Is Habitica or Ulysses better?

Neither clearly leads. Habitica starts at Free and Ulysses at $5.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Habitica or Ulysses?

Habitica has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Habitica and $5.99/month for Ulysses.

Does Habitica or Ulysses run on more platforms?

Habitica runs on Web, IOS, Android. Ulysses runs on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.

Can I use Habitica for free?

Yes. Habitica has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ulysses starts at $5.99/month.

What is Habitica best used for?

Habitica is most often used for you have abandoned every plain to-do list and need an external consequence for skipping a routine., a small group of friends or a study group wants mutual accountability without a project tracker., building daily habits such as medication, exercise or practice, where the streak matters more than any deadline., you want a task tool you can export from and in principle self-host, rather than one that holds your data.. Of those, you have abandoned every plain to-do list and need an external consequence for skipping a routine. and a small group of friends or a study group wants mutual accountability without a project tracker. are not what Ulysses is typically brought in for.

What can Habitica do that Ulysses cannot?

Habitica covers Three task types, Health and damage, Parties and quests, Classes and skills. Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing, Markdown support, Syntax highlighting, Organization with sheets and groups.

Productivity · head to head

Habitica vs Ulysses

Habitica

Productivity

Open source task manager that runs your habits, dailies and to-dos as a role-playing game

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Ulysses

Productivity

Distraction-free writing application for creative professionals

From: $5.99/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Habitica has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Habitica nothing verifies a completed task, so the entire reward economy runs on self-report, and the first time you tick a Daily you did not do, the health and gold mechanics stop meaning anything and the app becomes a checklist with a cartoon on it.; Ulysses no free tier available
They diverge on capability: Habitica covers Three task types, Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Habitica and Ulysses actually diverge.

Attributes where Habitica and Ulysses differ
Attribute	Habitica	Ulysses
Starting price	Free	$5.99/month
Pricing model	freemium	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, IOS, Android	MacOS, IOS, IPadOS
Founded	2013	2003

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Habitica

Three task types
Health and damage
Parties and quests
Classes and skills
Pets and mounts
Challenges
Custom rewards
Group plans

Only in Ulysses

Distraction-free writing
Markdown support
Syntax highlighting
Organization with sheets and groups
iCloud sync
Dark and light themes
Full-screen mode
Search and filter

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Habitica

You have abandoned every plain to-do list and need an external consequence for skipping a routine.not Ulysses
A small group of friends or a study group wants mutual accountability without a project tracker.not Ulysses
Building daily habits such as medication, exercise or practice, where the streak matters more than any deadline.not Ulysses
You want a task tool you can export from and in principle self-host, rather than one that holds your data.not Ulysses

Ulysses

Writing and editing on Apple devicesnot Habitica
Cross-device document synchronizationnot Habitica
Markdown-based writingnot Habitica

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Habitica

Nothing verifies a completed task, so the entire reward economy runs on self-report, and the first time you tick a Daily you did not do, the health and gold mechanics stop meaning anything and the app becomes a checklist with a cartoon on it.
Missed Dailies cost health whether you were ill, travelling or on holiday, so returning after a week away can mean death, a lost level and stripped gear, which is the point at which many users abandon the account rather than rebuild it.
The task features are thin next to conventional managers, with no subtask dependencies, no file attachments, no nested projects and limited recurrence rules, so anything more structured than a flat list has to be kept somewhere else.
Development is carried by a small core team with volunteer contributors, so mobile releases, sync fixes and platform updates arrive slowly and reported bugs can sit on the community boards for a long time.
There is no organisational layer at all, meaning no admin console, no single sign-on and no way to provision or remove members, so a company cannot adopt it centrally even where individual employees rely on it.

Ulysses

No free tier available
Only subscription model, no one-time purchase option
Family Sharing limited to 5 additional members (6 total users)

Pricing, plan by plan

Habitica

Free

FreeFree
- Basic habit and task tracking
- Character creation
- Community features
Membership$4.99/month
- Premium items and gear
- Extra experience
- Pet and mount system

Ulysses

$5.99/month

Annual Subscription$39.99/year
- Ulysses on all Macs, iPads, and iPhones
- Full iCloud synchronization
- Frequent improvements and updates
Monthly Subscription$5.99/month
- Ulysses on all Macs, iPads, and iPhones
- Full iCloud synchronization
- Frequent improvements and updates

Which should you pick?

Choose Habitica if

You need three task types.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, IOS, Android.
You also want health and damage.

Habitica review

Choose Ulysses if

You need distraction-free writing.
You work on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.
You also want markdown support.

Ulysses review

Questions people ask

Is Habitica or Ulysses better?: Neither clearly leads. Habitica starts at Free and Ulysses at $5.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Habitica or Ulysses?: Habitica has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Habitica and $5.99/month for Ulysses.
Does Habitica or Ulysses run on more platforms?: Habitica runs on Web, IOS, Android. Ulysses runs on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.
Can I use Habitica for free?: Yes. Habitica has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ulysses starts at $5.99/month.
What is Habitica best used for?: Habitica is most often used for you have abandoned every plain to-do list and need an external consequence for skipping a routine., a small group of friends or a study group wants mutual accountability without a project tracker., building daily habits such as medication, exercise or practice, where the streak matters more than any deadline., you want a task tool you can export from and in principle self-host, rather than one that holds your data.. Of those, you have abandoned every plain to-do list and need an external consequence for skipping a routine. and a small group of friends or a study group wants mutual accountability without a project tracker. are not what Ulysses is typically brought in for.
What can Habitica do that Ulysses cannot?: Habitica covers Three task types, Health and damage, Parties and quests, Classes and skills. Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing, Markdown support, Syntax highlighting, Organization with sheets and groups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Habitica: Is Habitica actually free?

Yes. Every task feature is free with no time limit. The subscription buys gems, monthly mystery items and higher drop rates, so not paying never costs you access to your own lists.

Ulysses: What are Ulysses pricing options?

Ulysses costs $39.99 per year (annual) or $5.99 per month (monthly). Student discounts are available. Volume licensing is available for businesses through their licensing portal.

Source

Habitica: Can I get my data out?

Yes. Habitica exports your user data as JSON and your task history as CSV, and the code is open source, so the data is genuinely portable even though nothing else will import the game state.

Ulysses: Does Ulysses include Family Sharing?

Yes, both annual and monthly Ulysses subscriptions include Apple Family Sharing, allowing up to five additional family members to use Ulysses on their devices at no extra cost.

Source

Habitica: Does it work offline?

Badly. The mobile apps queue some actions, but scoring, drops and party activity need a connection, and long offline stretches tend to produce sync conflicts.

Ulysses: Can I get Ulysses through a subscription service?

Yes, Ulysses is available through the Setapp subscription service as an alternative to direct subscription. Volume licensing is also available for businesses and organizations through their licensing portal.

Source

Habitica: Can a team at work use it?

There are paid group plans for parties, but no admin console, no single sign-on and no company billing, so it suits a group of willing colleagues rather than a managed rollout.

Ulysses: Does Ulysses pricing vary by location?

Prices listed apply to the U.S., and local pricing may differ in other regions. Check your regional App Store for exact pricing.

Source

Habitica vs Ulysses

Habitica

Ulysses

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Habitica

Only in Ulysses

What people use each for

Habitica

Ulysses

Where each one falls short

Habitica

Ulysses

Pricing, plan by plan

Habitica

Ulysses

Which should you pick?

Choose Habitica if

Choose Ulysses if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Habitica

More on Ulysses

Keep looking

Other head to heads