Comparison

Substitutions vs SideСhef

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

Head to head
About

Substitutions

This app provides a comprehensive database of nearly 1500 food and drink substitutions. It's designed to help users find alternatives for various dietary needs, allergies, and cooking requirements.

Highlights
  • Extensive substitution database
  • Search functionality
  • Covers allergies
  • Supports dietary needs (gluten-free, vegan, low carb)
  • Includes baking and cooking aids
  • Categorized by ingredient type
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Substitutions. Food & Drink. iOS 11 or later. Now nearly 1500 substitutions. Search! Alcohol. Allergy. Baking. Cooking. Dairy. Gluten-Free. Herbs. Spices. Low Carb. Low Fat. Low Sodium. Migraine. Seafood. Meat. Utensil. Vegan. Twitter: @Gormaya

About

SideСhef

Discover and cook delicious meals with step-by-step instructions, personalized recommendations, and integrated grocery shopping. This app simplifies meal planning and helps you explore new cuisines, even if you're a beginner cook.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step recipe guidance
  • Personalized recipe recommendations
  • Integrated grocery list creation
  • One-click online grocery shopping
  • Meal planning tools
  • Smart appliance control
  • Beginner-friendly cooking tutorials
Features
Read full description

SideChef’s 18,000 step-by-step recipes help you get from “what’s for dinner?” to cooking your next meal in just minutes. Filter by diet and preferences, search by ingredients, create a grocery list, and instantly shop ingredients from your favorite grocer. Called “best app” by USA Today and the New York Times’s “favorite cooking app,” SideChef empowers you to eat healthier, save money, and live your most delicious life. PERSONALIZED RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS Quickly find recipe inspiration tailored to your preferences. Filter by dietary requirements, allergies, food preferences, and ingredients you already have at home to find a recipe you like in less than one minute. ONE-CLICK GROCERY SHOPPING Easily create a grocery list, and shop ingredients directly from Instacart, Walmart, Amazon Fresh, Target, and more online grocers. Ingredients are intelligently matched to in-store products, and updated with real-time prices and availability. Make smarter decisions by seeing the percentage of each ingredient used in a recipe – an easy way to plan for leftovers and minimize food waste, while also saving money. GREAT FOR BEGINNERS New to cooking? Our step-by-step recipes include an image or video at every cooking step so you know exactly what to do. Built-in timers ensure you never overcook anything again, while how-to videos teach you valuable culinary skills – from how to properly dice an onion, to how to press tofu. Rate recipes, upload photos, exchange tips, and share cooking fails and successes with the SideChef home cooking community. EASY MEAL PLANNING Use our meal planning tool to select recipes for the week, or save appealing recipes to your cookbook. Browse thousands of curated recipe collections and meal plans for more inspiration and ideas on what you’ll cook next. RECIPES FOR EVERYONE Personalized recipe recommendations for these diets and allergens: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Low-Carb, Paleo, Keto, Gluten, Egg, Dairy, Soy, Peanut, Tree Nuts, Fish, Shellfish Recipes cover a variety of cuisines: American, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, French, and more! Browse recipes from your favorite culinary influencers – top food bloggers, writers, and renowned chefs. PRAISE FROM MEDIA “If you’re always scorching the stew and you just can’t seem to achieve perfectly puffed chocolate chip cookies, let this free app serve as your new cooking companion.” — Real Simple “If you’ve ever ruined an entire meal because of a seemingly tiny mistake in timing or ingredient proportioning, then we have an app for you.” — Business Insider _________________ By downloading and using this app or purchasing a SideChef Premium subscription, you are agreeing to the SideChef terms of use and service: https://www.sidechef.com/terms For more information about how we use your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy: https://www.sidechef.com/privacy-policy. By downloading this app, you acknowledge the terms of our Privacy Policy. SIDECHEF PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION PRICING & TERMS SideChef is free to download and use. Should you choose to upgrade to SideChef Premium, we offer two auto-renewing subscription options: * Monthly SideChef Premium subscription: $4.99 USD. Cancel anytime. * Annual SideChef Premium subscription: $49.99 USD. Cancel anytime. These auto-renewing subscription plans renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. Your payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew each month or year 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings.

Screenshots

Substitutions4 screens
SideСhef4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SideСhef at Free against Substitutions's $1.99. SideСhef also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.4) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 29). Substitutions's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and chart position (#82 vs unranked). On review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

SideСhef is free to download; Substitutions costs $1.99 up front. SideСhef sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Substitutions asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SideСhef holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SideСhef has 1.7K ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Substitutions's written reviews are positive against 67% of SideСhef's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Substitutions versus SideСhef: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSubstitutionsSideСhef
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating3.4 (29 ratings)4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.5% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings291.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#82 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB71 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperGormayaSideChef Group Limited

Customer experience

Substitutions

All ratings29 ratings
Positive62.1%
Neutral10.3%
Negative27.6%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive59.5%
Neutral7.1%
Negative33.3%

SideСhef

All ratings1,669 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews150 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral4.0%
Negative29.3%

In-app purchases

None

Substitutions

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

SideСhef

Subscriptions2
  • SideChef Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • SideChef Premium - Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Substitutions free?
Substitutions costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SideСhef free?
SideСhef is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Substitutions or SideСhef?
SideСhef is rated higher. Substitutions averages 3.4 out of 5 from 29 ratings, while SideСhef averages 4.7 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Substitutions or SideСhef have ads?
Neither Substitutions nor SideСhef shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Substitutions or SideСhef?
Substitutions ships an update every 2 months, and SideСhef every 2 months. Most recently, Substitutions was updated on November 1, 2026 and SideСhef on November 1, 2026.

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