01What is free here, exactly
Steel Magnolias is a community app for women navigating divorce, on the App Store and Google Play. Three things are free, for every member, with no subscription and no card: creating an account, Roots (the community forum, free to read and free to post), and crisis tools, including one-tap access to the 988 Lifeline and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Crisis tools are never paywalled, for anyone, under any circumstances.
We say the other half as plainly. The full community, Gardens, Meadows, and Receipts, is paid membership. The free floor is not a teaser that degrades; it is whole surfaces, free forever. But it is a floor, and the rest of the app costs money, because subscriptions, not ads and not your data, are how this company runs.
02What Roots is
Roots is the community message board: questions about the divorce process, answered in writing by women who have been through it. You read it and post to it under a name you choose; other members never see your real name. Threads stay, so an answer written months ago is still there the night you need it.
Steel Magnolias is peer support and general information, not therapy and not legal advice. For advice about your situation, see a licensed professional in your state.
03What paid membership adds
Full membership adds Gardens, the live community chat, with The Oasis, topic chats, and direct messages; Meadows, the live audio rooms; and Receipts, a private documentation tool for dated entries in your own words, yours and not part of the community.
Full membership is $129/year or $14.99/month. The first 500 member spots carry a launch price of $59.99 for the first year, then $129/year, on iPhone; the live counter on the home page shows how many spots remain. No ads, no data sale, ever.
04Other free options
Free support exists beyond this app, and naming it costs us nothing. DivorceCare groups are widely available online and in person, though individual groups often charge a small materials fee and the program is faith-based. Meetup lists free local and virtual divorce groups that vary by city. Reddit communities offer pseudonymous peer discussion with the moderation quality varying by community.
If your situation involves abuse, coercive control, stalking, or fear of your ex-partner, start with a survivor-focused organization: local domestic violence programs are free and confidential, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day at 800-799-7233.
Steel Magnolias is peer support and general information, not therapy, not medical advice, not legal advice, and not financial advice. Nothing on this page substitutes for consultation with a licensed professional in your jurisdiction. Laws vary by state and change frequently.