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VERDICT

Should I use Vivino?

Wine discovery app and marketplace - vivino.com

Worth it. Buy if you casually scan bottles and want crowd ratings plus a cheap premium tier. Skip it if you are a serious collector, need dependable support, or want an API.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~50 public sources; many snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and stats favor dated figures.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Vivino Premium~$4.99/yr, varies by region

Best for

  • Casual wine drinkers
  • Shop and restaurant label scanning
  • Price comparing before you buy
  • Building a personal tasting history

Not for

  • Serious collectors needing precise cellar inventory
  • Wine pros wanting critic-grade, reliable scores
  • Developers or businesses needing API access
  • Anyone who hates creeping paywalls and auto-renewals

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Premium auto-renews; users report accidental subscriptions and frustrating cancellations

medium

Blind-tasting tests show crowd scores can diverge sharply from professional critics

medium

Your tasting data is personal information; privacy settings need manual configuration

low

Premium pricing varies by region; check your local price before subscribing

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free scan-a-label app backed by the world's largest wine rating database
  • Premium tier costs only about $4.99 per year
  • Marketplace lets you buy bottles you discover directly in-app
  • Runs a public HackerOne bug bounty and publishes security policies

Cons

  • Features formerly free are now paywalled, per user complaints
  • Crowd ratings called unreliable by serious wine drinkers
  • Customer service and marketplace order complaints listed on BBB
  • No public API; third parties resort to scraping
  • Users report accidental premium sign-ups

Sources & method

Analyzed 10/02/2026 - 10 sources - Runs a HackerOne bug bounty and publishes trust and privacy policies; one 2015 privacy leak reported, no recent incidents in sources reviewed.

official x1review x5security x2news x2
  • 2015 privacy leak, Researchers could view personal information of the wine app's users via simple search queries.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free core app; premium is ~$5/year
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Point-and-scan label recognition
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Ratings, recommendations, marketplace, cellar tracking
  • Support quality: 2/5. BBB complaints and customer-service gripes
  • Security posture: 3/5. Bug bounty exists; 2015 privacy leak reported
  • Yes Free tier Core scanning and ratings app
  • ~$4.99/yr Premium price Varies by region
  • 13M+ Users As of 2016, per Food & Wine Gazette
  • $155M Series D Funding Raised February 2021

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Label scanning
  • Crowd ratings and reviews

Vivino Premium

~$4.99/yr, varies by region

  • Pro-level ordering tools
  • Price comparisons by region

Security

Runs a HackerOne bug bounty and publishes trust and privacy policies; one 2015 privacy leak reported, no recent incidents in sources reviewed.

  • 2015 privacy leakResearchers could view personal information of the wine app's users via simple search queries.⁷

What users say

Casual users love the scanner and breadth, while enthusiasts increasingly complain about paywalls, rating reliability, and support.

“Vivino is great for 95%...”
Reddit, r/wine
“Vivino is the Yelp of wi...”
Reddit, r/wine
“Vivino now charging for features that used to be free”
Reddit, r/wine (thread title)

Alternatives

Compare Vivino with each alternative.

  • A plain spreadsheet

    Track purchases and ratings yourself, free, no paywall creep

Full analysis

Based on ~50 public sources; many snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and stats favor dated figures.

Free wine label scanner with huge crowd ratings; great for casual drinkers, weak for collectors, no public API.

Methodology

Based on ~50 public sources; many snippets truncated, so quotes are partial and stats favor dated figures.

Sources

  1. Vivino: Drink The Right Wine - App Storeapps.apple.com
    official
  2. Vivino raises $155 million for wine recommendation and marketplace apptechcrunch.com
    news
  3. Vivino, the World's Largest Wine App and Marketplacewinebusiness.com
    news
  4. Anyone use Vivino? : r/winereddit.com
    review
  5. Vivino now charging for features that used to be free : r/winereddit.com
    review
  6. Can you trust the ratings on Vivino? (blind tasting)wineberserkers.com
    review
  7. Vivino wine-lovers' app leaked personal informationbitdefender.com
    security
  8. Vivino | Response Policy (HackerOne)hackerone.com
    security
  9. Looking for a Vivino API? Here's what's actually availablefastcork.com
    review
  10. Vivino | BBB Complaintsbbb.org
    review

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