Commity
StickK is the original online commitment contract. It was co-founded by a Yale economist and it popularized a simple, powerful idea: sign a contract, put money on the line, and let the fear of losing it pull you toward your goal. If you're here, you already believe in that idea — you're just looking for a StickK alternative that fixes the two things that trip people up.
This is a fair walkthrough from the person behind Commity, so factor that in. But the two points below are the ones we think people, who are switching over, are talking about constantly and they're both about how the contract gets enforced.
How StickK works (and where it gets stuck)
With StickK you create a Commitment Contract: you define your goal, optionally stake money, and pick where forfeited money goes — including, famously, an "anti-charity," an organization you can't stand, so failing funds a cause you hate. You then assign a referee: a friend who verifies whether you actually did the thing each period. Reach your goal and you keep your money. Miss it and it's gone.
It works. But two things tend to wear people down:
- Verification rests on a human. Your referee has to confirm you went. That means nagging a friend, and it means the system runs on trust and self-reporting — you tell your referee you went, and they take your word. The accountability is only as reliable as closeness to a friend.
- It's all-or-nothing punishment. Miss the goal and the money is just gone — often to a cause you actively dislike. There's no path back. One bad week, and you're out the stake with nothing to show for it but a bad taste.
What Commity changes
Commity keeps the part of StickK that works — real money on the line — and replaces the two weak points with technology and a kinder design.
The referee becomes your phone. Instead of asking a friend to vouch for you, Commity verifies you with GPS. You pin the place you need to show up — your gym, the library, your studio — set a daily goal in minutes, and when you arrive you tap "I'm here." Your location has to confirm it before any minutes count, and the app logs the time you actually spend inside the fence. No friend to nag, no word to take. Being there is the proof.
Losing becomes recoverable. Commity isn't built to punish you and walk away. Miss a day and your stake is charged — but a comeback streak gives you a concrete way to earn it back by showing up again. The stake still does its job on a lazy Tuesday; it just doesn't treat one slip as a death sentence.
StickK bets that you'll fear losing. Commity makes sure you can also win it back.
StickK vs Commity, side by side
| Commity | StickK | |
|---|---|---|
| Who verifies you | Your phone's GPS — objective, automatic | A human referee (or your own report) |
| Proof of showing up | Logged minutes inside the place you pinned | A friend confirming, based on your word |
| If you miss | Comeback streak — earn the money back | Stake forfeited, often to an anti-charity |
| Need a friend involved? | No — nobody to nag or rely on | Recommended; weak without one |
| Best for | Location-based goals: gym, study, practice, rehab | Any goal, if you have a reliable referee |
| Tone | Forgiving — built to keep you going for months | Harsh by design — fear of loss is the lever |
Why GPS beats a referee for "did I show up" goals
A referee is a wonderful idea on paper and a fragile one in practice. People feel awkward asking a friend to police them. Friends get busy, forget or — because they like you — quietly let a missed day slide. And underneath it all, the report still starts with you telling them what happened. That's the self-reporting problem in a slightly nicer outfit.
For any goal that's fundamentally "be at this place and do the thing," GPS just removes the human bottleneck. There's nobody to convince, nobody to disappoint, and nothing to fudge. You were inside the fence for your minutes or you weren't. That's location-based accountability with objective proof and it doesn't depend on anyone's mood — including yours.
When StickK might still be the better fit
To be fair: StickK can handle goals Commity can't. If your goal isn't tied to a place — quit smoking, stop biting your nails, finish a thesis — there's no location to pin and a trusted referee is a reasonable way to verify it. And some people genuinely respond best to the anti-charity stick: the pure, no-mercy threat of funding something they despise. If that's the lever that moves you, StickK is built for it.
But if your goal lives at a specific spot, and you're tired of leaning on a friend or your own honesty to enforce it, Commity is the StickK alternative built for exactly that — with a way back when life happens.
Put money on the line. Let your phone be the referee. And when you slip, win 66% back instead of just losing it.