Beer Styles vs Sample Ox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Beer Styles
Access comprehensive beer style guidelines with vital statistics like gravity, bitterness, color, and alcohol content. Visual representations of key stats help users easily understand differences between styles.
- BJCP Style Guidelines
- Vital stats (OG, FG, IBU, SRM, ABV)
- Aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel descriptions
- Visual representation of stats
- Easy comparison of beer styles
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The guidelines include vital stats such as OG (original gravity), FG (final gravity), IBU (bitterness), SRM (colour), and ABV readings as well as descriptions for aroma, appearance, flavour, and mouth feel. In Beer Styles all the vital stats have been given a visual representation to make it easier to fathom the differences in styles.
Sample Ox
Discover and rate various products like beer, coffee, and spirits. Compare your tasting notes with friends and experts, and track your palate's evolution over time. Participate in special tasting events to evaluate new products.
- Rate products with friends
- Build and track your palate
- Use industry-standard flavor terms
- Compare results with experts
- Join special tasting events
- Evaluate new products
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Join us for a Tasting! Rate products with friends, and build your palate. Describe what you’re tasting, and compare yourself against friends and experts. Use a wide range of industry standard flavor terms to test your palate and teach yourself to become a better taster. Join special tasting events to help evaluate new products as well. HOW IT WORKS • JOIN: Find an event or product on the main screen or enter in a join code for a private event • RATE: Describe what you’re tasting and give feedback on products • RESULTS: See how your results compare to others • TRACK: View your tasting history and see how your palate evolves over time PRODUCT CATEGORIES • Beer • Cider • Hard Seltzer • Chocolate • Coffee • Malt • Hops • Spirits • Kombucha Sample Ox is a trademark of Lean Sensory Systems, Inc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Beer Styles at 29 against Sample Ox's 5. Sample Ox's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Beer Styles against 4.6 for Sample Ox. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Beer Styles has 29 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 96% of Beer Styles's written reviews are positive against 100% of Sample Ox's.
Beer Styles ships an update every 6 weeks, Sample Ox every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Beer Styles | Sample Ox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (29 ratings) — better | 4.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 96.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Matias Korhonen | Lean Sensory Systems, Inc. |
Customer experience
Beer Styles
Sample Ox
In-app purchases
Beer Styles
No in-app purchases
Sample Ox
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Beer Styles free?
Is Sample Ox free?
Which has better reviews, Beer Styles or Sample Ox?
Do Beer Styles or Sample Ox have ads?
Which is updated more often, Beer Styles or Sample Ox?
Other comparisons
