Reframe vs Sunnyside: Which Mindful Drinking App?

If you’ve visited the App Store lately searching for drinking reduction tools, you’ve likely come across two heavy hitters in the space: Reframe and Sunnyside. 

Both apps have an extensive number of favorable reviews. But with different features and messaging, how do you know which app is best?

The Differences in Sunnyside’s vs Reframe’s Approach

To provide a general lay of the land, according to their marketing materials:

“Reframe leans into abstinence, offering more structured CBT-based resources. Sunnyside, on the other hand, supports moderation and daily check-ins. One isn’t better than the other; it depends on what fits your current stage of change,” explains Kyle Penniman, MSW, LIAC, CADAC, CEO of Stonewall DUI Services. 

Cost Comparison

Before committing to a subscription, you can try free trials for both. At time of writing, the cost for each app’s basic version is pretty similar. 

Reframe offers a free seven-day trial and costs $99.99 dollars, billed once annually. You can add on coaching for additional pricing:

• $79.99 for a one-time session
• $99.99 per month for coaching support via text, audio, and video messages. 
• $129.99 per month for one one-to-one session every month plus access to a coach via text, audio, and video messages. 
• $249.99 per month for three one-to-one sessions every month and access to a coach via text, audio, and video messages. 

Sunnyside offers a free 15-day trial and is $99 per year, paid annually, or $12 a month for the basic version. 

The premium version is $298 billed annually or $36 per month, which includes weekly Zoom sessions with a coach. 

Sunnyside vs Reframe Features

Community

There’s a reason that so many people benefit from attending recovery meetings, because hearing other people’s stories and learning that you are not alone is healing. 

Thankfully, both Sunnyside and Reframe offer community sections where you can post or comment on others’ shares. Sunnyside has a daily prompt you can respond to via a post. One distinction, though, is that through Reframe, you can message people privately if their post resonates. 

Daily Check-ins

Reframe offers daily reading, journaling, and motivation. Sunnyside offers a daily post to reflect on. 

Drink Log & Tracker

Both Sunnyside and Reframe have drink trackers where you can set goals, and input drink totals and dry days. Both provide the opportunity for drink logging conveniently through text, or the app. 

Sunnyside allows you to add a note with a drink, plus it displays your progress in a simple metrics breakdown, noting the number of dry days you’ve had, calories avoided, and money you’ve saved. It’s visually easy to read at a glance. 

Reframe shows your progress as a blurb underneath a calendar, so you can continually check your goals for the month’s progress. When you log a drink with Reframe, you have the chance to add a craving or notes in addition to the number, which is a useful perk for gaining awareness. 

Resources

Sunnyside has a journal where you can post daily reflections, a community threads section, and a tab for joining challenges, which can be helpful for the camaraderie aspect. 

Aside from its daily reading and reflection, Reframe has a comprehensive app toolkit, which includes courses, mocktail recipes, a variety of mindfulness exercises, book recommendations, a podcast, and video stories from the community. Reframe also offers a variety of daily meetings catered to different goals—mindfulness, meditation, moderation, sobriety, and more. 

Access To Coaching

Sunnyside’s basic version includes access to text coaching, and its premium version includes weekly Zoom sessions. 

Reframe’s general subscription does not include coaching, but you can add on tiers for it.

Messaging

Sunnyside’s messaging is warm and supportive, with a conversational and encouraging tone. 

Reframe’s tone is smart and empowering, resembling the guidance of a trusted advisor.

An app’s voice can make or break someone’s experience with it. “The tone matters just as much as the tools. The app should feel empowering, not shaming,” Penniman says.

“People are often using these tools during some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. If the app doesn’t feel human, they won’t stick with it.”

To help change your relationship with alcohol, the right messaging is invaluable. “People get stuck in guilt loops because an app is too rigid or judgmental. That is the last thing you need when you are trying to make a positive change,” explains Stephanie Lewis, LICSW, LCSW, LSW, Therapist and Executive Director at Epiphany Wellness. 

How To Choose The Drinking Reduction App For You

In addition to empowering and science-backed messaging, whether an app offers coaching, daily meetings, or simple-to-use drink logging could sway someone’s preference. Stacey Ross, a Mental Health Specialist at AddictionResource.net, explains, "When selecting a quit drinking app, be sure to complement the tool with your own aims.”

There are a few invaluable features, though. “Effective quit drinking apps will have educational data on the effects of alcohol, relapse-preventing resources, and mindfulness exercises,” Ross says. 

As per Sunnyside’s website, the app claims to have helped 250,000 people, and Reframe has helped over 3 million, but the true test is what works for the individual. Penniman says there are some clues that suggest an app is helping someone in addition to the obvious—they drink less. 

“The person is using it regularly, not out of obligation, but because it’s helping. They start shifting how they think about drinking, not just how often they do it. Other areas of life start to improve: sleep, stress, confidence, and relationships.”

But ultimately, a new perspective is headed in the right direction. “Even just becoming more aware of your patterns or triggers is progress,” Lewis says. 

How Can You Tell If An App Is Not Working?

Many Reddit users note the importance of being honest with daily tracking for an app to work. Penniman says, “You can tell an app is not working for someone if their engagement drops after a few days, if the content isn’t resonating, or it becomes something they ‘should’ do rather than something they want to do.”

Many people also use apps in addition to therapy, peer support groups, or medication-assisted treatment (MAT), like naltrexone, a medication to curb alcohol cravings. It is also important to note that if someone has severe alcoholism AKA alcohol use disorder (AUD) or physical dependence, they require more care, and sometimes 24/7 support. 

Sunnyside vs Reframe: Which Is Best?

With different styles, features, vibes, and goals that each is tailored toward, it’s tough to make a blanket statement about the best app. Each has tons of positive reviews, and it becomes clear that people have different preferences for features—it all depends on what you need from an app. Ultimately, the best quit drinking app is the one that’s best for you.

Considering Medication As Part Of Your Toolkit

If you’re exploring mindful drinking apps, you may also benefit from medication-assisted support. 

Oar Health offers discreet, affordable access to medication clinically proven to reduce alcohol cravings. For many people, combining behavioral tools like Reframe or Sunnyside with medical treatment leads to stronger outcomes.

Whether your goal is to cut back or stop drinking completely, Oar Health provides a judgment-free way to get evidence-based care from licensed clinicians, all online. With convenient check-ins and personalized plans, it’s another resource that puts you in control of your drinking goals.

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