Apps, paper or spreadsheets: the best way to track habits

There's no single best habit tracker. There's the one you'll actually use every day. Here are the main options and who each one suits.

Paper (bullet journal or printable tracker)

• Pros: satisfying to fill in, no screens, completely flexible.
• Cons: no reminders, no streak maths, easy to forget at home, hard to see patterns over a year.

Best for: people who already journal daily and keep the notebook with them.

Spreadsheets and Notion templates

• Pros: free, flexible, you can build any chart you like.
• Cons: you maintain it, there are no reminders, and ticking a box on a phone is fiddly.

Best for: people who enjoy building systems and live in that tool already.

Habit tracker apps

• Pros: one-tap check-ins, reminders at the right moment, automatic streaks and charts, everything synced across devices.
• Cons: another app; some lock basic features behind subscriptions.

Best for: most people. The lower the effort to log a habit, the more likely you are to keep logging it.

What to look for in an app

1. One-tap logging and reminders you can set per habit.
2. Flexible schedules: some habits are daily, some are three times a week.
3. Forgiveness: a way to skip a day or pause for a holiday without losing everything.
4. Insight: a view of your weeks and your year, not just today.
5. Your data, exportable: you should be able to take your history with you.