10 Best Free Coin Identifier Apps for iPhone
Updated November 10, 2026 · written by AppHunt
Coin identifier apps come in two kinds. Photo scanners such as Coinoscope and Maktun compare a picture of both sides of a coin with a catalog and suggest matches, then attach a value range from recent sales; they are quick for a jar of unknown foreign change. Reference apps such as PCGS CoinFacts and PriceGuide assume you can read the date and mint mark and give you prices by grade, mintages and auction results, which is what decides what a US coin is really worth. A phone camera cannot weigh a coin or judge wear, so every value an app shows is an estimate. Every app below does its main job without paying and without a trial clock; the famous scanners that charge after a week are listed, and explained, in the FAQ.
PCGS CoinFacts
The reference app from PCGS, the grading company, covering every US coin type with price guide values by grade, how many examples PCGS has graded, auction results and large photos. Photograde is built in, so you can compare your coin with pictures of each grade. It doesn't recognize a coin from a photo; you browse by series and date or scan the barcode on a PCGS or NGC holder. Reviewers call it the collector's standard but complain about slow loading and outages.
Good for: US coin values and grades
Keep in mind: Everything is free: PCGS calls the app 100% free and no in-app purchases are listed (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). It needs an internet connection. The last update was in May 2024, and reviews from October and November 2026 report that pricing stopped loading for days at a time and that pictures of varieties fail to open, so expect to fall back to the PCGS website now and then.
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CoinKnow
A photo identifier that also tries to grade: you shoot both sides of a coin and CoinKnow names it, estimates a Sheldon-scale grade and shows a value range, with flags for copper color and cameo proofs. Finds can be saved to a collection whose total value is tracked. It comes from SenseWake, which also makes a bug identifier. A free daily allowance covers a few scans; reviewers are split between praise for the clean layout and complaints about wrong dates and grades.
Good for: Daily free scans with grade estimates
Keep in mind: The developer lists a free daily scan allowance; a January 2026 reviewer puts it at 3 scans a day. Premium is $7.99 a week or $38.99 a year (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated November 2026. Reviews from 2026 are mostly 1 and 3 stars: many say the grade and value run high or the year is wrong, several mention the camera struggling to focus, and one says there is no difference between Premium and the free version.
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Coin Scan AI
A small, plain photo scanner from an independent developer that also handles stamps. You pick a picture of a coin and it returns the name, country, year, metal, a rough condition grade and an estimated collector value in dollars, plus a few lines of history. There is no catalog to browse and no grading of your own collection beyond a saved list. It has 945 US ratings at 4.3 stars, though only a handful of written reviews.
Good for: Quick free guesses on coins and stamps
Keep in mind: Nothing is sold: no in-app purchases are listed (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change) and the listing never mentions a subscription or a limit, but it also doesn't say what you get for free, so we mark it unclear. Updated May 2026. The few 2025–2026 reviews say it is simple to use, that it wants photos from your library rather than the live camera, and that it leans on text visible on a slab label when a coin is in a holder.
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Precious Coin Tester
A different kind of coin checker: it tells you whether a gold or silver coin is genuine by its ring. You choose the exact coin from a database of about 43,000 bullion issues, rest it on a fingertip next to the microphone, tap it, and the app compares the sound with how that coin should ring at its weight and size, then shows an estimated purity and the melt value at current metal prices. Reviewers compare its results favorably with specific-gravity tests and dedicated meters.
Good for: Checking that silver and gold coins are real
Keep in mind: More than 650 common bullion coins can be tested free with no subscription, and the developer says so plainly. A $2.99 monthly subscription opens up the whole 43,000-coin database plus user-defined coins (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated November 2026. Reviews praise the accuracy; the main gripes are the subscription model for occasional users and a database that lagged a couple of years behind new releases. It cannot identify or value an ordinary circulated coin.
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PriceGuide (U.S. Coin Values)
A lookup tool for what US and Canadian coins sell for. Open a series such as Mercury dimes or Morgan dollars, pick the date and mint mark and read the value, mintage figure and live eBay listings; a Metals tab turns spot prices into melt values for junk silver, war nickels and pre-1933 gold. It comes from Stuck at Home, the maker of the LuckyCoin tracker, and deliberately leaves out collection tracking so it stays fast.
Good for: Looking up what a US coin is worth
Keep in mind: The free tier shows prices at two grades per coin plus mintages and a week-old metals snapshot, with no sign-up. Premium adds every grade, proofs, varieties, errors and live spot prices for $5.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $99.99 once (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated May 2026. Reviews are few and mixed: a 2024 lifetime buyer calls it the best value app he has used, while 2022–2025 reviewers complain that most prices sit behind the paywall and about a billing glitch.
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MyCoins+
A tidy collection book for your iPhone from a solo developer. You start from a ready-made album for a series, Lincoln cents, Morgan dollars with VAM varieties, proof and mint sets, or build your own, then tap each slot you own and add grade, photos and notes. A needed list shows the holes, and a tap on a certification number pulls up the grading company's record. It doesn't identify coins or quote prices. Collectors give it 4.6 stars and the developer answers reviews.
Good for: Logging which coins you have and still need
Keep in mind: Free with ads; the single in-app purchase removes them for $1.99 (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). There is no subscription and no account. Updated November 2026 and in active development: recent versions added US mint sets, CAC stickers and one-tap cert lookup. 2025–2026 reviews are almost all 5 stars; the complaints are about missing dates in some books and the slow job of entering a big collection one coin at a time.
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Coinoscope
One of the oldest photo coin identifiers, running since 2018 from Miccron. Point the camera at either side of a coin and it returns a list of lookalike coins with pictures, so you pick the match yourself rather than being handed one answer; from there you get details, an issue-year estimate and a value based on eBay and other listings, and can save the coin to a collection. Reviewers say it does well on coins from the last two centuries and poorly on ancient and medieval pieces.
Good for: Unlimited free photo IDs of modern coins
Keep in mind: Identification is free and unlimited, says the developer; the app shows ads and caps how many value estimates and detailed image analyses you can run per day. Coinoscope Pro lifts the caps and removes ads at $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year or $29.99 once, with cheaper quarterly and yearly offers also listed (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated October 2026. The US rating is a low 3.3: reviewers find the pick-from-a-list approach slower than they hoped and report misidentified modern dollars.
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Maktun
A world-coin identifier and collection manager from a small team of collectors. Photograph both sides and Maktun matches the coin, banknote or token against a catalog of roughly 300,000 coin types and 160,000 note types, shows country, denomination, mintage, weight and size, and lists what similar pieces sold for at online auctions in the last six months. Collections sync to the cloud and show up as statistics and a world map. If the app can't place a coin, a numismatist on staff can be asked by email.
Good for: Identifying world coins and banknotes
Keep in mind: Recognition, details and values are free; Maktun's site describes the app itself as free. Subscriptions add more personal collections, unlimited notes, advanced statistics and PDF/XLS/CSV export: Pro $8.99 monthly, Pro+ $69.99 yearly, plus one-off unlocks at $8.99 and $24.99 (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated November 2026. The 17 US reviews are mostly 5 stars, praising speed, the world-map stats and the absence of ads; one calls it better than Numista for world collectors.
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QuarterMinder
A checklist for the modern US quarter programs, from the 1999 State Quarters through America the Beautiful, American Women and the 2026 Semiquincentennial issues. Each design has a large image, release details and links, and you mark Philadelphia and Denver strikes separately, add notes and keep several collections in sync over iCloud between iPhone and iPad. It has been maintained by one developer since 2017 and works offline. It only covers quarters and does not price them.
Good for: Tracking state and other modern quarters
Keep in mind: Completely free: no in-app purchases, no ads mentioned and no account (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Updated November 2026 with iCloud sync. There are only 7 US reviews, all 4 or 5 stars, going back to 2017; the one wish is for the same treatment of other denominations.
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Coin Identifier by Alberto Soto
A bare-bones AI scanner released in June 2026: photograph a coin and it returns origin, year, metal, mint mark, a rarity and condition label, an estimated value in dollars and a short history. There is no catalog, collection tool or grading beyond that single answer. Listed under Entertainment rather than Reference, which is a fair hint at how seriously to take its numbers; early reviewers say its valuations run far above what other apps and dealers quote.
Good for: Free second opinion on a coin
Keep in mind: No in-app purchases are listed and the listing says nothing about paying (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change), so you can scan without a subscription today, but the developer does not spell out what is free, and the app is new, so we mark it unclear. Updated August 2026. Of the three visible US reviews, two doubt the values (coins called worth thousands that other sources call common) and one gave up after scans that took minutes; the developer replied that a server overload had been fixed.
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Questions and answers
Is there a free coin identifier app with no subscription?
Yes, but the free ones are mostly reference and catalog apps rather than photo scanners. PCGS CoinFacts gives you values, populations and grade photos for every US coin with nothing to buy, QuarterMinder tracks quarters for free, and MyCoins+ is a free collection book whose only purchase removes ads for $1.99 (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). Among photo identifiers, Coinoscope's developer promises free and unlimited identification, Maktun identifies world coins and notes for free and charges only for exports and extra collections, and CoinKnow allows a few free scans a day. Nearly every other coin identifier app in the US store, CoinSnap, CoinIn and Coin ID included, is a short trial that turns into a weekly or yearly subscription.
Is CoinSnap free?
Only to download. CoinSnap, by Next Vision, is the most-rated coin identifier app in the US store, and its listing describes a Premium subscription with a 7-day trial, mostly $39.99 a year, with weekly and monthly options from $3.99 to $9.99 (US App Store, November 10, 2026; may change). The developer does not say what works without paying. Reviews from November 2026 disagree: one says identification and the collection are unlimited and free, another that the app stopped scanning after 9 coins and demanded a subscription, and several report being charged right after starting the trial. Because the free part is not defined, CoinSnap is not on this list, and the same goes for Next Vision's NoteSnap for banknotes.
What is the difference between a coin identifier app and a coin value app like PCGS CoinFacts?
A photo identifier guesses what a coin is from a picture: handy when you have no idea where a coin is from, and the only option for a jar of mixed world coins. A reference app assumes you can read the date and mint mark yourself and then tells you what that coin is worth at each grade, how many exist and what examples sold for. For US coins the second kind is more reliable, because the hard part is judging the grade, not naming the coin, and CoinFacts, with Photograde built in, shows what each grade looks like. The AI apps' value ranges are often too wide or too optimistic; treat them as a hint and check a price guide before you sell.
How accurate are coin identifier apps at telling what a coin is worth?
Good at naming common modern coins, weak at everything that decides the price. Reviewers of CoinSnap, CoinIn, CoinKnow and the smaller scanners report wrong years, missed mint marks, missed errors and the same coin graded differently on two scans, and the value ranges can run from a few cents to thousands of dollars. The reason is that a phone photo cannot measure wear, luster or weight, and worn silver dollars that look alike can differ tenfold in price. Use the app to learn the type, then look the coin up by date and mint mark in PCGS CoinFacts or PriceGuide, and for anything that seems valuable, ask a dealer or send it for grading.
Can an iPhone identify a coin without an app?
Partly. Visual Look Up in Photos recognizes plants, animals, landmarks and art, but it has no coin category, so it usually returns nothing useful for a coin. A reverse image search in the Google app (Lens) often finds the type of a coin from a clear photo and leads to auction listings, which is free and good enough to learn what you are holding. What you don't get is a value by grade, a record of your finds or help with mint marks and varieties, which is what the apps above add. For gold and silver bullion, the microphone trick used by Precious Coin Tester has no built-in equivalent.
Is there a free ancient coin identifier app?
Not a good one. Coinoscope's visual search can be used on ancient coins for free, but a long review on its store page explains that it returns modern lookalikes for Roman, Greek and medieval pieces because its image sources for those are thin, and the AI scanners on this list are trained mostly on machine-struck coins of the last two centuries. Maktun's catalog is strongest for world coins from the 19th century on. For ancients the practical route is still a reverse image search plus the free online databases run by auction houses and museums, or a dealer who specializes in them; expect any app's value estimate for an ancient coin to be a guess.
How is the list ordered?
Places 1–10 are ordered by the number of ratings each app has in the US App Store, one app per developer, which is why PriceGuide stands in for its sibling LuckyCoin and PCGS CoinFacts for the other PCGS apps. Only apps made for identifying coins, looking up their value or cataloging a collection qualify, and only if the developer says that job works without paying and with no time limit; trial-to-subscription scanners were left out however popular they are. A rating count shows how many people use an app, not how accurate it is. No app of ours is on this list.