# CookShelf: Search Cookbooks — Love your cookbooks more > Search and track recipes from your personal cookbook collection. (iPhone/iPad app by CookShelf Inc.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cookshelf-search-cookbooks/id6743496454 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [CookShelf Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1784556751) - Category: Food & Drink, Books - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.60/5 from 584 App Store ratings · 152 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 12+ - Requires: iOS 16.4 · 87 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2025-08-07 - Data updated: 2026-08-28 - Monetization: freemium - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cookshelf-search-cookbooks/id6743496454/reviews.md ## What is CookShelf? Do you love cookbooks? Us, too. That's why we created CookShelf, the app that helps you make the most of your cookbook collection, and cook from the books you already own. Got too much zucchini in the summer, and an excess of cabbage in winter? Or are you just trying to find that one Bolognese recipe you love and make every year, but can *never* remember which book it’s in? Quickly find recipes across your cookbooks that use what you already have—no more forgotten vegetables wilting in your crisper drawer. Simply search by ingredient, dish type, or whatever you're craving, and CookShelf shows exactly which cookbook has what you need and what page it's on. CookShelf is built for home cooks who love real cookbooks and real creators. Set a goal for how many cookbook recipes you'll cook this year, track your progress, and look back at everything you've made. Plus, get inspired by what our community is cooking from the books you own. We bridge the gap between physical cookbooks and digital convenience—because the best recipes are already on your shelf. ◆ Instantly search across your cookbooks and thousands of online recipes ◆ Find recipes based on what's in your fridge ◆ See ingredients lists before opening your books ◆ See what people are cooking: browse real cooks from the books already on your shelf—what people made, the notes they left, the little tweaks that made it better ◆ Follow your friends: find the people whose cooking you trust and follow along ◆ Track your cooking: bookmark recipes, mark what you've cooked, add photos and notes, and look back at your cooks timeline ◆ Set a cooking goal and watch your progress grow throughout the year ◆ Reduce food waste: use up CSA box ingredients before they spoil ◆ Finally cook from those cookbooks you love but rarely open ◆ 16,000+ cookbooks indexed Join thousands of home cooks who are rediscovering the treasures in their cookbook collections every day. HOW DOES IT WORK? CookShelf includes both a free version and a Premium (paid) subscription. The free version lets you add up to 5 cookbooks and use all of CookShelf's features for those books—search, bookmarking, cooking goals, and tracking. Premium unlocks your full collection: ◆ Add unlimited cookbooks ◆ Search across your entire library and over 15,000 indexed titles You can start a free trial to access Premium. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, you'll be automatically charged the price shown on the payment screen for your chosen plan. Your CookShelf Premium subscription renews automatically each month or year until you cancel. Canceling disables the automatic renewal, but you'll keep full access through the end of your current period. Deleting the app does not cancel your subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.cookshelf.app/terms Privacy: https://www.cookshelf.app/privacy ## Key features - Search across personal cookbooks - Find recipes by ingredient - Track cooking progress - Set cooking goals - Bookmark favorite recipes - Add photos and notes to recipes - Reduce food waste ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | CookShelf Premium - Monthly | $4.99 | per month | | CookShelf Premium - Monthly | $4.99 | per month | | CookShelf Premium - Monthly | $4.99 | per month | | CookShelf Premium - Annual | $39.99 | per year | | CookShelf Premium - Annual | $39.99 | per year | | CookShelf Premium - Monthly | $4.99 | per month | ## Chart rankings - #26 in Top Grossing · Food & Drink (US App Store) ## What do users think of CookShelf? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Instant gratification - 👍 Fav kitchen companion - 👍 Game changer - 👍 Worth the wait! - 👍 Amazing! - 👍 Great kitchen tool - 👍 Loved the Website and App is Great! - 👍 Eat my produce! - 👍 My favorite new app - 👍 My Go-To Kitchen App! - 👍 Great app! **Most requested features** - Eliminate multiple entries of the same book in the database ## Recent user reviews (10 of 152) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cookshelf-search-cookbooks/id6743496454/reviews.md ### 1/5 — Some apps should not be subscription based — Too greedy *2026-08-25* It’s a good concept, I’m in the middle of cataloging my own cook books on Notion and it’s such a tedious process. I would happily purchase this app for a $5-10 one time fee but no way a monthly subscription. You could have had my money but got too greedy. ### 1/5 — Seemed like a great idea *2026-08-21* After scanning all my books thinking it might almost be worth the (quite pricey) subscription, I did a general ingredient search ‘lamb’. I thought the search results seemed a bit sparse considering how many books I have and realised it didn’t even find them all. Not even close. Searched for something else that I know is in a few books and it returned ‘0 results’. Kind of a waste of time😔 Even the results returned only give required ingredients and not actual amounts of so not very helpful if I was using it whilst out to buy what I’d need. ### 5/5 — Love love love! *2026-08-20* This app has me even more excited to use my cookbook library then ever before! With so many recipes popping up that I may have forgotten about its pure inspiration every time I open up the app! ### 5/5 — Love my Cookbooks Again!! *2026-08-18* I have over 70 cookbooks. And if I want to do something with a boneless pork chop, it would take forever to go thru them all. Easier to just surf the web and find something. Now I can put that boneless pork chop in the search bar and they will tell me what recipes, what book, what page number to find what I want. My cookbooks are again being used as I had done years before the internet was just a wee little thing, when we only had cookbooks and recipe cards to go to! **Developer response:** Thanks so much for sharing! Reconnecting people with their cookbooks is exactly what our goal is ♥️ ### 5/5 — A must have for cookbook lovers *2026-08-15* I literally never leave app reviews, but this is one app that I always sing the praises of! One of the biggest headaches of having so many cookbooks is when you have to sprawl them all out on your dining room table and do your meal planning for the week and it just feels so overwhelming, but being able to easily find and get inspired by the cookbooks I already have on my shelf- I love it! And then take it even further and be able to do a meal plan in the app and then a grocery list as well?! This is just amazing. Love love love this! **Developer response:** Thanks so much for your review, we appreciate the kind words! ### 5/5 — Go-To App *2026-08-12, version 1.89.0* I love everything about this app. Game changer for meal and grocery planning. ### 1/5 — Free version not working *2026-08-11* I downloaded it to test if buying a subscription is worth it. It seemed fine but at some point I started getting pop ups every time I wanted to use any of my recipes saying that I need to pay - I have not added more books than the free version allows and it just happened out of nowhere locking me out of the app :( can’t do anything without it showing up and while trying to turn it off it just goes back to main page. **Developer response:** Hi there, we apologize for this experience, that's certainly not what we intend. We'd love to help out further - please feel free to reach out to help@cookshelf.app so we can look up your account and address this bad experience. ### 5/5 — First recipe app I’ve found that’s worth it *2026-08-09, version 1.83.1* I debated about the value of a membership because so many apps (including all the recipe ones I’ve trialed previously) end up being a waste of time and money. Cookshelf’s user experience and functionality is exceptional. Kudos to the designer on this one. ### 5/5 — Favourite App *2026-08-06* As someone who owns over 400 cookbooks, CookShelf has been an absolute lifesaver! I’ve accidentally bought duplicate cookbooks in the past, but now I can quickly check if I already own one before I buy it. I also love how easy it is to search for recipes by ingredient or recipe name, making it so much easier to decide what’s for dinner. The magazine indexing is fantastic too, and I really appreciate the email reminders whenever another one of my books has been indexed. If you’re a cookbook collector, I highly recommend this app! ### 5/5 — Just what I needed! *2026-08-05* I absolutely love this app. I have over 50 cookbooks and would so rarely use them. Having to look through every cookbook to find something I wanted for dinner was just not feasible. Now I can go into the app, type what I’m looking for (i.e., ground beef, chicken, lasagna), and it will give me every recipe in ALL of my books that fits the search criteria. Then, when I decide what recipe I want to make, it tells me the book, page number, and ingredients. I am finally using all my cookbooks on a regular basis and it’s great! **Developer response:** Thanks so much for sharing! Reconnecting people with their cookbooks is exactly what our goal is ♥️ ## Frequently asked questions about CookShelf ### What does CookShelf do? CookShelf helps you make the most of your physical cookbook collection. It allows you to search for recipes within your books by ingredient, dish type, or what you're craving. The app also lets you track your cooking progress, set goals, and reduce food waste by using ingredients you already have. ### How do I find recipes in my cookbooks? You can easily find recipes by searching for specific ingredients, dish types, or any other term you're looking for. CookShelf will then show you exactly which cookbook contains the recipe and the page number. ### Is CookShelf free to use? CookShelf offers a free version that allows you to add up to 5 cookbooks and use all of its features for those books, including search, bookmarking, cooking goals, and tracking. For unlimited cookbook access and searching across over 15,000 indexed titles, a Premium subscription is available. ### What are the benefits of the Premium subscription? The Premium subscription unlocks your full cookbook library by allowing you to add unlimited cookbooks. It also provides access to search across your entire personal library and over 15,000 indexed online cookbook titles, offering a much broader range of recipe discovery. ### Can I track the recipes I cook? Yes, you can track your cooking progress within CookShelf. The app allows you to bookmark recipes, mark them as cooked, add photos and personal notes, and view a timeline of everything you've made. This feature helps you revisit favorite meals and monitor your cooking journey. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.96.0 — 2026-08-28 • Updates to the look of the home feed on tablets • bug fixes and performance improvements ### 1.95.0 — 2026-08-26 General bug fixes and performance improvements, including smoother scrolling through recipe lists. ### 1.93.0 — 2026-08-24 - Bug fixes and performance improvements. ### 1.92.0 — 2026-08-19 Bug fixes and performance improvements ### 1.91.0 — 2026-08-18 Bug fixes and performance improvements ## Apps similar to CookShelf | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Breville+ Cooking](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/breville-plus-cooking/id1528202615) | 4.6 (2,780) | Free | Food & Drink | | [Deglaze: Cooking, Simplified](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/deglaze-cooking-simplified/id6443578246) | 4.9 (3,772) | Free | Food & Drink | | [Cookpanion: Recipes, Meal Plan](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cookpanion-recipes-meal-plan/id6480235172) | 4.5 (59) | Free | Food & Drink | | [Zest: Meal Planner & Recipes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zest-meal-planner-and-recipes/id1595938390) | 4.7 (3,710) | Free | Food & Drink | | [Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joule-sous-vide-by-chefsteps/id970115018) | 2.6 (732) | Free | Food & Drink | | [RecipeBox - Save Your Recipes!](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/recipebox-save-your-recipes/id1433840494) | 4.7 (13,883) | Free | Food & Drink | ## Related topics [cookbook shelf](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookbook-shelf) · [cookbook organizer](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookbook-organizer) · [cook shelf app](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cook-shelf-app) · [cookshelf](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookshelf) · [cookbook app](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookbook-app) · [the photo cookbook](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/the-photo-cookbook) · [book maker cook](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/book-maker-cook) · [cookbooks by sorted food](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookbooks-by-sorted-food) · [101 cookbooks](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/101-cookbooks) · [cook book](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cook-book) · [david elisabeth](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/david-elisabeth) · [cook books](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cook-books) · [cookbook manager](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cookbook-manager) · [marshmallow advertiser](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/marshmallow-advertiser) · [cooking planit](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/cooking-planit) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*