Agree with everything you said.
Could you point out some examples, because I’m not really seeing any myself.
2 Likes
Hey, I’m paying .16 per bottle. Guess I need a bigger cellar 
I suspect it’s just the usual internet hyperbole, where any disagreement, no matter how minor, is taken as hostile/attacking.
3 Likes
Here is the page showing subscription vs free features: CellarTracker Subscription - CellarTracker Support
The only thing I don’t see is what was previously free (and as a subscriber I can’t tell) - but I think custom barcode labels (which is any label I believe), drinking windows, and restaurant wine lists all used to be “free” as did non-auction wine prices. (Page shows as updated March 27, 2024).
What’s the difference between an unpaid member and a subscriber?
| Feature | Free | Subscriber |
|---|---|---|
| Track your cellar inventory | X | X |
| Access to millions of community tasting notes | X | X |
| Community wine ratings | X | X |
| Wine prices (market, auction, community average) | X | |
| Automatic cellar valuation | X | |
| Drinking windows with enhanced coverage for nearly all of your wines | X | |
| Unlimited receipt recognition uploads | X | |
| Drinkability Alerts (coming soon) | X | |
| Printable custom barcode labels | X | |
| Restaurant style wine list | X | |
| My Charts | x |
I did find this on wayback machine, which shows former premium features:
Premium Features
- The primary premium feature is automatic cellar valuation for determining the estimated market value of your collection. This is based on quarterly worldwide auction and retail pricing data from the Wine Market Journal together with millions of community valuations for individual wines.
- In addition, premium subscribers can see scores (but not review text) from some content channelsincluding John Gilman’s View From the Cellar and Brad Baker’s Champagne Warrior.
- NEW: My Charts which visualizes your wine collection and tastes over time.
- NEW: Quickly add bottles to your cellar via receipt recognition.
Yeah, they definitely moved several previously free items into the premium bucket. But I’ve yet to see where they’ve added value?
He did mention access to the new mobile app, maybe it’s significantly streamlined?
I keep hearing that. Supposedly they are releasing a major update next week for Android and then I’ll be added to the beta and can see?
1 Like
I’m one of the beta users of the mobile app. It is a lot better and easier to use than the previous version.
The use case I like it most for is drinking a wine. The interface used to be so bad I would wait until I was in front of a computer to use CellarTracker for notes. Now I can find a wine and “drink” it easily enough to do it from my phone.
3 Likes
Hmmm. Drinking a wine is the single best part of the current app for me. Scan the barcode and click drink. Or add note if desired. Couldn’t be easier. Doesn’t give me much excitement if that’s the big improvement, but I’ll withhold judgment until I get my hands on it. (Of course for those who don’t use barcodes, I get that it would probably be more challenging and maybe even be a total pain, but I’m just talking for my use case.)
1 Like
I think some of the improvements are better algorithms for some of those features (some of which are only as valuable as the algorithm).
I get that barcodes are great, but I’ve never made the effort to be organized very well let alone use barcodes.
My email didn’t have any specific pricing info, my current payment runs through Christmas.
-Al
Ok Boomer! 
1 Like
Just unnecessary. I can do everything on my phone I could do on a tablet. And it fits my hands better so it’s faster. If I need more power user type stuff, I want multiple windows and large monitor space, etc and that’s what a computer is for.
2 Likes
It’s just an iPad mini anyway.
True, but see my link above. It’s the same as before, except not a contribution. Fees are same as before, and you can use the slider to adjust the amount of your subscription fee anyway. You can even renew early . . .
If you’ve never seen it, the vinopal app is a CellarTracker interface that only runs on an iPad, no phone option. It’s a pretty slick graphical representation of your cellar with a lot of ways to refine your search. I find it very useful and pretty much use it exclusively when I’m looking for the next bottle I’m going to drink. And once you select a bottle you can remove it from your cellar without scanning the barcode.
2 Likes
I too basically use just the Web version 95% of the time and always to load new purchases and nowadays only keep <100 bottles, don’t need the valuation/wine searcher stuff, so the basic mode is fine for me. I appreciate that there is a IOS app to do a quick look when needed but I rarely use it. I would like an option to contribute less than $40 per year though, like in the past, while still using the “free” version.
Have you noticed how many posting here are not contributors to WB? To many, “voluntary contribution” means “I get it for free,” no matter what income bracket they are in.
10 Likes
I should add that this was the new iOS beta app, to the extent possible, for the past 12 months. It was very rough at the beginning, and I had to go back to the old app constantly. The new one has been in a very polished state since the beginning of this year, and I only go back occasionally for specific missing features now (say, adding a new vintage for an existing wine). My favorite thing (besides it being very quick compared to the old one) is that it really is mobile forward - it works great for browsing offline on a flight, for example. So I would suggest everyone to try mobile again once it is widely available.
6 Likes
The big difference is that WB is funded (primarily I assume) by advertisements, not by user subscriptions.
I do pay for CT - normally about 1% of my annual expenditure on wine, which is significantly over the recommended amount based on cellar size because I buy a lot of wine, but it’s for drinking not storing.