America's Test Kitchen vs Chef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
America's Test Kitchen
Access thousands of rigorously tested recipes, cooking videos, and expert product reviews. Enhance your culinary skills with on-demand classes taught by test kitchen professionals. Save favorites, create shopping lists, and discover new dishes for any occasion.
- 14,000+ tested recipes
- Expert-led cooking classes
- App-exclusive content
- Product reviews and ratings
- Save favorite recipes
- Create shopping lists
- Ad-free cooking episodes
Read full descriptionHide full description
The America's Test Kitchen app delivers the best-tasting recipes, cooking videos, product reviews, and more than 30 years of test kitchen discoveries! Get every rigorously tested recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated, and Cook’s Country. Recipe collections for every occasion: Weeknight recipes, healthy recipes, desserts, slow cooker recipes, and more all include “Why This Recipe Works” so you’ll know every test kitchen discovery. Save favorite recipes, cook great food, and get the recipe app that has it all. New app-exclusive feature! ATK Classes add on with expert-led cooking classes for all skill levels and personal connections with ATK instructors. Download America’s Test Kitchen today and become a culinary master! America’s Test Kitchen Features: Save Favorite Recipes - Cooking app with 14,000+ best-ever recipes - Recipes tested by test cooks and 70,000 volunteer home cooks - Recipe Collections: slow cooker recipes, seasonal picks, quick meals & more - Recipes added every month and cooking articles added every day! - Save favorite recipes, customize recipes with personal notes & get quick access on any device Kitchen Reviews - Kitchen appliance reviews and ingredient ratings at your fingertips - Save money and time with 8,000+ rigorously researched product reviews & trusted kitchen reviews Full Episodes, Ad-Free - Cooking episodes from 42 seasons of our top-rated TV shows America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country And More! - Get Fresh Pick recommendations based on your favorites with Recipe Recommendations - Find, compare, save favorite recipes & share with others - Shopping lists are created with ease and you’ll never forget anything again New Feature: Add On ATK Classes! - Focused, fun on-demand classes taught by test kitchen experts - Build your skills and refine your cooking intuition - Use “Cook Along” mode to see every step - Enjoy a personal connection with instructors - Access classes for all skill levels Try out the entire app with a free trial. - Current ATK Essential members can access this app at no additional charge after logging in - Access to the ATK app requires a monthly or annual ATK Essential membership, which also includes all the content across the America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated, and Cook’s Country sites. - Bundle ATK Essential + ATK Classes and save! Privacy Policy: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/corporate-pages/privacy-policy CA Privacy Notice: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/corporate-pages/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/corporate-pages/terms-of-use Contact Us: support@Americastestkitchen.com All subscriptions start at the end of the applicable free trial period. Free trials are only available upon an initial subscription. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account after your free trial period or at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew each month or year 24 hours before the end of the current period and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription to that publication, where applicable. All products reviewed by America’s Test Kitchen are independently chosen, researched, and reviewed by our editors. We buy products for testing at retail locations and do not accept unsolicited samples for testing. We list suggested sources for recommended products as a convenience to our readers but do not endorse specific retailers. When you choose to purchase our editorial recommendations from the links we provide, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices are subject to change.
Chef
Discover and cook thousands of recipes with a modern interface. Create your own recipes, generate shopping lists, and analyze nutritional values. Offers premium features for unlimited recipe creation and private recipes.
- Recipe discovery
- Custom recipe creation
- Automated shopping lists
- Nutritional value analysis
- Recipe scheduling
- Modern design
Read full descriptionHide full description
Chef® helps you discover thousands of recipes and to schedule and cook them, from shopping to serving. • Discover a new way to explore flavors with Chef®'s modern design. • Create your own recipes to schedule them. They will also be analyzed by our unique algorithm to estimate their nutritional values. • Simplify groceries by automatically generating shopping lists, and add your own items. The Chef® Plus subscription allows you to create as many recipes and shopping lists as you want, and to create private recipes. With the Chef® Max subscription, enjoy all the benefits of Chef® Plus, but also get the nutritional values of your recipes and enhance your recipe images. Renewed monthly, these subscriptions will be charged to your iTunes account. At the end of the one-month period, unless you have disabled this feature, your subscription will automatically renew for your iTunes account. You will be charged the subscription price within 24 hours after the end of the validity of the initial purchase. You can cancel the automatic renewal at any time before these 24 hours. No refund can be made for the unused period of a subscription. For more information on the terms of use and privacy policy of Chef®, visit https://the-chef.app/policy. By using the app, you accept its terms of use, available at https://the-chef.app/terms.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Chef at freemium against America's Test Kitchen's subscription. Chef also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (13 vs 15.6). America's Test Kitchen's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 21 months) and ratings volume (18K vs 20). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. America's Test Kitchen sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Chef sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
America's Test Kitchen holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: America's Test Kitchen has 18K ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of America's Test Kitchen's written reviews are positive against 50% of Chef's.
America's Test Kitchen ships an update fortnightly, Chef every 21 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | America's Test Kitchen | Chef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (18K ratings) — better | 4.7 (20 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 65.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18K — better | 20 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 21 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Freemium — better |
| Best chart rank | #8 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 129 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | America's Test Kitchen LP | Guillaume Cendre |
Customer experience
America's Test Kitchen
Chef
Bugs and requests
America's Test Kitchen
Reported bugs
4 issues- Recipes and content not loading properly
- Inability to access account after updates
- Syncing issues between app and website
- Frequent log-outs and need to re-login
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to categorize and organize saved recipes
- Improve search functionality and filtering options
- Implement sharing capabilities to easily share recipes
- Add support for metric measurements alongside imperial
Chef
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
America's Test Kitchen
- ATK Essential - Monthly14 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Classes Monthly$9.991 Month
- Essential + Classes - Monthly$19.991 Month
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Classes Annual$39.991 Year
- ATK Essential - Annual14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Essential + Classes - Annual14 Days trial$89.991 Year
Chef
- Chef Premium - One Month$1.991 Month
Questions
Is America's Test Kitchen free?
Is Chef free?
Which has better reviews, America's Test Kitchen or Chef?
Do America's Test Kitchen or Chef have ads?
Which is updated more often, America's Test Kitchen or Chef?
Other comparisons















