Comparison
Roosta vs Alarmy
Checked . Alarmy is a trademark of its respective owner; this comparison is independent and not endorsed by them.
The verdict
Choose Alarmy if you want the broadest feature set, sleep tracking, music-service integration, and a free tier you can use without paying, and you are comfortable with the advertising in it.
Choose Roosta if what you care about is the alarm actually firing, working with no signal, no advertising anywhere, and camera missions that never store an image of your home.
Feature by feature
Where a cell says “not published”, we could not verify the behaviour from a primary source and would rather say so than guess.
| Feature | Roosta | Alarmy |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
| Mission catalogBoth cover math, physical, camera and scanning missions. | 18 missions | Large catalog |
| Free tierRoosta has a 7-day trial instead. Alarmy’s ads are its most-cited complaint. | No, paid only | Yes, ad-supported |
| PriceRoosta is also $3.99 weekly. Both convert to your store currency. | $39.99/year, or $99.99 once | About $59.99/year |
| Alarms scheduled by the OSDetermines whether an alarm fires when the app is not running. | Not published | |
| Works with no networkAds and cloud features need a connection. | Partial | |
| Documented escape hatch | Not published | |
| Camera missions store an image | Never | Reference photo stored |
| Requires an account | Optional | |
| Sleep trackingA genuine Alarmy advantage. | ||
| Music-service alarm soundsRoosta bundles 21 sounds instead, so they work offline. | ||
| Years in marketMaturity is a real advantage for an alarm. | New | Well established |
Where Alarmy is the better choice
Three of them, stated plainly. A comparison in which the author wins every row is not worth reading.
Maturity
Alarmy has been shipping and fixing for years across an enormous install base. For a product whose entire job is not failing while you are unconscious, that track record is a real advantage that a newer app cannot simply claim.
Sleep tracking
Alarmy records sleep and offers smart wake windows. Roosta does not do this at all, and has no plans to. It is a different product with a narrower job.
Integrations
Music-service alarm sounds and a wider set of platform integrations. Roosta bundles its sounds deliberately so they work offline, but that is a trade, not a pure win.
In their words, fairly: The category leader and by far the best-known mission alarm app, with the widest mission catalog and a large user base.
Choose based on your actual problem
Your alarm has failed to go off
This is the case where the difference matters most. Roosta hands the schedule to the operating system, so the app being closed or killed cannot stop an alarm firing.
How Roosta schedules alarmsYou sleep somewhere with no signal
Hotels, planes, basements, a phone with no SIM. Nothing on Roosta’s alarm path touches the network, including the camera missions.
Why it works offlineYou do not want ads or a stored photo
No advertising anywhere in Roosta, and camera missions that analyse a frame and discard it rather than matching against a stored image of your home.
How camera missions workComparing more broadly? See six Alarmy alternatives, which includes the free options that beat us on price.
FAQ
Questions about Roosta and Alarmy
Is Roosta or Alarmy better?
Alarmy has the larger feature set and a decade of refinement, including sleep tracking Roosta does not have. Roosta is stronger on reliability, offline operation and camera privacy, and carries no advertising at all. Which is better depends on whether breadth or those three properties matter more to you.
How much does Alarmy cost compared to Roosta?
As of July 2026, Alarmy Premium is around $4.99 a month or $59.99 a year and it has an ad-supported free tier. Roosta is $3.99 a week, $39.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, or $99.99 once for lifetime access, with no free tier and no advertising. Verify current pricing on the store listing before subscribing.
Does Alarmy have ads?
Its free tier does, and that is the most common complaint in its reviews. Roosta carries no advertising at all, partly because it is paid and has no free tier to put ads in, and partly because an ad on the dismiss screen would mean the alarm path needed a network connection.
Does Alarmy store your photos?
Its photo mission works by matching a reference image you register during setup, which requires that image to be stored. Roosta names an object instead and recognises it on-device, so there is no reference image and no frame is ever kept.
Should I switch from Alarmy to Roosta?
If Alarmy is working for you, there is no strong reason to switch. The cases where switching helps are: an alarm that has failed to fire, mornings somewhere with no signal, discomfort with an app holding a photo of your home, or not wanting ads.
