UCSC Dining vs Palmetto
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
UCSC Dining
Access detailed menus for all five UCSC dining halls, covering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night options. Search for specific foods, view nutrition facts, ingredients, and allergens, and even preview upcoming menus.
- Dining hall menus
- Nutrition facts
- Ingredient information
- Allergen details
- Future menu previews
- Food search across halls
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Menu app for UCSC Dining halls: - Includes 5 dining halls for ten colleges - Provides dining hall menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night - Explore the menu from cafés on campus - Search for your favorite food across all dining halls - Find more information about nutrition facts, ingredients, and allergens - Preview future menus * Data provided by UCSC Dining. Due to the dynamic nature of the current situation, menus may change without notice. You may find item substitutions in the dining halls that are not reflected online.
Palmetto
Easily order and pay for your favorite bowls, smoothies, and superfood items. Earn rewards on every purchase made through the app. Secure payment options are available.
- Order bowls, smoothies, and superfood items
- Secure payment with Apple Pay
- Earn rewards on purchases
- View menu and favorites
- Track rewards progress
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Order bowls, smoothies, and superfood favorites with the Palmetto app. Pay securely with Apple Pay and earn rewards on every purchase.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Palmetto at none against UCSC Dining's shown. Palmetto also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). UCSC Dining's advantage is review sentiment (67% vs 43%) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Palmetto holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 392 and 676 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of UCSC Dining's written reviews are positive against 43% of Palmetto's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
UCSC Dining ships an update every 6 days, Palmetto every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | UCSC Dining | Palmetto |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (392 ratings) | 4.8 (676 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 392 | 676 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 87 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chai Jie | Per Diem Subscriptions, Inc. |
Customer experience
UCSC Dining
Palmetto
Bugs and requests
UCSC Dining
Reported bugs
2 issues- Inaccurate opening hours
- Incorrect menu information (e.g., waffles)
Requested features
5 requests- Add Owl's Nest cafe
- Allow viewing nutritional value for cafe items
- Option to search by food and see dining hall serving it
- Update hours for dining halls
- Update status for dining halls (e.g., open/closed for renovations)
Palmetto
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
UCSC Dining
No in-app purchases
Palmetto
No in-app purchases
