want group battles with real stakes, or open source is non-negotiable for you.

Try Stelo

You wanted the motivation without the maintenance. You want a focus timer in the same app, a quiet interface, and friends who cheer rather than raid.

Being straight with you: Stelo is closed source, there is no importer from Habitica today, and the native mobile apps are still in development, so mobile means installing the web app to your home screen for now. If any of those is a dealbreaker, Habitica is the safer pick.

Common questions

Is Stelo free like Habitica?

Stelo has a free plan that covers three habits, the to-do list, friends and the pomodoro timer, with no card and no email required. Stelo+ raises the limit to 20 habits and adds advanced stats, all themes, per-habit reminders and the streak freeze, for 4.99 USD a month or 47.88 USD a year. Habitica is free at a deeper level: it is open source and you can self-host it.

Can I import my habits from Habitica?

Not today. There is no importer. Most people re-create their habits by hand in a few minutes, since the useful list is usually shorter than the one they had been carrying.

Does Stelo have a pomodoro timer like Habitica?

Habitica does not ship a focus timer, so people pair it with a separate one. Stelo has a pomodoro timer built in, and the sessions it records feed the same statistics as your habits.

Is Stelo open source?

No. Habitica is open source and self-hostable, Stelo is not. If that matters to you, it is a real reason to stay with Habitica.

Try it before you move anything

The free plan covers three habits, the to-do list, friends and the pomodoro timer. No card, no email required.

Open Stelo free →

“Habitica” is used on this page for identification and comparison only, and is a trademark of HabitRPG, Inc. Stelo is an independent product, not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or otherwise connected to Habitica or its owner. The comparison is based on publicly available information as of August 2026 and may become outdated as either product changes. Beyond the factual differences described above, nothing here is a claim about Habitica’s quality.