Habitica
vs ONA
Updated
The short answer
Habitica is a game first: your habits, dailies and to-dos feed an avatar with levels, gold, gear, pets and mounts, and you can join a party to fight bosses together, on your phone or in a browser. ONA keeps the game to three kinds of XP and an issue at the end of each 7-day chapter, and puts the weight on one goal in one area of your life. If the game is what keeps you going, Habitica. If the game is what you’d stop maintaining, ONA.
At a glance
| Habitica | ONA | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Turning tasks into a role-playing game with a party, on phone and desktop. | One area of your life at a time: score the wheel, pick one, set a goal for 7 days and do one small thing a day. |
| Habits or one focus | Unlimited habits, dailies and to-dos. | One goal per chapter, with up to three daily rituals and side quests alongside. Two-week and month-long chapters open as you earn XP. |
| Game elements | An avatar with XP, levels, gold, gear, pets and mounts, and party quests against bosses. | Three kinds of XP, a streak with a safety net for one missed day a week, and a magazine-style issue when a chapter ends. No levels, avatar or badges. |
| Journal | Its store page doesn’t mention any. | An evening check-in: mood, energy, a line for your journal and a photo of the day, printed as a card. |
| Price model | Free, with an optional subscription and gem purchases. Its Google Play page says it contains ads. | Subscription after setup: monthly, or yearly with a 7-day free trial. No ads, no account. |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, Android, Web, Wear OS | iPhone and Android |
01 What does Habitica do well?
Habitica has been the gamified habit tracker since 2013, and it’s still the one every list names. Its store page describes habits, dailies and to-dos that level up an avatar, gold to spend on gear, pets and mounts to collect, and parties that take on quests together. It’s open source, and it runs on the web as well as on iPhone and Android.
That reach is its strength. If you work at a computer, Habitica is there in a tab, and the same tasks are on your phone. If you have friends who’d join a party, missing your dailies lets them down, which for some people is exactly the pressure that works.
It’s free to use, with a subscription and gem purchases for extras.
02 How is ONA different?
ONA has XP too, three kinds: Focus for today’s one thing, Discipline for rituals and Spark for side quests. That’s where the game ends. No levels, no avatar, no gear, no party. What XP does is open longer chapters: two weeks at 700 Focus XP, a month at 2,100.
The bigger difference is the shape. Habitica holds everything you do: every habit, every to-do, all at once. ONA holds one area of your life, chosen from a life wheel, one goal for 7 days, and one small thing each morning. Up to three daily rituals ride along. The rest waits.
And each chapter ends. The morning after your last day you get an issue, a magazine of the week with your photos, moods and numbers, then you score the wheel and pick the next area. Habitica goes on for as long as you keep playing.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Habitica if
- The game is the point: an avatar to level, gear to buy, pets to hatch.
- You want your habits on a computer as well as your phone.
- You have friends who’d join a party and hold you to your dailies.
- You want everything you do in one system, free.
Pick ONA if
- You’ve set up Habitica before and stopped once the tasks piled up.
- You want one goal at a time, with an end date, not a system to maintain.
- You want a light game: XP and a streak, and an issue to keep at the end.
- You want no ads and nothing to sign up for.
FAQ
Questions about Habitica and ONA
Is ONA a Habitica alternative?
For a lighter game, yes: XP, a streak and an issue instead of an avatar and a party. For running all your tasks as a game, no. ONA holds one goal and up to three rituals at a time.
Does ONA have a web version?
No. ONA runs on iPhone with iOS 15 or later and on Android phones.
Does ONA have levels or an avatar?
No. XP opens longer chapters (two weeks at 700 Focus XP, a month at 2,100), and that’s its job.
Can I do ONA with friends?
No. There are no friends, parties or leaderboards. You can share the images of your issue and your daily cards if you like.
Is ONA free like Habitica?
No. Setting up is free, and starting a chapter needs a subscription: monthly, or yearly with a 7-day free trial. There’s no free tier and no in-app currency.
Where these facts come from
Everything here about Habitica is what its own store pages said in September 2026, not the result of testing the app, so check the store before you decide. ONA’s side is what the app does today, and How it works has the detail. No prices and no ratings on this page: the stores show those.
Get ONA
ONA is on iPhone. It’s free to set up, and after that it needs a subscription.
