Comparison

Loafer vs Homebaker

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

Head to head
About

Loafer

This app guides you through making sourdough bread, from starter care to baking. It provides timely feeding reminders for your starter and calculates precise ingredient ratios for your loaves. Integrated timers and step tracking help you manage the entire baking process.

Highlights
  • Sourdough starter care and feeding reminders
  • Automatic ingredient ratio calculation
  • Adjustable hydration and ingredient ratios
  • Baking timers and step tracking
  • Home screen widgets
  • Live Activities for lock screen timers
Features
Read full description

A companion for making a sourdough loaf, making and caring for your starter. Look after your sourdough starter, and get alerts when it's time to feed it. Track whether you keep it on the counter or in the fridge (when chilly, your starter needs feeding less often). Loafer makes sure you don't forget to feed your pride and joy and leave it languishing in the back of the fridge. When you want to bake, Loafer automatically works out the ratios of flour, water, starter and salt you need.. you can tweak hydration levels and the ratios of starter and salt to flour, Loafer does the maths for you! Use the handy timers and step trackers as you go through the process of mixing and baking a sourdough loaf from scratch. You can opt in to notifications and Live Activities on your phone. There are two Widgets to put on your home screen : The first reminds you when it's time to feed your starter. The second keeps track of your making and baking timers, so you never miss a step! Opt in to Live Activities on your iPhone to see your baking timers on the lock screen...

About

Homebaker

This app helps home bakers track bread recipes and baking sessions. It allows users to create custom recipes, log detailed session notes with timings and photos, and manage sourdough starters. Push notifications remind users of important steps and feeding times.

Highlights
  • Create custom bread recipes
  • Log detailed baking sessions with photos
  • Automatic baker's percentage calculation
  • Manage sourdough starter activity
  • Step-by-step baking session tracking
  • Push notification reminders
Read full description

Perfect your bread baking with Homebaker, the bread baking notes app for home bakers that want to keep track of their bread recipes and baking sessions. Whether you're just beginning your baking journey or you're a seasoned bread baker, Homebaker offers seamless tools to: - Perfect your recipes: Create your own bread baking recipes by adding your preferment, dough and non-dough ingredients, as well as detailed recipe steps. Homebaker automatically calculates baker's percentages and hydration. Use recipes as templates to pre-fill your baking sessions. You can also share your recipes with fellow bakers using a public link. - Log your baking sessions: Record every step of your baking sessions with detailed timings, descriptions, metadata (such as temperatures) and pictures. Review past sessions and refine your techniques for perfect results every time. - Step by step precision: Never forget to add salt again. Mark baking steps as done to keep track of where you are in a baking session. - Manage your sourdough starters: log your starter's activity and schedule feeding notifications - Get notified: Get notified with push notifications when step timers are completed in your baking session or when it's time to check on your sourdough starter. - Stay synced: With the Pro version (requires paid subscription) – access Homebaker from any device, including desktops, via our web app. A subscription to Homebaker Pro is optional and can be purchased in-app to unlock the following features: - Unlimited creation of recipes: In the free version of Homebaker the number of recipes you can create is limited. Upgrade to Pro to create as many recipes as you want, which also can be used as templates for your baking sessions - Access to the Homebaker web app: Your recipes and sessions get synced with your Homebaker account and can be accessed in the browser via the web app. This makes it easy to manage your baking notes on desktop devices. Subscriptions will be automatically renewed and charged on a monthly basis. You can cancel anytime in your iTunes account settings. You can find the Terms of Use (EULA) here: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://www.homebaker.app/privacy Support: https://www.homebaker.app/support

Screenshots

Loafer4 screens
Homebaker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Homebaker at Free against Loafer's $0.99. Homebaker also leads on iOS requirement (14.0.0 vs 18.0). Loafer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment 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

Homebaker is free to download; Loafer costs $0.99 up front. Homebaker sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Loafer asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Loafer ships an update every 6 days, Homebaker fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Loafer versus Homebaker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLoaferHomebaker
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#188 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.014.0.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperColin GrenfellSIMON RAYMOND SCHOEN

Customer experience

Loafer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Homebaker

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Loafer

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Homebaker

Subscriptions1
  • Homebaker Pro$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Loafer free?
Loafer costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Homebaker free?
Homebaker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Loafer or Homebaker have ads?
Homebaker shows ads; Loafer does not.
Which is updated more often, Loafer or Homebaker?
Loafer ships an update every 6 days, and Homebaker fortnightly. Most recently, Loafer was updated on September 21, 2026 and Homebaker on June 1, 2026.

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