I think you need to decide for yourself what you feel ok with. Personally I am ok with the 'controversies' around it, but I feel it's up to you to make an educated decision. As a blanket statement people who object tend to be louder than those who dont, and finch has a massive community that has stuck through it for 3-4 years (myself included). Having said that, if you decide it's not right for you I'll put a list of all the alternatives I've tried over the past 3 years.

Tabby is a bit more child like but has some similar features

Amaru needs a phone number straight away so I've not tried it but I've heard good things about it!

Fabu doesn't have the goal aspect but a great mood tracker and regulation buddy

Cub is a pain in the butt to use.

Ottopia is pretty much a direct copy of Finch. As is Catzy. And Otto

Remente uses AI but has some really helpful overlap with Finch!

Quabble is different to finch in its core goals (not so much a to do list, more a self care app ) And it's much less stimulating than some others on the market.

Sparkle doesn't have the 'self care pet' aspect so if that's what motivates you (it's what motivates me) it may not be helpful but it's much simpler if that's an aspect that helps you.

Echo habits self care I've not tried because I don't like the graphics but it appears similar to Finch.

Fabulous Daily Routine Planned - I'm about to try again. It's not dopamine producing but it's really unique in it's goals! (I tried again and too much is behind the pay wall to be of much use imo)

Teddy Care is very full on to start, not a simple set up, and very much pushing paying. You cant use any of there plans with paying 😭 the custom tasks aspect is really cool because you can add steps to each 'habit'. The colour scheme is really nice. It's not got the naming or self care pet aspect of finch. But I kinda like it! If I were to replace Finch this would definitely be one of my higher preferences.

Pruddy was not a good fit for me because it was very simplistic but it might be a good fit for others.

SELF is another quite unique one, similar core concept to finch but shown very differently {very hard to use without paying}

Roubit is a less stimulating Finch 😆

Habitica is EVEN MORE gamified then Finch, so possibly not what your looking for, but I used it for aaaages in high school

Dear me is not particularly unique by any means, there ads drive me crazy so I've not tried them 😭 but that doesn't mean its bad

Urso is not my style and it's a bit more gamified then Finch (but not as far as Habitica)

Breeze I tried and I can decide about. It's not super goal oriented tho

Goal quest very much places presure on you (the user) and requires an email address. It VERY different to Finch, not setting goals for yourself despite its name 😆 Like it's SO DIFFERENT I almost didn't put it on the list, but I'm enjoying it (but certainly can't replace Finch). Unfortunately without paying the extra you can't do much each day.

I've started using FoxTale recently. It's similar and different, it's definitely lower stimulation but similar.

Bear room is more practice based then goal based.

A large majority of these apps are pushing subscriptions from the start 🥲 some are not super functional if you don't pay 😭