A streak is a debt
Day 60 is worth more than day 1, so the cost of missing grows every day you succeed. The app you opened to build a habit becomes the reason you dread opening it.
Goal tracking, without the guilt
The next stone.
Not the whole mountain.
Streak apps show you a number you are terrified to lose. Cairn breaks a goal into markers and shows you exactly one at a time, so a bad week costs you a week, not the goal.
Free forever for three goals. No card, no trial countdown.
Why streaks break people
One miss and it is over
The counter resets to zero and takes your motivation with it. Nothing about your fitness, your writing or your savings actually reset. Only the number did.
Daily is the wrong unit
Most goals worth having are not daily. Shipping a side project, learning to swim, paying off a card: these move in steps, at irregular intervals, and a calendar grid cannot see any of it.
Three steps, then it gets out of the way
-
Name the goal
One sentence, in your words. "Run a half marathon." "Ship the app." No categories to pick, no template to fill in.
-
Cairn suggests the markers
It proposes a path of concrete, checkable steps and you edit them. Markers are things you either did or did not do, never "make progress on".
-
You see one at a time
The home screen shows the next marker and nothing else. Miss a week and it stays exactly where it was, waiting, with no red numbers.
What you get
Markers, not check boxes
Each one is a real thing you did. Finished, dated, and yours to look back on.
Re-plan without losing history
Change the path whenever life does. Everything you already finished stays finished.
A weekly nudge, not a daily one
One message a week: here is your next marker. Turn it off and nothing breaks.
Private by default
No feed, no followers, no leaderboard. Your goals are not content.
Your data leaves easily
Export every goal and marker as JSON or CSV, any time, without asking.
Works offline
Tick a marker on a plane. It syncs when you land, and never blocks you meanwhile.
Pricing
Two plans. The free one is genuinely usable, which is the point.
Free
£0
For one goal at a time, done properly.
- Three active goals
- Unlimited markers
- Weekly nudge
- Full export
Most people
Pro
£4/month
For when you are running several things at once.
- Unlimited goals
- Suggested markers from your own history
- Shared goals with one other person
- Review notes on every marker
Questions
Is this just a to-do list?
A to-do list is flat and infinite. Cairn holds one goal, an ordered path to it, and a single next step. Finishing a to-do clears a row; finishing a marker moves you along a route you can see.
What if I fall behind?
Nothing happens. There is no streak to lose and no counter to reset. The next marker is still the next marker whenever you come back to it.
Do I have to use the suggested markers?
No. They are a starting point so you are not staring at an empty screen. Rewrite, reorder or delete any of them, and the goal is unaffected.
Can I get my data out?
Yes, on every plan, as JSON or CSV, without contacting anyone. An app that holds your goals hostage does not deserve them.
Which platforms?
Web today, on any modern browser, offline capable. iOS and Android are in progress and every plan includes them when they land.
Pick one goal. See one step.
Three goals free, forever. No card, no countdown, and an export button from the first day.
One email to set your password. Nothing else, ever.