What to Expect vs BabyCenter: Pregnancy Apps Compared 2026

What to Expect and BabyCenter show up together in nearly every "best pregnancy app" list, usually described as competitors. They aren't, not in the usual sense. Both belong to Everyday Health Group, a division of Ziff Davis Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD), which acquired BabyCenter in 2019 and already published What to Expect. That's the underreported part of this comparison. What follows is what each app actually offers, since the ownership overlap doesn't make the apps identical, and a third option some people pair with either one.

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The Short Version

If you're in a rush, here's the quick breakdown across the dimensions that matter most:

Want more detail? Keep reading.

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Same Parent Company: What That Means

Everyday Health Group acquired BabyCenter in 2019 and already owned What to Expect at the time. Today, both brands sit inside Everyday Health Group's Pregnancy & Parenting division, and Everyday Health Group itself is a division of Ziff Davis Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD).

What this doesn't mean: the apps aren't merged, and their content, editorial teams, and communities are run separately. What to Expect keeps its distinct identity built around Heidi Murkoff's What to Expect When You're Expecting book franchise. BabyCenter keeps its own identity, built more around visual tools and its longstanding Birth Clubs.

What it does mean: if you're choosing between the two hoping for genuinely independent competition, that's not quite what you're getting. Both apps' business decisions, including their ad models and privacy policies, ultimately sit under the same corporate parent. Third-party outlets have covered both apps in individual reviews for years, but rarely note the shared ownership explicitly, which is part of why it's worth stating plainly here.

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What to Expect: What You Get

What to Expect is built around the editorial voice of its book franchise, extended into an app with week-by-week guides, symptom tracking, and community discussion.

Features

• Week-by-week pregnancy content, tied to your due date
• Symptom monitor for logging how you're feeling
• Moms Forum and Q&A area for peer discussion
• Kick counter and contraction timer
• Baby growth and size comparisons
• Expert-backed videos on labor, delivery, and newborn care

Strengths

The editorial content is the draw. What to Expect's content is written and reviewed with the book franchise's editorial standards behind it, which is its strongest differentiator from a purely community-driven app.

The Moms Forum is active and longstanding. Discussion threads cover a wide range of topics and stages rather than being narrowly grouped, so it's easy to find a conversation on almost any pregnancy question.

It's free with a usable core experience. Week-by-week content, the symptom monitor, and forum access don't require payment.

Limitations

It's ad-supported. Some users see regular prompts related to ads or in-app purchases as part of how the free app is funded.

The Moms Forum isn't grouped by due date the way BabyCenter's Birth Clubs are. If you specifically want to talk to people due the same month as you, the forum structure is looser.

No nutrition or broader health tracking. What to Expect is focused on pregnancy content and symptom logging rather than mood, sleep, or nutrition tracking.

Pricing

Free: Week-by-week content, symptom monitor, kick counter, contraction timer, and Moms Forum access. Ad-supported, with optional in-app purchases.

Download: Available on iOS and Android

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BabyCenter: What You Get

BabyCenter is built around visual pregnancy tracking and community structured by due date, with 3D fetal development visuals as its most distinctive feature.

Features

• 3D fetal development visuals and interactive imagery
• Personalized daily updates tied to your due date
• Birth Clubs: community groups organized by due-date month
• Symptom tracker and contraction timer
• Baby names finder and due date calculator
• Bumpie photo diary for weekly bump photos

Strengths

The 3D visuals are the most detailed in the category. BabyCenter's fetal development imagery and "inside the uterus" style visuals go further than most competitors' static week-by-week graphics.

Birth Clubs are grouped by due-date month. If you want to talk specifically with people due around the same time as you, this structure gets you there directly, rather than a general forum.

Longstanding, established community. BabyCenter's Birth Clubs have existed for years and stay active day and night, which some people find reassuring at 2am.

Limitations

It's ad-supported, like What to Expect. Some features and a smoother experience sit behind optional in-app purchases.

No nutrition or broader health tracking. Like What to Expect, BabyCenter is focused on pregnancy content and community rather than mood, sleep, or nutrition.

Due-date-grouped community can feel narrow. If your due date changes, or you want broader topic-based discussion, the Birth Club structure is less flexible than a general forum.

Pricing

Free: 3D visuals, daily updates, symptom tracker, contraction timer, and Birth Clubs access. Ad-supported, with optional in-app purchases.

Download: Available on iOS and Android

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The Third Option: Go Go Gaia

If what you actually want is neither editorial content nor community, but your pregnancy tracked privately alongside the rest of your health, that's a different kind of app entirely. Go Go Gaia is a newer, all-in-one health tracker with pregnancy as one part of a broader record, and it's a common pairing with What to Expect or BabyCenter rather than a replacement for either.

What It Adds

• Pregnancy mode with a week-by-week timeline organized by trimester
• Kick counter with session timing and strength rating
• Contraction timer with duration, intensity, and interval tracking
• 350+ metrics tracked across nutrition, mood, sleep, and cycle, not just pregnancy
• 1-click logging for quick daily entries
• No ads, no data selling

Honest Limitations

• No community or editorial content. Go Go Gaia doesn't have forums like What to Expect's Moms Forum or BabyCenter's Birth Clubs, and it doesn't publish original articles the way either does, so it pairs well with a content app rather than replacing one.
• No 3D fetal visuals. Tracking is number-and-timeline based, not the interactive imagery BabyCenter offers.
• iOS only. There's no Android app. A web app is available for other platforms, but the full experience is iPhone-only right now.
• Newer app. It has a much smaller user base and a shorter track record than either Everyday Health Group app.

Pricing

Free: Pregnancy tracking with kick counter, contraction timer, and the broader 350+ metric tracker. No ads.

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

Download: Available on iOS App Store

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Side-by-Side Feature Comparison

Here's every major pregnancy-relevant feature compared across all three apps. Check marks mean the feature is included, locks mean it requires a paid upgrade, warning signs mean it's limited or worth double-checking, and X marks mean it's not available.

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Both Are Ad-Supported: What That Means for Your Data

What to Expect and BabyCenter are both free because they're funded by ads, not subscriptions. That's a genuinely different model than a paid or ad-free app, and it's worth understanding rather than treating as a red flag by default. Ad-supported apps are common across the pregnancy app category, and being free is a real advantage for a lot of people.

The part worth knowing plainly, laid out with dates: Everyday Health Group acquired BabyCenter in 2019, and today both apps' privacy policies, ad practices, and data-handling decisions are ultimately managed at the Everyday Health Group / Ziff Davis level. That doesn't mean the two apps' privacy policies are identical, and it doesn't mean either app has done anything wrong. It means read each app's current privacy policy before entering sensitive pregnancy data, the same way you'd want to with any free, ad-supported app.

This is part of why some people pair What to Expect or BabyCenter, for the content and community, with a separate private tracker for the actual day-to-day logging of symptoms, weight, mood, or nutrition. You get the editorial content or the due-date community from one app, and keep the more sensitive daily tracking data in a second, non-ad-supported app.

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Which Should You Choose?

Since both apps share a parent company, this comes down more to feature preference than to picking a side. Here's the honest breakdown:

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are What to Expect and BabyCenter owned by the same company?

Both are owned by Everyday Health Group, a division of Ziff Davis Inc. (NASDAQ: ZD). Everyday Health Group acquired BabyCenter in 2019 and already published What to Expect, and today both brands sit under its Pregnancy & Parenting division. They're run as separate apps with separate teams and separate content, but the same parent company owns both, so choosing between them isn't really choosing between two competitors in the traditional sense.

What's the actual difference between What to Expect and BabyCenter if they have the same owner?

The apps are built around different strengths even under shared ownership. What to Expect leans on its editorial identity, built from Heidi Murkoff's book franchise, with week-by-week guides and a Moms Forum. BabyCenter leans on visual tools and community structure, with 3D fetal development visuals and Birth Clubs organized by due-date month. If you want book-brand editorial content, What to Expect fits. If you want due-date-matched community groups and visual fetal development tracking, BabyCenter fits.

Are What to Expect and BabyCenter free?

Both apps are free to download and use, and both run on an ad-supported model with optional in-app purchases for an ad-free or expanded experience. Neither requires payment to access their core week-by-week tracking, symptom logging, or community features.

Which app has a better community, What to Expect or BabyCenter?

It depends on the kind of community you want. What to Expect's Moms Forum groups discussion loosely by topic and stage. BabyCenter's Birth Clubs group members specifically by due-date month, so you're talking to other people due around the same time as you, which some people find more relevant. Both are active, longstanding communities, so it often comes down to which structure you prefer rather than one being objectively bigger.

Should I use both What to Expect and BabyCenter, or just one?

Some people do use both, since they're free and cover slightly different ground, but there's real overlap given the shared ownership and similar feature sets. A more common pattern is picking one of the two for content and community, then pairing it with a separate, private tracker for the actual day-to-day logging of symptoms, weight, or mood, so that data isn't tied to an ad-supported platform.

Is my data private on What to Expect or BabyCenter?

Both apps are free because they're ad-supported, which is a different data model than a paid or ad-free app. Ad-supported apps generally rely on some amount of data use for targeting and analytics as part of how they're funded. Read each app's current privacy policy before entering sensitive information, and know that both apps' policies are managed at the Everyday Health Group / Ziff Davis level rather than independently.

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Want to See More Apps Compared?

This guide focused on What to Expect vs BabyCenter, but there are other pregnancy apps worth a look depending on what you need, including ones outside the Everyday Health Group family entirely.

• Ovia vs What to Expect vs BabyCenter: Full 3-Way Comparison →
• Flo vs Ovia: Cycle & Pregnancy Compared (2026) →

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