Comparison

Backbar vs Chef Notebook

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Backbar

This application streamlines bar and restaurant management by simplifying inventory counting, vendor purchasing, and menu costing. It helps reduce costs and improve efficiency for beverage programs. Features include real-time syncing across devices, barcode scanning, and integration with over 1,300 beverage suppliers.

Highlights
  • Real-time inventory syncing
  • Barcode scanning for products
  • Streamlined vendor purchasing
  • Menu costing and pricing optimization
  • Digital invoice management
  • Staff education on beverages
Features
Read full description

Backbar helps restaurants and bars increase profitability, decrease COGS, and run a more efficient beverage program. Backbar, the only free bar inventory app, saves hours on counting inventory and simplifies bar management. Backbar not only solves inventory management, but also streamlines vendor purchasing and tracking, menu costing, and financial tracking. Here are some of the many features of Backbar: - Quickly count inventory across many locations, devices and users, syncing in real-time - Count inventory in multiple locations and on multiple devices simultaneously - Scan barcodes to instantly find and count products - Streamline purchasing by sending orders to all your distributors with a single tap - Track past orders and invoices for all your distributors - Connect to your point-of-sale (POS) system for real-time inventory depletions - Save digital invoices easily by taking a photo - Connect to over 1,300 beverage suppliers for automated product updates and cost changes - Educate staff with tasting notes and drink information - Cost out cocktail recipes and optimize menu pricing - Quickly add a new item from our global database of over 300,000 wines, beers, spirits and other beverages Download the app today and make beverage management easier with Backbar

About

Chef Notebook

Features
Read full description

Chef Notebook is a recipe keeper and cooking app for saving, importing, editing, scaling, and cooking the recipes you actually make. FREE ACCESS Browse saved recipes and export your full recipe library at any time as portable JSON-LD. Your recipes stay yours, even if you do not subscribe. CHEF NOTEBOOK PRO Unlock recipe import, editing, version history, smart scaling, Cook Mode, iCloud sync, printing, and formatted recipe sharing with Chef Notebook Pro. SAVE RECIPES FROM ANYWHERE Snap a photo of a magazine page, paste a recipe link, or start from scratch. Chef Notebook turns your source into a clean, structured recipe with ingredients, steps, notes, and photos. BUILD YOUR PERSONAL COOKBOOK Edit ingredients, rewrite steps, add notes, save variations, and keep a version history of what worked. Roll back to an earlier version any time. SCALE RECIPES PRACTICALLY Scale a recipe for two, six, or a crowd. Chef Notebook adjusts ingredients and timing with practical cooking logic for salt, leavening, eggs, and pan sizes. COOK WITH LESS FRICTION Cook Mode keeps your screen awake and walks you through one step at a time. Built-in timers are ready when you need them, and Siri can advance to the next step hands-free. ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN Group recipes into collections, add tags, search your whole library, and archive recipes you do not make often. SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Recipes sync with your private iCloud and follow you across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. One subscription unlocks every device. PRINT AND SHARE Print recipes on standard paper or 4x6 index cards. Share a recipe as a formatted image when you want to send it to someone else. PRICING Try Chef Notebook free for 7 days with the yearly plan. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available. See the app for current pricing. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage subscriptions in your Apple account settings. Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://chefnotebook.com/privacy

Screenshots

Backbar4 screens
Chef Notebook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Backbar at none against Chef Notebook's 2. Backbar also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.5). Chef Notebook's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Chef Notebook sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Backbar asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Backbar ships an update every 3 weeks, Chef Notebook every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on July 26, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Backbar versus Chef Notebook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackbarChef Notebook
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (33 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings33 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB32 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBackbarCasey Smith

In-app purchases

None

Backbar

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Chef Notebook

Subscriptions2
  • Chef Notebook Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Chef Notebook Pro Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Backbar free?
Backbar is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chef Notebook free?
Chef Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Backbar or Chef Notebook have ads?
Backbar shows ads; Chef Notebook does not.
Which is updated more often, Backbar or Chef Notebook?
Backbar ships an update every 3 weeks, and Chef Notebook every 3 days. Most recently, Backbar was updated on July 26, 2026 and Chef Notebook on September 19, 2026.

Other comparisons