Therma vs How We Feel
How We Feel is a beautiful emotion grid. You tap the square that matches your feeling, and the vocabulary gets richer. By week two you can name the feeling precisely. By week three the question becomes why it showed up today and not yesterday. Therma starts where the grid ends. One adaptive question. One weekly reveal. The pattern, not just the point.
By Omar Rantisi, Founder of Therma
The 30-second verdict
How We Feel is the best emotion vocabulary tool in the category, built on Marc Brackett's RULER research at Yale. It teaches you to name what you feel. Therma is the next eight weeks. One adaptive question that knows what you said yesterday, then a weekly reveal that shows the pattern. The 10% difference: How We Feel gives you a vocabulary. Therma gives you a pattern, and layers Apple Health on top so you can see when the feeling and the heart rate moved together.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Therma | How We Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Daily emotional check-in | Emotion granularity practice |
| The moment it is built for | The 11pm when you cannot say why | The moment you need a word for it |
| Primary input | One adaptive prompt plus mood ring | Tap an emotion on the grid |
| Session length | 20-60 seconds | 20-60 seconds |
| Vocabulary framework | Your own words plus mood ring | RULER emotion library (Marc Brackett, Yale) |
| Pattern view | Weekly reveal with body data overlay | Timeline of taps |
| Body data | Apple Health correlation layer | None |
| Streak mechanic | Forgiving (grace day every 5 check-ins) | Not central to the experience |
| Built for | People who want to see why the feeling showed up | People learning emotion vocabulary |
| Backing | Independent founder | Nonprofit (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) |
| Free tier | Yes | Free forever |
| Annual price | $59.99/yr ($39.99 founding, locked for life) | Free |
| Platforms | iOS | iOS, Android |
Where Therma wins
- One 60-second check-in. One adaptive question that knows what you said yesterday.
- Weekly reveal shows the pattern, not just the point. The days the feeling and the heart rate moved together.
- Apple Health correlation layer. Your body data and the feeling sit on the same page.
- Forgiving streaks. A grace day every 5 check-ins so a missed day does not become a second failure.
- Founding Member is $39.99/yr, locked for life. First 10,000 subscribers only.
Where How We Feel wins
- Free forever, no ads, no premium tier. Genuinely rare in the category.
- Built on Marc Brackett's RULER framework, one of the most-researched emotion granularity models in the field.
- Nonprofit-backed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. No upsell pressure.
- The emotion grid is the cleanest vocabulary tool in the category.
- Available on iOS and Android today.
When to choose which
Choose Therma
You have been using How We Feel and the vocabulary has done its work. You can name the feeling now. The next question is why it showed up today, what your body was doing when it did, and what the week is making of you. You want a private place for the thing that comes after the grid.
Choose How We Feel
You want to build a precise emotion vocabulary and you want it free. You are early in the practice and the grid is the right entry point. You are on Android. You prefer a nonprofit-backed tool with no paid tier and no commercial pressure.
Common questions
Is Therma a How We Feel alternative?
Therma is what comes after the grid. How We Feel teaches you to name the feeling. Therma asks why it showed up and shows you the pattern over weeks. If you have been tapping the grid for a while and the vocabulary is no longer the thing you need, that is the moment Therma is built for. The two tools sit next to each other cleanly.
How We Feel is free and nonprofit. Why pay for Therma?
You wouldn't, if the vocabulary is the thing you need. How We Feel is the best free option in the category and the RULER research behind it is legitimate. Therma is a different layer. One adaptive question instead of a grid tap. A weekly reveal that shows the pattern. Apple Health correlation so you can see the days the heart rate and the feeling moved together. If that layer is worth $9.99 a month to you, Therma is the answer. If it isn't, How We Feel is genuinely good.
How much is Therma?
Therma has a free tier. Paid plans are $9.99/mo or $59.99/yr. Founding Member is $39.99/yr, locked for life, first 10,000 subscribers only. How We Feel is free forever, so the comparison is not on price. It is on what each tool is built to do. The Founding price holds even if Therma raises prices later.
Does Therma replace therapy?
No. Therma sits in the gap between silence and therapy. It does not diagnose, treat, or replace clinical care. It is a private companion for the 11pm when you cannot say why. Feel it to free it.
Can I use both How We Feel and Therma?
Yes, and many do. How We Feel for the in-the-moment vocabulary. Therma for the weekly pattern and the body data overlay. They solve different parts of the same problem and the daily time commitment is small (about 60 seconds each). The grid is the entry point. Therma is what happens for the next eight weeks.
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