Steppa vs Pacer: Free Group Step Challenges or Money on Your Steps

Pacer is the better app if you want a free, highly rated step counter with group challenges for friends, clubs or coworkers, on iPhone or Android, and no money involved. Steppa is the better app if you want real money riding on a daily step goal, with the finishers splitting everything the group put in.

Key Takeaways

• Pacer is a free step counter with group challenges, clubs and themed routes; Pacer itself pays nothing for steps.
• Some challenges inside Pacer are run by clubs or organizers that fund their own prizes, such as a $25 Visa gift card raffle.
• Pacer Premium is optional; on the US App Store, Pacer Premium Yearly is $49.99.
• On Steppa every player stakes money, reaches the goal every day, and the finishers split the whole pool.
• Pacer works on iPhone and Android with a long list of trackers; Steppa is iPhone only and reads Apple Health.

Pacer and Steppa both run step challenges, so on the surface they look alike. The difference is what happens at the end: on Pacer you climb a leaderboard, and on Steppa you either keep and grow your stake or lose it. This is Steppa's blog, so every Pacer detail below is taken from its App Store page, its site or its own challenge pages, where you can check it.

Steppa vs Pacer at a glance

Pacer's challenges and clubs

Pacer counts steps on your phone or from a wearable and tracks daily goals and history. You can join or create group challenges with shared leaderboards, join walking clubs, or follow themed virtual routes, some of which send finishers a physical medal. Its site says more than 12 million walkers use it. Premium adds guided workouts and other extras, and Pacer for Teams runs workplace challenges.

Clubs, employers and health groups also run challenges inside Pacer. Some fund prizes: challenge pages we read offered a $25 Visa gift card raffle and, in another, a $150 first prize plus a $25 raffle. Those pages said no purchase was needed and manual entries didn't count. Pacer itself pays nothing for steps.

App Store reviewers praise the clean design, the widgets and the group challenges. Complaints center on steps that vanish for days before reappearing, and on how many features need Premium.

Steppa's challenges

On Steppa, every player puts in a stake. Each challenge has one daily step goal, counted midnight to midnight in your own time zone, and you need to reach it every day. Miss one and you are out; your stake stays in the pool. When the challenge ends, the finishers split the whole pool, and Steppa keeps none of it.

Official challenges mostly run one to two weeks, with plenty of three-day ones. Friends can make their own: 5 to 180 days, 5,000 to 50,000 steps a day, and $10 to $1,000 a player. A public challenge that falls short of players is cancelled, and everyone gets their money credited back.

What a friends challenge costs on each

On Pacer, a group challenge with friends costs nothing and pays nothing. The reward is the race itself.

On Steppa, here is a made-up example. Fifteen friends each stake $20 on a 10-day challenge, and 10 of them make it. The $300 pool splits 10 ways, $30 each. Every player paid a $1.30 service fee to join (for most players $0.50 plus 4% of the stake, shown before you pay), so each finisher ends $8.70 ahead and each of the five who missed is $21.30 down. If all 15 had finished, each would get their $20 back and be out only the fee.

Counting steps and getting paid

Pacer works with a long list of trackers: Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Health Connect, Samsung Health, WHOOP, Oura, Polar and others, with features that vary by device. Steppa reads only Apple Health on iPhone and never counts steps itself, so an Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Oura or Whoop counts when it syncs there. Steps added to Apple Health by hand never count.

A Steppa challenge settles at 12:00 UTC two days after its last day, which leaves time for a slow sync. Winnings go to your in-app balance, and you can request a payout to PayPal, which also works outside the US, or to a US bank account. A standard US bank transfer has no Steppa fee, and any PayPal fee appears before you confirm. Paid play is for adults 18 and over and depends on local law; it is available where the Terms allow.

Who each one suits

Pacer suits you if you:

• want free step challenges with friends, a club or coworkers
• like routes, medals and leaderboards more than money
• use Android, or a tracker that doesn't write to Apple Health

Steppa suits you if you:

• want a stake to make skipping a day expensive
• like that the people who keep going win what others put in
• use an iPhone with steps already in Apple Health

Pacer also appears in our roundup of the best step challenge apps, and the comparison hub gathers all of our Steppa comparisons in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Pacer pay you to walk?

No. Pacer counts steps, runs challenges and awards medals for some virtual routes, but it does not pay for steps. Some challenges in the app are run by clubs, employers or other organizers who fund their own prizes, like a $25 Visa gift card raffle or a $150 first prize on challenge pages we read. Those prizes come from the organizer, and which ones are running changes over time.

Is Pacer Premium worth it?

That depends on what you want from it. The free version already counts steps and lets you join group challenges, so many people never upgrade. Premium adds guided workouts and other extras; on the US App Store, Pacer Premium Yearly costs $49.99. Some reviewers say too many features sit behind Premium. Steppa has no plan to buy for challenges; you pay a service fee each time you join one.

Can I run a step challenge with friends on both apps?

Yes. Pacer lets you create a group challenge with a shared leaderboard for free, which suits friends who want a friendly race with nothing at stake. On Steppa you create a challenge of 5 to 180 days, set a goal from 5,000 to 50,000 steps and a stake from $10 to $1,000, and invite friends. Everyone who reaches the goal every day shares the pool.

Which trackers do Pacer and Steppa work with?

Pacer counts on the phone and lists a long range of trackers, including Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung Health, Health Connect, WHOOP, Oura and Polar, though features vary by device. Steppa reads only Apple Health on iPhone, so an Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Oura or Whoop counts when it syncs there. Steps typed in by hand never count on Steppa, and Pacer's organizer challenges we read excluded them too.