# Crouton vs Appetizing

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Appetizing at none against Crouton's 8. Appetizing also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.1). Crouton's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and chart position (#62 vs unranked). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

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

Crouton ships an update every 3 weeks, Appetizing every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and December 13, 2025 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Crouton | Appetizing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (2.8K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **2.8K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.2% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | **#62** | — |
| Size | 346 MB | 44 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.1 | **12.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Crouton LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1807416236) | [Green Tech W.L.L](https://appshunter.io/developer/1674404815) |

## What reviewers say

### Crouton

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

**Currently charting:** #62 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

**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


### Appetizing

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/appetizing/id6445874256)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Crouton free?

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

### Is Appetizing free?

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

### Do Crouton or Appetizing have ads?

Neither Crouton nor Appetizing shows ads.

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

Crouton ships an update every 3 weeks, and Appetizing every 2 months. Most recently, Crouton was updated on September 25, 2026 and Appetizing on December 13, 2025.

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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.*