Comparison
Brewgravity vs Brewer's Friend
Brewer's Friend put the brewing calculators on the open web and built one of the largest public recipe databases around. Its free tier caps recipes and puts most features behind a subscription, and the interface shows its age. Brewgravity covers the same ground with a free plan that has no cap and an interface built from scratch.
Unlimited recipes on the free plan · imports Brewer's Friend BeerXML · nothing to install
The short version
- Brewer's Friend caps recipes on its free tier and puts the rest behind a subscription; Brewgravity's free plan is uncapped.
- Both run in the browser; Brewgravity is a single-page app with no save buttons and no page reloads.
- Brewer's Friend has a much larger public recipe database and a longer list of standalone calculators.
- Both read and write BeerXML, so moving across is one export and one import.
Feature by feature
Details of Brewer's Friend were checked in August 2026. Pricing and plan limits change — check their site for the current terms before you decide.
| Brewgravity | Brewer's Friend | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Any browser | Any browser, plus mobile apps |
| Free plan | Yes — unlimited recipes and brew sessions | Free tier with a recipe cap |
| Cost of the full feature set | Free | Monthly or annual subscription |
| Recipes on the free plan | Unlimited | Capped |
| Brew sessions on the free plan | Unlimited | Capped |
| BeerXML import and export | Yes | Yes |
| BeerJSON support | Yes | Partial |
| Works offline on brew day | Yes — local cache | No |
| Saves without a save button | Yes | No |
| Keyboard command palette | Yes | No |
| Recipe version history | Yes | Snapshots on some plans |
| Public recipe database to browse | No | Yes — very large |
| Free standalone calculators | Yes — no account needed | Yes — no account needed |
Where Brewer's Friend is the better choice
No point pretending otherwise.
The recipe database
Hundreds of thousands of public recipes, searchable by style, is a genuinely useful thing to have and Brewgravity has no equivalent. If browsing other people's recipes is how you decide what to brew, that is a real reason to keep an account there.
Breadth of calculators
Brewer's Friend has a standalone calculator for almost every brewing question anyone has ever asked. Our set is smaller and aimed at the ones brewers actually reach for.
A long track record
It has been running for well over a decade and is not going anywhere. That counts for something when you are deciding where to keep ten years of brew logs.
Where Brewgravity is the better choice
No recipe cap on the free plan
The thing most people hit first on a free tier is the recipe limit. There isn't one here — unlimited recipes, unlimited brew sessions, unlimited fermentation logs.
It feels like a modern app
Changes save as you type. Screens change instantly instead of reloading. A command palette gets you to any recipe from the keyboard. It is the difference between a website with forms on it and a piece of software.
It works when the Wi-Fi does not
The brew day checklist, timers and fermentation log keep working from a local copy of your data and sync back when you are connected again. Garages are not known for their signal.
Your recipes are versioned and exportable
Every edit is kept, so you can diff the batch that worked against the one that did not — and every recipe exports to BeerXML or BeerJSON whenever you want it back.
Moving your recipes across
Four steps, and your back catalog comes with you.
- In Brewer's Friend, open a recipe and choose the BeerXML export option. There is a bulk export on the paid plans if you have a lot of them.
- Create a free Brewgravity account.
- Open Import and drop the .xml files in.
- Set your brewhouse efficiency in settings so the calculated gravities match the ones you are used to seeing.
Brewer's Friend and Brewgravity — common questions
Is Brewer's Friend free?
Its calculators are free to use without an account, and there is a free tier for saving recipes, but the recipe count on that tier is capped and the fuller feature set needs a paid subscription. Brewgravity's free plan does not cap recipes or brew sessions.
What is the best free alternative to Brewer's Friend?
Brewgravity covers the same ground — recipe design with live OG, FG, ABV, IBU and SRM, BJCP style targets, brew day checklists, fermentation logging and inventory — on a free plan with no recipe cap, and imports your existing recipes from BeerXML.
Can I import my Brewer's Friend recipes?
Yes. Export them as BeerXML and drop the file into Brewgravity's import screen. The grain bill, hop schedule, yeast, mash steps and batch parameters all come across.
Do the calculators need an account?
No. Every calculator on Brewgravity is a static page that runs in your browser, with no sign-in and nothing sent anywhere.
Try it against your own recipes
Import a Brewer's Friend BeerXML file and see how it looks. It takes about a minute and costs nothing.
There will always be a free plan · no credit card · drag in BeerXML or BeerJSON