MyCookBook.Basic vs Paper Chef
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MyCookBook.Basic
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- The My CookBook.Basic App Is the Ultimate Tool for the Inspired Home Chef. For the one who wanders the farmer’s market looking at ingredients and wondering, “What can I make with that?” For the one who loves the tattered family cookbook and its recipes but desires to update them with a modern twist and unique flavor. For the one who expresses their creativity in the kitchen, transforming beautiful raw ingredients into meals, moments, and memories that last well beyond the last serving and pile of dishes. The app gives you the tools to take your inspiration and develop your own recipes, scale and modify existing recipes, and manage your entire recipe collection all in one place. - How the App Works With the tap of a button, the app quickly converts a recipe’s various amounts and measures into all weights at once. Measuring a recipe’s ingredients by weight—instead of volume—is more accurate, enables you to easily scale, and ultimately produces a better and more consistent outcome. Add a new Recipe: Select a favorite recipe, open My CookBook.Basic, and type in the recipe’s name. Add Ingredients: Select and add the recipe’s ingredients. Amounts and Measures: Select an ingredient, type its amount, and select its unit of measure. Volumes to Weights: Converting from cups and tablespoons to weights is usually done one ingredient at a time, which is a labor-intensive and error-prone process. That process has now been made simple. Once you have entered in all of the ingredients' volume amounts and measures, you can convert them to all weights with one tap. Instructions: A recipe is defined as a set of instructions for making a food dish from various ingredients, which includes their amounts and measures, preparation, and how to assemble the dish. The instructions can be typed in or copied and pasted from a document or website. Scale a Recipe: You can scale a recipe up to make just the amount you need. Manage: You can manage your recipes by title. Edit: The next time you select the recipe, you can edit its ingredients and their amounts and measures. -Construct Your Own Recipes Most cookbooks are a collection of recipes by an author/chef or a group of editors. With My CookBook.Basic, you now have a tool to construct your own recipes and modify your favorites. It begins by finding inspiration for your original recipe. It could come from an 1879 cookbook; a family heritage recipe; a cuisine’s flavor profile; or simply what is in the pantry. Examine closely the proportions of the key ingredients. Adjust and readjust each ingredient’s amount and measure. Research ingredient sources. Shop your farmer’s market for items locally produced and seasonally available. Then, prepare your recipe and serve it proudly. Add this recipe, along with others, to your own My CookBook.Basic. Now it’s time to unleash your creativity in the kitchen!
Paper Chef
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Tired of messy cookbooks, oil-stained recipe cards, and food blogs buried in ads? Paper Chef is your personal AI-powered recipe manager — scan, import, and organize every recipe in one clean, ad-free place. WHY PAPER CHEF? AI RECIPE SCANNER Point your camera at any cookbook or handwritten note. Our OCR and AI technology instantly extracts ingredients and steps into a structured digital recipe — no typing needed. AD-FREE WEB IMPORT Paste any recipe URL and Paper Chef strips away the ads, pop-ups, and life stories — keeping only the ingredients and instructions you actually need. SMART GROCERY LISTS Add ingredients from any recipe directly to your shopping list. Shop smarter and never forget a key ingredient again. DISTRACTION-FREE COOKING MODE A clean, minimal interface built for the kitchen. No clutter — just you and your recipes. FULL PERSONALIZATION Add notes, adjust cooking times, upload your own photos, and make every recipe truly yours. ORGANIZE YOUR RECIPE BOOKS Create and name your own cookbooks: "Grandma's Desserts," "Quick Dinners," or "Kitchen Experiments." Move recipes between books without losing any data. PRIVACY FIRST Your recipes stay on your device. No accounts, no cloud uploads, no data sharing. KEY FEATURES OCR Scanner — scan physical books and handwritten notes with high precision URL Importer — save recipes from any website in seconds Manual Entry — add recipes the classic way Grocery List — integrated shopping list synced to your recipes Recipe Books — full library organization with custom names Pro Upgrade — unlimited AI scans and advanced features Now available in multiple languages. Download Paper Chef and start building your personal digital cookbook today. End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MyCookBook.Basic at none against Paper Chef's 2. MyCookBook.Basic also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Paper Chef sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. MyCookBook.Basic asks for nothing beyond the download.
MyCookBook.Basic ships an update every 2 weeks, Paper Chef weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MyCookBook.Basic | Paper Chef |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paul Cook | Jose Carlos Valenzuela Nieto |
In-app purchases
MyCookBook.Basic
No in-app purchases
Paper Chef
- Paper Chef Pro$2.991 Month
- Paper Chef Pro Yearly$29.991 Year









