How we compare
How Palate compares
Palate is a private wine journal with a grape library, food pairing, a home cellar and bonded inventory — free to use. Here is what it covers, next to what wine apps usually offer.
We describe other apps by category — social wine-scanning apps, cellar-management tools, merchant and auction apps — rather than by name, because their features change. Every claim about Palate is something you can use today.
Scan the label
Photograph the bottle and the vineyard, wine, region and vintage are filled in for you.
Elsewhere Common — usually matched against a catalogue rather than read from your bottle.
Type it in instead
Always free to type a wine in by hand, with the same fields.
Elsewhere Often possible, but buried behind the scan-first flow.
Several tastings of the same wine
Each tasting is dated with its own score and note; the most recent leads and the history expands underneath.
Elsewhere Rare — most apps overwrite the single rating you left last time.
Star rating out of five
Yes, on every dated tasting.
Elsewhere Yes, usually one rating per wine.
Palate results per wine style
A separate taste profile for each style — white, red, rosé, sparkling, Champagne and more — using only the measures that fit, refined by the wines you rate. Free.
Elsewhere Usually one generic taste profile for every wine, if any.
Sommelier assessment
Sommelier Mode: a structured WSET-style assessment for appearance, nose, palate and conclusions — a one-time 50-credit unlock, kept for good. Quick notes are always free.
Elsewhere Seldom offered outside professional study tools.
Ask by voice, find it instantly
Hold the help button, say what you are after, and we jump straight to the wine, note, bottle or pairing in your own journal.
Elsewhere Typed search only — you scroll to find your own notes.
Voice fill and dictation
Speak the bottle details or the whole note and it is written up for you.
Elsewhere Rarely offered.
Draft a note in your own words
Set your writing voice once and drafts come back sounding like you, not a textbook. Or ask for a short style primer — how this grape and style usually tastes — for 1 credit, clearly labelled as general guidance, never passed off as the winery's note.
Elsewhere Not offered; generated notes read the same for everybody.
Share a tasting card
A clean card you can share, with the option to include your front or back label photo.
Elsewhere Sharing usually means posting to that app's public feed.
Front and back label photos
Crop front and back label photos before scanning or uploading, or re-crop a kept photo. Adjustable uncurl and curved-edge correction offer a preview using original pixels, not AI recreation. These adjustments are free; scanning and keeping new photos retain their usual credit cost. Correction is approximate and cannot recover hidden text.
Elsewhere Usually one scan image, kept by the app rather than by you.
Food note per tasting
Record what you ate with the wine alongside the note.
Elsewhere Not usually part of the note.
| Feature | Palate | Other wine apps |
|---|---|---|
| Scan the label | Photograph the bottle and the vineyard, wine, region and vintage are filled in for you. | Common — usually matched against a catalogue rather than read from your bottle. |
| Type it in instead | Always free to type a wine in by hand, with the same fields. | Often possible, but buried behind the scan-first flow. |
| Several tastings of the same wineRare elsewhere | Each tasting is dated with its own score and note; the most recent leads and the history expands underneath. | Rare — most apps overwrite the single rating you left last time. |
| Star rating out of five | Yes, on every dated tasting. | Yes, usually one rating per wine. |
| Palate results per wine styleRare elsewhere | A separate taste profile for each style — white, red, rosé, sparkling, Champagne and more — using only the measures that fit, refined by the wines you rate. Free. | Usually one generic taste profile for every wine, if any. |
| Sommelier assessmentRare elsewhere | Sommelier Mode: a structured WSET-style assessment for appearance, nose, palate and conclusions — a one-time 50-credit unlock, kept for good. Quick notes are always free. | Seldom offered outside professional study tools. |
| Ask by voice, find it instantly | Hold the help button, say what you are after, and we jump straight to the wine, note, bottle or pairing in your own journal. | Typed search only — you scroll to find your own notes. |
| Voice fill and dictationRare elsewhere | Speak the bottle details or the whole note and it is written up for you. | Rarely offered. |
| Draft a note in your own wordsRare elsewhere | Set your writing voice once and drafts come back sounding like you, not a textbook. Or ask for a short style primer — how this grape and style usually tastes — for 1 credit, clearly labelled as general guidance, never passed off as the winery's note. | Not offered; generated notes read the same for everybody. |
| Share a tasting card | A clean card you can share, with the option to include your front or back label photo. | Sharing usually means posting to that app's public feed. |
| Front and back label photosRare elsewhere | Crop front and back label photos before scanning or uploading, or re-crop a kept photo. Adjustable uncurl and curved-edge correction offer a preview using original pixels, not AI recreation. These adjustments are free; scanning and keeping new photos retain their usual credit cost. Correction is approximate and cannot recover hidden text. | Usually one scan image, kept by the app rather than by you. |
| Food note per tasting | Record what you ate with the wine alongside the note. | Not usually part of the note. |
How do merchant staff receive access?
An owner or administrator sends one branded invitation email with a private email-bound single-use link valid for 14 days. Email-send status is separate from acceptance; replacement links revoke the old invitation after a successful send. The admin merchant directory manages configured editions separately. Staff access never includes customer records and no merchant billing is enabled.
Can sponsorship promote a different bottle?
No. Sponsored stockists require an exact in-stock published catalogue match, including vintage, category and bottle format. They are clearly labelled and follow your own priority merchant. Regional listings need a matching supplied town or postcode; up to three sponsors are shown. Stock is merchant-declared, so confirm before buying. No advertising payments are enabled and ordinary searches and nearby shops remain available.
Does revenue planning change what members pay?
No. The private admin revenue hub separates recorded credit purchases from hypothetical merchant, sponsored-stockist and venue scenarios. Proposed commercial prices are not active charges. The journal stays free to join, with optional credit packs and no consumer subscription.
Can merchants list wines that are not on their website?
Yes. Merchant editors publish reviewed CSV stock and prices with optional category and bottle size. Older files remain supported; blank size means 75cl. Matching checks vintage and bottle format. Repeated vintage years are cleaned up; narrow spelling suggestions are labelled possible matches, not verified stock. Optional product URLs open the website; offline stock offers enquiries. Uploads cost no journal credits and expose no customer records.
Can a merchant edition see my private journal?
No. A merchant edition changes branding and verified-stock ordering, not access to your private notes or cellar. You can return to standard Palate at any time. Palate prices and credit rules remain unchanged; wine purchases take place on the merchant’s own website. Merchant staff who manage an edition can change only its branding, features and links, and see only grouped click totals — never customer names, notes or cellars.
Can I crop my label photos?
Yes. Crop either label before scanning or uploading, or re-crop a kept photo. Uncurl and curved-edge sliders preview an approximate correction using the original pixels, never AI recreation. They cannot recover hidden text. Cropping and correction cost no credits; successful label reads and keeping new photos retain their usual charges. The full-photo option bypasses all adjustments.
The gaps
What other apps don't do
- · Tasting the same wine again a year later and keeping both notes, dated.
- · Tracking bottles held professionally under bond alongside the ones at home.
- · Pairing advice that reaches fine-dining level and respects where you live.
- · Pairing that starts from a neutral meal type and follows a vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian diet.
- · Hiding the parts of the app you never use, so the screen stays yours.
- · Keeping your notes private instead of publishing them to a feed.
- · Letting you keep every record after you stop paying.
- · Gifting without quietly turning it into a renewing subscription on the recipient's card.
- · Charging only for the parts that genuinely cost money to run, and saying what the handling fee is.
- · Practising how to order wine abroad, and hearing the phrase said back to you.
- · Letting a host hear a producer or region name pronounced before reading it out.
- · Opening and closing a trading day against a physical count, so the till figure and the shelf figure agree.
- · Handing your cellar and tasting memories to your next of kin with a printed Legacy Key, instead of a password that dies with you.
Being straight with you
What we don't try to be
- · We are not a marketplace. We will point you at merchants, but we do not sell you wine or take a cut of the sale.
- · We are not a social network. There is no feed, no followers and no public profile.
- · We are not an auction house or a valuation service. Bonded holdings are recorded for your own reference.
- · We are not a substitute for professional storage or insurance advice.
Free, with credits
No subscription — credits only for what costs money to run
Everything in Palate is free: unlimited wines, notes, the full grape index, pairings and your cellar. Only AI label reads, kept label photos, AI note drafts and spoken readings use credits — 20 come with every journal, then £3.99 adds 250, £9.99 adds 650 and £20 adds 1,500. Credits never expire and nothing renews.