Comparison

Brewguide vs Coffee Journal

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Brewguide

This app helps you set up and personalize your Acaia Pearl S coffee scale. You can also browse, create, and share coffee recipes, and transfer them directly to your scale for guided brewing.

Highlights
  • Scale setup guide
  • Personalize scale messages
  • Browse official recipes
  • Create and share recipes
  • Transfer recipes to scale
  • Guided brewing mode
Read full description

Brewguide is the companion App for the Acaia Pearl S Welcome to your new scale! The Acaia Pearl S pairs with all of our apps but this is the one to use to set up the scale. If you don’t have a Pearl S, you can still browse and create recipes. In Brewguide, you can: * Walk through a setup guide to adjust settings like turning on/off modes, changing the weight unit, adjusting the auto-off timer, turning on/off the button sound, and changing the temperature unit. * Personalize your Pearl S with your own loading message * Browse official recipes or create and share your own with a QR code or link * Easily transfer a recipe to your Pearl S - the scale holds one recipe at a time To enter Brewguide mode, where you view the loaded recipe’s prompted steps, hold the Tare button until you see “Brewguide” on the scale.

About

Coffee Journal

Log your coffee brews, beans, and recipes in a digital journal. Track brewing details, tasting notes, and coffee bag aging. Discover new recipes and connect with the coffee community.

Highlights
  • Coffee journal for brews and café visits
  • Track beans, roast dates, and aging
  • Explore and save coffee recipes
  • Organize coffee gear
  • AI bag scanning for details
  • Coffee community feed
Read full description

BeanBook is a free coffee app for specialty coffee lovers. Keep a coffee journal, organize your beans with a coffee tracker, explore coffee recipes, and follow the coffee world in the Coffee Feed. Remember what made each cup great. Save your photos, tasting notes, grind settings and brewing details together, from your morning pour-over to a memorable café visit. YOUR COFFEE LIBRARY - Beans, Brews, Recipes and Gear live in one library, a swipe apart. - One + button adds a bag, brew, recipe or gear from any page. - View, sort and filter each page from one menu next to search. - Open My Coffee Wrapped, your coffee year, in one tap (Pro). THE COFFEE FEED - Read facts and real voices from the coffee community on new beans and gear, daily, each with its sources, quotes and key notes. - See what coffee people are arguing about in Hot takes, and vote in the Daily Poll. - Catch new coffee drops and deals from roasters in your region. - Save stories to read later. YOUR COFFEE JOURNAL - Record home brews and café visits with photos, notes and ratings. - Track dose, ratio, grind, water temperature and brew time. - Log the water and mineral drops you brewed with. - Send Brew Calculator's ratio, water and pours straight into a Brew Log. - Attach beans, Gear and recipes to each Brew Log. - Save a setup as a template (gear, recipe, numbers and steps) and start your next brews from it (Pro). - Customize sections and backgrounds to make the journal your own. - Changes save as you edit. - Revisit your cups in list or grid view, see every brew on a check-in calendar and every café on a map. YOUR COFFEE TRACKER - Scan coffee bags with AI to fill in the roaster, origin, process and tasting notes. - Track roast dates, resting time and how each bag is aging. - Pause the roast clock while a bag is frozen. - See how much coffee is left in each bag as you brew. - Match your beans to jars with numbered or custom container labels. - Remember your favorite coffees and keep a history of finished bags. EXPLORE COFFEE RECIPES - Discover brewing methods and save your own coffee recipes. - Keep dose, ratio, grind settings and temperature ready for your next brew. - Start a Brew Log from a saved recipe. - Calculate water amounts for two to five pours with Brew Calculator. - Follow your brew with the built-in timer. Find recipes for Hario V60, AeroPress, Hario Switch, OXO Rapid Brewer, V60 NEO, NextLevel Pulsar, Deep27, Origami, Orea, Chemex, French Press and Cezve. Explore recipes from coffee professionals including James Hoffmann, Tetsu Kasuya, Lance Hedrick, Scott Rao, The Coffee Chronicler, April Coffee Roasters and World Brewers Cup champions. YOUR COFFEE GEAR - Organize grinders, brewers, kettles and scales with photos, notes and ratings. - Save grinder settings for the coffees you brew. - Find related Brew Logs on bean and Gear pages. - Keep a wish list for your next setup. BEANBOOK AI - Scan bags to spend less time entering coffee details. - Ask about origins, processing, flavor notes and brewing techniques. - Get suggestions for grind size, temperature, resting time and extraction. FREE TO START BeanBook is a free coffee app with optional Pro features. Keep up to 10 fully unlocked Brew Logs on the free plan, plus unlimited basic logs with photos, notes, beans, locations and overall ratings. BeanBook Pro unlocks unlimited beans, recipes and Gear, plus advanced Brew Log features beyond the free allowance. Brew, taste, remember. Keep your coffee journey in BeanBook. Terms of Service: https://beanbook.app/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://beanbook.app/policy

Screenshots

Brewguide4 screens
Coffee Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Coffee Journal at 91% against Brewguide's 46%. Coffee Journal also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.1) and update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly). Brewguide's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Coffee Journal sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $7.90 per month. Brewguide asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Coffee Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 30 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Brewguide's written reviews are positive against 91% of Coffee Journal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Brewguide ships an update monthly, Coffee Journal every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Brewguide versus Coffee Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBrewguideCoffee Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (14 ratings)4.9 (30 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.4% of reviews91.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1430 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB104 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperacaiaBitlever

Customer experience

Brewguide

All ratings14 ratings
Positive42.9%
Neutral21.4%
Negative35.7%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive46.4%
Neutral21.4%
Negative32.1%

Coffee Journal

All ratings30 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive91.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.7%

In-app purchases

None

Brewguide

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Coffee Journal

Subscriptions4
  • BeanBook Pro Monthly$7.901 Month
  • BeanBook Pro1 Month trial$35.901 Year
  • BeanBook Pro1 Month trial$49.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • BeanBook Pro1 Year trial$49.901 Year

Questions

Is Brewguide free?
Brewguide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Coffee Journal free?
Coffee Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Brewguide or Coffee Journal?
Coffee Journal is rated higher. Brewguide averages 3.1 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Coffee Journal averages 4.9 from 30 ratings.
Do Brewguide or Coffee Journal have ads?
Neither Brewguide nor Coffee Journal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Brewguide or Coffee Journal?
Brewguide ships an update monthly, and Coffee Journal every 4 days. Most recently, Brewguide was updated on November 2, 2026 and Coffee Journal on November 8, 2026.

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