What a commitment contract is

A commitment contract is a promise you make expensive to break. You name a behavior, a deadline, and an amount of money. If you do the thing, the money stays yours or comes back. If you do not, you lose that amount. The point is not a prize. The point is that future you has to pay present you for skipping.

People have built this in a few different ways, and the differences matter more than the slogans. Beeminder tracks a number on a graph. You pledge an amount from a fixed schedule. If your data crosses the line, Beeminder emails you a legitimacy check and then charges the pledge. The next pledge steps up. You can read their own account at beeminder.com/overview. The charge happens after the miss, not before.

stickK lets you write a contract for free. Their own FAQ says they do not charge up front. They charge the card for that reporting period if you say you missed, if your referee says you missed, or if you do not file a report in the window. A referee is a person you pick. On your honor means there is no referee. Forfeited money can go to a friend, a charity, or an organization you dislike. That is a different product from a deposit you get back. Their commitment FAQ is at stickk.com.

Forfeit, at forfeit.app, describes a third mechanic. You set a task, a deadline, and a stake. They say the card is pre authorized when you commit, and the hold is captured when you miss. Proof can be a photo, a video, or data from the phone, checked by a person or by their system. They say forfeited money is currently kept by Forfeit.

Miss and Pay is closer to a deposit than to any of those. The app is free. You choose a daily stake, with a floor based on income, for 7, 14, or 30 days. Stripe charges the full stake once, up front, as one payment. Each day you open a link, do that day's task, and pass a live camera check in the browser. A missed day is forfeited and kept as the fee for the broken day. At the end, Miss and Pay sends one partial refund of the original charge for the days you kept. Days that are not due yet are included if you close early. There is no referee, no pool, and no balance you can spend.

The useful question is not which brand sounds stricter. It is when the money moves, who decides you failed, and whether the failed money is a fee for a service or a transfer to someone else. Miss and Pay decides a miss by the absence of a pass on that local date. The check is automatic. The video stays on your phone.