Best Cook Alternatives in 2026
The top Cook alternatives are NYT Cooking, Cookpad and Food.com: 15 recipe apps our editors would look at instead of Cook, in our ranking order.
Cook: A plain-text recipe manager with guided cooking, shopping lists and meal planning. Where it falls short: cook cloud sync and cross-device sync are paid features.
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. How we rank.
-
Best forNYT recipes and polished guided cooking
A paid recipe service pairing a 20,000-recipe library with guided cooking and grocery lists.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
9.2/10★★★★★Visit NYT Cooking -
Best forCommunity recipes and personal collections
A community recipe library with searchable personal collections and optional Premium tools.
9.0/10★★★★☆Visit Cookpad -
Best forFree browsing of a large recipe catalog
A free recipe catalog for browsing, saving favorites, and sharing cooking notes.
8.8/10★★★★☆Visit Food.com -
Best forHome cooks who want an organized recipe archive
A paid recipe archive with dietary filters, cooking tutorials, and shopping lists.
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
8.7/10★★★★☆Visit Epicurious -
Best forGerman-language recipe discovery and meal planning
A large German-language recipe community with free basics and practical PLUS planning tools.
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
8.6/10★★★★☆Visit Chefkoch -
Best forHome cooks who want recipes, meal plans, and grocery lists
A recipe organizer with meal planning, grocery lists, and a library of over one million recipes.
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
8.5/10★★★★☆Visit BigOven -
Best forImporting, planning, and cooking across devices
A cross-device recipe organizer with meal planning, guided cooking, and optional Food+ features.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
8.4/10★★★★☆Visit Samsung Food -
Best forVideo-led recipes and guided mobile cooking
A video-led recipe app with guided cooking, cookbooks and Walmart grocery shopping.
- Guided cooking
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit Tasty -
Best forFree meal planning with dietary and grocery tools
A free meal planner with dietary filters, grocery tools and a published shutdown date.
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit Mealime -
Best forHome cooks who want one-time recipe and meal management
A one-time Windows purchase bundles recipe management, meal planning, and grocery tools.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit Paprika -
Best forFree recipe planning across platforms
A flexible recipe organizer for importing, planning meals, and sharing grocery lists.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit RecipeSage -
Best forImporting and managing recipes across devices
A cross-device recipe organizer with imports, OCR, meal planning and shopping lists.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit Recipe Keeper -
Best forFree recipe capture with a very large catalog
A free recipe organizer with social imports, meal plans, and a catalog of over 2 million recipes.
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit RecipeBox -
Best forRecipe importing tied to structured meal planning
A recipe importer and meal planner for turning personal recipes into shopping lists.
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit Plan to Eat -
Best forGuided cooking with voice and smart-device support
A free-to-start cooking app with imports, meal planning, and guided recipes.
- Guided cooking
- Meal planning
- Grocery lists
7.3/10★★★★☆Visit SideChef
Cook Alternatives: Common Questions
What is the best alternative to Cook?
NYT Cooking: #1 in our Recipe Apps ranking, with an editor score of 9.2 out of 10. A paid recipe service pairing a 20,000-recipe library with guided cooking and grocery lists.
Is there a free alternative to Cook?
Yes. Cookpad, Food.com, Chefkoch, BigOven and Samsung Food have a free plan or a free tier (11 of the 15 alternatives on this page).
What is the cheapest paid alternative to Cook?
Of the alternatives here that publish a price, SideChef starts lowest, at $4.99/mo.
Cook vs Each Alternative
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Recipe import | Meal planning | Guided cooking | Recipe library size | Grocery lists | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Cook | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 6.0 |
| 1 | NYT Cooking | No | — | No | Yes | Yes | 20000 recipes | Yes | 9.2 |
| 2 | Cookpad | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | 9.0 |
| 3 | Food.com | Yes | None | — | — | — | 500000 recipes | — | 8.8 |
| 4 | Epicurious | No | — | — | Yes | — | 50000 recipes | Yes | 8.7 |
| 5 | Chefkoch | Yes | €2.5/mo | Yes | Yes | — | 389000 recipes | Yes | 8.6 |
| 6 | BigOven | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | — | 1e+06 recipes | Yes | 8.5 |
| 7 | Samsung Food | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | 180000 recipes | Yes | 8.4 |
| 8 | Tasty | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | 10000 recipes | — | 8.2 |
| 9 | Mealime | Yes | None | — | — | — | — | — | 7.9 |
| 10 | Paprika Recipe Manager | No | $29.99 one-time | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 7.8 |
| 11 | RecipeSage | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 7.7 |
| 12 | Recipe Keeper | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | 7.6 |
| 13 | RecipeBox | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | — | 2e+06 recipes | Yes | 7.5 |
| 14 | Plan to Eat | No | $5.95/mo | Yes | Yes | — | — | Yes | 7.4 |
| 15 | SideChef | Yes | $4.99/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | 16000 recipes | Yes | 7.3 |
Guides on Recipe Apps
- Best recipe apps for iPhone and iPad: the best options for saving, planning, shopping, and cookingAug 2026
- 11 Best Cooking and Recipe Apps for iPhone and Android in 2026Aug 2026
- AI Recipe Generators: What They Can Do, Which Tools Are Worth Using, and How to Use Them SafelyAug 2026
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update