Portulator vs Calcohol
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Portulator
This utility app helps winemakers calculate the precise amount of spirits needed to achieve a desired alcohol percentage in port wine. It offers two modes: one for fortified wines and another for port-style wines, also calculating residual sugar.
- Calculate spirits for fortified wines
- Calculate spirits for port-style wines
- Target alcohol percentage input
- Calculate residual sugar
- Input wine and spirit alcohol percentages
- Input must volume and Brix levels
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This app is a utility that calculates the amount of spirits to add to a wine to make a port wine of a target alcohol percentage. The first tab is for fortified wines where the user simply inputs the wine volume, wine alcohol percentage, spirits alcohol percentage, and the desired port wine alcohol percentage. The result is the volume of spirits to add to the wine. The second tab is for port-style wines. With a given must volume and a starting and ending Brix, one can calculate the amount of spirits to add for a target alcohol percentage and a given spirits alcohol percentage. The tab also calculates residual sugar after the addition of spirits.
Calcohol
This app provides a comprehensive suite of tools for liquor makers, offering calculations for dilution, contraction, mixing, heating, boiling, and distillation. It also includes a notebook for recipes and iCloud sync, with support for various measurement systems.
- Alcohol strength calculations (dilution, contraction)
- Mixture calculations by volume and mass
- Heating and temperature management tools
- Boiling point and distillation calculations
- Mash and spirit making calculators
- Notebook with iCloud sync
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Here is a functions list: • Notebook - save notes, recipes and so on with iCloud sync (for iOS 13 and later) • Dilution – calculating require water volume, to decrease alcohol strength to desired • Contraction – calculating require volume of higher ABV solution, to increase available alcohol strength to desired • Mixing Alcohol by Volume – calculating mixture of two alcohol solutions by given their volume • Mixing Alcohol by Mass – calculating mixture of two alcohol solutions by given their weight • Weight to Volume - calculate volume of liquid by its weight • Gravity Change – calculating alcohol per volume, based on gravity change in SG, Plato and Brix • Water Temperature Mix – calculating overall temperature after mixing two solutions • Chilling Water – calculating volume of cold water, to chill hot one • Electric Heating Power – calculating required electrical current, voltage and % of max heater power, to get desired power from particular electric heater • Heating Time – calculating heating time by given liquid volume • Heating Power - heating source power calculation, which is applied to increase liquid temperature • Boiling – calculating boiling point by given pressure. With iPhone 6 and later version (except SE), atmospheric pressure can be read from build-in barometer • Hydrometer Reading Correction – correction reading hydrometer value depending on temperature • Mash Maker – calculate mash parameters, such as water, yeast requirements, alcohol amount prediction. All calculation based on specified ingredients list, its amount and desired total volume of mash • Strike Water – calculate required temperature for strike water, to get target mash temperature • Spirit Maker – this feature will help you to mix strong alcohol, water and sugar, to make liquor with specific proportion of that ingredients • Distillation Cut – calculate each fraction volume • Drip Speed – calculate time to collect specific volume • Theoretical Plates – calculate plates equivalent of your column extender Can be configured to calculate volumes in metric, UK or US imperial systems
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Calcohol at Free against Portulator's $1.99. Calcohol also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 20 months) and ratings volume (190 vs 2). Portulator's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 63%) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On 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
Calcohol is free to download; Portulator costs $1.99 up front. Calcohol sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Portulator asks for nothing beyond the download.
Portulator holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calcohol has 190 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Portulator's written reviews are positive against 63% of Calcohol's.
Portulator ships an update every 20 months, Calcohol every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Portulator | Calcohol |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.7 (190 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 62.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 190 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Mark Karasz | Denis Orlov |
Customer experience
Portulator
Calcohol
In-app purchases
Portulator
No in-app purchases
Calcohol
- Full Version$0.99
Questions
Is Portulator free?
Is Calcohol free?
Which has better reviews, Portulator or Calcohol?
Do Portulator or Calcohol have ads?
Which is updated more often, Portulator or Calcohol?
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