Sunnyside drink less app: how it works, what it costs, who it fits

Sunnyside is a paid app for cutting back on alcohol, not quitting. You take a 3-minute quiz, get a weekly drink plan, and log what you drink each day in the app or by text message, with coaches you can text. It has a 15-day free trial; on the US App Store, checked November 4, 2026, the membership is $99.99 and the premium membership with more coaching is $299. It suits people who want a light daily nudge; it suits people who need medical help, or who hate daily texts, less well.

Sunnyside is made by Cutback Coach, Inc. Its App Store name is "Sunnyside: Drink Less Alcohol", and it rated 4.8 stars from about 2,300 ratings when we checked.

How Sunnyside works, step by step

1. A short quiz. The listing describes "a short, anonymous survey that only takes about 3 minutes": how much you drink now, on which days, and what you want to change.
2. A weekly drink plan. "Every week we give you a recommended drink plan for the week ahead." You get a target per day, including dry days, and you can change it.
3. Daily logging. You track drinks "via a simple interface in-app (or via text message)". A morning text asks what you had yesterday. ChoosingTherapy's reviewer found you can reply with emojis or plain words like "I had 2 beers".
4. Coaches by text. "Text real human coaches." ChoosingTherapy's reviewer got replies from human coaches and, once, a reply that looked automated.
5. Monthly challenges. The same review describes three 30-day challenges: a fully dry month, dry weeknights (drinking only on weekends) and drinking 50% less.
6. Progress. Charts of drinks, dry days, and money and calories saved. The reviewer found the progress tab opens only after 7 days in a row of logging.

How much Sunnyside costs

The listing is clear about the trial: "When you sign up for Sunnyside you'll get 15 days to try everything for free, after which your credit card will be charged." There's no free plan after it. Prices on the website may differ from the app's and change over time, so read the price on your own screen before you start.

What a year costs per week: $99 a year is about $1.90 a week. If you buy fewer drinks because of it, the app may pay for itself. Two fewer $8 glasses of wine a week saves $16 a week, about $830 a year. That's your saving from drinking less, not a promise of the app.

What Sunnyside Med is

Sunnyside also runs Sunnyside Med, a separate paid service where a licensed clinician may prescribe naltrexone, a medicine approved in the US for alcohol use disorder that can lower the pull of drinking. ChoosingTherapy reported it at $99 a month, out of pocket. A few things to know:

• It's a medical service, not part of the habit app, and needs a clinician's assessment.
• Naltrexone isn't right for everyone; for example, it can't be taken with opioid pain medicine, and liver problems need checking. Your own doctor can talk it through, and may be able to prescribe it under your insurance.
• If you drink heavily every day, see a doctor before cutting down; stopping suddenly can bring dangerous withdrawal.

Does Sunnyside work?

There's no independent, published trial of the Sunnyside app itself that we could find. The figures on its site, such as average drops in drinking among members, come from the company and its own users. ChoosingTherapy notes that Sunnyside's blog cites a study of its personalized texts; that's the company reporting on its own product.

What is better studied is the method Sunnyside uses: counting drinks, setting a goal, and getting feedback. Reviews of digital alcohol tools have found small but real drops in drinking on average. The free UK app Drink Less, tested in a 2024 randomized trial of over 5,600 people, helped people drink less than a standard advice website. Our guide to the best drink less app covers that evidence.

The honest summary: the method works for many people who stick with it. Whether you stick with daily texts is the question the free trial answers.

Who Sunnyside fits, and who it doesn't

If what you want is a long reading program, compare Reframe: our guide is the Reframe app free? lists its prices and trial.

What reviewers liked and didn't

Liked

• No judgment: it's built for drinking less, not labels.
• Logging by text takes seconds.
• A 15-day trial, long enough to see two weekends.
• Real coaches to text, and three clear monthly challenges.

Didn't like

• No free version after the trial.
• The progress tab is locked until 7 days of logging in a row (ChoosingTherapy).
• Some users found the texts too frequent.
• Complaints about being charged after the trial, which usually means the trial wasn't cancelled in time.
• A phone number is needed to sign up.

How to cancel Sunnyside before the trial charges

How you cancel depends on where you signed up.

If you subscribed in the iPhone app

1. Open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions.
2. Tap Sunnyside, then Cancel, at least 24 hours before the trial ends.

If you subscribed on Android

1. Google Play Store, your profile picture, Payments & subscriptions, Subscriptions, Sunnyside, Cancel.

If you subscribed on the website

Apple and Google can't cancel a web subscription. Cancel from your account settings on Sunnyside's site, or write to its support, and keep the confirmation email. Deleting the app cancels nothing.

Set a reminder for day 13 the day you start. The listing says "You can cancel anytime within the 15-day free trial."

Setting your first weekly plan

The plan Sunnyside suggests is a starting point. Whatever app you use, a good first plan looks like this:

1. Know your real start. Count last week in standard drinks. A 9 oz pour of 13% wine is about 2 drinks; our standard drink size guide has the chart.
2. Cut about a quarter, not half. From 20 drinks a week, aim for about 15. Big cuts fail by Thursday.
3. Pick 2 dry days that are easy: usually Monday and one midweek day.
4. Set a cap for your heaviest day, such as 3 on Saturday, and plan what you'll drink after it.
5. Plan for the cue. The number is half the plan. The other half is what you do at the moment the first drink usually starts.

Our free 2-minute drinking pattern quiz finds that moment, so the plan has a swap for it, not just a lower number.

Your first week with Sunnyside

Free ways to get what Sunnyside does

• A weekly number and a daily count: a notes app, a paper tally on the fridge, or a free tracker. See our drink tracker app guide.
• A daily text: a phone reminder at 9 a.m. that asks "How many yesterday?", or a friend who checks in.
• Dry days: mark them on a calendar; the free Try Dry app does this.
• Challenges: a damp month or dry weeknights. Our Dry January alternatives guide compares them.

What you lose going free is the coach and the nudge. For some people that's what makes it stick; for others a reminder and a count are enough.

Privacy: what Sunnyside collects

Because you text your drinking, Sunnyside has your phone number and drink history. Its App Store labels, provided by the developer and not verified by Apple, say data linked to you includes contact info (email, phone), identifiers, usage data, "Sensitive Info" for personalization, and contact info and identifiers for its own marketing. ChoosingTherapy notes the company's FAQ says it isn't HIPAA-compliant, meaning it isn't held to the US rules for health providers' records. Read its privacy policy before signing up if that matters to you.

When to get more help than an app

• You get shaky, sweaty, sick or anxious when you skip a day of drinking: see a doctor before cutting down.
• You've tried to cut back many times and can't.
• You drink in the morning, or drinking is costing you work, health or relationships.

The free, confidential SAMHSA National Helpline is open every day: 1-800-662-4357. To check where your drinking stands first, see am I drinking too much alcohol?

Questions people ask

Is Sunnyside free?

Only for a 15-day trial. After that it's a paid membership: $99.99 on the US App Store when we checked, with a $299 premium tier.

Is Sunnyside for quitting or cutting back?

It's built for cutting back ("mindful drinking"), though you can set a fully dry month as a challenge.

Do I have to use text messages?

No. You can log in the app instead, but the morning texts are a main part of how it works.

Are the Sunnyside coaches real people?

The listing says "real human coaches". A reviewer got human replies, and once a reply that read as automated.

Is Sunnyside better than Reframe?

They're different. Sunnyside is a weekly plan plus daily texts; Reframe is a daily reading program with a community. Pick the one you'll actually open every day.

Can Sunnyside prescribe medication?

Its separate Sunnyside Med service may prescribe naltrexone after a clinician's review, at about $99 a month without insurance (ChoosingTherapy). Your own doctor can also discuss it.

More on apps and cutting back: all our drink less guides.

Prices, trial and privacy labels checked November 4, 2026, from public pages only. Sources: Sunnyside: Drink Less Alcohol, US App Store listing (apps.apple.com/us/app/id1593489083), Cutback Coach, Inc. ChoosingTherapy, "Sunnyside App Review" (pricing log February 2025, updates to November 2025). Healthline, "Sunnyside App Review". Oldham M, Garnett C et al., Drink Less app trial, eClinicalMedicine, 2024. US FDA, naltrexone labeling. Apple Support and Google Play Help, cancelling subscriptions. SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357.