Act Four vs The Espresso Protocol
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Video-guided brewing workflow
- Speed and taste analysis
- Machine and grinder adjustment guidance
- Automatic recipe tracking
- Hands-free operation
- Brew Weight and Timing adjustments
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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/
The Espresso Protocol
This tool helps assess coffee quality for espresso performance. It uses sensory science to quantify and describe coffee attributes, promoting transparency and communication across the coffee supply chain.
- Coffee quality assessment for espresso
- Sensory science integration
- Quantify coffee characteristics
- Promotes supply chain transparency
- Bridges roaster and producer communication
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The Espresso Protocol (TEP) is a coffee quality assessment tool for identifying coffees that will perform well as espresso. It incorporates sensory science and allows tasters to quantify and describe the characteristics and attributes of coffees.* Efficient, precise and repeatable, it is designed for the benefit of the entire coffee supply chain from producers to roasters. The common language created by TEP promotes transparency in value attribution along the supply chain and bridges the gap between roaster and producer regarding origin effects on differentiated price structures based on roasting and extraction methods.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: The Espresso Protocol at none against Act Four's 3. The Espresso Protocol also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Act Four's advantage is ratings volume (17 vs 2). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Act Four sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. The Espresso Protocol asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Act Four against 5.0 for The Espresso Protocol. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Act Four has 17 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Act Four ships an update every 8 days, The Espresso Protocol every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Act Four | The Espresso Protocol |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (17 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AIV, LLC | Premium Quality Consulting, LLC |
Customer experience
Act Four
The Espresso Protocol
In-app purchases
Act Four
- Monthly3 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- SwitchBot Integration$19.99
The Espresso Protocol
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Act Four free?
Is The Espresso Protocol free?
Which has better reviews, Act Four or The Espresso Protocol?
Do Act Four or The Espresso Protocol have ads?
Which is updated more often, Act Four or The Espresso Protocol?
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