Pint Tracker is back but more sophisticated than an earlier version, which compared the price of pints of Guinness in Belfast and Dublin.
The site appeared in late 2024 and is credited with highlighting the large differences in prices across Belfast.
But it also revealed that the average price of the pints tracked were more expensive than Dublin. That remains unchanged.
It went dark last year, with some whispering conspiratorially that those behind might have faced pressure to shut down.
Jonny Campbell
Not so, said Jonny Campbell, who can be revealed as the driving force behind the crowdsourcing venture. He just was too busy helping run a tech start-up.
The new site expands on the initial price mapping in Ireland’s two biggest cities to the rest of the island, but also with the larger plan of helping people find the best bar and pints.
On the initial 2024 launch, Jonny said: “Around that time, I kept noticing the same conversation popping up everywhere — on Reddit, in group chats, and in everyday conversation — people talking about the cost of living and inflation.
“But interestingly, a lot of people framed it in a very specific way: ‘How much is a pint now?’”
The new look Pint Tracker
He added: “The price of a pint seemed to have become a kind of unofficial economic indicator. Everyone had a story about how much they’d paid somewhere the week before.”
The idea was simple, establish a hub where people track the price instead of relying on anecdotes.
“It started as a way to map Guinness prices pub by pub around Belfast (and later Dublin), but the bigger idea now is helping people find the best bars and pints across Ireland — not just what’s cheapest,” Jonny said.
The rebuilt website includes ratings and reviews, maps along with filters for beer gardens, live music, food, late bars, dog-friendly pubs and craft beer.
“In six cities, Belfast, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Derry and Limerick, there is now also a sun feature which uses the sun’s position and surrounding building data to show which beer gardens are likely to be in the sun at a given time.”
The system calculates the sun’s position in real time and combines it with detailed building and location data for pubs and beer gardens, said Jonny.
“What this means in practice is that users can filter for pubs where the beer garden is currently in the sun,” he added with some optimism that the sun might be shining.
“Instead of guessing or turning up somewhere only to find it in the shade, the app helps you find a spot that’s actually catching the sunlight at that moment.
“The idea is to take the guesswork out of finding the perfect pint in the sun and make it something you can reliably plan for.”
Sun shining in the beer garden at Belfast’s INF, where Pint Tracker is currently reporting the cheapest pint in the city
According to the latest data, the average price of a pint in the north is currently £5.74, though the pubs are largely in Belfast, while in Ireland it is €6.56 (£5.72), again with many in Dublin.
Some of the prices date back to 2024. However, the revamped site has only recently gone live.
Belfast now has 491 pubs listed on Pint Tracker, with 93 live price points and 19% coverage, while Dublin has 1,595 pubs listed with 106 live price points.
The cheapest tracked pint in the north is £4.20 at Irish National Foresters Club in Belfast, while the cheapest in the Republic is €4.25 at JT Pim’s in Dublin.
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