HelloSake vs SakeScan
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HelloSake
Discover the world of Japanese sake with this app. Scan sake labels to access detailed information, save your favorites with notes, and read reviews from other users. Enhance your sake experience with precise search and rich brand stories.
- Scan sake labels for instant information
- Save favorite sakes with notes
- Read and refer to user reviews
- Detailed sake information (origin, flavor, sweetness)
- Precise search functions
- Search sake by name
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Welcome to HelloSake! Japanese sake has a lot of variety of products as well as tastes and each sake has its own brand story. HelloSake provides all sake lovers with access to detailed information extremely easily to help discover the best one. We help enrich the sake experience through this app to enhance the sake community. FEATURES/ HOW TO USE •Take a photo of the sake label to get access to the information easily. •Save your favorite sake that you had with some notes and simple reviews. •Refer to reviews of experienced users. •Information includes sake name, details, place of origin, flavor, and degree of sweetness/ spiciness. •Highly accurate machine learning enables super precise search functions. •Simply search sake information by name.
SakeScan
Identify Japanese sake by scanning labels or menus. Discover tasting notes, food pairings, and reviews from other users. Track your sake journey and explore breweries.
- Scan sake labels for identification
- Scan menus to match sakes
- View tasting notes and food pairings
- Read and write user reviews
- Track scanned sakes in a journal
- Explore sake catalog and breweries
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Snap a sake label or a whole menu and know exactly what you're drinking. SakeScan identifies Japanese sake from a photo and shows you what's in the bottle: the brewery and region, the style, tasting notes, food pairings and what other drinkers think. Our catalog covers 35,000+ sakes. SCAN A LABEL Point your camera at a bottle. SakeScan reads the label (Japanese or English) and opens the sake's page: brewery, prefecture, style (Junmai, Ginjo, Daiginjo and more), polishing ratio, SMV (sweet or dry), rice and ABV where known. SCAN A WHOLE MENU At an izakaya or sake bar, scan the menu and SakeScan matches every listed sake to the catalog, then suggests the ones that fit your taste and budget. RATINGS, REVIEWS & TASTING NOTES Rate what you drink, write tasting notes and read reviews from other sake lovers. FOOD PAIRINGS & SERVING See which dishes go well with each sake and whether to serve it chilled, at room temperature or warm. EXPLORE SAKE AND BREWERIES Search the catalog and filter by style, region, sweetness (SMV) and polishing ratio. Browse breweries and discover what each one makes. YOUR SAKE JOURNAL Every scan is saved to your history. Save favorites and keep track of the bottles you've tried. FOLLOW FRIENDS Follow other drinkers, comment on their finds and get notified when someone follows you or comments on your activity. Available in English, Japanese, Korean and Traditional Chinese. SAKESCAN PRO Free accounts include label scanning, the full catalog and 3 menu scans per month. Pro unlocks unlimited menu scans, full food pairings, an unlimited collection and saved menus. SUBSCRIPTIONS SakeScan Pro Monthly: 1-month auto-renewable subscription. SakeScan Pro Annual: 1-year auto-renewable subscription (includes a 7-day free trial). Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Account Settings after purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.sakescan.com/privacy Please enjoy sake responsibly.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HelloSake at 4.7 against SakeScan's 3.0. HelloSake also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (32 vs 2). On price, update cadence, ads 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. SakeScan sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. HelloSake asks for nothing beyond the download.
HelloSake holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HelloSake has 32 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HelloSake | SakeScan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (32 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 32 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 120 MB | 138 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | HelloSake, Inc | SS Systems |
Customer experience
HelloSake
SakeScan
In-app purchases
HelloSake
No in-app purchases
SakeScan
- SakeScan Monthly$4.991 Month
- SakeScan Annual$49.991 Year








