Grapla vs Jiu Jitsu Reference
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Grapla
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Grapla is a BJJ journalling platform and technique encyclopedia for grapplers who want to understand jiu jitsu and expand their journey through it. HUGE KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY. Browse hundreds of positions, techniques, submissions and principles — all bio-mechanically connected by thousands of validated transitions. See how positions relate, where submissions live, and how the parts you already know fit into the bigger picture. Build up your own techniques using the Flowlab tool, using positions and submissions as steps and adding your own notes to each. LOG YOUR TRAINING. Record sessions with voice or text. Track coaches, training partners, and gyms. Build a complete picture of your mat time, week after week. Remember everyones names and what you've ever submitted each other with. The analytics platform will be evolving over time, so sessions you log now will have better and better insights as the app grows. Grapla will record the data on your device and your Apple account (we don't track anything, ever), and as the app evolves your data will be available for interesting insights and growth visibility. You just need to log what you can, and the app should make that easy. TAKE NAMES. Are you sick of forgetting peoples names? Feels awkward asking them their name again for the third time? Start saving them in the app after each session and even give them a nickname to help you remember. The app lets you track rolls with everyone you meet while training, and can save all of the positions and submissions you hit in each round, so you can build up insights at a training partner level. Save notes and styles and even their relative age/strength characteristics - younger/stronger/etc. BUILD YOUR VOCAB. Describe what happened in training — Grapla matches your notes against the library and helps to recognise and find the positions and submissions you were drilling. Curate the matches, name them, and even save them as your own techniques. ROUND TIMER. We've just added a free round timer suitable for coaches, or players who want to throw a timer up on the phone screen and hit the mat. It can be used as a plain timer with no frills, or you can completely customise the rounds with positions, goals and reset conditions, and hook it up so it runs once or loops for all eternity. If you have an Apple Watch you can even stop/start/pause/next it from the watch too. WHY GRAPLA? • 200+ position perspectives, 150+ techniques, 100+ submissions, 100+ learning principles • New positions and submissions constantly being added - soon you will be able to add your own ones too (if we haven't already got it!) • 3,000+ transitions, biomechanically validated • Create your own flows and techniques with clear steps and fully editable details • Voice-record-to-notes that understands jiu-jitsu vocabulary • Training log with people, places, and partners • Curated personal techniques you can compose yourself • 100% on-device speech recognition — recordings never leave your phone • Built for hobbyists, competitors, and coaches alike • Works offline - no data tracking This is being built by one guy in Dublin - it might have some bugs but it's my pet project, so it will be updated constantly. Thanks for trying it out.
Jiu Jitsu Reference
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Know what actually works for you on the mat. Log what you land, miss, and concede in rolling, and see which techniques are working, slipping, or catching you. Jiu Jitsu Reference is a BJJ knowledge journal. Instead of counting hours, it tracks your game: the positions, submissions, sweeps, and escapes you hit and the ones that hit you. LOG IN SECONDS • Pick a technique, a partner, and the result: landed, missed, or conceded • Add Gi or No-Gi context and a quick note • Works offline and syncs when you're back online SEE YOUR GAME • Weekly Activity shows each week's landed, missed, and conceded at a glance • Your Game highlights your active repertoire • Attention flags techniques you're forgetting and positions where you keep getting caught A REFERENCE FOR YOUR JIU-JITSU • Nearly 500 techniques and positions, from guard and passing to leg locks, linked into a map • Every position shows your options from there, what it sets up, and how to counter it • Add your own techniques and notes next to the library TRACK YOUR TRAINING PARTNERS • Keep a private list of partners and their belt rank • See what you land on each partner and what they catch you with Free to browse without an account. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email to start logging.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Jiu Jitsu Reference at none against Grapla's 1. Grapla's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). 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
Both are free to download. Grapla sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Jiu Jitsu Reference asks for nothing beyond the download.
Grapla ships an update weekly, Jiu Jitsu Reference every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Grapla | Jiu Jitsu Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 134 MB | 78 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CONOR LUDDY | Eric Javier Hernandez Saura |
In-app purchases
Grapla
- Grapla Pro Unlock$8.99
Jiu Jitsu Reference
No in-app purchases








