AppClose Pricing 2026: What It Costs Now
AppClose costs $7.99 a month on the web ($83.88 a year, or $143.76 for two years) or $8.99 a month in the iOS and Android app ($98.99 a year), per parent. After more than a decade of being free, AppClose — often written App Close — ended its free tier on January 1, 2026. If you opened the app this year and ran into a paywall, you weren't imagining it.
Here's exactly what changed, what AppClose costs now, what's still free, how the fee waiver works, and what your options are if the subscription doesn't fit. Prices were checked on August 29, 2026 against appclose.com and the AppClose help center.
What changed on January 1, 2026
AppClose was free for over a decade and built one of the largest user bases in the category — over 1 million Google Play downloads and a global user community that includes co-parents under court order to use a co-parenting app. That free model ended on January 1, 2026, when AppClose switched to a single paid subscription tier for all users.
New and existing users now need an active subscription to send messages, make calls, or create new requests. Accounts that don't subscribe aren't deleted — they move to a free read-only mode (details below).
How much does the AppClose parenting app cost?
AppClose has one feature tier. The price depends on where you subscribe and how far ahead you pay:
| Monthly | 1 year | 2 years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web (appclose.com) | $7.99 | $83.88 (≈ $6.99/mo) | $143.76 (≈ $5.99/mo) |
| App (iOS / Android) | $8.99 | $98.99 (≈ $8.25/mo) | Web only |
| Free trial | 60 days, no credit card |
Each subscription covers one account — "for a co-parent to answer calls and see messages, they must also have an active subscription." Two parents on the web annual plan is $167.76 a year; two on the app monthly plan is $215.76. You can buy your co-parent's subscription for them on the web.
AppClose's homepage still says "we don't force you into annual plans" — monthly is the default and you can cancel anytime — but the prepaid plans are cheaper, and AppClose says so itself: "Subscribing on the web is cheaper than subscribing in the mobile app, and prepaid Annual and 2-Year plans save you even more."
The full feature set is included at every price — no per-feature upcharges, no premium tier above the standard plan.
Is AppClose free?
Not for active use. Since January 1, 2026, sending messages, making calls, and creating requests all require a subscription. Three things are still free:
- The 60-day trial — every feature, no card.
- Read-only mode. If you stop paying, your account isn't locked: "you can still sign in, view your past account activity, and export your past records," including Certified Electronic Business Records exports for US users, at no charge. You just can't communicate.
- Fee waivers for qualifying families, which give full access for a renewable year (next section).
Fee waivers for hardship and DV survivors
AppClose grants fee waivers for financial hardship and for survivors of domestic violence. Its terms describe hardship waivers for "families who receive certain means-tested government benefits," and its FAQ says an approved waiver provides "full, unlimited access to all AppClose features" — the same all-inclusive plan, for a renewable year. AppClose's homepage says it has given "over 23,500 free accounts" on this basis since January 1, 2026.
How to apply: hardship waivers go through AppClose's Fee Waiver Application; a domestic-violence survivor — or an attorney or legal-services organization on their behalf — emails support@appclose.com with the primary email address on the account. AppClose also lists a discount for active military and veterans, without publishing the amount.
If you fall into any of these categories, apply before assuming the $83.88–$98.99 a year is unavoidable. Many AppClose users are under a court order to use a co-parenting app and don't have a choice about whether to pay.
What's included in the AppClose subscription
The full feature set, included at either tier:
- Shared calendar with custody schedule visualization
- 15 pre-built schedule templates for common custody patterns
- 1:1 and group messaging with timestamped, court-admissible records
- Expense tracking with receipt upload and reimbursement requests
- In-app audio and video calling (built into the app, not just messaging)
- Secure file vault for shared documents
- Information bank for emergency contacts, medical info, school details
What's not in AppClose: AI tone analysis on outgoing messages, AI-assisted writing suggestions, or any tone-of-voice tooling for high-conflict conversations. AppClose's positioning is "comprehensive standard toolset"; AI-assisted communication isn't part of it.
Is AppClose a good co-parenting app?
For most co-parents, yes — with one caveat that changed this year.
What it does well: one all-inclusive tier rather than a feature ladder, so there is no guessing which plan you need. In-app audio and video calling that neither parent has to share a phone number for. The largest user base in the category, which matters when the other parent has to agree to install something. A 60-day trial with no card, and a read-only mode that keeps your records reachable if the subscription lapses. Fee waivers cover hardship and domestic-violence survivors.
Where it falls short: the free tier ended on January 1, 2026, so both parents now pay. The interface shows its age next to newer apps. And there is no tone analysis on outgoing messages — if the problem you are solving is how conversations escalate rather than how they are recorded, that gap is the one to weigh.
Who it suits: co-parents who want one subscription covering everything and value in-app calling. Who it does not: anyone who needed the free plan, or anyone whose main difficulty is the temperature of the messages rather than the record of them.
If the price doesn't work for you
AppClose's $7.99–8.99/month subscription is a real shift for users who joined when it was free. The good news: there is still a co-parenting app with a free tier that doesn't expire — ours.
Kidtime — free tier that doesn't expire, with optional Premium
Kidtime offers a free tier with no time limit that covers the core co-parenting workflow most families need, plus a Premium tier that adds the court-focused tools (most notably AI Tone Scan for high-conflict communication). It's also the first co-parenting app with an AI assistant parenting plan builder, free to build:
| Kidtime Free | Kidtime Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0/month, no time limit | $99.99/year, often on sale |
| Free trial of Premium | — | 7 days |
| Custody calendar with templates | ✓ (15+ pre-built templates) | ✓ |
| Coparent messaging | ✓ (timestamped records) | ✓ |
| Notes & memories with photos | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared file vault | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custody time analytics | — | ✓ (auto-generated) |
| Complete data export (Excel + PDF) | — | ✓ |
| Attorney access (view-only portal) | — | ✓ |
| AI Tone Scan (suggests calmer rephrase before you send a heated message) | — | ✓ |
| Other parent must pay | No | No — they can stay on Free |
The free tier covers the core co-parenting workflow — a rolling calendar view (roughly last week plus the next six, moving forward with you), coparent messaging, notes, and file vault. Premium ($99.99/year per parent, frequently on sale, with a 7-day free trial in the app) adds the court-focused tools on top — recorded calls and messages on the record, expense tracking, custody analytics, attorney and mediator access, court-ready exports — plus AI Tone Scan (which checks the tone of your messages before they send and suggests a calmer rephrase if the message reads as heated — particularly useful in high-conflict communication, and a feature TalkingParents only offers in their $352/year Ultimate tier).
If you want a side-by-side comparison of Kidtime and AppClose feature-by-feature, see our Kidtime vs AppClose breakdown.
Other paid alternatives
If you're shopping the category broadly, our 12 best apps for divorced parents in 2026 post has verified 2026 pricing and feature breakdowns for every major co-parenting app, including:
- TalkingParents — ended its free plan on March 30, 2026; $77/yr for Essentials up to $352/yr for Ultimate, per parent (the AI sentiment scanner is locked behind Ultimate). See TalkingParents pricing.
- OurFamilyWizard — four tiers, $110–$300/yr per parent, billed annually. See OurFamilyWizard pricing.
- WeParent, Cozi, 2Houses, Onward, and others.
Bottom line
AppClose's switch from free to a paid subscription ($83.88–$98.99 a year per parent on the annual plans, more month-to-month) is a real change, and for many co-parenting households — especially those paying for both parents at $167.76–$215.76 a year combined — the cost adds up. Read-only mode means your old records aren't lost if you stop paying, and the fee waiver is worth applying for if you qualify. If the new AppClose pricing isn't workable for you, Kidtime gives you a real free path forward without losing the core co-parenting features that made AppClose useful in the first place.
If you're a current AppClose user weighing whether to subscribe or switch, the most useful thing you can do is set up a free trial of one or two alternatives in parallel — AppClose's 60-day free trial overlaps with most competitors' shorter trials, so you can compare side-by-side before any money changes hands.
Sources: appclose.com/pricing and homepage; AppClose help-center articles "Subscription Fee Waiver FAQ" (updated August 10, 2026) and "What is Read-Only Mode" (July 2026); AppClose Terms (February 14, 2026); PR Newswire release of November 21, 2025. Checked August 29, 2026.