Let’s get the awkward part out of the way: we make Still, a Christian sleep and prayer app that competes with Hallow. Most reviews you’ll find are written by affiliates earning a commission on your subscription. Ours is written by a competitor with the opposite incentive.
Which is exactly why we’ve worked to be fair. If this review couldn’t say positive things about Hallow, it would be worthless to you — and Hallow makes that easy, because a lot of it is excellent.
Verdict in one paragraph: Hallow is the best Catholic prayer app available, with production quality nothing else in the category matches. If you’re Catholic, subscribe with confidence. If you’re Protestant, price-sensitive, or came mainly for sleep content, it’s a beautiful app that solves a different problem than yours — the alternatives below will fit better.
What Hallow is
Hallow launched in 2018 and grew into the biggest Catholic app in the world on the back of one flagship: Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz, which has topped podcast charts and brought millions into daily scripture. Around it sits a very large library — daily rosaries, novenas, the Examen, Lectio Divina, meditations, music, seasonal challenges like Pray40, and a substantial sleep section with narrators including Jonathan Roumie of The Chosen and Mark Wahlberg.
It runs on a freemium model: a real free tier, with the majority of the library behind Hallow Plus at $69.99/year or $9.99/month (details in our pricing breakdown).
What’s excellent
The production quality: Hallow sounds like a serious studio made it, because one did. Voice talent, music, pacing — it’s the best-produced app in Christian audio, and it isn’t close.
The Catholic depth: this is not a meditation app with saints sprinkled on. The rosary, the liturgy of the hours, novenas, Mass readings, the liturgical calendar — the Catholic spiritual tradition is the skeleton of the whole product, treated with knowledge and reverence.
Bible in a Year, free: Hallow’s most valuable content costs nothing. That’s unusually generous, and it’s the right first thing to try.
The seasonal challenges: Pray40 (Lent) and the Advent challenges create real communal momentum — praying the same thing as a few million people is its own kind of encouragement.
Where it may not fit you
If you’re not Catholic: Hallow is honest about what it is, and what it is, is Catholic. Protestants can absolutely use it — plenty do — but you’ll be navigating around Marian devotions, saints, and liturgical structure rather than through them. The question “is Hallow Catholic?” has a one-word answer: yes.
If you came for sleep: the sleep content is well-made but it’s a wing of the app, not the foundation — and nearly all of it is behind the paywall. If Christian sleep content is your main need, you’d be paying $69.99/year mostly for a library you won’t open.
If the price stings: $69.99/year is the premium end of the category. Abide runs ~$40, Glorify ~$50, Lectio 365 is free. Whether Hallow’s polish is worth the gap is a real question with a personal answer.
If you want German-first content: Hallow does offer German among its languages, and credit for that. But translated content is not the same as native content — German speakers can read our German-language breakdown.
Who should subscribe to Hallow
Catholics who want their whole prayer life in one app. Anyone doing Bible in a Year who wants the full companion experience. Families, via the fairly priced $119.99 plan for six. People for whom audio quality is the difference between praying daily and not.
Who should pick something else
Protestants wanting an all-rounder: Abide, at roughly half the price. Sleep- and scripture-first users: that’s us — Still pairs Bible sleep stories and evening prayers with guided prayer and Christian meditation through the day, and you can try it free. Zero budget: Lectio 365, which is free and quietly superb. The full field is in our Hallow alternatives guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Hallow app worth it? For Catholics who’ll use the devotional library: yes, it’s the best in class. For everyone else it depends on whether you’ll use enough of the library to justify $69.99/year — the free trial answers that question at no cost.
Is Hallow free? There’s a real free tier including Bible in a Year, the Daily Rosary, and daily readings. Most of the library — including nearly all sleep content — needs Hallow Plus.
Is Hallow Catholic or Christian? Both, but specifically Catholic: the app is built around Catholic tradition and devotions. Protestants can use it, but apps like Abide, Glorify, or Still are built without that framing.
What’s the best alternative to Hallow? Depends on why you’re leaving: Abide (Protestant all-rounder), Still (sleep-first), Lectio 365 (free). Full comparison here.
Written July 2026; facts checked against Hallow’s official materials. Hallow is a trademark of Hallow, Inc.; Still is not affiliated with Hallow. We make Still, a competing app — this review discloses that bias instead of hiding it, and we’ve praised Hallow where praise is due.