# Crouton vs KitchenIdea

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Crouton at 79% against KitchenIdea's 0%. Crouton also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (2.9K vs 2). KitchenIdea's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.1). On price, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Crouton sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. KitchenIdea asks for nothing beyond the download.

Crouton holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crouton has 2.9K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Crouton's written reviews are positive against 0% of KitchenIdea's.

Crouton ships an update monthly, KitchenIdea every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Crouton | KitchenIdea |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (2.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987/reviews)** | [3.0 (2 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kitchenidea/id1628989841/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **2.9K** | 2 |
| Positive reviews | **78.7% of reviews** | 0.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Monthly** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Best chart rank | **#65** | — |
| Size | 345 MB | 73 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.1 | **12.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Crouton LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1807416236) | [浙江田螺云厨科技有限公司](https://appshunter.io/developer/1581548627) |

## What reviewers say

### Crouton

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987)

**Currently charting:** #65 Top Grossing · Food & Drink (US App Store)

Organize your favorite recipes from any source, plan your weekly meals, and generate grocery lists automatically. Features step-by-step cooking guidance, integrated timers, and AI-powered recipe importing.

**Highlights:** Import recipes from websites, books, and handwritten notes, AI and OCR recipe scanning, Weekly meal planning and automatic plan generation, Step-by-step cooking mode with hands-free navigation, Integrated timers and ingredient quantity display, Automatic grocery list creation, Cloud syncing across devices

**Features:** Family Sharing, Apple Watch app, SharePlay, iPhone Duo support

**In-app purchases (8)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Discover Monthly | $1.99 | per month |
| Discover Yearly | $14.99 | per year |
| Kind Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Great Tip | $1.99 | one-time |
| Amazing Tip | $3.99 | one-time |
| Outrageous Tip | $7.99 | one-time |
| Crouton+ Early Bird | $17.99 | one-time |
| Crouton Plus | $24.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 🚀 Seamless recipe import
- 🚀 Hands-free navigation
- 👍 Household sharing

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Buggy recipe import
- 🐛 Inconsistent hands-free navigation
- 🔒 Limited free features
- 🔒 Subscription required for full functionality
- 🔒 Inability to share recipes with non-users

**Reported bugs**

- Grocery list not remembering checked items
- Syncing issues between devices
- Inability to add more than 5 recipes in free version

**Requested features**

- Recipe rating system
- Nutrition information
- Ability to add recipe notes and descriptions
- Improved grocery list organization
- Web/Windows app version


### KitchenIdea

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kitchenidea/id1628989841)

Control a smart stir-fry robot remotely. Browse recipes and send cooking instructions to your connected device for automated meal preparation.

**Highlights:** Recipe browsing, Remote robot control, Cooking instruction execution, Connect to KODY robot, Automated meal preparation

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Crouton free?

Crouton is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is KitchenIdea free?

KitchenIdea is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Crouton or KitchenIdea?

Crouton is rated higher. Crouton averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.9K ratings, while KitchenIdea averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.

### Do Crouton or KitchenIdea have ads?

Neither Crouton nor KitchenIdea shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Crouton or KitchenIdea?

Crouton ships an update monthly, and KitchenIdea every 2 months. Most recently, Crouton was updated on October 29, 2026 and KitchenIdea on October 11, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*