Review · Updated 17 Oct 2026
8,500+ Drink Recipes
The most ratings, but ads and locked content.
3.8out of 10 with General weights · 5th of 5
| Weights | Score | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| General | 3.8 | 5th |
| Behind the bar | 3.0 | 5th |
| Home bar | 4.0 | 5th |
| Equal weights | 3.4 | 5th |
In short
8,500+ Drink Recipes is a long-running free app for iPhone, iPad and Apple-silicon Macs with drink and cocktail recipes; in 2014 AppleVis listed coffee drinks, beer mixes and soft drinks among them. It has about 32,000 ratings averaging 4.7, the most of the five, and it is paid for by ads and a Diamond plan that removes them and unlocks content.
Best for casual browsing, if you can live with the ads.
Pros and cons
Pros
- The most-rated app here: 4.7 from about 32,000 ratings.
- A wide catalog: in 2014 AppleVis listed coffee drinks, beer mixes and soft drinks alongside cocktails.
- Ingredient search shows drinks you can make from what you have.
- Available in 13 languages.
Cons
- Shows ads, and its privacy label lists data used for third-party advertising. Some content stays locked without a Diamond plan ($7.99/mo or $49.99/yr).
- Two 2017 reviews report units that vary from recipe to recipe, sometimes combined, and search that only matches the start of a word.
- In our timing model a new drink takes 35 seconds of screen work, the slowest here: an ad to dismiss, separate ingredient and instruction tabs (as AppleVis described the app in 2014) and mixed units.
- Has shipped inside "Kappboom", alongside quotes and facts since December 2017 and wallpapers since January 2019.
- A 2019 review describes a subscription prompt that was hard to close.
- Last updated in April 2025.
Scores by category
Out of 10. The tick marks the best score among the five apps. What goes into each category
- This app
- Best of the five
The pour test
8,500+ Drink Recipes models at 35 seconds for a new Mojito, against 16 for Imbiblia
Modeled seconds from the phone's home screen to the garnish, pouring excluded
- Find the recipe
- Bring it all on screen
- First read
- Look-backs while building
Show the numbers
| App | Find the recipe | Bring it all on screen | First read | Look-backs while building | Total | Touches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imbiblia | 4.4 s | 0.0 s | 5.5 s | 6.0 s | 15.9 s | 5 |
| BarGenius | 4.4 s | 1.7 s | 14.9 s | 7.7 s | 28.6 s | 6 |
| Cocktails Guru | 4.4 s | 1.7 s | 14.9 s | 7.7 s | 28.6 s | 6 |
| Bartender's Suite | 4.4 s | 1.7 s | 14.9 s | 7.7 s | 28.6 s | 6 |
| 8,500+ Drinks | 6.0 s | 3.4 s | 16.2 s | 9.4 s | 35.0 s | 8 |
In the model, finding the recipe takes 6.0 s, bringing all of it on screen 3.4 s, the first read 16.2 s and look-backs while building 9.4 s. It is modeled with separate ingredient and instruction tabs, as AppleVis described the app in 2014; its current layout isn't documented.
Touches to reach the recipe
From the phone's home screen, with predictive search after two letters
- Open
- Ad
- Search
- Type
- Type
- Pick
- Tab
- Tab
Filled circles are touches beyond the ones every app needs.
Features
Features the developer names publicly, in a store listing, release notes, its website or a launch post. Anything not described there counts as not documented, even if users mention it.
Bar tools 1.5 of 13
- Not documentedUnit conversion
- Not documentedBatch scaling
- Not documentedDilution in batches
- PartlyWhat can I make
- Not documentedShopping list
- Not documentedYour own recipes
- Not documentedReusable house syrups
- Not documentedSubstitution ideas
- Not documentedFlavor profiles
- Not documentedPersonal or AI suggestions
- DocumentedFavorites & lists
- Not documentedABV & calories
- Not documentedLessons & quizzes
Pro features 0 of 3
- Not documentedTeam & business accounts
- Not documentedPrivate house specs
- Not documentedPublic bartender profile
Specs
- Recipes
- 8,500+ drink and cocktail recipes
- Price
- Free with ads; Diamond $7.99/mo or $49.99/yr removes ads and unlocks content
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac with Apple silicon
- Updated
- 14 Apr 2025 (7.4.1)
- Rating
- 4.7 App Store (32K)
- Privacy
- Usage and advertising data for third-party advertising, plus diagnostics for analytics; not linked to you
Sources
Pages consulted between 15 and 16 October 2026.