The best The Great Coffee App alternative for better coffee.
The Great Coffee App is a handsome coffee encyclopedia. Filtru is a brewing companion that's actually alive: guided timers, Bluetooth scales, AI bag scanning, and updates every year since 2016.
Available for iPhone and iPad. Free to download.
The Great Coffee App, on the App Store
First, some honesty.
The Great Coffee App earned its name as a beautiful reference: cross-section drink visuals and brewing knowledge in twelve languages.
It's also £2.99 up front and hasn't been updated since 2020. There are no brew timers, no journal, no scale support, no scanning, no stats. It teaches coffee; it doesn't brew it with you. Filtru is free to try and does the actual brewing, every morning.
Filtru vs The Great Coffee App,
feature by feature.
Based on each app’s public App Store listing and documentation, as of July 2026.
| Feature | The Great Coffee App |
 Filtru
★ Recommended
|
|---|---|---|
| Guided step-by-step brew timers | No. Reference guides, no timers | Yes. Guided timers for 15 methods |
| Community & shared recipes | No. Not advertised | Yes. Community recipes on every brew method |
| Bluetooth scale support | No. Not advertised | Yes. 14 brands with live weight + flow rate |
| Live brew graphs (weight + flow) | No. Not advertised | Yes. Weight + flow-rate brew print per cup |
| Espresso tools | Partial. Drink encyclopedia, not tools | Yes. Dial-in, shot recording, TDS + extraction |
| Coffee journal | No. Not advertised | Yes. Tasting notes with customisable bag styles |
| AI bag scanning | No. Not advertised | Yes. AbolBuna, on-device, 50,000+ bags |
| Stats & insights | No. Not advertised | Yes. Cost per cup, origins, varietals over time |
| Languages | Yes. 12 languages | Yes. 14 languages |
| Price | Partial. £2.99 up front | Yes. Free · optional PRO from $3.49/mo |
| Actively maintained | No. Last updated October 2020 | Yes. Updated continuously since 2016 |
“With this app you get a real sense of passion. The methods are clear to understand.”— App Store review of Filtru
Why people switch from The Great Coffee App to Filtru.
Learning about coffee isn't brewing it.
The Great Coffee App shows you what a flat white is. Filtru stands next to you while you make one: guided step-by-step timers for fifteen methods, with community recipes on each.
Six years without an update.
Its last release was October 2020. Filtru ships improvements every year, from new Bluetooth scales to the AbolBuna bag scanner, and holds 4.8 stars from 11,914 ratings.
Free beats £2.99 you can't try first.
Filtru is a free download. Brew with it today; PRO is optional and only if you want the deeper journal and espresso tools.
What you get when you switch.
Guided brewing for fifteen methods
AeroPress, V60, Chemex, French press, espresso, siphon, and more. Each has a baseline recipe and a guided timer that keeps pace with you. See every brew method →
Works with serious coffee scales
Acaia, Timemore, Felicita, Decent, BooKoo and more. Live weight and flow-rate feedback with automatic pairing. See supported scales →
Accessibility is a feature, not a checkbox
Filtru works properly with VoiceOver, including live spoken readouts of your scale's measurements while you brew, as often or as rarely as you like. And you can switch the whole app to fonts like OpenDyslexic, Lexend, or Atkinson Hyperlegible.
The answer is YES
Switching from The Great Coffee App? These all have the same answer:
- Can I follow a step-by-step brew timer in Filtru? Yes
- Can I keep a coffee journal in Filtru? Yes
- Is Filtru available in my language? Yes
- Does Filtru work with VoiceOver? Yes
- Is Filtru free to try? Yes
Filtru is free to download and works with the gear you already own. No subscription needed to start brewing.
Compare Filtru with more coffee apps.
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The Great Coffee App is a trademark of its respective owner; Filtru isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by it. Feature and pricing information comes from public listings and documentation as of July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell me and I’ll fix it.