Bearable Alternative: One Number Per Activity, Not Fifty Fields
Bounded Self is a Bearable alternative for people tracking one specific thing: where their energy goes. Not symptoms, not medications, not a 10-minute intake form. You rate the cost of what you just did (1–10), tag the category, move on. End of week, you have a bank statement for your energy.
Bearable is genuinely good at what it does. If you’re managing a chronic condition and your doctor wants correlations across sleep, diet, and medications — stay with Bearable. Bounded Self doesn’t do any of that. It does one thing: tells you what shifted in your energy costs, and when. Full JSON export on free. No data selling. No lock-in.
| Feature | Bounded Self | Bearable |
|---|---|---|
| Focused energy cost tracking | ||
| Broad symptom & health tracking | ||
| Energy budgeting (envelope-style) | ||
| Cost-shift detection | ||
| Mood logging | ||
| Activity & category tagging | ||
| People & location tagging | ||
| Medication tracking | ||
| Sleep & diet logging | ||
| Time-of-day analysis | ||
| Trend reports & rolling averages | ||
| Full JSON data export | ||
| 10-second entry logging |
Included Not included
If your doctor asked you to log it, use Bearable. If you want to know why you're drained, use this.
Why people switch from Bearable: one metric, not fifty
Bearable is the right tool if you're managing a chronic condition and need to correlate symptoms, medications, and diet. Bounded Self is for a different question: not “what are my symptoms?” but “what shifted this week, and why?” One number per entry. The patterns show up in how that number changes over time, not in how many things you tracked.
When Bearable is the right tool
If your doctor has asked for a detailed health log (medications, diet, sleep quality, pain levels, symptom correlations) Bearable is built for exactly that. It tracks across 50+ dimensions and helps identify patterns between treatments and symptoms over time. Different tools, built for different problems. Bounded Self asks one question per entry: what did this cost? If you need symptom breadth, stay with Bearable. If you need energy depth, this is the more focused tool.
The budgeting layer
Tracking is free with no entry limit. Premium adds the budgeting layer: set a weekly energy allocation for each category, track actual cost against that target, get alerted when a category starts running over. Bank statement vs. spending plan.
Log in 10 seconds, not 10 minutes
Rate the cost, tag the category, done. That's 10 seconds. With fewer dimensions to track, you actually do it consistently. Low friction means real data, and real data means patterns you can use.
How the pricing compares
Bearable's free tier limits tracking history and some premium reports. Bearable Premium unlocks full features for approximately $3.99/month (as of their App Store listing, March 2026). Bounded Self's free tier has no entry limits and includes entry history plus data export. Premium adds envelope budgeting, custom categories, and detailed reports. See full pricing.
Common questions
Is Bounded Self free?▾
Yes. The free tier includes unlimited energy tracking, entry history with filters, mood tagging, and data export with no entry limits. Dashboard charts cover 7 days; Premium unlocks 30-day, 6-month, and 1-year analysis plus envelope budgeting, custom categories, journal, people and location insights, and detailed reports.
How long until I start seeing patterns?▾
Most users see repeating patterns within 7–10 days. The dashboard calculates rolling averages and flags cost shifts as soon as there’s enough data to establish your baseline. One week of consistent logging is enough to surface your first insights.
Does Bounded Self work for chronic illness tracking?▾
Bounded Self tracks energy cost, not symptoms. If you need to correlate medications, diet, sleep quality, and 50+ symptom dimensions, Bearable is built for that. If your question is specifically about where your energy goes and whether costs are shifting, Bounded Self is the more focused tool.
Can I export my data from Bearable to Bounded Self?▾
There’s no direct import path — the data models are different. Bearable tracks symptoms across many dimensions. Bounded Self tracks energy cost as a single number per activity. Most people who switch start fresh and see actionable patterns within the first week.
Does Bounded Self sell my data?▾
No. Bounded Self does not sell, share, or monetize your data in any way. Revenue comes from premium subscriptions only. You can export everything as JSON at any time and delete your account with full data removal within 30 days (backups included).
Your energy has a paper trail. Start reading it.
No data selling. Ever. Full export. Delete within 30 days (backups included).
Track your energy free — no item limitsData-first? See the quantified self page.