The best Sleep Cycle alternatives, by what reviewers complain about.
We read the ratings of Sleep Cycle, ShutEye and SnoreLab on the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot in October 2026, plus the 500 newest written App Store reviews of each. The App Store averages are all 4.7 or higher, but among the newest written reviews one star shows up in 33% of Sleep Cycle, 47% of ShutEye and 17% of SnoreLab. Which alternative is right depends on which complaint pushed you away.
Here is how the three apps compare on ratings, complaints and price.
| App | App Store, all ratings (count) | Google Play (ratings) | Trustpilot | Newest 500 written App Store reviews | What the one- and two-star reviews are about | In-app purchase prices on the App Store page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep Cycle | 4.7 (30,921) one star: 2.6% | 4.3 (218,367) | 2.1 (25 reviews) | 33% one star 15 Dec 2025 to 18 Oct 2026 | Paywall or price 48%, trial charges 13%, alarm or tracking failures 16%, accuracy 14% (of 214 one- and two-star reviews) | $2.99 to $57.99 (read 2 Nov 2026) |
| ShutEye | 4.8 (350,120) one star: 1.6% | 4.4 (109,430) | 1.6 (179 reviews) | 47% one star 17 May 2025 to 17 Oct 2026 | Paywall or price 21%, trial charges 33%, accuracy 24%, tracking failures 17% (of 285 one- and two-star reviews) | $9.99 to $59.99 |
| SnoreLab | 4.7 (57,550) one star: 1.0% | 4.3 (52,772) | No page found | 17% one star 5 Apr 2022 to 17 Oct 2026 | Paywall or free version 25%, trial charges 12%, tracking failures 20%, noise as snoring 15% (of 134 one- and two-star reviews) | $5.99 to $59.99 |
App Store totals read 21 October 2026, the newest written reviews 20 October 2026, Google Play and Trustpilot 21 October 2026. The three samples of 500 written reviews cover different periods (Sleep Cycle ten months, ShutEye seventeen, SnoreLab four and a half years), so compare the shares with care. A review can count under more than one complaint; we read and assigned each by meaning. In-app purchase prices are the lowest and highest the US App Store page lists and do not say which one you will see; they differ by country and date. The Sleep Cycle range was read again on 2 November 2026 ($2.99 to $57.99, after $1.99 to $69.99 on 21 October); the ShutEye and SnoreLab ranges are from 21 October. The selection a page shows changes between reads.
Sources for the figures above, opened on 2 November 2026 (the ratings counts themselves were read on the dates given): Sleep Cycle: App Store, Google Play, Trustpilot (2.1 from 25 reviews). ShutEye: App Store, Google Play, Trustpilot (1.6 from 179 reviews, re-opened on 2 November). SnoreLab: App Store, Google Play (no Trustpilot page found). SleepTrace: App Store, Google Play.
What each app is best at, and where its reviewers get stuck.
Sleep Cycle: the alarm and the sleep data.
Alarm and waking come up in 26% of its four- and five-star App Store reviews and sleep data in 35%. The one- and two-star reviews are mostly about the paywall, the price or a trial charge (127 of 214, 59%), then alarm or tracking failures (16%) and a sleep measurement people call wrong (14%). It also has a feature that separates two snorers. See the Sleep Cycle reviews.
ShutEye: sleep sounds, stories and hearing the night.
Sounds, music and stories come up in 16% of its four- and five-star App Store reviews. Its one- and two-star reviews are mostly about charges and the trial (153 of 285, 54%), the accuracy of the sleep measurement (24%) and recordings that stop or crash (17%). Trustpilot rates it 1.6. See the ShutEye reviews.
SnoreLab: scoring the snoring and finding what helps.
Snoring detection comes up in 51% of its four- and five-star App Store reviews and insight into habits and remedies in 51%. Its one- and two-star reviews are mostly about the limited free version and the trial (50 of 134, 37%), nights that do not record or save (20%) and background noise counted as snoring (15%). It has a remedy log, and the same maker offers airway exercises in the separate SnoreGym app. See the SnoreLab reviews.
Our recommendation: SleepTrace, and when to stay where you are.
SleepTrace is our own app, so weigh this section accordingly. It is a sleep tracker that uses the phone’s microphone: it records the night, estimates your sleep stages and sorts sounds such as snoring, talking and coughing into clips you can play back, on iPhone and Android. The free plan tracks every night and lets you play back 3 sound clips a month; Premium is €6.99 a month after a 7-day free trial (US App Store: $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year). It launched in July 2026, so it has far fewer reviews than the three apps above.
If the subscription before the trial put you off.
SleepTrace tracks every night free, and the pricing page says no credit card is needed to start. See SleepTrace vs Sleep Cycle.
If your goal is to snore less.
Stay with SnoreLab: it has a remedy log and a Snore Score built for comparing nights, which SleepTrace does not. If you want to see what the snoring does to your sleep, SleepTrace puts each episode inside your sleep stages. See SleepTrace vs SnoreLab.
If you want a big library of sounds and stories.
Stay where you are. ShutEye and Sleep Cycle both have large sound libraries, and SleepTrace has calming sounds with an auto-off timer and no library of stories.
If you share a bed with another snorer.
Sleep Cycle has a feature that separates two snorers. SleepTrace records the room and cannot reliably tell who made a sound.
More comparisons: the best sleep apps.
Read these next to compare the other apps.
Questions people ask.
It depends on what bothered you. If it was the subscription before the trial, an app with a free plan that tracks every night fits better: SleepTrace has one. If you want a bigger sound library, ShutEye has one. If your goal is to snore less, SnoreLab is built for it.
SleepTrace has a free plan that tracks every night and lets you play back 3 sound clips a month. Premium costs €6.99 a month after a 7-day free trial (US App Store: $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year), and you can stay on the free plan. Sleep Cycle has a free tier too, with the smart wake-up, sleep analysis and nightly graph, but snore and sound detection are Premium (Sleep Cycle support). Sleep Cycle’s App Store page lists in-app purchases from $2.99 up to $57.99 (read 2 November 2026) and ShutEye’s from $9.99 up to $59.99 (read 21 October 2026).
On the stores, ShutEye shows the highest App Store average (4.8 from 350,120 ratings), then SnoreLab and Sleep Cycle (both 4.7). Among the newest written App Store reviews one star shows up in 47% of ShutEye, 33% of Sleep Cycle and 17% of SnoreLab reviews, and Trustpilot scores are 1.6 for ShutEye and 2.1 for Sleep Cycle (SnoreLab has no Trustpilot page we could find). The samples differ in size and period, so this is not a ranking.
On the App Store they are close (4.8 against 4.7). The written reviews are harsher for ShutEye (47% one star against 33%), and Trustpilot scores it 1.6 against 2.1 for Sleep Cycle. Both are mostly criticised for the paywall and trial charges; ShutEye also for the sleep measurement (24% of its one- and two-star reviews), Sleep Cycle for alarm or tracking failures (16%).
SnoreLab is built for snoring, with a Snore Score and a remedy log, and the same maker offers airway exercises in the separate SnoreGym app. SleepTrace labels each snoring episode, lets you play the clip back and shows it inside your sleep stages. See the SnoreLab reviews.
SleepTrace is our app, so read this page with that in mind. Sleep Cycle, ShutEye and SnoreLab are trademarks of their owners and are not affiliated with SleepTrace.