Comparison

Loafer vs Sourdough Forge

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

Sourdough Forge

This app helps you manage your sourdough starter, plan fermentation, and improve your baking with tracking tools and an AI coach. Log feedings, calculate hydration, and troubleshoot issues to achieve better bread results.

Highlights
  • Starter feeding reminders
  • Hydration and flour ratio tracking
  • Fermentation and proof timing
  • Dough calculators
  • AI sourdough troubleshooting
  • Bake journaling
  • Recipe timelines
Features
Read full description

Sourdough Forge is a focused sourdough starter tracker for home bakers who want clearer feeding reminders, better bake planning, and practical bread-making tools. STARTER TRACKER - Track one or multiple sourdough starters - Log feedings, hydration, flour mix, ratios, and observations - Set reminders so your starter stays active and ready - Review starter history to spot patterns over time BAKE PLANNING - Follow built-in sourdough recipes - Plan each bake with step-by-step timelines - Track bulk fermentation, proofing, and baking - Keep notes so your next loaf improves HYDRATION & BAKER'S TOOLS - Hydration calculator - Formula builder - Feeding ratio calculator - Levain build tools - Dough temperature helpers - Rise time and fermentation estimates - Unit conversions and recipe scaling BAKING JOURNAL - Save feedings, completed bakes, notes, and ratings - Compare what worked across loaves - Build a useful logbook for better crumb, timing, and flavor SOURDOUGH PRO Unlock the full toolkit with unlimited starters, custom recipes, advanced calculators, full journal history, insights, and CSV export. Whether you are building your first starter or refining a weekly bread routine, Sourdough Forge gives you a simple way to track, plan, calculate, and improve every bake. Terms of Use: https://app.notion.com/p/Terms-of-Use-Sourdough-Forge-2de880124e85806487d4dd0e4fb29265 Privacy Policy: https://app.notion.com/p/Privacy-Policy-Sourdough-Forge-2d1880124e8580189725c4601f9f7225

Screenshots

Loafer4 screens
Sourdough Forge4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sourdough Forge at Free against Loafer's $0.99. Sourdough Forge also leads on ratings volume (7 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). Loafer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and chart position (#195 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sourdough Forge is free to download; Loafer costs $0.99 up front. Sourdough Forge sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Loafer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Loafer against 5.0 for Sourdough Forge. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sourdough Forge has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Loafer's written reviews are positive against 94% of Sourdough Forge's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Loafer ships an update every 6 days, Sourdough Forge weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Loafer versus Sourdough Forge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLoaferSourdough Forge
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better93.8% of reviews
Number of ratings17 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
Best chart rank#195 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB83 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperColin GrenfellHadrien Patin

Customer experience

Loafer

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

Sourdough Forge

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.3%

In-app purchases

None

Loafer

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Sourdough Forge

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Subscription$5.991 Month
  • Sourdough Forge Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$23.991 Year
  • Sourdough Forge Pro - Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$24.99

Questions

Is Loafer free?
Loafer costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sourdough Forge free?
Sourdough Forge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Loafer or Sourdough Forge?
Loafer and Sourdough Forge are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 7 ratings respectively.
Do Loafer or Sourdough Forge have ads?
Neither Loafer nor Sourdough Forge shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Loafer or Sourdough Forge?
Loafer ships an update every 6 days, and Sourdough Forge weekly. Most recently, Loafer was updated on October 29, 2026 and Sourdough Forge on October 28, 2026.

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