Comparison

Act Four vs EspressoLog

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

Head to head
About

Act Four

Learn to brew perfect espresso with video guidance and taste analysis. The app tracks your brew automatically, helping you adjust your machine and recipe for your ideal cup. Designed for both beginners and experienced baristas.

Highlights
  • Video-guided brewing workflow
  • Speed and taste analysis
  • Machine and grinder adjustment guidance
  • Automatic recipe tracking
  • Hands-free operation
  • Brew Weight and Timing adjustments
Features
Read full description

Let’s brew amazing espresso. New to espresso? Act Four’s video-guided workflow is designed to quickly walk you through the same steps used by professional baristas. We’ll analyze the speed and taste of each brew to tweak your machine, grinder, and brew recipe until you land on your ideal cup. Espresso pro? Let’s dial in by taste. After each brew, we’ll dive into the tasting experience to drive adjustments to Brew Weight and Brew Timing. Each brew iterates on the previous until we hit that magic cup. Act Four’s minimal workflow is designed to be hands-free and out of your way. Just open the app for automatic recipe, preinfusion, brew, and flow rate tracking. Privacy Policy: https://actfour.coffee/privacy Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

EspressoLog

Record and analyze your espresso shots to perfect your brewing. Track key metrics like dose, yield, and time, alongside tasting notes to refine flavor balance. Manage your beans and machines in a minimalist interface designed for home baristas.

Highlights
  • Log dose, yield, ratio, time, temperature
  • Track tasting notes (acidity, body, aftertaste)
  • Manage coffee beans
  • Manage coffee machines
  • Analyze extraction data
  • Improve brewing consistency
Features
Read full description

Dialing in a new coffee often means starting from scratch. After several test shots you finally find a recipe that tastes great — but weeks later, brewing the same coffee again, it's easy to forget what worked. EspressoLog helps you capture the recipes and tasting notes behind your best shots, so you can recreate them with confidence. Log dose, yield, ratio, shot time, temperature, and — for lever and pressure-profiling machines — peak pressure for every espresso. Rate acidity, sweetness, bitterness, body, and aftertaste to see how each change in the recipe shows up in the cup. Manage your coffees with roast details, freshness tracking, and flavor notes. Keep your machines and grinders on file, and see exactly what equipment was behind each shot. Two coaches are a tap away. The on-device Quick coach reads every shot the moment you save it, no connection needed. For a fuller read, ask the Head barista AI — it goes through what you logged: the recipe, how it tasted, your notes, the bean and how long it's been off roast, your machine and grinder, and your earlier shots on that bean. It answers in plain language with its own verdict and up to three things to try next, and that verdict shows on the shot, marked as the AI's. Either way, it's a suggestion, not a ruling. Your cup is still the last word. Share a shot as a photo, a short video, or plain text with every parameter, tool, and tasting note — ready to paste into a message or a note. Everything you log stays on your device, with no account to create and no cloud backup to manage. The one exception is the Head barista AI: asking it sends that shot's details to our server to write the read. Nothing is sent unless you tap the button, and photos never are. To move to a new phone or keep a copy, export your shots, beans, machines, and photos from Settings as one file and import it anywhere; videos aren't included, and the file goes nowhere unless you share it. Designed for home baristas who want more consistent espresso, faster dial-ins, and better coffee in every cup.

Screenshots

Act Four4 screens
EspressoLog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: EspressoLog at none against Act Four's 3. EspressoLog also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Act Four's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ads 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. Act Four sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. EspressoLog asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Act Four holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Act Four ships an update every 8 days, EspressoLog every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Act Four versus EspressoLog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAct FourEspressoLog
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (18 ratings) — better4.8 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings18 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAIV, LLCKate Lee

Customer experience

Act Four

All ratings17 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

EspressoLog

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Act Four

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • SwitchBot Integration$19.99
None

EspressoLog

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Act Four free?
Act Four is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is EspressoLog free?
EspressoLog is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Act Four or EspressoLog?
Act Four is rated higher. Act Four averages 5.0 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while EspressoLog averages 4.8 from 5 ratings.
Do Act Four or EspressoLog have ads?
Neither Act Four nor EspressoLog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Act Four or EspressoLog?
Act Four ships an update every 8 days, and EspressoLog every 3 weeks. Most recently, Act Four was updated on November 4, 2026 and EspressoLog on November 5, 2026.

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