The best sourdough starter apps in 2026, compared honestly

We make one of the apps on this list, Sourdough Starter Tracker, so read this knowing that. We've tried to be fair: every price and feature below comes from each app's own App Store or Google Play listing, or the developer's website, checked on October 1, 2026. Prices change, so check the store before you buy.

The short answer

• You want your starter kept alive and healthy, on any phone, without a subscription: Sourdough Starter Tracker (ours).
• You want AI feedback on photos of your loaf or starter: Loaflo, or Sourdough AI.
• You keep several starters and want guided bakes with timers: Yeasta.
• You want a bake calendar and shared community recipes: Crumbly.
• You mainly want to chart and compare several starters: The Daily Crumb.

At a glance

App	Runs on	Subscription needed?	How you pay	Built around
Sourdough Starter Tracker	iPhone, iPad, Android	No	Free with ads, or $12.99 once	Feeding reminders and safety alerts
Loaflo	iPhone, iPad	Yes	$6.99/week, $19.99/month or $39.99/year	AI photo analysis and an AI assistant
Yeasta	iPhone, iPad	No	Free download; Pro by subscription or $69.99 lifetime	Guided bakes with timers
Crumbly	iPhone, iPad	Yes	$3.99/month or $39.99/year	Bake calendar and community recipes
The Daily Crumb	iPhone, iPad	No	One $4.99 in-app purchase	Charts comparing several starters
Sourdough AI	iPhone, iPad	Yes	$1.99/week or $9.99/month	Guided first starter and first loaf, with AI

Prices are as listed on the US App Store.

Sourdough Starter Tracker: built for one job

We built ours to do one thing well: keep a starter alive and healthy without you having to think about it much. It doesn't plan bakes or analyse photos. Here's what it does instead.

• It runs on iPhone, iPad and Android. It's the only app in this comparison on Google Play. If you, or someone you bake with, uses Android, this is the one that works for both of you.
• You pay once, or not at all. Feeding logs, reminders and safety alerts are free, with ads. A one-time $12.99 Premium upgrade removes the ads and adds Smart Health Tips, a photo timeline, a hydration calculator and cloud backup. If you only mind the ads, a $1.99 option removes just those. No subscription, and no trial that turns into a bill.
• It warns you when something looks wrong. When you log a feeding, you tick how the starter smells, rises and bubbles. Smells that usually mean hunger, like acetone or vinegar, get a nudge to feed. Smells that can mean trouble, like rotten egg, get a red warning to check for mold, fuzzy growth and pink or orange streaks. There are free alerts for overheating and for a starter that shows no activity, too.
• Your starter has a face. Each starter's card shows how it's doing: content, bubbling at its peak, hungry or unwell. Tap it and it tells you. An "Our story" section keeps its age, feedings, loaves baked together and where it came from, and it celebrates milestones like a first loaf or 100 days with you. If you'd rather keep things plain, you can switch all of this off.
• Reminders follow the starter, not a fixed timer. Mark a starter Active, Refrigerated or Dormant and the reminders change with it: once to three times a day on the counter, every one to three weeks in the fridge, none while it rests.
• Guides for the two hardest moments. A 14-day guide for starting from scratch, and a 7-day guide for reviving a dried starter that follows King Arthur Baking's instructions and university extension publications.
• Your data stays yours. It works offline with no account. Premium's cloud backup goes to your own iCloud or Google Drive, not to our servers.
• It speaks your language. The app is available in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

The other apps, one by one

Loaflo

Loaflo's headline feature is AI photo analysis: you photograph a loaf or your starter and get feedback. It also has a chat assistant, a feeding and hydration log, recipes, and calculators that include a rise forecast. A September update added feeding reminders and bake schedules. It's the most-rated app here, with 4.7 stars from 526 ratings on the App Store. It needs no account, and the developer says it has no ads. It's subscription-only, with a 7-day free trial.

Good fit if you want an app that looks at your bread and tells you what happened.

Yeasta

Yeasta tracks multiple starters with readiness and peak bars, and walks you through bakes with Lock Screen timers. It has a recipe library with scaling, a fridge planner, starter revival plans, a smell guide, CSV export and free iCloud sync, in nine languages. The listing says it has no ads.

Good fit if you keep several starters and like being guided through each bake.

Crumbly

Crumbly guides you through creating a starter, then adds step-by-step recipes with timers, a bake calendar with reminders, badges, and community recipes you can copy and share. It uses sign-in to sync and back up to the cloud.

Good fit if you want your starter and your baking plans in one calendar, with a community feel.

The Daily Crumb

The Daily Crumb logs feedings with flour type, hydration and notes, then charts rise and activity. It lets you compare starters side by side with colour coding, keeps a photo timeline, and has reminders that can adjust to room temperature. It has one $4.99 in-app purchase.

Good fit if you run several starters and want to see how they compare.

Sourdough AI

Sourdough AI is built for beginners: a guided 7–14 day path to your first starter, then guidance for your first loaf, with AI photo analysis and an AI chat along the way. Many features need the subscription.

Good fit if you're starting from zero and want to be walked through it.

How to choose

Ask yourself three questions:

1. Do you need Android? Then Sourdough Starter Tracker is the one in this list that runs on it.
2. Will you pay every month? If not, look at Sourdough Starter Tracker, The Daily Crumb, or Yeasta's lifetime option.
3. Do you want help with your starter, or with your whole bake? For keeping the starter healthy, a focused tracker is enough. For recipes, timelines and AI feedback, Yeasta, Crumbly and Loaflo do more.

Whichever you pick, the starter doesn't care. Feed it, keep it warm, and it'll keep making bread. If you're still deciding, our guides on how often to feed a starter and what its smell means work with any app, or none.

Sources

Official listings and developer sites, checked October 1, 2026:

• Sourdough Starter Tracker: App Store · Google Play
• Loaflo: App Store · loaflo.app
• Yeasta: App Store
• Crumbly: App Store
• The Daily Crumb: App Store
• Sourdough AI: App Store