Comparison

Kombu Time vs Fermentation Lab

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

Head to head
About

Kombu Time

This app simplifies the kombucha brewing process by offering straightforward tracking of fermentations, timely notifications, and an overview of all your brews. It allows optional logging of flavors and tea types, with a brew history and exportable data.

Highlights
  • Brew management for first and second fermentation
  • Home screen widgets for brew status
  • Timely bottling and readiness notifications
  • At-a-glance brew overview
  • Brew history and statistics
  • Optional flavor and tea type tracking
  • Exportable brewing data
Features
Read full description

Brew your kombucha with confidence and ease using Kombu Time, the app designed to keep your brewing process simple and stress-free. Perfect for kombucha enthusiasts who value simplicity, Kombu Time helps you track your fermentations without the clutter of unnecessary features. Features: - Straightforward Brew Management: Easily manage your kombucha brews with clear tracking of both first and second fermentations. Add optional flavor notes for second fermentation and tea types for first fermentation to keep track of your experiments. - Home Screen Widgets: See your active brews at a glance without opening the app. Available in multiple sizes, widgets show fermentation progress, days remaining, and which brews need attention—right from your home screen. - Timely Notifications: Receive notifications exactly when you need them—when it's time to bottle after the first fermentation, and when your kombucha is ready to enjoy after the second. Quick actions let you complete a brew or extend fermentation by 1 day right from the notification—no need to open the app. - At-a-Glance Brew Overview: See the status of all your brews in one clean, uncluttered view. Clear visual indicators show when brews are ready, in progress, or overdue. Know exactly when to start a new brew or when to bottle, without any distractions. - Brew History: Track your kombucha journey with automatic history logging. View statistics including total brews completed, average fermentation times, and most-used flavors. Export your brewing data as CSV or JSON for your own analysis. - Flavor & Tea Type Tracking: Keep track of which flavors you use for second fermentation and which tea varieties for first fermentation. Choose from pre-populated favorites or add your own. Completely optional—skip it if you prefer to keep things simpler. Why Kombu Time? Kombu Time was born out of the need for a no-fuss, straightforward kombucha brewing app. If you're tired of apps overloaded with features you don't need, Kombu Time is the perfect solution. It does exactly what you need—nothing more, nothing less. All features are designed to enhance your brewing without adding complexity. History tracking, flavor notes, and tea types are completely optional. Use what helps you, ignore what doesn't. Start Brewing with Ease! Download Kombu Time today and simplify your kombucha brewing process. Focus on the joy of brewing, not on managing complicated tools.

About

Fermentation Lab

Features
Read full description

Fermentation Lab is the cellar notebook for people who ferment at home. Pick a ferment and a recipe: the app weighs the ingredients, tells you what to do each day and keeps track of temperature, pH and salt, jar by jar. Start from a recipe 95 recipes for 39 ferments – sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, yogurt, miso, shoyu, koji, tempeh, cured meats, cheese, vinegar, beer, wine, mead and more – plus bread recipes and pizza styles. Ingredients arrive already weighed and stay in proportion: change how much you make, or one line, and the rest follows. Next to each ingredient you see whether it is in your pantry; what is missing goes to the shopping list. Or write your own recipe and keep it for next time. The right step, every day Each type has its own care sheet: the phases, the task of each phase and the checkpoints – minimum salt, pH by the expected day, temperature limits, humidity, weight loss. Home follows what is fermenting and reminds you of today's task, with a notification when it is due. Short ferments such as bread, koji or yogurt are counted in hours. Log it, understand it Temperature, pH, gravity, notes and photos in one tap. Every reading is read for your ferment: whether it is within the limits of its care sheet, whether it is too early to tell, what counts besides that number. Measuring guides explain how to read pH and °Brix properly. You can connect an Inkbird Bluetooth sensor for temperature and humidity. Bread and pizza Baker's percentages on total flour, hydration, sourdough starter, biga and poolish. The method is part of the recipe: autolyse, folds, a night in the fridge, the pan. Doughs made in pieces are asked in pieces – four 250 g dough balls – and the step-by-step recipe has timers. The water temperature that brings the dough to the right temperature is one tap away from Home. The Laboratory Pantry and supplies, a shopping list with a barcode scanner, your cultures, the archive of finished ferments, statistics across batches, a calendar and timers. The Library Problems and doubts ("is it mold?"), techniques and microbes, with a search that reads inside the cards. Share An Instagram story or post with the jar's photo, log or recipe, plus a link to its web page. The Community Your profile is your lab: a jar for every ferment in progress. A weekly leaderboard, daily quests, culture swaps and a swap map. Others see only the types and progress of your lab – never names, notes or photos – and you can hide it. The Brigade, for kitchens A shared lab for kitchen teams: tickets on the rail, shift handovers, the week's HACCP checks, roles. And more Eight languages, a paper or cellar theme, and a predicted flavor profile and umami score (they are estimates). Fermentation Lab helps you keep count and not skip a check. Its values are the common ones of home fermentation: a number within limits says that number is within limits, not that a food is safe or ready. When in doubt, don't taste it.

Screenshots

Kombu Time3 screens
Fermentation Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Fermentation Lab at fortnightly against Kombu Time's every 3 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kombu Time ships an update every 3 months, Fermentation Lab fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Kombu Time versus Fermentation Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKombu TimeFermentation Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.315.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB84 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLammert WesterhoffAntonio Lice

In-app purchases

None

Kombu Time

No in-app purchases

None

Fermentation Lab

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Kombu Time free?
Kombu Time is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fermentation Lab free?
Fermentation Lab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Kombu Time or Fermentation Lab have ads?
Neither Kombu Time nor Fermentation Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Kombu Time or Fermentation Lab?
Kombu Time ships an update every 3 months, and Fermentation Lab fortnightly. Most recently, Kombu Time was updated on October 24, 2026 and Fermentation Lab on October 24, 2026.

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