The best wine scanner app: Grappi vs Vivino
A wine scanner app turns your phone into a pocket sommelier: point the camera at a label and it names the wine, the grape and the region. The two best known are Grappi and Vivino. The short answer is that Grappi is the best choice for a free, private scanner that works offline and gives a clear 0 to 100 score, while Vivino is the one to pick if you mainly want community star ratings and to buy wine inside the app.
What is a wine scanner app?
A wine scanner app uses your phone camera to read a bottle label, and sometimes its barcode, then matches it to a wine database and shows you what is in the glass: the producer, grape, region, style and a rating. The best ones also remember the wines you own, suggest what to drink with dinner, and even turn learning about wine into a game. Grappi does all of this on your device, so it keeps working without a signal.
Grappi vs Vivino, side by side
| Grappi | Vivino | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to download, one optional Premium feature | Free, optional Vivino Premium |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes, scanning and cellar work with no signal | Limited, most features need a connection |
| How it identifies wine | Reads the label on your device against a 185,000-wine reference | Community label-photo matching |
| Ratings | Its own clear 0 to 100 score, no borrowed critic numbers | Crowd-sourced star ratings from millions of users |
| Prices | An estimated price range | Community price data and a marketplace |
| Buy wine in the app | No | Yes, built-in shop |
| Cellar tracker | Yes | Yes |
| Food pairings | Yes, for every wine | Some |
| Wine quiz to learn | Yes, a 1,000-question Wine Quiz | No |
| Privacy | Your data stays on your device | Account and cloud based |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad | iPhone and Android |
Which should you choose?
Choose Grappi if you want to scan a wine and get a straight answer without signing up, sharing data or going online. Grappi reads the label on your device against a reference of 185,000 wines, gives its own clear 0 to 100 score instead of borrowed critic numbers, tracks your cellar, suggests a food pairing for every bottle and helps you learn with a built-in Wine Quiz. It is free to download and works on iPhone and iPad.
Choose Vivino if your priority is the largest community of wine drinkers. Its strength is millions of crowd-sourced star ratings and prices, plus a marketplace to buy the wine you just scanned, and it is available on Android too. In return you create an account and most features expect a connection.
Grappi is honest by design. You get a clear 0 to 100 score and an estimated price range, never invented critic ratings or fake prices, and your cellar, notes and label photos stay on your device.
Scan any wine in seconds
Point Grappi at a label to get the grape, region, style and a clear 0 to 100 score, then the perfect wine for any meal. Free to download, works offline, no account.