Head to head
Sensate vs Apollo Neuro: two calming devices, neither of them electrical
These two are the non-electrical corner of a category defined by electricity. Compared against each other they are a real choice, and it is worth knowing what they are before you make it.
The short answer
Sensate is roughly $398 and hums on your sternum for ten to thirty minutes while you lie down. Apollo Neuro is $448 and vibrates quietly on your wrist or ankle all day. Neither one passes a current through the vagus nerve.
Pick Sensate if you want a deliberate wind down you will look forward to, and the longest return window in the category to decide in.
Pick Apollo if you want something running in the background with nothing to schedule, and the device with published studies naming it.
Disclosure: Vagus Lab may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It does not change how we score devices. Our method is published and applied the same way to devices we have no commercial relationship with.
What each one actually does
Sensate is a smooth stone shaped device you rest on your breastbone. It produces infrasonic resonance, vibration below the range you can hear, paired with an audio track in the app. The company positions this as engaging the vagus nerve indirectly, through the relaxation response, rather than stimulating it directly.
Apollo Neuro delivers patterned vibration to touch receptors in the skin of the wrist or ankle. Its framing is that certain rhythms shift you toward a calmer autonomic state. Seven modes cover energy, focus, sleep and so on.
Both are vibration. Neither is transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation, which means a small electrical current applied at the ear or neck. If you arrived here from a vagus nerve search, that is the sentence worth carrying forward.
Side by side
| Sensate | Apollo Neuro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~$398 (£299 UK, €357 EU) | $448, bundled with a membership |
| Mechanism | Infrasonic resonance through the sternum | Vibrotactile, vibration on touch receptors |
| Electrical stimulation | No | No |
| Where it sits | On the chest, lying down | Wrist or ankle |
| How it runs | Sessions of 10 to 30 minutes | Modes run in the background all day |
| App | Required, free soundscape library | Required, modes are tied to it |
| Subscription | Optional, none required per the manufacturer | Sold bundled with a SmartVibes membership |
| Battery | About a week of daily sessions | 6 to 10 hours, charged daily |
| Returns | 90 days risk free | See vendor |
| Named in indexed publications | No, one company published pilot | Yes, four and counting |
On evidence this is not close
Apollo returns 17 records on a PubMed search for the device, with four naming it directly: wellbeing and burnout in medical and pharmacy students in the American Journal of Medicine, fatigue and quality of life in systemic sclerosis in the Journal of Rheumatology, vibratory stimulation and sleep in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, and anxiety during ketamine assisted therapy in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Several are small. The company has still done the work most of this category has not.
Sensate publishes one study report on its own site. Twenty five adults, two weeks of daily use, self report questionnaires on stress, anxiety, sleep and wellbeing. The document states plainly that it is a pilot with a small sample and no control group. It is not indexed on PubMed.
That gap is worth knowing, and it is not the only thing that should decide a purchase like this. A device you use every night with thin evidence will do more for you than one with four papers that sits in a drawer.
A ritual against a background process
Sensate is a thing you do. Lie down, put it on your chest, start a track, ten to thirty minutes. That is a real advantage if what you are missing is a wind down cue at the end of the day, and a real disadvantage if you never sit down in the first place.
Apollo is a thing you wear. Nothing to schedule and nothing to sit through, at the cost of charging it daily on a six to ten hour battery and having something on your wrist or ankle continuously.
Between two devices with roughly the same price, that is the honest deciding question. Do you want a ritual or do you want a background process.
If it was vagus nerve stimulation you were after
Plenty of people reach this comparison through a vagus nerve search, because both devices are listed in vagus nerve roundups. If that is you, the electrical options are a separate set.
Pulsetto is $259, worn at the neck, four to twenty minute sessions. The Parasym ear clip, sold as Nurosym in Europe and Nuropod in the US, is $900 and is the only consumer device named in published tVNS trial methods.
All the electrical devices, with current prices sets those out side by side.
Frequently asked questions
Neither, in the electrical sense. Sensate uses infrasonic resonance through the sternum and Apollo uses patterned vibration on the wrist or ankle. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation means a small electrical current applied to a branch of the nerve at the ear or the neck. Both companies are clear about their own mechanisms; it is the roundups that blur the line.