Two indie apps. Different philosophies.
Spinstack vs CrateMate
Both apps are built by solo developers who collect vinyl. Both sync with Discogs. The approaches could not be more different.
Spinstack
Native app. Hardware-deep.
Built in SwiftUI for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Uses the LiDAR sensor for vinyl grading, NFC for tagging record sleeves, and the Neural Engine for on-device AI. Offline-first. iCloud synced. One-time purchase.
CrateMate
Web app. Listening-focused.
A progressive web app that runs in the browser and installs to your home screen. Focused on spin tracking, mood-based discovery, and social features like listening parties. Works on any device with a browser. Subscription model.
The face-off
Feature by feature, side by side.
Spinstack
Native iOS app
CrateMate
Progressive web app
$9.99 once. Forever.
One purchase unlocks every feature on every device. 30-day free trial, no credit card. No subscription ever.
Free tier + $2.99/mo
Free with daily limits on Mood Match, Trails, and Snap to Spin. Pro unlocks everything at $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr. After 4 months on monthly, you have paid more than Spinstack costs forever.
Native on all four platforms. Optimized for each screen size. iCloud keeps everything in sync.
Runs anywhere with a modern browser. Not in the App Store. Install to home screen via Safari or Chrome. Cross-platform by default.
Spin Log + Listening Sessions
Full listening history with date, time, and mood tags. Listening Sessions let you name a night, assign spins, and add freeform notes. Six mood presets: Sunday Morning, Date Night, Rainy Day, Nostalgic, First Listen, Comfort. Last.fm scrobbling built in.
Spin Dashboard + Trails
One-tap spin logging with streaks, top artists, and a calendar heatmap. Trails branch your listening session three ways: cool off, turn it up, or left turn. Sound profiles for every record show energy, danceability, tempo, and valence.
Crate Dig + AI Liner Notes
Crate Dig uses your listening history, genre spread, and mood to suggest what to play next. AI Liner Notes (Apple Intelligence) writes personalized text about your collection across six surfaces. 100% on-device. Siri shortcuts return visual cards with cover art.
Mood Match + Today's Pick
Mood Match picks a record from your crate to match how you feel. Today's Pick surfaces one record a day tied to artist birthdays, release anniversaries, or your purchase date. Random Pull spins the wheel with optional genre and decade filters.
The B-Side
A private social feed for record collectors. Posts expire after 7 days. Vinyl Reactions, Trending in Your Circle, and shared albums. Default private. No public profiles.
Discover + Listening Parties
Discover surfaces collectors whose crates overlap with yours. Listening Parties let you host a public session where guests pick from your crate, heart their favorites, and you spin live. Every play logs the picker's name.
3D Cover Flow + Grid + List
Swipeable 3D Cover Flow for visual browsing. Standard grid and list views with sorting, filtering, and search. Shelf location mapping to track physical placement. Apple TV Cover Flow for the big screen.
Honeycomb + Grid + List
Interactive honeycomb layout where the records you spin most appear largest. Pinch to zoom, drift with two fingers. Also offers list, tile, and shelf views with genre, decade, label, and mood filters.
Groove Vision uses LiDAR + camera for objective vinyl condition grading. NFC: Tap to Spin writes tags to record sleeves. Barcode scanner for adding records. AI models run on the Neural Engine with zero server calls.
Snap to Spin uses the camera to identify a record. Limited to what browser APIs can access. No NFC, no LiDAR, no barcode scanning. Hardware integration is structurally limited by the web platform.
Vinyl DNA + 6 more tools
Seven analytics tools: Vinyl DNA, Sonic Connections, Wax Timeline, Genre Galaxy, The Collector (archetype), Taste Radar, and Sonic Color Palette. Deep collection profiling from genres, decades, labels, and play history.
Collection Stats + Spin Dashboard
Cumulative growth chart by genre, buying patterns by weekday and month, and a Year-in-Vinyl recap. Spin dashboard shows streaks, top artists, and a genre-toned heatmap calendar of every spin.
Entire collection cached locally after first sync. Browse, search, log spins, and scan barcodes with no internet. Changes sync through iCloud across all devices automatically.
Progressive web apps can cache some data for offline use, but functionality is limited without a connection. Syncs with Discogs for collection data.
Price Watchdog
Tracks Discogs median and lowest prices for every record. Alerts when values change significantly. Full collection value dashboard with historical trends.
Wantlist + Price Alerts
Wantlist tracks records you want. Pro adds price alerts that notify you when a record hits your target price. Focused on acquisition rather than collection valuation.
Only in Spinstack
Features that require native hardware access.
Groove Vision
LiDAR + camera condition grading. Four-axis validation: distance, flatness, tilt, steadiness. Core ML on the Neural Engine. No images leave the device.
NFC: Tap to Spin
Write NFC tags and stick them on record sleeves. Tap to instantly view, listen, or log a spin. Batch Tag mode processes your whole collection.
Apple TV
Browse your collection on the big screen with Cover Flow. Show guests what you own. No other vinyl app supports Apple TV.
Siri Shortcuts
Seven shortcuts with visual snippet cards. Ask Siri for your last spin, a random pick, or collection stats and get a card with cover art and action buttons.
AI Liner Notes
Apple Intelligence writes personalized text about your collection. Builds a profile from your genres, decades, and labels. Runs entirely on-device. Opt-in.
Last.fm Hub
Scrobble vinyl spins to Last.fm. A dedicated hub surfaces lifetime listening data alongside your physical collection. See where streaming and vinyl overlap.
Only in CrateMate
Features unique to the CrateMate experience.
Listening Parties
Host a public session. Guests pick records from your crate, heart their favorites, and every play logs with the picker's name attached.
Honeycomb View
An interactive honeycomb layout where most-played records appear largest. Pinch to zoom, two-finger drift. A distinctive way to visualize a collection.
3-Way Trails
After each spin, Trails branches three ways: cool off, turn it up, or left turn. A guided listening flow that keeps sessions moving.
Sound Profiles
Every record gets a sound profile: energy, danceability, tempo, valence. Useful for building sets or finding records that match a specific vibe.
The bottom line
CrateMate is a well-built web app with smart ideas around listening flow and social play. The honeycomb view is clever. Listening parties are something no one else is doing. The team behind it clearly cares about the same thing Spinstack cares about: making record collecting better.
The fundamental difference is platform. Spinstack is a native app that reaches into the hardware: LiDAR for grading, NFC for tagging, the Neural Engine for AI, Apple TV for the living room. CrateMate is a web app that runs everywhere but cannot access any of that. If you want deep integration with your Apple devices, Spinstack is the only option. If you want a cross-platform web experience with listening parties, CrateMate does that well.
On pricing, Spinstack is $9.99 once. CrateMate Pro is $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr. The math is straightforward.
Both apps sync with Discogs. You can use both. Some collectors do.
$9.99 once. No subscription.
Try everything free for 30 days. No credit card.