# Steppa vs Forfeit: Pay a Penalty or Win From a Shared Step Pool

> Steppa vs Forfeit: an app that charges you when you miss a goal, or a step challenge where missed stakes go to the finishers. Proof and costs.

Source: https://playsteppa.com/blog/steppa-vs-forfeit/
Published: 2026-10-20
Author: The Steppa Team, Steppa (https://playsteppa.com)

## Key Takeaways

- Forfeit charges your card when you miss a commitment, and its terms say that money is kept by Forfeit for now.
- On Steppa, a missed day's stake goes to the players who finished, and Steppa takes nothing from the pool.
- Forfeit checks almost any goal, by photo, timelapse, GPS, Apple Health, screen time or a friend; Steppa checks only steps.
- Forfeit runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and the web; Steppa is iPhone only.
- Choose Forfeit for solo goals of any kind; choose Steppa when you want your daily steps to be able to pay you back.

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Forfeit is the stronger tool if you want to hold yourself to almost any goal, from the gym to screen time, on any device, and you are fine with missed money going to Forfeit. Steppa is the better fit if your goal is daily steps on an iPhone and you want the money from missed days to go to the people who kept going.

Both put a price on letting yourself off the hook. The difference is who gets paid. Forfeit is a solo penalty; Steppa is a pool shared with other players. We make Steppa, so the Forfeit details below come from its own site, terms and App Store page.

## Steppa vs Forfeit at a glance

| | Forfeit | Steppa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Goals | Almost anything you can prove, from photos and places to screen time and steps | Daily steps only |
| Proof | Photo, timelapse, GPS, Apple Health, screen time, a timer, a friend or yourself | Steps read from Apple Health |
| When you miss | Your card is charged the amount you set | Your stake stays in the pool |
| Who gets missed money | Forfeit, for now | The players who finish |
| When you succeed | Nothing is charged | You split the pool with other finishers |
| Paid plans | From $3.99 a week to $99.99 a year on the App Store | None needed to stake; a service fee at join |
| Phones | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, web | iPhone only |
| App Store rating (Oct 2026) | 4.8 from 364 ratings | 4.6 from about 1,700 ratings |
| Best for | Solo goals of any kind | Daily steps with other players |

## How Forfeit keeps you honest

You set a commitment, choose how it will be checked, and put money on it. The site's examples run from $5 to $200 per miss. The proof options are wide: a photo checked by AI, a timelapse checked by a person, a GPS check-in, an Apple Health or Health Connect threshold such as 10,000 steps, Screen Time or RescueTime, a timer, a friend, or your own word.

Miss, and your card is charged through a hold placed in advance, and the terms allow up to three charges per commitment. If you think the check got it wrong, you can appeal; the site says a person reviews appeals within 12 hours. Hard mode turns appeals off. Forfeit's site says 94.2% of commitments succeed, a figure it publishes about itself.

## How Steppa does it

Steppa does one thing. Every challenge has a daily step goal that all its players share, counted midnight to midnight in your own time zone, and you have to reach it every day. Miss a day and you are out. Official challenges usually last a week or two, and three-day ones are common. You can also make your own: 5 to 180 days, 5,000 to 50,000 steps a day, and $10 to $1,000 each.

## Who keeps the money

This is the real split between the two. Forfeit's terms say money from missed commitments is kept by Forfeit for now, with options to send it to friends or savings in development.

On Steppa, missed stakes go to the finishers and Steppa keeps none of the pool. Take a made-up 10-day challenge where 25 players stake $50 each and 20 finish. The $1,250 pool splits 20 ways, $62.50 each. Every player paid a $2.50 service fee at join (for most players $0.50 plus 4% of the stake, shown before you pay), so each finisher ends $10 ahead and each of the five who missed is down $52.50. If all 25 had finished, each would simply get the $50 back, less the fee.

Forfeit, by contrast, charges you nothing when you succeed. That makes it cheaper if you almost never miss, and Steppa better if you want succeeding to pay.

## Plans, refunds and the fine print

Forfeit's App Store page lists paid plans from $3.99 a week to $99.99 a year, and an AI coach called Overlord for $12.99 a month. Whether you need a plan just to stake is not listed on their site as of October 2026. Its terms say fees are non-refundable and that refunds are not given after two weeks. A Beeminder forum review praised its clean design and warned that you can derail fast, and some reviewers say paying a subscription on top of penalties is steep for students.

Steppa's money rules fit in a few lines. A public challenge that is short of paid players when joining closes is cancelled, and everyone is credited back. Results settle at 12:00 UTC two days after the last day, and winnings go to your in-app balance. From the balance you can pay out to PayPal, usable outside the US as well, or to a US bank account. Steppa charges nothing for a standard US bank transfer and shows any PayPal fee up front, before you confirm.

## Who each one suits

Forfeit suits you if you:

- want to commit to something other than steps, such as a workout you can photograph or a screen-time limit
- use Android, a Mac or the web
- like the option of appealing a charge to a real person

Steppa suits you if you:

- want your step goal checked by Apple Health every day
- would rather missed money went to the players who finished
- like a challenge with a clear end, measured in days

Forfeit asks that you be of legal age, and Steppa is for adults 18 and over. Paid play on Steppa depends on local law; it is available where its [Terms](https://legal.playsteppa.com/terms) allow.

The [best step challenge apps](/blog/best-step-challenge-apps/) guide looks at the apps made for walking goals, and the [comparison hub](/blog/steppa-alternatives-and-comparisons/) has every Steppa comparison in one place.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Where does the money go when you miss a goal on Forfeit?**
To Forfeit. Its terms say the money is kept by Forfeit for now, and that options to send it to friends or into savings are in development. Whether you can send a forfeit to a charity is not listed on their site as of October 2026. On Steppa, a missed day keeps your stake in the pool, and the whole pool is split among the players who finished.

**Can I appeal a Forfeit charge?**
Yes, unless you chose hard mode. Forfeit's site says a person reviews appeals within 12 hours, and hard mode turns appeals off for people who want no way out. Steppa has no appeal over steps: it uses what Apple Health recorded by the time the challenge settles, at 12:00 UTC two days after the last day, which leaves a full day for a late watch sync.

**Does Forfeit need a subscription?**
Forfeit's App Store page lists paid plans from $3.99 a week up to $99.99 a year, plus an AI coach called Overlord at $12.99 a month. Whether you need a paid plan just to set a stake is not listed on their site as of October 2026. Steppa has no plan you need to stake: you pay a service fee when you join, for most players $0.50 plus 4% of the stake.

**Can Forfeit check my steps?**
Yes. One of Forfeit's proof options reads Apple Health on iPhone, or Health Connect on Android, against a threshold such as 10,000 steps. Steppa also reads Apple Health, and steps only: any watch or tracker that syncs into Apple Health on your iPhone counts, such as an Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Oura or Whoop. Steps typed into Apple Health by hand never count on Steppa.

## Sources

- [Forfeit official site (proof methods, appeals, success claim), read October 2026](https://forfeit.app/)
- [Forfeit terms of service (charges, refunds, where money goes), read October 2026](https://forfeit.app/terms)
- [Forfeit on the App Store (rating, plan prices), read October 2026](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/-/id1633125787)
- [Beeminder forum: Review, Forfeit is the Yoda of commitment device apps, read October 2026](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/review-forfeit-is-the-yoda-of-commitment-device-apps/11021)
- [Steppa on the App Store, read October 2026](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/steppa-step-challenges/id6755126064)
- [Steppa Terms and Conditions](https://legal.playsteppa.com/terms)