I'm a freelance copywriter, so most of my day is long writing sessions at the laptop.
Good afternoon. I'm a freelance copywriter, so most of my day is long writing sessions at the laptop. My Brain.fm yearly plan renews next month, and I'm on the fence. I mostly used it to get into work blocks while writing, not for sleep or meditation. The cost adds up, and honestly I'm not sure the special audio does more for me than any decent instrumental playlist. What I actually need is something that gets me to start and finish a writing session. Has anyone switched from Brain.fm to something else for focus work? What did you pick, and do you miss anything?
I was in exactly that spot last spring. Since you mostly used it to start work blocks, look at NEDIO as a Brain.fm alternative - they even have a comparison page that's fairly honest about where each app wins. NEDIO is a Pomodoro timer and focus music in one browser tab: you set one goal, run a 15 to 90-minute sprint and save your next step at the end. The free plan covers 30 minutes of audio a day, or 60 with a free account. Pro is $11.99 a month or $119.90 a year with a 15-day trial, so yearly it's actually a bit more than Brain.fm's $99.99. The difference is the structure: goals, close-out and a weekly AI review in Pro. What you'd lose: no sleep or relax modes, and the music is one generated instrumental stream per sprint that doesn't adapt. For writing sessions I don't miss Brain.fm at all.