Audience, Choices & Cost

Nova Goals fits a specific kind of person: someone who wants to sit down, name what they're working on, and hold a single block of attention. No login. No notifications chasing you. Just a timer and a living visual.

It works well for remote and solo workers who miss the quiet pressure of others working nearby. The named companions are meant for that feeling of company — they are generated rather than real — while the live count of people currently focusing is genuine.

It also suits students and writers who want sessions of 25, 50, 90, or a custom length, and who like the idea of putting a small stake on the outcome as a private nudge. The stake is a self-accountability concept, not a real charge.

Because the default is local-first, it fits privacy-minded people who don't want their focus history on someone else's server. Nothing syncs unless you ask it to — and if you do ask, we tell you plainly that the server copy is unencrypted.

Compared to a plain Pomodoro timer, Nova Goals keeps the time-boxing but adds a named intention, three living visuals (Ensō, Water, Moon), and phase labels that mark settling in, deep focus, and the final stretch. The countdown is timestamp-based, so it survives reloads.

Compared to Forest, both lean on a calming visual that responds to your session. Forest grows a tree and requires a mobile account with social features. Nova Goals runs in the browser, needs no account, and uses an optional money stake instead of a tree as its gentle nudge.

Compared to Focusmate-style body-doubling, Nova Goals shows a row of "others in the room" avatars for a sense of company. Be clear: those avatars are generated, with no matching, no video, and no chat. What is real is the live count of people holding a session at the same moment as you. Genuine shared rooms are future work.

Compared to website blockers like Cold Turkey or Freedom, Nova Goals does not block sites or enforce anything. It is a voluntary container for attention. If you step away, it asks for a non-judgmental reason rather than locking you out.

For one person the app costs nothing. You open it in a browser and begin. The whole focus loop — intentions, lengths, the living visuals, your history, sync, the presence count — is free, with no account to create.

When you set up a session you can pick a stake: $0 (none), $3, $7, or $15. This is framed as money on the line, returned when you finish or when you name your reason for leaving. It is a gentle self-accountability mechanic, not a payment to us.

To be clear and honest: the stake is not a transaction. There is no payment processing behind it — nothing is charged, held, or refunded. It is a way to think about commitment.

The one thing Nova Goals does bill for is Teams: $6 per seat per month, or $5 per seat per month billed yearly ($60 per seat per year). A seat is anyone in the org, and there is no minimum. Early adopters can instead buy in once at $180 per seat, with no recurring bill, while the first-150-orgs offer is open. A new org has fourteen days before it needs a plan; after that the room goes read-only — history stays visible, new sits, invites, and feed activity pause — until someone picks one.

The solo side is cheap to run because the focus loop happens in your browser, not on a server, and the optional pieces — sync, accounts, the live presence count — are small. Free for one person is a deliberate choice, not a limited-time trial: the Teams tier is what pays for the rest, and there is no plan to charge for the core ritual.