N1-Headache vs Claru (2026): Honest Comparison

Short answer: N1-Headache is the most scientific trigger tool you can put on a phone. If you will answer a questionnaire every day for three months, it can tell you which factors are linked to your migraines, which seem to protect you and which you can stop worrying about. Claru is for people who will not keep up a daily questionnaire, or who want useful answers sooner: you log attacks in seconds, by voice if you like, see a risk forecast from week one, and keep a record your doctor can read. Claru is also actively developed. N1-Headache's last update was in January 2023.

We make Claru, so weigh our view accordingly. Facts about N1-Headache come from its website, FAQ, pricing page, privacy policy and store listings, checked on October 12, 2026.

At a glance

Two different philosophies

N1-Headache comes from Curelator, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company founded in 2013. Its idea is sound and backed by research: triggers differ from person to person, so you have to study each person separately. In a 2016 study published in Cephalalgia with the Medical University of Vienna, 326 people kept the diary for 90 days. The analysis found possible triggers for 87% of them, about four each, and 85% had a combination nobody else in the study had.

To make that work, N1 needs data on good days as well as bad ones. Every day you answer modules on sleep, emotions, food, drink, environment, weather, travel, your cycle and more, over 70 factors in total. After at least 90 days it draws maps: triggers, protectors, factors with no association and factors without enough data yet. Showing what is not linked to your attacks is clever. It can free you from avoiding foods or habits for no reason.

Claru takes a different route. We assume most people will log attacks reliably but will not complete a long survey every evening for three months. So Claru makes attack logging as light as possible, pulls weather, pressure, air quality and pollen automatically, and looks for patterns as soon as there are about ten entries. You can log sleep, exercise and other events too, which strengthens the analysis, but nothing breaks if you skip a day.

Our honest view: if you have the discipline for N1's protocol, its trigger results rest on stronger statistics than any quick-start tracker, Claru included. Most people do not, and a perfect method that you abandon in week three tells you nothing.

The daily effort

The most common complaint in N1-Headache's Google Play reviews is the questionnaire itself. Reviewers describe one question per screen, questions you cannot skip and required start and end times, which is hard to manage during an attack. Its store listing says tracking takes about five minutes a day.

Claru's quickest path is to tap the microphone and say what is happening: "Since lunch, pulsing on both temples, around five out of ten, skipped breakfast, took naproxen." The AI fills in the attack form and you check it. During a bad attack, the "I have a migraine now" button opens Migraine Mode, a dark, full-screen view with large buttons and your emergency contact. Free accounts include three voice logs a month and unlimited manual logs.

Looking ahead, not only back

N1-Headache explains your past. It has no forecast.

Claru's home screen shows today's migraine risk (low, moderate, high or severe), how confident the estimate is, and the reasons: a recent cluster, a weekday that is usually bad for you, falling pressure, poor air quality, short sleep, high stress or your cycle phase. You can turn on alerts for high-risk days. It is free and starts working before you have months of data, then gets more personal as your history grows.

Is the app still maintained?

This matters more than it sounds. According to both app stores, N1-Headache's latest version is 3.0.2 from January 18, 2023, and Curelator's most recent press release dates from 2021. The app still installs and its US App Store rating is a respectable 4.4, but its Google Play rating is 2.7 and reviewers mention crashes and errors when adding medication. Phone operating systems change every year, and an app without updates tends to break eventually.

Claru shipped its latest version in September 2026 and is updated regularly.

Reports for your doctor

Both apps produce a PDF. N1-Headache's report includes your headache calendar, a menstruation diary, your MIDAS disability score and, with Premium, your trigger and protector maps. That is a strong document for a headache specialist.

Claru Pro's report covers 7 days, 30 days or 3 months, and you pick the sections: overview, frequency, severity distribution, triggers, medication log, relief follow-ups and every entry. Because Claru asks a few hours after each attack whether your treatment helped, the medication section shows real effectiveness and time to relief, not just what you took. Want a quick disability score without any app? Try our free MIDAS migraine score calculator.

Price

N1-Headache's model is friendly: Premium is a single $49.99 purchase, with no subscription. The diary, medication tracking and a summary report are free, and doctors can unlock Premium for patients with a clinician code.

Claru's free plan includes unlimited attack logging, Migraine Mode, the forecast and basic insights. Claru Pro costs $12.99 a month or $59.99 a year in the US App Store and adds weather and medication analysis, multi-factor patterns, the weekly summary, unlimited voice logging and history, and the doctor PDF.

Data and research

N1-Headache's privacy policy says it shares de-identified data with research groups and with sponsors and business partners. Its conference research has helped the field, including work questioning popular trigger myths. Claru's privacy policy says we do not sell your health data, and you can export or delete everything inside the app.

Choose N1-Headache if

• You want the most rigorous answer to "what triggers my migraines?"
• You will answer a questionnaire every single day for at least three months.
• Knowing your protective factors matters to you.
• You prefer a one-time payment, or your doctor has given you a clinician code.

Choose Claru if

• Daily questionnaires are something you know you will drop.
• You want to log attacks in seconds, by voice, even mid-migraine.
• You want a forecast, not only a look back.
• You want an app that is actively updated.
• You need the app in Spanish.

A combined approach

Some people do both: run N1-Headache's 90-day study once to map triggers, then use Claru day to day to log attacks, follow forecasts and track whether medication works. If you do, add the triggers N1 identified to your Claru setup so its insights start from what you already know.

Comparing more apps? Read Claru vs Migraine Buddy, Claru vs Bearable our list of N1-Headache alternatives that are still updated and our guide to keeping a migraine trigger diary.

Based on N1-Headache's website, FAQ, pricing page, privacy policy and store listings, checked October 12, 2026. Features and prices can change. Claru is a wellness tool and does not replace medical advice.