Free vs. Pro: What You Actually Get With Gloomia in 2026
Every Gloomia install starts the same way: download it, open it, and three wallpapers are already sitting there, ready to use, for free, forever. No trial countdown, no watermark, no "upgrade to keep using this" popup after a week. That's deliberate, and it also means the free tier and the paid tier both need to earn their place rather than one being a stripped-down demo of the other.
This post breaks down exactly what you get on each side, what the two Pro pricing options actually cost over time, and how to decide whether the free wallpapers are enough for you or whether it's worth unlocking the rest of the collection.
What's free, permanently
Three wallpapers ship free with no catch: Starfield, a slow drift through a calm field of distant stars, Planet System, a miniature solar system turning quietly at the center of your screen, and Hue Drift, soft orbs of color that bleed into one another like ink in water. All three are fully featured, not trimmed-down previews. Starfield lets you dial the speed from a near standstill to a brisk warp and choose which monitor the stars stream from on a multi-monitor setup. Hue Drift exposes a real palette picker, drift speed, saturation, and softness controls.
The third free wallpaper, Planet System, rounds out the trio with a miniature solar system turning quietly at the center of your screen. You can tilt the orbital plane for a more dramatic angle, add or remove planets, and recolor the star to match your desktop. Like Starfield, it lets you pick which monitor it centers on if you're running more than one display. Between the three, you get a calm space scene, an abstract color wash, and a miniature orrery-style system, which is a wider range than "three free wallpapers" might suggest at first glance.
If you're only after a calm, unobtrusive background and don't care about the audio-reactive or tech-themed collections, the free tier genuinely covers that use case on its own, permanently. If you're just getting started, the setup guide walks through installing Gloomia and picking your first wallpaper from scratch.
What Pro unlocks
Gloomia Pro unlocks the rest of the catalog in one purchase: over twenty premium wallpapers today, spanning space (Galaxy Spiral, Wormhole, Binary Black Holes, Constellations, Orrery), audio-reactive visualizers (Aurora Flow, Spectrum Bars, Radial Pulse, Waveform Ribbon), and tech-styled desktops (Digital Rain, Terminal, Command Center), plus everything added to the catalog after you buy, at no extra cost. There's no separate "Pro tier 2" or additional purchase down the line; one license covers the entire collection as it grows.
A good way to think about it: the free tier is a genuinely usable product on its own, and Pro is what you reach for once you know you want variety, the audio-reactive wallpapers covered in the audio-reactive wallpaper guide, or the space collection covered in the best space wallpapers roundup.
One-time purchase vs. yearly subscription
Gloomia Pro comes in two forms that unlock the exact same wallpapers:
- One-time purchase, $9.99. This is the early-adopter price; it rises to $14.99 later. Pay once and it's yours permanently, including every wallpaper added to the catalog in the future.
- Yearly subscription, $2.99 a year. Cancel anytime. If you're not sure you'll want Gloomia long-term, or you'd rather spread the cost, this is the lower-commitment option.
Run the math and the one-time purchase pays for itself against the yearly plan in a little over three years, and after that every additional year is free. If you tend to keep the same apps installed for years at a time, the one-time purchase is the better deal. If you like to keep your options open, or you're not certain Gloomia is a long-term fit yet, the yearly plan costs less up front and can be cancelled without losing access to what you've already paid for that year.
Try before you buy
You don't have to decide blind. Every premium wallpaper runs live on your actual desktop as a watermarked preview before you pay anything, at the real animation speed, with the real controls. Browse the full collection on the wallpaper library page, click into anything that looks interesting, and see exactly how it behaves before it's on your machine permanently.
Buying is simple once you've decided: a purchase sends a license key by email, you paste it into Settings under License in the app, and every premium wallpaper unlocks immediately. No account creation, no separate login. The same key works on up to three of your own devices, so a single Pro purchase covers a desktop and a laptop with room to spare, and if you ever reinstall, re-entering the key restores everything instantly.
What actually changes on your desktop
It's worth being concrete about what buying Pro changes in day-to-day use, because "over twenty wallpapers" can sound abstract. Practically, it means you're no longer choosing between three wallpapers that all lean calm and abstract; you're choosing from the whole range, including dramatic space scenes for a gaming setup, music-reactive visuals for a listening session, and technical, screen-filling desktops like Terminal for a developer-styled workstation. The free tier is genuinely good at "calm background." Pro is what you reach for when the wallpaper needs to match a specific mood, activity, or setup rather than just sit quietly in the corner of your eye.
None of this changes how Gloomia behaves otherwise. Free and Pro wallpapers are configured the same way, in the same Settings panel, with the same per-display assignment and the same automatic pausing during fullscreen games or on battery power. Buying Pro doesn't add a separate app mode or a different interface, it just adds more wallpapers to the list you can pick from.
The refund policy, in case you're on the fence
If Gloomia isn't for you after buying Pro, email within 30 days for a full refund, no questions asked. Given that every wallpaper is previewable live before purchase, refund requests are rare, but the option removes any real risk from trying it. Full pricing details, including the current early-adopter rate, are always up to date on the pricing page.
A quick way to decide
If you want a calm, low-key desktop and don't need variety, stick with the free tier indefinitely; there's genuinely no downside to doing so. If any of the following sound like you, Pro is worth the $9.99: you want to switch wallpapers depending on your mood or the season, you're setting up a wallpaper that reacts to your music, you want a themed desktop for gaming or a dev setup, or you just like having the whole collection to pick from instead of three fixed options.
Whichever you choose, nothing about the free wallpapers changes if you skip Pro entirely, and nothing about Pro locks you in beyond the refund window. It's a low-pressure way to try a live-wallpaper app without committing to anything up front.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gloomia actually free?
Yes. Starfield, Planet System, and Hue Drift are free forever, with no trial period, no account, and no credit card required. You can use Gloomia indefinitely on just those three wallpapers.
What do I get with Gloomia Pro?
One purchase unlocks every premium wallpaper in Gloomia, more than twenty today, plus every new wallpaper added in the future at no extra cost. The three free wallpapers stay free either way.
Is Gloomia Pro a subscription or a one-time purchase?
You choose. Gloomia Pro is a one-time payment of $9.99, the early-adopter price before it rises to $14.99, or a $2.99 per year subscription you can cancel anytime. Both options unlock the same set of wallpapers.
Can I try premium wallpapers before paying?
Yes. Every premium wallpaper runs live on your desktop as a watermarked preview, so you see the real animation at real speed before deciding whether to buy.
How many computers can I use one Gloomia Pro license on?
A single license key activates Gloomia Pro on up to three devices. Enter the same key in Settings on each machine.
What happens if I buy Pro and don't like it?
Email within 30 days of purchase for a full refund, no questions asked.
Do I need to create an account to use Gloomia Pro?
No. There is no account and no sign-up. Your license key is the only thing you need, and you can re-enter it any time to restore Pro on a new install.