Sample Ox vs Brewer's Friend
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sample Ox
Discover and rate various products like beer, coffee, and spirits. Compare your tasting notes with friends and experts, and track your palate's evolution over time. Participate in special tasting events to evaluate new products.
- Rate products with friends
- Build and track your palate
- Use industry-standard flavor terms
- Compare results with experts
- Join special tasting events
- Evaluate new products
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Join us for a Tasting! Rate products with friends, and build your palate. Describe what you’re tasting, and compare yourself against friends and experts. Use a wide range of industry standard flavor terms to test your palate and teach yourself to become a better taster. Join special tasting events to help evaluate new products as well. HOW IT WORKS • JOIN: Find an event or product on the main screen or enter in a join code for a private event • RATE: Describe what you’re tasting and give feedback on products • RESULTS: See how your results compare to others • TRACK: View your tasting history and see how your palate evolves over time PRODUCT CATEGORIES • Beer • Cider • Hard Seltzer • Chocolate • Coffee • Malt • Hops • Spirits • Kombucha Sample Ox is a trademark of Lean Sensory Systems, Inc.
Brewer's Friend
This app provides tools and information for homebrewing, catering to both beginners and experienced brewers. It helps you create your best brews with an easy-to-use interface and advanced features.
- Homebrew recipe creation
- Brewing calculators
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Advanced brewing features
- Brewing information resources
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Brewer's Friend is the complete homebrewing toolkit: design a recipe, brew it, track fermentation, and dial in the next batch. Easy enough for your first extract kit, powerful enough for all-grain and BIAB. DESIGN BETTER RECIPES • Full recipe builder for all grain, BIAB, extract, and partial mash • Searchable ingredient database — fermentables, hops, yeast, and adjuncts • Live numbers as you build: OG, FG, ABV, IBU, and SRM color • Choose your own formulas — Tinseth or Rager for IBU, Morey, Daniels, or Mosher for color • Equipment profiles so efficiency, boil-off, and volumes match your actual system • Scale any recipe up or down to a new batch size • Beer style guidelines, plus your own custom styles • Organize everything with folders BREW DAY, HANDLED • Step-by-step brew day timeline with built-in countdown timers • Log mash temps, gravity readings, volumes, and tasting notes as you go • Works offline — brew in the garage with no signal and everything syncs when you're back online TRACK FERMENTATION • Full brew session tracking from pitch to package • Gravity and temperature charts that show exactly how fermentation is progressing • Tilt and iSpindel support for automatic hydrometer readings • Fermentation alerts so a stalled or finished batch never surprises you WATER CHEMISTRY, SOLVED • Complete water calculator: source water, target profile, mash and sparge treatment • Salt and acid addition recommendations with mash pH and a full treatment report • Save water profiles and reuse them batch after batch • Built-in documentation explaining what every number means and why BREWING CALCULATORS ABV • IBU • SRM Color • Priming & Carbonation • Keg PSI • Mash & Infusion • Strike Water • Hydrometer Temperature Correction • Refractometer • Brix • Boil Off • LME/DME Conversion • Hop Utilization • Yeast Pitch Rate & Starter STAY STOCKED • Inventory tracking for fermentables, hops, yeast, equipment, and everything else • Know what's on the shelf before you plan the next brew DISCOVER AND SHARE • Browse a large community library of public homebrew recipes • Print or share any recipe as a clean, brew-ready sheet • Syncs with your Brewer's Friend account on the web • Metric or imperial — your call MEMBERSHIP Brewer's Friend is free to use. Optional memberships unlock more: Premium — unlimited recipes and brews, ad-free, Tilt and iSpindel integration, and premium support. Premium Plus — everything in Premium, plus brewer groups, device notifications and fermentation alerts, recipe versioning up to 25 versions, and priority support. Premium Pro — everything above, plus multi-user recipe editing, shared inventory management, tank tracking with status and clean history, split and double batches, and recipe versioning up to 100 versions. Memberships are auto-renewable subscriptions, billed monthly or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Use & Privacy Policy: https://www.brewersfriend.com/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sample Ox at 100% against Brewer's Friend's 44%. Sample Ox also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and rating (4.6 vs 4.2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. Brewer's Friend sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Sample Ox asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sample Ox holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 12 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Sample Ox's written reviews are positive against 44% of Brewer's Friend's.
Sample Ox ships an update every 5 weeks, Brewer's Friend monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sample Ox | Brewer's Friend |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (5 ratings) — better | 4.2 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 43.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 12 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 57 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Lean Sensory Systems, Inc. | Brewer's Friend |
Customer experience
Sample Ox
Brewer's Friend
In-app purchases
Sample Ox
No in-app purchases
Brewer's Friend
- Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- Plus Monthly$14.991 Month
- Premium Yearly$35.991 Year
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- Pro Monthly$49.991 Month
- Plus Yearly$119.991 Year
- Pro Yearly$539.991 Year
Questions
Is Sample Ox free?
Is Brewer's Friend free?
Which has better reviews, Sample Ox or Brewer's Friend?
Do Sample Ox or Brewer's Friend have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sample Ox or Brewer's Friend?
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