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Flo vs Glow: Period Tracking or TTC Focus? (2026)

Flo and Glow both track cycles, but they're built around different questions. Flo is a general cycle health app people use for period tracking, symptoms, and pregnancy once it happens. Glow was built around trying to conceive, with fertility tools and a conception-focused community from the start. This guide covers what each app actually does, both apps' privacy records laid out plainly with dates, and a third option built around a different premise.

By Go Go Gaia Team Published August 5, 2026 10 min read App Comparison

Full Transparency

This comparison is published by Holland Neurotech Inc., the company behind Go Go Gaia. We've included Go Go Gaia as a third option where relevant. We've done our best to compare Flo and Glow fairly based on each app's published features, pricing, and public record. If Flo or Glow is the better fit for you, use it.

Quick Answer

Flo and Glow answer different reasons for opening a cycle app. Flo is the broader, feature-deep option for general cycle and symptom tracking, with roughly 77 million active users. Glow is the narrower, TTC-focused option, built from the start around conception, with companion apps for pregnancy and baby tracking once you get there. And if you want cycle tracking folded into a broader health picture, Go Go Gaia is worth a look. Here's how they compare:

  • If you want general cycle tracking with the deepest feature set: Go with Flo. ~77M active users, an AI health assistant, and a large content library.
  • If trying to conceive is specifically why you're tracking: Go with Glow. Fertility-window tools, TTC community, companion pregnancy and baby apps.
  • If you want cycle, mood, sleep, and nutrition tracking in one free app: Try Go Go Gaia.
Person reviewing a cycle tracking app in the morning, comparing Flo and Glow

Flo and Glow get compared a lot, but they're not really solving the same problem. Flo is the polished, feature-complete option built for general cycle tracking, with pregnancy mode layered on once you're expecting. Glow starts from the opposite direction: it was built specifically for people trying to conceive, with fertility-window tools and a community organized around TTC from day one.

Both apps also have documented privacy histories worth knowing before you hand over reproductive health data. We'll lay out what you get with each, walk through both privacy records plainly with dates, and cover a third option built around a different premise entirely.


The Short Version

If you're in a rush, here's the quick breakdown:

Flo Glow Go Go Gaia
Best for General cycle tracking, feature depth Trying to conceive (TTC) All-in-one health tracking
Platform iOS + Android iOS + Android iOS only (+ web app)
Active users ~77 million Millions of downloads across Glow's app family Smaller, newer app
Free tier Usable, with ads Usable core tracking Most features, no ads
Premium price ~$59.99/year ~$69.99/year ~$49.99/year
Privacy FTC/class action + 2025 verdict history 2020 CA AG settlement + 2024 data exposure Strong, no ads

Want more detail? Keep reading.


Flo: What You Get

Flo is the most-used period tracker in the category, with around 77 million active users and over 300 million registered accounts. It covers the full range of cycle tracking, from period basics to pregnancy, in one app.

Features

  • Cycle tracking with AI-powered predictions
  • AI Health Assistant that checks in on symptoms like cramps, fatigue, and mood
  • Ovulation and fertile-window predictions
  • Thousands of health articles reviewed by 100+ medical professionals, including conception topics
  • Secret Chats: anonymous community discussions across a wide range of topics
  • Pregnancy mode with week-by-week tracking, included free
  • Partner sharing for joint tracking

Strengths

It covers the whole arc, not just TTC. Flo tracks general cycle health, fertility windows, and pregnancy in the same app, so you're not switching apps as your reason for tracking changes.

The community and content library are the largest in the category. Secret Chats put you in anonymous discussions with millions of other users on topics from TTC to PCOS to perimenopause, and thousands of medically reviewed articles back that up.

Free pregnancy mode. Flo includes pregnancy tracking in its free tier, with week-by-week updates and educational content, no subscription required.

Limitations

Privacy is the big concern. Flo settled with the FTC in 2021 for sharing period and pregnancy data with Facebook and Google without user consent. A related class action against Flo, Google, and Flurry received preliminary court approval in April 2026 for a combined $59.5 million settlement, with a final approval hearing set for October 2026, and a jury separately found Meta liable in August 2025 for its role in receiving that data. Flo has since added Anonymous Mode and open-sourced it.

TTC isn't the primary design. Fertility prediction and conception content exist, but Flo isn't organized around TTC the way Glow is. Some users trying to conceive want an app built around that specific goal.

No nutrition, habit, or sleep tracking. Flo stays focused on cycle, fertility, and pregnancy. You won't find meal logging or habit tracking inside the app.

Pricing

Free: Cycle and symptom tracking, pregnancy mode, community access. Includes ads.

Flo Premium: ~$12.99/month or ~$59.99/year as of 2026. Adds the AI Health Assistant, an ad-free experience, and full content library access. Check current pricing in-app, as it can shift with promotions.

Download: Available on iOS and Android

🥚 Ovulation Calculator

Find your fertile window and ovulation day.

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Glow: What You Get

Glow was built from the start as a fertility and TTC app, before expanding into a family of apps covering pregnancy (Glow Nurture), baby tracking (Glow Baby), and a more casual cycle-tracking sibling (Eve by Glow). The core Glow app leans data-forward, encouraging users to log more inputs, like temperature and cervical mucus, than a typical period tracker.

Features

  • Cycle and fertility-window tracking built around conception
  • Detailed logging inputs: basal body temperature, cervical mucus, ovulation test results, and more
  • Fertility insights and a "conception odds" style breakdown from your logged data
  • Community forums organized around TTC, pregnancy loss, and related topics
  • Partner Connect, for sharing tracking data with a partner
  • Companion apps for pregnancy (Glow Nurture) and baby tracking (Glow Baby)

Strengths

It's built for TTC specifically. The logging fields, insights, and community are all organized around trying to conceive, not retrofitted onto a general period tracker. If that's exactly your situation, the focus shows.

The community is TTC-specific. Forums are organized around conception timelines, pregnancy loss, and related topics, which can feel more relevant than a general cycle-tracking community if TTC is why you're there.

Continuity across life stages. Glow's companion apps mean you can move from TTC tracking (Glow) to pregnancy (Glow Nurture) to newborn tracking (Glow Baby) within the same company's app family.

Limitations

Two documented privacy incidents. In 2020, California's Attorney General settled with Glow over a security flaw in its Partner Connect feature that automatically granted a partner's linking request without the other user's confirmation, exposing sensitive reproductive health data without consent. Glow paid a $250,000 penalty. In February 2024, a security researcher found a bug in Glow's developer API that exposed profile data, names, age ranges, self-reported location, and photos, for roughly 25 million users. Glow fixed the bug about a week after being notified.

Detailed logging can feel like a lot. Glow's data-forward approach (temperature, cervical mucus, multiple daily inputs) is a strength for some and a chore for others, especially if you're not deep into a TTC protocol.

Less useful once TTC isn't the goal. If you conceive or stop trying, Glow's TTC-first design means some users migrate to a different app or to Glow's own pregnancy/baby siblings rather than staying in the core app.

Pricing

Free: Core cycle and fertility tracking, community access.

Glow Premium: ~$69.99/year, with a quarterly option around ~$39.99/3 months and a lifetime option around ~$99.99 covering Glow, Glow Baby, Glow Nurture, and Eve, as of 2026. Check current pricing in-app, as it can shift with promotions.

Download: Available on iOS and Android


The Third Option: Go Go Gaia

If neither Flo's general-cycle-plus-everything approach nor Glow's TTC-first approach is quite what you're after, and what you actually want is your cycle tracked alongside the rest of your health, that's where Go Go Gaia fits in. It's a newer app built around one idea: instead of being a cycle tracker with a few extras, it tracks your whole health picture, cycle included, in one place.

What It Adds

  • Cycle tracking with automatic phase detection and fertility predictions
  • LH test logging, so ovulation confirmation isn't limited to calendar guesses
  • Mood, sleep, fitness, and nutrition tracking built in, 350+ metrics total
  • 1-click logging for fast daily tracking
  • Correlation insights showing how your lifestyle connects to your cycle
  • Available on iOS and as a web app
  • No ads, no data selling

Honest Limitations

  • No dedicated TTC community. Go Go Gaia doesn't have Glow's conception-focused forums or Flo's Secret Chats. It's focused on your own data.
  • iOS only. There's no Android app. A web app is available for other platforms, but the full experience is iPhone-only right now.
  • Smaller, newer app. It doesn't have Flo's 77 million active users or Glow's years of TTC-community history. Fewer reviews, a shorter track record.
  • AI features are premium. Advanced insights require a subscription (~$9.99/month or ~$49.99/year).

Pricing

Free: Cycle, mood, sleep, fitness, and nutrition tracking. No ads.

Premium: ~$9.99/month or ~$49.99/year for AI features and advanced insights.

Download: Available on iOS App Store


Side-by-Side Feature Comparison

Here's every major feature compared across all three apps. Check marks mean the feature is included, locks mean it requires a paid subscription, warning signs mean it's limited, and X marks mean it's not available.

Feature Flo Glow Go Go Gaia
Cycle tracking
Fertility-window prediction ✅ Core focus
LH test logging ⚠️ Manual result entry
Pregnancy mode ✅ Free ⚠️ Separate app (Glow Nurture)
TTC-specific community ⚠️ General community, TTC topics included ✅ Core focus
AI assistant 🔒 Paid 🔒 Paid
Sleep / activity tracking ✅ Full logging
Nutrition tracking
Content library ✅ Thousands of articles ⚠️ TTC-focused forums, lighter editorial content ⚠️ Limited
Privacy practices ⚠️ FTC/class action + 2025 verdict ⚠️ 2020 CA settlement + 2024 exposure ✅ No ads, no data selling
Free tier quality ⚠️ Usable, with ads ✅ Usable core tracking ✅ Generous, no ads
Price (annual) ~$59.99/yr ~$69.99/yr ~$49.99/yr

Which Should You Choose?

There's no single "best" app here. It comes down to what you're actually tracking for right now. Here's the honest breakdown:

Choose Flo if:

  • You want general cycle tracking that also handles fertility and pregnancy when you get there
  • Health education and medically reviewed articles matter to you
  • You want a free pregnancy mode
  • You need Android support
  • You're comfortable with Flo's privacy history (or willing to use Anonymous Mode)

Choose Glow if:

  • Trying to conceive is specifically why you're tracking, right now
  • You want detailed logging inputs like temperature and cervical mucus
  • A TTC-specific community matters to you
  • You're comfortable moving between Glow's app family as your stage changes
  • You've read Glow's current privacy policy and are comfortable with its history

Choose Go Go Gaia if:

  • You want cycle, mood, sleep, fitness, and nutrition tracking in one app
  • LH test logging matters to you without a dedicated TTC app
  • You want a generous free tier with no ads
  • You're on iOS (or okay using the web app on other platforms)
  • A TTC community isn't why you open a tracker

Privacy: What Each App's Record Actually Shows

Cycle and fertility data is sensitive, and both apps have a documented history worth reading before you commit. Here's the factual record for each, with dates.

Flo: FTC Settlement, Then a 2025 Verdict

In 2021, the FTC settled with Flo over sharing users' health data with companies including Facebook and Google without proper consent. A related class action against Flo, Google, and Flurry received preliminary court approval in April 2026 for a combined $59.5 million settlement, with a final approval hearing set for October 2026, and a jury separately found Meta liable in August 2025 for its role in receiving that data.

Flo has since added Anonymous Mode, which separates your health data from your identity, and open-sourced it. These are real changes, made after years of public scrutiny. Whether that history changes your decision is a personal call.

Glow: A 2020 Consent Flaw, Then a 2024 Data Exposure

In 2020, California's Attorney General settled with Glow, Inc. over a security flaw in its Partner Connect feature. When one user sent a linking request to another, the app automatically granted it without asking the second user to confirm, exposing sensitive reproductive health data, including fertility test results and pregnancy history, to a partner without consent. Glow paid a $250,000 civil penalty and agreed to require affirmative consent before sharing user data going forward, along with ongoing privacy and security assessments.

In February 2024, a security researcher reported a bug in Glow's developer API that exposed profile data, names, self-reported age ranges, self-described location, and uploaded photos, for roughly 25 million users. Health-tracking entries themselves weren't part of what was exposed in this incident. Glow fixed the bug about a week after being notified, ahead of the public disclosure.

To Glow's credit, both incidents were addressed: the 2020 settlement's consent requirement is now built into how Partner Connect works, and the 2024 API bug was patched quickly once reported. Whether two separate incidents four years apart changes your decision is a personal call, and it's worth reading Glow's current privacy policy yourself.

Go Go Gaia: Privacy-Focused, Smaller Scale

Go Go Gaia doesn't run ads and doesn't sell user data. That said, it's a newer, smaller company without the years of public scrutiny that Flo or Glow have been through, and there's no GDPR certification since it's a US-based company. The no-ads, no-data-selling approach is a meaningful commitment, but it hasn't been tested by the same level of outside review.


Frequently Asked Questions

Is Flo or Glow better for trying to conceive?

Glow was built specifically around TTC (trying to conceive), with fertility-window tracking, a community built around conception and pregnancy, and companion apps for pregnancy and baby tracking. Flo covers ovulation and fertility prediction too, and its content library includes conception topics, but the app itself is built as a general cycle tracker first. If TTC-specific community and a conception-first design matter most to you, Glow's focus is the closer fit. If you want the same app to also handle general cycle and symptom tracking well, Flo covers that more broadly.

Is Glow safe to use? What happened with Glow's data?

Glow has two documented privacy incidents worth knowing. In 2020, California's Attorney General settled with Glow over a security flaw in its Partner Connect feature, which automatically granted a linking request without the other user's confirmation, exposing sensitive reproductive health data to a partner without consent. Glow paid a $250,000 penalty and agreed to require affirmative consent before sharing data. In February 2024, a security researcher found a bug in Glow's developer API that exposed data for roughly 25 million users, including names, age ranges, self-reported location, and profile photos, though not health-tracking entries themselves. Glow fixed the bug about a week after being notified. Whether that history is a dealbreaker is a personal call, and it's worth reading Glow's current privacy policy yourself.

Is Flo or Glow more private?

Both have documented privacy histories. Flo settled with the FTC in 2021 over sharing health data with Facebook and Google, and a related class action against Flo, Google, and Flurry received preliminary court approval in April 2026 for a combined $59.5 million settlement, with a final hearing set for October 2026. A jury separately found Meta liable in August 2025. Flo has since added Anonymous Mode. Glow was fined $250,000 by California's AG in 2020 over a consent flaw in its partner-sharing feature, and a 2024 API bug exposed profile data (not health logs) for around 25 million users. Neither company has a clean record, so read each one's current privacy policy before logging sensitive data.

How much does Glow Premium cost?

As of 2026, Glow Premium runs roughly $69.99/year, with a quarterly option around $39.99 and a lifetime option (covering Glow, Glow Baby, Glow Nurture, and Eve) around $99.99. Pricing can shift with promotions and varies by plan, so check the current price inside the app before subscribing.

What's the difference between Glow and Eve by Glow?

Glow and Eve by Glow are both made by the same company, Glow Inc., but aimed at different audiences. Glow is positioned around fertility and TTC tracking with a more clinical, data-forward feel. Eve is a separate app from the same company with a more casual, lifestyle-oriented take on cycle tracking, including sexual wellness content. If Glow's fertility focus doesn't fit what you're after, Eve is worth a look from the same company before switching elsewhere.

What's a good alternative if Flo or Glow isn't the right fit?

Go Go Gaia is worth a look if you want cycle tracking alongside mood, sleep, fitness, and nutrition in one app, plus LH test logging for ovulation confirmation. Core features are free with no ads. The main tradeoffs are that it's iOS only (a web app covers other platforms) and doesn't have the TTC community or content library that Glow or Flo have built up.


Want to See More Apps Compared?

This guide focused on Flo vs Glow, but there's more to look at depending on why you're comparing. If you're weighing whether to leave Glow entirely, or want a broader look at TTC-capable trackers, these go further.

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