On 1 January 2026, AppClose retired its free tier after more than a decade of being one of the most-recommended free co-parenting apps. The new pricing is around $8.99 per month per parent — meaning a typical co-parenting family now pays close to $216 per year just to send messages and track expenses they were tracking for free a few months ago.
If you're reading this, you've probably just hit the paywall, or your ex has, or your lawyer told you to find a replacement. This guide is the practical answer: five genuinely free co-parenting apps in 2026, what they're good at, and where they fall short.
Quick context: AppClose isn't the only one. TalkingParents retired its free plan in March 2026, OurFamilyWizard has always been paid, and Cozi was never really designed for co-parenting. The "free co-parenting app" market shrank dramatically in the first half of 2026.
Why AppClose Went Paid
AppClose's original revenue model relied on transaction fees from its in-app payment platform ("ipayou"). As the free user base grew, infrastructure and support costs outgrew that revenue. In late 2025 they announced the change, gave users a six-week notice window, and switched billing on 1 January.
The transition was bumpy: many users reported losing access to historical messages until they paid, although AppClose later clarified that exports were still available from the settings menu before account lapse.
If you still have an AppClose account: export first
Before you cancel or stop paying, export everything. AppClose lets you download your message history, custody calendar, and expense records as PDFs. Do this now — these are admissible in family court and you may need them later for CAFCASS or solicitor review.
- Open AppClose → Settings → Export Data
- Download Messages, Calendar, and Expenses as separate PDFs
- Save copies in two places (cloud + local) — courts sometimes ask for them years later
The 5 Best Free Alternatives to AppClose (2026)
1 Larkling
Most feature-complete free tierBest for: Families who want the full AppClose feature set — messaging, calendar, expenses, court-ready PDF — without the paywall, and want inclusive setup for LGBTQ+, blended, donor-conceived, or non-traditional families.
What's free: Family-scoped secure messaging, shared custody calendar, expense tracking with receipt uploads, journal entries, court-ready tamper-evident PDF export, AI tone coach (limited daily uses), GDPR data export and deletion.
What's paid: Premium (per family, not per parent) unlocks unlimited tone-coach uses, unlimited document storage, and priority support. There's no time-limited free trial — the free tier doesn't expire.
Court compatibility: PDF exports are tamper-evident, timestamped, and routinely accepted in UK and US family courts. See the full guide.
Try it: app.larklingapp.com — no credit card. Full comparison vs Talking Parents · vs OurFamilyWizard.
2 Kidtime
Best for low-conflict calendar-only familiesBest for: Families whose co-parenting is mostly about the schedule. If you don't need heavy documentation and you mostly want a shared calendar that doesn't get into arguments, Kidtime is excellent.
What's free: Custody calendar, schedule templates, basic chat, notes. No expiry on the free tier.
Limitations: Communication-light — no tone coaching, no detailed expense tracking, no AI features, no built-in court-ready PDF on the free tier (paid tier adds this).
Court compatibility: Schedule history is exportable but the messaging records are less robust than Larkling, OurFamilyWizard, or AppClose for high-conflict litigation.
3 BestInterest
Best for US-based families on iPhoneBest for: US-based co-parents, particularly iPhone users, who want a clean mobile-first experience and don't mind a younger product.
What's free: The mobile app and core features are not paywalled. Messaging, calendar, expense tracking.
Limitations: Newer product, smaller community, less court track record than AppClose, OurFamilyWizard, or Larkling. Less mature web experience.
4 2Houses (Free Tier)
Best for shared expensesBest for: Families whose biggest pain point is splitting expenses cleanly between two homes. 2Houses' expense module is its strongest feature.
What's free: Limited free tier — calendar, basic expense entries, journal. Full features require paid subscription.
Limitations: The free tier is meaningfully more constrained than Larkling's. Most features push toward upgrade.
5 Google Calendar + Signal
Best for very low-conflict situationsBest for: Co-parents in genuinely amicable relationships with no court order, no expectation of litigation, and no need for tamper-evident records.
What's free: Everything. Google Calendar (shared) for the schedule. Signal (end-to-end encrypted) for messaging.
Critical limitations: Neither was designed for co-parenting. Messages can be edited or deleted on Signal. Calendar events can be silently changed. If your situation might end up in family court, do not rely on this combination — you'll wish you had tamper-evident records.
Feature Comparison at a Glance
| Feature | AppClose (paid) | Larkling (free) | Kidtime (free) | BestInterest (free) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secure messaging | Paid | ✅ Free | Basic | ✅ Free |
| Shared calendar | Paid | ✅ Free | ✅ Free | ✅ Free |
| Expense tracking | Paid | ✅ Free | Limited | ✅ Free |
| Court-ready PDF export | Paid | ✅ Free | Paid tier only | Limited |
| AI tone coaching | No | ✅ Free (limited) | No | No |
| LGBTQ+ inclusive setup | Limited | ✅ Built-in | Limited | Limited |
| Per-family pricing (not per-parent) | No | ✅ Yes | — | — |
| Free tier expires? | — | Never | Never | Never |
| Cost | $8.99/mo per parent | £0 (Premium per family) | £0 (Pro tier paid) | £0 |
How to Switch from AppClose to Larkling (or any free alternative)
If you're moving off AppClose, here's the safest sequence:
- Export everything from AppClose first — messages, calendar, expenses. Save in two places.
- Tell your co-parent. Even if you're high-conflict, signal a date you'll switch — courts look favourably on giving notice.
- If you're under a court order naming AppClose, do not switch unilaterally. File for a variation, or have your solicitor write a letter agreeing the change.
- Set up the new app and have your co-parent join. Larkling uses a family invite code — no email exchange needed.
- Run them in parallel for two weeks if either of you is uncertain.
- Cancel AppClose once you're confident the new app captures everything.
What Courts Will Accept
UK family courts, CAFCASS, and the equivalent US family courts do not formally certify any single co-parenting app. What they need is:
- Tamper-evident: records can't be edited after the fact
- Timestamped: every message and event shows a server-side time
- Two-sided: shows both parties' messages, not just yours
- Exportable as PDF: handed to a judge as a paginated document, not a screenshot album
Larkling, OurFamilyWizard, Talking Parents, and AppClose all meet these requirements. See the full court-admissibility guide for what your solicitor will actually need.
Get the full Premium tier free for 30 days
If you've just been pushed off AppClose, Larkling Premium is free for the first 200 families that join in June 2026 — full message history, unlimited tone coach uses, priority support. No credit card.
Open Larkling →Frequently Asked Questions
Is AppClose still free in 2026?
No. AppClose ended its free tier on 1 January 2026. The new subscription is approximately $8.99 per month per parent (so $215 per year for a typical two-parent family). A 60-day free trial is available, and there's a hardship-assistance scheme for survivors of domestic abuse and parents on low incomes.
Can I keep using AppClose for free under the hardship scheme?
Yes — AppClose continues to offer free accounts for documented hardship cases (low income, survivors of domestic abuse, parents named on a court order with no means to pay). Apply through their support team with documentation.
Why is Larkling free when AppClose isn't?
Larkling's economics are different. We don't run a payment-processing business that needs to be subsidised, and we don't try to match enterprise-grade features that families don't actually need. Premium is per-family (not per-parent), so one paying family covers two users at once, which lets us keep the core tier free.
Will Larkling also go paid in a year or two?
The core tier is free forever and that's a written commitment. The Premium tier is what funds the company — we believe in charging for advanced features, not for basic communication during separation.
Can I trust a newer app with sensitive family communication?
It's a fair question. Larkling is built on UK/EU-region infrastructure (Supabase EU, Cloudflare), encrypts data in transit and at rest, and is GDPR-compliant with full export and deletion controls. You can read the full privacy approach in our privacy policy.
Related reading
- Talking Parents went paid in March 2026 — here's the same playbook
- OurFamilyWizard vs Talking Parents vs Larkling: full comparison
- Cheapest court-approved co-parenting apps in the UK
- What courts actually want to see: a guide to admissible records
- Best co-parenting apps in the UK 2026
Founder of Larkling. Built the app after experiencing the frustration of paying just to stay organised while co-parenting. Committed to making co-parenting tools that work for every kind of family. Larkling is free forever for core features, per-family pricing for Premium.