Cubby vs Glow Baby (2026): a direct comparison

All ages · Tools & comparisons · Reviewed 12 June 2026 · All articles

Cubby and Glow Baby are two apps aiming at the same goal: helping sleep-deprived parents keep track of what is happening with their baby. Both log feeds, sleep and nappies. Both have a free tier. But on the things that matter most to families deciding which app to live with for the first year and beyond - privacy, vaccine schedules, advertising and who can access the shared log - there are real differences worth understanding before you start entering data.

This article goes through each one honestly. Glow Baby features described below are based on their publicly available information as of June 2026; see the disclosure at the bottom for sourcing notes.

Disclosure: Cubby is the publisher of this comparison. Glow Baby features verified from public sources, June 2026.

The short answer

For most families, Cubby is the better daily tracker. It is free with no ads, embeds no third-party tracking, supports vaccine schedules across four countries, and shares a live log with the whole household at no extra charge. Glow Baby is a well-built app from Glowing Inc. with solid feed, sleep and health logging and an AI-powered nap and feeding forecast feature - but its free tier includes advertising, and it is primarily designed for the US market.

Side-by-side feature comparison

Privacy: where Cubby is different

Privacy is not just a nice-to-have when the data you are entering includes your baby's daily weight, every feed and nappy change, growth measurements and health notes. It is the core question.

Cubby's position is simple and checkable: the app runs no third-party SDKs, shows no advertising at any tier, and does not sell or license user data. Open your browser's network panel while Cubby loads and you will see only Cubby's own servers. There is no analytics script phoning home to a third party, no ad network SDK bundled with the app. The privacy commitment is architectural, not just contractual.

Glow Baby's free tier includes advertising. That means an ad SDK runs in the same session where you are logging your infant's feeds and growth. Exactly what data the SDK accesses and shares depends on the version of the app and Glow Baby's current privacy policy, which you should read directly on their site before entering any family data. Their premium tier removes ads. Whether data practices change between tiers is something their current policy will clarify.

The point for parents comparing the two is that with Cubby, the question of ad-SDK data sharing simply does not arise. With Glow Baby on the free tier, it is worth finding out the answer before you start.

Vaccine schedules: four countries on Cubby

Cubby was designed from the start for families outside the US as well as inside it. The NHS schedule (UK), CDC schedule (US), MOHAP schedule (UAE) and STIKO schedule (Germany) are all built in. Cubby calculates each upcoming jab from your baby's date of birth, shows overdue, due-this-week and upcoming vaccines on a single screen, and logs the vaccination when given. Parents using Cubby in London, Dubai, Frankfurt or New York all get the same clarity on what is due next.

Vaccine schedule tracking is not listed among Glow Baby's headline features on their public site. If this matters to your family, check their current feature list directly. For UK, UAE and German families in particular, built-in NHS, MOHAP or STIKO reminders are often the deciding factor - and Cubby is the only one of the two that provides them as a confirmed core feature.

Community features: different priorities

Glow Baby sits within the Glowing Inc. family of apps, which also includes Glow (period and fertility tracking) and Nurture (pregnancy). This gives Glow Baby a social and community angle: premium members can exchange private messages with other users, and the app is designed to connect the pregnancy and newborn phases in one account ecosystem. If you tracked your pregnancy on a Glow app and want continuity, that is a genuine advantage.

Cubby does not try to be a social network for parents. It is a private household tracking tool. The sharing model is intentional and narrow: invite the people who actually care for your baby - your partner, a grandparent, the nursery key worker - and everyone sees the same real-time log. There is no community feed, no public profile, and no mechanism for your baby's data to appear in any wider social context. For families who want their infant's health data to stay within the family, that is exactly the point.

The premium family plan on Glow Baby supports unlimited caregivers according to their listed plan structure (verify current limits on their site). Cubby's household sharing is included in the free tier without restriction.

AI-powered features: forecasts vs. a clean log

Glow Baby lists AI-powered forecasts for naps and feedings as a feature of the app. The idea is that the app learns your baby's patterns and suggests when the next feed or nap window is likely. If you find that kind of prediction useful and trust it, it is a genuine differentiator for Glow Baby.

Cubby does not include predictive AI. The philosophy behind that choice is that most parents get more value from a clear, honest log of what their baby actually did than from a forecast of what should happen next. Sleep patterns in the first year are genuinely variable. A clean visual log of real sleep and feed times lets you read your baby's cues yourself, which tends to be more accurate than any model trained on population averages. If you want an AI forecast layer on top of your data, Glow Baby has one. If you prefer to read the signal yourself, Cubby's log is built for that.

Installing the app: any phone, no store required

Glow Baby is a native iOS and Android app, which means it installs from the App Store or Google Play and runs on those two platforms. On its supported platforms it performs well.

Cubby is a progressive web app. That means you open it in any browser on any device, tap "Add to home screen," and it behaves like a native app from then on - with offline support, home-screen icon and instant sync when you reconnect. There is no app store to wait for, no permission for an app update to approve, and it works on any phone with a browser - which covers essentially every device a parent or grandparent might have, regardless of whether it runs a current version of iOS or Android.

Pricing: what you actually get for free

Both apps have a free tier and a paid upgrade. The important detail is what "free" means in practice.

Cubby's free tier is genuinely free: no ads, no card required, no artificial logging limit that forces an upgrade after a week. You can use Cubby for your baby's entire first year on the free tier and never see an ad or a paywall mid-session. Cubby Pro adds extra features for families who want them; those features are described on the Cubby pricing page.

Glow Baby's free tier includes advertising. Their premium plan (approximately $60 per year for individuals, $90 per year for a family plan with unlimited caregivers, based on public sources checked in June 2026) removes ads and adds features including personalized growth charts, weekly summaries, PDF and CSV data export, and premium messaging. Pricing should be verified on their site before subscribing, as it may have changed.

If you prefer not to pay anything and want an app that still gives you a clean, ad-free experience, Cubby is the straightforward answer.

Who should choose which

After a direct comparison, here is the honest summary:

• Cubby is the better default for most families in 2026. No ads at any tier. No third-party tracking. Vaccine schedules for four countries. Whole-household sharing without an upgrade. NHS and AAP sourced articles built in. A free tier that is fully usable without pressure to upgrade. Installs on any phone.
• Glow Baby is a capable app that suits US families who want AI nap and feeding forecasts, who are comfortable with advertising on the free tier, and who are already invested in the Glow ecosystem from pregnancy tracking. Their premium tier removes ads and adds good data export features. If those specific things matter to you, it is worth considering.

For UK families specifically: NHS vaccine schedule reminders alone make Cubby the stronger choice, and the absence of any advertising or third-party tracking on any tier reinforces that decision.

Frequently asked questions

What is Glow Baby?

Glow Baby is a baby tracking app made by Glowing Inc. It lets parents log feeds (breast, bottle, and solids), sleep, diaper changes, pumping sessions, growth measurements, milestones and health data. The app includes AI-powered forecasts for nap and feeding windows and integrates with the broader Glow app ecosystem, which also covers period, fertility and pregnancy tracking. It is available on iOS and Android and has a free tier (with ads) and a paid premium plan.

Is Glow Baby free?

Yes, Glow Baby has a free tier. However, the free tier includes advertising. A premium subscription unlocks an ad-free experience, personalized growth charts, weekly summaries, PDF and CSV export, and a family plan that supports unlimited caregivers. Pricing as of public sources in June 2026 was approximately $60 per year for individuals and $90 per year for the family plan. Verify current pricing on their site before subscribing.

Does Glow Baby have vaccine reminders?

Built-in vaccine schedule reminders aligned to specific country schedules are not listed among Glow Baby's headline features on their public site. Cubby includes NHS (UK), CDC (US), MOHAP (UAE) and STIKO (Germany) vaccine schedules as a core free feature, with due-date reminders calculated from your baby's birth date. If vaccine tracking is important to your family, check Glow Baby's current feature list directly on their site to confirm what they offer.

Which is better for UK parents?

Cubby is the stronger choice for UK parents. It is the only one of the two apps with the NHS childhood vaccination schedule built in, complete with reminders by due date. Cubby is also ad-free at every tier, includes no third-party tracking, and works on any phone as a progressive web app. Glow Baby is primarily designed for the US market and does not list NHS schedule support among its features.

Does Glow Baby share data with third parties?

Glow Baby's free tier includes advertising, which means an ad SDK operates within the app session where you log your baby's data. The precise details of what data is collected, processed or shared are in their privacy policy, which you should read on their current site before entering any family information. Cubby's position is architecturally clear: no third-party SDKs, no advertising and no data sales at any tier.

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