# Alternatives to Crouton Beautiful recipe management for Apple. Crouton ranks #3 of 8 in Recipe managers, with an Alt Score of 78. It is freemium from $1.99 and available on iOS and macOS. 9 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/crouton/ Category: Recipe managers ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Home cooks who collect recipes from scattered sources — websites, cookbooks, handwritten notes — and want them organized in one place without ads or an account. - **What you get**: Crouton pulls in recipes by importing a URL, scanning a printed page, or manual entry, keeping ingredients and instructions intact. It scales servings, converts between metric and imperial, and runs multiple cooking timers at once. Recipes sync via iCloud across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. A meal planner lets you assign saved recipes to specific days. - **How it works**: Save a recipe from a website link, a photo of a cookbook page, or by typing it in, then it's stored in your personal collection. From there you organize recipes, add them to a weekly meal plan, and open them while cooking to scale quantities and run timers. ## Profile - **License**: ? - **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-10) - **Starts at**: $1.99 (verified 2026-07-10) - **Platforms**: iOS, macOS - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Paprika](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/paprika.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | | 2 | [Tandoor](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tandoor.md) | 82 | AGPL-3.0 with Commons Clause | Linux, Web | | 3 | [Mealie](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mealie.md) | 73 | AGPL-3.0 | Web | | 4 | [Mela](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mela.md) | 73 | Proprietary | iOS, macOS | | 5 | [Samsung Food](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/samsung-food.md) | 73 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Web, macOS | | 6 | [KitchenOwl](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kitchenowl.md) | 68 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 7 | [Mealime](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mealime.md) | 60 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Web | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Recipe managers checklist | Crouton | Paprika | Tandoor | Mealie | Mela | Samsung Food | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Freemium | One-time | OSS + paid hosting | Free | One-time | Freemium | | Starts at | $1.99 | $4.99 | €1.99/mo | Free | $6.99 | $6.99/month | | License | ? | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 with Commons Clause | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | iOS, macOS | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Linux, Web | Web | iOS, macOS | iOS, Android, Web, macOS, Browser extension | | Web clipper / URL import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Meal planning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Grocery lists | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Scaling & unit conversion | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | | Self-hostable | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Cross-device sync | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | | Offline access | ? | Yes | Partial | ? | ? | ? | | One-time purchase option | Partial | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | | OCR from photos | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for Crouton. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Starts at**: $1.99 — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: Cheapest paid tier (monthly), excluding tip-jar items. - Quote: “Discover Monthly $1.99” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: v2026.1.1 released 2026-07-05. - Quote: “Minor fixes to recipe creation flow” - **Pricing model**: Freemium — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: Free download; IAPs: Discover Monthly $1.99, Discover Yearly $14.99, Crouton Plus $24.99. - Quote: “Free” - **Platforms**: iOS, macOS — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: iPadOS/watchOS/visionOS bundled under iOS/macOS. - Quote: “Available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS & watchOS” - **Web clipper / URL import**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Automatically import recipe ingredients and steps from copied URLs. Save recipes as fast as you can find them” - **Meal planning**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Meal plan for the week, month, year, lifetime!” - **Grocery lists**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Create shopping lists from you recipe ingredients” - **Scaling & unit conversion**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: Homepage also lists 'Measurement Conversion: Quickly convert recipes between metric and imperial.' - Quote: “Scale a recipe's ingredients makes cooking for a larger (or smaller) group very easy!” - **Self-hostable**: No — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: iCloud sync only; no self-hosting. - Quote: “Back up and sync recipes and meal plan across your devices using iCloud” - **Cross-device sync**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Back up and sync recipes and meal plan across your devices using iCloud” - **One-time purchase option**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: 'Crouton Plus $24.99' appears alongside monthly/yearly subscriptions; App Store doesn't explicitly label it one-time vs recurring. - Quote: “Crouton Plus $24.99” - **OCR from photos**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Scan ingredients and method straight out of the recipe book with OCR” - **Sharing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Household sharing, share your recipes and meal plan with the whole family” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/