Is Nara Baby Still Free? What It Costs Now (2026)

No, Nara Baby isn't free anymore. New users get a 7-day trial, and after that it's $9.99 a month or $99.99 for lifetime access. There's no ad-supported free tier hiding somewhere in the settings.

If you're reading this, there's a decent chance a friend (or a Reddit thread from 2023) told you Nara was free, you downloaded it, logged a few feeds, and then got a paywall at exactly the wrong moment. Annoying, sure. Nara changed its model a while back, and the advice floating around the internet just hasn't caught up.

What Nara Baby costs now

Plan	Price	What it means
Free trial	$0 for 7 days	Full app, then you have to pick a plan to keep logging
Monthly	$9.99/month	About $120 a year if you keep it running
Lifetime	$99.99 once	Pay once, covers every caregiver on your account

Those are the standard US prices. The App Store also lists lower lifetime price points (anywhere from $49.99 to $79.99) and a $6.99 monthly option, which look like promotional or regional offers, so it's worth checking what the app actually shows you before you pay full price.

The quick math: if you think you'll track for more than about ten months, lifetime beats monthly. If you're only planning to track the newborn stretch, monthly for two or three months is cheaper.

What happens when the trial ends?

The trial starts when you log your first entry, not when you download the app. And per Nara's own FAQ, once it runs out without a plan, the app goes read-only. Your old entries are still there and you can still look at (and export) them, but you can't add new feeds, diapers, or naps until you pay.

So if you're on the fence, export your history before you decide. Even if you never open Nara again, a record of the first few weeks is handy for a pediatrician visit or a lactation appointment.

Why did Nara start charging?

Nara's own explanation is that the fee lets them keep improving the app, which is fair. Building and running a full tracker with cloud sync isn't cheap, and "free forever" was always a hard promise to keep.

But it helps to know where the app came from. Nara Baby was built by the founder of Nara Organics, a formula company, and for years the free app was a way to build a relationship with parents who were exactly the company's future customers. In June 2026, Nara Organics recalled all of its infant formula after four babies were hospitalized with botulism. The app isn't part of that recall and works fine, but it's the same company. We wrote up the whole story in Nara's formula recall and the app that was never really free.

Nara is still a well designed, calm app with no ads. The "free" version was always paid for by something (in this case, the formula business), and now you pay for the app directly.

Is Nara's $99.99 lifetime plan worth it?

For some families, honestly, yes. It's a good deal if:

• You want one app for everything (feeds, bottles, pumping, sleep, diapers, growth)
• You need Android, or a mix of iPhone and Android in the house
• Grandparents, a nanny, and a partner all need to log into the same baby
• You're planning on more kids and want to pay once and be done

It's a lot of money if what you actually do all day is time breastfeeds and try to remember which side you finished on. You'd be paying $99.99 for a dashboard you mostly ignore.

Is there a free alternative to Nara Baby?

Sort of. "Free" baby trackers still exist, they just make money some other way. (We compare five of them, with prices and platforms, in the best Nara Baby alternatives.)

• Huckleberry's free tier gives you basic tracking and a breastfeeding timer. The widget, Lock Screen timer, and SweetSpot nap predictor are on paid plans, and you'll see a lot of upgrade prompts. (Here's what Huckleberry's paid tiers cost.)
• Baby Tracker by Nighp is free with ads, or $4.99 to remove them. We compared it in MilkMode vs. Baby Tracker.
• A hair tie on your wrist moved to the side you'll start on next. Free in the actual sense of the word, and generations of parents have sworn by it.

And, in the interest of full disclosure, we make MilkMode. It isn't free either. It's a breastfeeding timer for iPhone that costs $4.99 once after a 7-day trial, with a Home Screen widget, Live Activities on your Lock Screen, no account, and no cloud (your data never leaves your phone). It doesn't track diapers or sleep, on purpose. If a timer is all you need, it's a twentieth of the price of Nara's lifetime plan. If you want the full comparison, read MilkMode vs. Nara Baby.

Quick answers

Is the Nara Baby app free? Not anymore. You get a 7-day free trial, then it's $9.99 a month or $99.99 for lifetime access.

Does Nara Baby have ads? No. It's ad-free whether you're on the trial or a paid plan.

Can I keep using Nara without paying? Your existing history stays viewable and exportable, but adding new entries requires a plan once the trial ends.

Is Nara Baby owned by the formula company that had the recall? Yes. The app and the recalled formula both come from Nara Organics. The app itself isn't recalled.

The bottom line

Nara used to be the easy answer to "which free baby tracker should I get?" It isn't the free answer anymore, and that's fine, as long as you know what you're choosing. If you want a do-everything tracker and $99.99 once feels fair, Nara is still a solid pick. If you just want to time feeds without a subscription, an account, or a formula company in the loop, you have cheaper options (including the hair tie). Just don't let a surprise paywall at 3am make the decision for you.

Keep reading

• MilkMode vs. Nara Baby: The Free Tracker That Isn't Free Anymore
• Nara Baby vs. Huckleberry: Which Baby Tracker Should You Actually Use?
• The Best Breastfeeding Timer Apps in 2026 (Honest Picks)