Sandbox Smart vs Tasting Grounds
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sandbox Smart
Control your smart coffee bean roaster via Bluetooth. Select pre-programmed roast levels or manually adjust heat, fan speed, and drum rotation for custom flavors. Enjoy the process of creating your own exclusive coffee roasts.
- Bluetooth connectivity
- Pre-programmed roast settings
- Manual roast parameter adjustment
- Heat control
- Fan speed control
- Drum rotation control
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The smart home coffee bean roaster Sandbox Smart R1 connects smartphones with Bluetooth. The app comes with pre-programmed roast settings to make different roast levels: Light/Medium/Dark Roast for users to utilize and also manual settings to adjust roast parameters: Heat/Fan-speed/Drum Rotations Control for users to enjoy the fun of roasting their own exclusive flavors. Your coffee, your choice. http://www.sandboxsmart.com Apple Terms of Use (EULA) : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Tasting Grounds
This app helps specialty coffee enthusiasts brew better coffee by logging brew details, tasting notes, and ratings. Connect with friends and the wider coffee community to share experiences, discover new coffees and roasters, and learn about coffee origins and processing methods.
- Log brew details and tasting notes
- Rate coffees like a professional
- Share brews and methods with friends
- Discover coffee origins and processing
- Explore new roasters and brewing techniques
- See community tasting notes and ratings
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Brew Coffee Together! Tasting Grounds is the specialty coffee app designed to connect the coffee community and help everyone brew better coffee together. - Log and rate your brews - record the details of your brewing process (such as brewer, water to grounds ratio, brew time, and more), the flavors you are tasting, and scoring notes like a coffee professional. - Share with your friends and the community - share your coffees and brewing methods, see what your friends are drinking, and discuss how we all enjoy our coffee differently. - Learn more about your coffee - see details about where your coffee was grown, how it was produced, and what flavors your roaster tastes as well as how others are brewing the same beans, what others are tasting, and how others are rating their brews. - Discover new things - discover similarities in the coffees that you do or don’t enjoy, explore new roasters from around the world, and find new ways to brew better coffee. We hope you enjoy using Tasting Grounds! Don’t forget to give us feedback at https://tastinggrounds.com/contact or follow us on Twitter (@tastinggrounds) and Instagram (@tastinggrounds)! TOS: https://tastinggrounds.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Tasting Grounds at 84% against Sandbox Smart's 33%. Tasting Grounds also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.6) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months). Sandbox Smart's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, 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. Sandbox Smart sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month and Tasting Grounds sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Tasting Grounds holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tasting Grounds has 47 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of Sandbox Smart's written reviews are positive against 84% of Tasting Grounds's.
Sandbox Smart ships an update every 2 months, Tasting Grounds every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and August 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sandbox Smart | Tasting Grounds |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.6 (7 ratings) | 4.9 (47 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 84.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 47 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #192 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 93 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sandbox Smart Technology Co., Ltd. | Tasting Grounds, LLC |
Customer experience
Sandbox Smart
Tasting Grounds
In-app purchases
Sandbox Smart
- VIP subscription$4.991 Month
Tasting Grounds
- Tasting Grounds Pro - Monthly$2.991 Month
- Tasting Grounds Pro - Yearly$24.991 Year
Questions
Is Sandbox Smart free?
Is Tasting Grounds free?
Which has better reviews, Sandbox Smart or Tasting Grounds?
Do Sandbox Smart or Tasting Grounds have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sandbox Smart or Tasting Grounds?
Other comparisons
