Comparison

LCBO vs Thirsty Cellar

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

Head to head
About

LCBO

Shop a wide selection of alcoholic beverages, including spirits, wine, beer, and coolers. Browse thousands of products, scan items in-store for details, and order for pickup or delivery. Find product availability and save your favorites.

Highlights
  • Browse and shop thousands of products
  • In-store barcode scanner
  • Order for pickup or delivery
  • Check product availability
  • Favorite products and stores
  • Find store locations
Features
Read full description

The official LCBO app lets you browse and shop thousands of wine, beers & ciders, spirits, coolers and more! The LCBO app allows you to: • Browse and shop thousands of LCBO & Vintages products. • Scan products in-store using the app’s barcode scanner to get more info. • Order products to be picked up in-store or shipped directly to you. • Find up-to-date product availability in your favourite store or closest store. • Add products and stores to your favourite list for quick access. • Find a location.

About

Thirsty Cellar

Features
Read full description

Wine without the performance. Thirsty Cellar is for people who drink well and would rather enjoy wine than be quizzed on it. Track what you have, remember what you liked, and get a straight answer when you don't know what to open. YOUR CELLAR Add a bottle by scanning the label or typing it in. Keep vintages, producers, regions and your own tasting notes in one place, and edit any of it right on the wine's page. Mark what you drank and when, archive what's gone, and heart the bottles you'd buy again. CAVISTE, AN AI SOMMELIER Ask what to open tonight, what goes with dinner, or what to order from a restaurant list. It answers in a sentence or two, not a lecture. Photograph a wine list and it will tell you what's worth ordering. On Thirsty, it reads your actual bottles too. A LOCAL GUIDE, CHOSEN BY HAND Ask where to drink or buy and you get real places: wine bars, bottle shops and private-import agencies in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and beyond, plus the Canadian growers worth knowing. Every one is on the list because someone went there, not because an algorithm found it. THE MOON, FREE FOR EVERYONE Fruit, flower, leaf and root days, the biodynamic calendar many growers work by. Tonight's verdict comes first, with the bottles in your cellar that suit it. Some people taste the difference, some don't. Try it yourself and decide. DISCOVER YOUR PALATE See the shape of what you drink, drawn only from your own wine cards, the styles worth exploring next, and which bottles are ready now rather than in five years. IN ENGLISH OR IN FRENCH The whole app speaks both. Choose yours in Profile. CURIOUS OR THIRSTY Curious is free: up to 150 bottles, 10 label scans a month, the Moon calendar, CSV export, and Caviste for restaurant lists. Thirsty removes the limits: unlimited bottles and scans, unlimited new picks in Discover, and Caviste recommendations from your own cellar. Thirsty is an auto-renewing subscription, monthly or yearly. The price for your country is shown in the app before you buy. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you can manage or cancel it in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://thirstyc.com/privacy-policy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ You must be of legal drinking age in your province to use this app.

Screenshots

LCBO4 screens
Thirsty Cellar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: LCBO at none against Thirsty Cellar's 2. Thirsty Cellar's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. Thirsty Cellar sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. LCBO asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LCBO ships an update every 2 months, Thirsty Cellar every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
LCBO versus Thirsty Cellar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLCBOThirsty Cellar
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.4 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews5.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB59 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperLiquor Control Board of OntarioCATHERINE GIGNAC

In-app purchases

None

LCBO

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Thirsty Cellar

Subscriptions2
  • Thirsty Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Thirsty Yearly$22.991 Year

Questions

Is LCBO free?
LCBO is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Thirsty Cellar free?
Thirsty Cellar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do LCBO or Thirsty Cellar have ads?
Neither LCBO nor Thirsty Cellar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LCBO or Thirsty Cellar?
LCBO ships an update every 2 months, and Thirsty Cellar every 3 weeks. Most recently, LCBO was updated on October 21, 2026 and Thirsty Cellar on October 12, 2026.

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