Healium and Headspace are both digital wellness platforms designed to help users manage stress, improve focus, sleep, and support emotional well-being. While they share a common mission, the way they deliver experiences and the environments in which they’re built are vastly different.
This article compares Healium and Headspace to help organizations such as mental health clinics, VA hospitals, schools, and research institutions determine which platform offers the best fit.
|
Category |
Healium |
Headspace |
|
Target Markets |
Therapists, clinics, schools, hospitals, VA programs, pain clinics, researchers, and other wellness professionals |
Individuals, Employers, Health Plans, Coaches, Therapists (via Headspace Care) |
|
Core Technology |
VR meditation visualized by the user's real-time biofeedback (using EEG headbands, and smart watches for heart rate) and mobile companion app |
Mobile App, Web, Mindfulness Coaching, Behavioral Health (Headspace Care) |
|
Content Focus |
Stress, anxiety, positivity, focus, mindfulness, and sleep. Plus, Veterans-focused bonus content featuring the WWII, Vietnam, Korea, and Women's Memorials. |
Stress, Sleep, Mindfulness, Burnout, Emotional Support |
|
Biofeedback Integration |
✓ Variety of wearables (including EEG and heart-rate feedback visualized in real time) |
❌ No direct EEG/HR integration; behavioral data only |
|
Pricing / Access Model |
Subscription-based with clinician, research, and institution packages. |
Subscription (individual and enterprise); telehealth plans via Headspace Care |
|
Clinical Validation / Research Backing |
Backed by numerous peer-reviewed journals and published studies on stress and anxiety reduction, sleep, mood, and resilience improvement |
Multiple large-scale RCTs, especially for Headspace Care |
|
Device Compatibility |
Compatible devices include VR goggles such as Meta Quest, Pico, and Apple Vision Pro + popular wearables (like Apple Watch, Samsung watch, Muse 2, Brainlink Lite EEG headbands) Plus a mobile companion app is available for Android and Apple IOS. |
Mobile (iOS/Android), desktop, some telehealth integrations |
|
Unique Differentiator |
Real-time biofeedback training from a variety of wearables + new beautiful, immersive, award-winning content every 60 days. |
Coaching + app-based mindfulness with clinical integration (Headspace Care) |
Healium is a mental wellness platform that combines virtual reality and real-time biofeedback to help users regulate stress, focus, sleep, and emotional balance. Developed for enterprise and clinical environments, Healium supports therapists, schools, clinics, hospitals, VA facilities, and research teams through immersive experiences that adapt to the user’s physiological data, such as brainwaves and heart rate.
Designed with scalability and outcomes in mind, Healium is clinically validated and includes tools like multi-user dashboards, HIPAA-compliant architecture, and onboarding resources. These features allow organizations to deliver trackable, measurable, and repeatable mental health interventions across teams or patient populations.
Headspace is a leading digital mindfulness and meditation app that helps users improve mental well-being through guided meditations, focus exercises, sleep support, and emotional regulation tools. Initially launched for individual consumers, Headspace has since expanded into workplace wellness and digital health delivery through its platform Headspace for Work and clinical offering Headspace Care.
Headspace focuses on simplicity and accessibility, offering daily mental health support that easily fits into busy schedules. For organizations, it provides app-based access, licensed behavioral health coaching, and evidence-based mental health programs.
Healium’s immersive biofeedback training is designed for clinical, educational, and research-based environments, making it a strong choice for therapists, VA hospitals, schools, and wellness teams seeking to deliver immersive, measurable, data-informed interventions. It’s ideal for programs that require outcome tracking, physiological feedback, and regulatory readiness.
Headspace, by contrast, is primarily aimed at individuals and corporate wellness programs. Through Headspace Care, it also reaches into behavioral health by offering coaching and therapy, but its primary use remains self-guided meditation and emotional support, not real-time biofeedback training.
Healium uses VR goggles, EEG headbands, and Apple Watch heart rate data to create immersive, biometric-driven environments. These experiences visually change in response to the user’s stress levels, providing a real-time feedback loop based on their inner state.
Headspace primarily operates through mobile apps and desktop platforms, delivering audio- and video-based content. While its Headspace XR utilizes VR and the Headspace Care program may include behavioral coaching or teletherapy, they do not incorporate EEG or physiological sensors.
Healium is backed by peer-reviewed scientific research, demonstrating significant improvements in anxiety reduction, sleep, and mood improvement. Its integration with biometric devices allows organizations to validate and visualize progress with biometric data, such as changes in brainwave patterns.
Headspace has also invested heavily in clinical research, especially through its Headspace Care offering. Large-scale studies, including randomized controlled trials, have shown Headspace to be effective for stress, anxiety, and sleep improvement. However, these outcomes are typically based on self-reported use, not biofeedback metrics.
Healium is built from the ground up to support large-scale deployments across clinical teams, school districts, or veteran networks. Its enterprise toolkit includes multi-user management, onboarding, dashboards, and HIPAA-compliant infrastructure all tailored for institutional use.
Headspace offers enterprise solutions through Headspace for Work and Headspace Care, providing content access, coaching, and integration with EAPs and health plans. While scalable in terms of content distribution and user volume, it does not include biometric monitoring.
Healium operates on a subscription model for organizations and clinics, with pricing tied to the number of headsets or users. Biofeedback features are included in the software license, and Healium kits come equipped with EEG headbands or smart watches.
Headspace offers individual and enterprise pricing through monthly or annual subscriptions. Employers or health systems can purchase access for large groups, and Headspace Care services may be included in health plans.
Both Healium and Headspace support emotional wellness and stress management, but they’re designed with different audiences in mind. Headspace excels as a widely accessible platform for individual users and workplace wellness, offering mindfulness content and behavioral coaching through a simple mobile interface.
Healium, however, is the best fit for organizations and clinics that need a scalable, clinically validated VR solution tied to real-time biofeedback and neurofeedack. Its integration with EEG and heart rate devices, along with its enterprise tools for tracking and onboarding, makes it ideal for mental health professionals, educators, researchers, and healthcare teams who want measured mindfulness.
Looking for a Headspace alternative that offers measurable, immersive mental health experiences for your team or patients? Healium combines virtual reality with biometric feedback to create engaging, results-driven experiences tailored for organizations.
Connect with Healium’s team to explore how VR-powered, data-informed mental wellness can enhance your programs.