In your pocket
iPhone
Capture from a recipe URL on the train. Cook from your apron pocket. Native widgets resume your half-finished session in one tap.
For people who actually cook
The recipe notebook
that finally respects
your craft.
Chef Notebook is the native recipe app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Capture, develop, version, and cook your own recipes across all three, for one price. Your recipes live in your private iCloud. Not on our servers. Not for sale. Yours.
$4.99/mo or $49/yr
iPhone, iPad, and Mac included
Cancel anytime in Settings
3 apps
iPhone, iPad, Mac. All native, all included.
1 price
Same subscription unlocks iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
0 servers
Recipes sync through your private iCloud, not ours.
6 inputs
URL, photo, camera, multi-photo, Share Sheet, type.
Sound familiar?
You've tried every recipe app, and somehow you still cook from screenshots.
- 01Recipe sites bury the actual recipe under 1,800 words about someone's grandmother's summer in Tuscany.
- 02You finally nailed Mom's pot roast, only to lose the tweaks because the app never let you save versions.
- 03You switched to a different "modern" app, and now your Mac and iPad show different copies of everything.
- 04The day the app shuts down, your decade of recipes vanishes with it. No export. No backup. No say.
Cooking is supposed to feel like home. Your recipe app should feel like part of it.
The promise
One subscription. iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Without paying twice.
Most recipe apps force a tradeoff: either a one-time purchase that drops behind on platforms, or a subscription that costs the same on the web as a native app does on iPhone, iPad, and Mac combined. Chef Notebook is built native for all three, with version history and iCloud sync to your own Apple ID, for one price.
That's roughly ~$0.13/day for the recipe notebook your kitchen has wanted for a decade.
How Chef Notebook stacks up
Recipe apps · feature comparison · 2026
| Paprika | Crouton | Pestle | Plan to Eat | Chef Notebook |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 cost | $34.98† | $14.99 | $24.99 | $54.99 | $49 |
| Native Mac app | ✓ | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Version history | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Variations side-by-side | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| iCloud sync to your Apple ID | — | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Share as designed image card | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Component-based recipes | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
†Paprika is a one-time purchase ($4.99 iOS + $29.99 Mac, Cloud Sync included), so year 2 onward is $0. Other apps shown are recurring subscriptions. Pricing as of May 2026.
Native everywhere
The same notebook, in every place you cook.
Each app is built from the ground up for the device it runs on. Not a website dressed up as an app. Not one design awkwardly stretched to fit three different screens. Three apps that feel like they belong on the screen they're on. The recipe notebook the Apple ecosystem has been missing.
On the counter
iPad
The cookbook your kitchen always wanted. Three-column layout, full keyboard shortcuts, screen-lock Cook Mode that won't dim while your hands are full.
At your desk
Mac
Develop new recipes the way real chefs do. Full menu bar, every shortcut you'd expect, multi-window support, and a true three-column workspace.
Built into the Apple ecosystem
iCloud sync
Home Screen widgets
Live Activities
Spotlight search
Siri Shortcuts
Handoff
Quick Actions
iPad keyboard shortcuts
macOS menu bar
Get your recipes in
However a recipe arrives in your life, we'll take it from there.
URL on a friend's text. Photo of an open cookbook. Screenshot saved six months ago. Type it yourself. Six different ways in, and every one gives you a clean, structured recipe ready to cook.
01
Paste any recipe URL
Drop a link from any recipe website. We pull out the actual recipe, ingredients, steps, hero photo, and skip the 1,800-word grandma-in-Tuscany prologue.
⌘V→done
02
Snap an open cookbook
Hold your iPhone over a cookbook page or grandma's index card. Tap the shutter. Every ingredient and step is read, structured, and saved, original handwriting and all.
camera→recipe
03
That screenshot from six months ago
Your camera roll is full of recipe screenshots you'll never look at again. Pick one. We turn it back into a real recipe, searchable, scaleable, syncable.
photo library
04
Multi-page cookbook recipes
One recipe spread across two cookbook pages? Photograph all of them at once. We stitch them into a single recipe. Caught two recipes by mistake? Pick which one to import.
multi-photo
05
Safari Share Sheet
Reading a recipe in Safari and don't want to break flow? Tap Share, then Chef Notebook. The recipe is in your library by the time you put your phone down.
tap→share
06
Type it yourself
Got grandma's spaghetti recipe in your head? Just type. You get the same beautiful structure, components, scaling, and version history, without ever leaving the keyboard.
manual entry
From "I want to cook this" to "it's in my notebook" in under 30 seconds.
No format restrictions. No "premium import" upcharge. No 10-recipe-a-month limit. Every method above is included.
See pricingMake it yours
Tweak it. Try it. Always go back if you don't love it.
Real recipes evolve. The pot roast you make tonight isn't the one you made five years ago. Chef Notebook quietly remembers every version you've cooked, so you can experiment with confidence and never lose a favorite.
-
Save a new version every time you tweak
Reduced the salt by a quarter? Swapped butter for olive oil? Tap save. The old version is still there. The new version is your latest. Your favorites are never one bad experiment away from gone.
-
Try a variation without losing the original
Want to test a vegan version of Mom's lasagna? A spicy take on weeknight chili? Save it as a variation. The original sits beside it, untouched, ready when you want it back.
-
See exactly what you changed
Compare any two versions side-by-side. Ingredients added, swapped, or removed, all highlighted in plain English. No more "wait, did I add the cumin last time or not?"
-
A change history that reads like a journal
No symbols. No jargon. Just your own notes. "Reduced salt by 25%. Added fresh herbs." A diary of your kitchen, in your own words.
-
Restore an earlier version, instantly
Last week's experiment was a miss? Tap an older version, hit Restore, and you're back to the one that worked. Nothing is ever permanently lost.
Your data. Your iCloud. Period.
We don't store your recipes. We can't. By design.
Your recipes sync through your private iCloud, the same iCloud that holds your photos and Messages. Apple keeps them end-to-end encrypted under your Apple ID. We literally don't have a database of your recipes. We can't read them. We can't sell them. We can't lose them in a breach. Because we never had them in the first place.
On our servers
0
Recipes stored on Chef Notebook servers. There aren't any servers. There's no database to breach.
Inside the app
0
Trackers. Outside data collectors. Analytics phoning home. Verified in App Store privacy labels.
In your hands
100%
Yours, encrypted under your Apple ID, exportable as plain text anytime, even after canceling.
"You're not the product. You're the cook."
Cook
The mode designed for flour-on-your-hands.
When you're actually cooking, your phone shouldn't be an obstacle. Cook Mode is a focused, screen-locked, glove-friendly view that gets out of your way.
Cook Mode
Step-by-step navigation, big readable text, screen never dims while your hands are busy.
Inline timers
Steps with times become live timers. Tap once to start. Notification sounds even when the app is closed.
Big-type view
Steps render extra large by default. Readable from across the kitchen, through reading glasses.
Haptic step tracking
A subtle haptic confirms each advance. Don't have to look at your phone to know it heard you.
Recipe scaling
Cooking for 12 instead of 4? Scale ingredients in one tap. Quantities update everywhere, mid-cook.
Resume where you left off
Got interrupted? Tap the Resume widget on your home screen. Jumps you straight to the active step.
A note from the maker
I built Chef Notebook because every recipe app I tried let me down eventually.
The "free" one filled with ads. The "premium" one paywalled basics six months in. The "modern" one shut down and took my recipes with it. The "open-source" one didn't sync. I spent ten years moving cooking notes between apps that all promised they'd be the last.
And underneath the broken business models was a quieter problem: none of them actually fit how I cook. I love cooking. Not "follow the recipe and call it done" cooking, but the kind where you iterate on the same dish across weeks until it's yours. Tweaking salt or fat or technique on the second pass. Comparing this week's loaf to last week's. Writing down the one substitution that finally worked. No app I tried let me work that way. The features in Chef Notebook aren't a wishlist. They're what I needed to actually use, every week, in my own kitchen.
So I built the one I wanted. Native on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Version history because real recipes evolve. iCloud sync because Apple's encryption is better than any server I'd run. Proper printing because Mom still wants the binder. And an export button visible at all times, because your recipes should never be hostage to anyone, including me.
And the family book in that photo? It's safer now. Every page photographed, every recipe transcribed, synced to my iCloud. If anything ever happens to the original, the recipes are still here.
If that sounds like the recipe app you've been waiting for, give it seven days. Cook three things. See if it earns its place.
And if you ever need me, write to casey@chefnotebook.com. Questions, bugs, feature ideas, recipes you can't get to import, or just to say hi. I'm based in the US, and every support email comes straight to me, no offshore ticket queue, no chatbot. I read every message myself.
Casey Smith, founder of Chef Notebook
Pricing
Pick your plan. Both unlock everything.
No hidden tiers. No "Pro" upsell. No platform tax. The full app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, for one price.
Monthly
$4.99
per month, billed monthly
- Everything in Chef Notebook, full app
- iPhone, iPad, and Mac, all included
- Cancel anytime in App Store settings
Pay as you go. No free trial.
Most popular · Save $11
Yearly · 7 days free
$49
per year, that's $4.08/month
- Seven days free, full app, no commitment
- Everything in Chef Notebook, every feature
- iPhone, iPad, and Mac, all included
- Your recipes stay yours, even if you cancel
$49/yr after trial. Cancel before day 7, pay $0.
Everything included
One subscription. Every feature. All three apps.
No "Pro" tier, no platform tax, no hidden upsells. Twenty-four features below, every one included on iPhone, iPad, and Mac at no extra charge.
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, all included
- Unlimited recipes, no caps
- Import from any recipe URL
- Import from cookbook photos
- Cook Mode with screen-lock
- Inline timers with notifications
- Recipe scaling, mid-cook, any unit
- Save versions, tweak, restore
- Try variations side-by-side
- Component-based recipes
- Photo gallery per recipe
- Tag and search across everything
- Resume Cooking widget
- Find any recipe via Spotlight
- Voice control with Siri
- Print-quality recipe cards
- Send ingredients to Reminders
- Share recipes as images
- iCloud sync, your iCloud
- Works offline, recipes and cooking
- 30-day Recycle Bin
- Archive without losing
- Full export, anytime
- All future updates included
Honest answers
The questions everyone asks.
What makes this different from other recipe apps?+
Most recipe apps are built once for the web and squeezed onto every screen. Chef Notebook is built three times, once each for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with the layouts, shortcuts, widgets, and integrations each one expects. iCloud sync, Spotlight search, Handoff between devices, Siri Shortcuts, Live Activities on the Lock Screen, Home Screen widgets, Quick Actions, full keyboard shortcuts on iPad, a real menu bar on Mac. The things that make an app feel like it belongs in the Apple ecosystem are all there because they should be.
Is Chef Notebook a good recipe app for iPhone?+
Yes. The iPhone app is built specifically for iPhone, not a website dressed up as an app, with iOS features designed for cooking on the go: Cook Mode that keeps the screen awake while your hands are full, Live Activities that show your current step on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, Home Screen widgets for one-tap recipe access, Siri Shortcuts so you can start cooking by voice, and Handoff so you can pick up on iPad or Mac. iCloud sync keeps every recipe encrypted under your own Apple ID.
What is the best recipe app for someone who modifies recipes a lot?+
Chef Notebook was built specifically for cooks who iterate. Every recipe has full version history, so you can save a new version each time you tweak salt, fat, technique, or substitutions and always go back to the version that worked. Variations let you keep parallel takes on the same recipe (vegan, gluten-free, family-sized) side by side. A side-by-side comparison shows exactly what changed between any two versions. None of this is hidden behind a "Pro" tier. It is the core feature.
What recipe app works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac with one subscription?+
Chef Notebook. One subscription, $4.99 a month or $49 a year, unlocks the full app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Each platform has its own app, built specifically for that device, not the same one stretched to fit. iCloud sync keeps everything in step automatically. The 7-day free trial works across all three devices.
If I cancel, do I lose my recipes?+
No. Your recipes live in your iCloud, under your Apple ID. If you cancel, Chef Notebook switches to a read-only browse mode. You can still open every recipe you've ever made, search them, view them, and export every one as plain text. You just can't create new recipes, edit existing ones, or use Cook Mode until you re-subscribe. Walking away is always free, and your recipes are always yours.
Does the app work without internet?+
Yes. Recipes, Cook Mode, timers, and editing all work offline. iCloud sync resumes the moment you're back online. You can cook through a kitchen Wi-Fi outage and never know it happened.
What happens to my data?+
It stays in your private iCloud, end-to-end encrypted under your Apple ID. We never see, store, or have access to a single recipe. We have no database of your data because we never had it in the first place.
What if Chef Notebook ever shuts down?+
Your recipes live in your iCloud, under your Apple ID. They are not stored on our servers. They never were. If Chef Notebook went away tomorrow, your recipes stay exactly where they are. The export button inside the app is visible at all times. Tap it once and you walk away with every recipe you've ever made, as plain text any app can open, yours forever. We built it this way on purpose.
Why is this a subscription instead of one-time?+
Honestly? Because a one-time price either gets very expensive up front, or starves the app of the runway needed to keep it good. A subscription pays for native development on three platforms, ongoing recipe-import improvements, and an answer from a real human (me, at casey@chefnotebook.com) when you write to support. If you'd rather not subscribe, every recipe you create is fully exportable as plain text. You can always walk away with everything.
Will the price ever go up?+
Apple's rules govern what happens to existing subscribers. For any meaningful price increase, Apple requires us to ask your explicit permission before charging the new amount. If you don't agree, your subscription continues at the old price until it expires, or gets canceled. You'll never wake up to a surprise charge. New subscribers down the road might see a different price. Existing ones stay at theirs.
Can I get a refund?+
Apple handles refunds for App Store purchases. If you're unhappy, file a request at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple usually grants refunds for first-time issues. We don't process payments, so we can't refund directly, but the seven-day free trial on Yearly is the simplest insurance: try the full app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, no charge, and decide on day seven.
How do I cancel?+
Open Settings, tap your Apple ID, tap Subscriptions, tap Chef Notebook, tap Cancel. We don't have a retention department, a cancellation flow, or a "wait, are you sure?" funnel. Apple manages it, we never see your payment details.
Do I need a Mac to use this?+
Not at all. Most cooks live on iPhone and iPad. The Mac app is included if you want it, but it's there for when you want to develop a new recipe at your desk, not as a requirement.
What devices does this support?+
iPhone running iOS 18.5 or later, iPad running iPadOS 18.5 or later, and Mac running macOS Sonoma (14) or later. The same subscription unlocks all three.
Can I bring in recipes from another app?+
Yes, though there's no one-click migration. Most recipe apps let you export to PDF, text, or web pages. From there, point Chef Notebook at the export. Paste the URL of an exported recipe, photograph an exported page, drop in a screenshot from your camera roll, or paste the text and edit. Six different ways in. Bringing over a few hundred recipes takes an evening, not a weekend.
How do I get help if something goes wrong?+
Open Help inside the app. Over 50 articles cover every screen and every feature, all searchable. If you don't find your answer, tap Send Feedback or email casey@chefnotebook.com. Your message comes to me, the maker. I read every one. There's no support tier, no ticket queue, no chatbot trying to deflect you. Just a real human in the US, usually responding within a day.
Free for a week, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Cook it. Note it.
Cook it better.
Start your seven-day free trial. The full app, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If it isn't the recipe notebook you've been waiting for, cancel before day seven, pay nothing, and keep every recipe you wrote down.
Your recipes stay in your iCloud
Cancel anytime in Settings
Full export, even after canceling