Engineering Cookbook vs Steel Profiles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Engineering Cookbook
A handy reference guide for mechanical designers, offering quick access to essential information on fan basics, system and duct design, motors, heating, refrigeration, and conversion factors.
- Fan Basics
- System Design
- Duct Design
- Motors & Drives
- Heating & Refrigeration
- Formulas & Conversion Factors
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The Engineering Cookbook is a convenient reference guide for mechanical designers. It provides "fingertip" access to frequently needed information, including: • Fan Basics • System Design • Duct Design • Motors & Drives • Heating & Refrigeration • Formulas & Conversion Factors
Steel Profiles
Access a vast library of steel section properties for structural engineers and construction professionals. Browse over 5,000 steel shapes across international standards, compare profiles, and calculate weights. Includes advanced filtering and unit conversion tools.
- Browse 5,000+ steel shapes
- Compare up to 3 profiles
- Weight calculator with project organization
- Advanced property filters
- Equivalent section finder
- Unit converter
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Steel Profiles is the steel section reference for structural engineers, fabricators, detailers and contractors. Look up nearly 10,000 sections from six international standards, check them to Eurocode 3 or AISC 360, and keep your take-offs in sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac. NEW IN 6.0 - Design checks to EN 1993-1-1 and AISC 360-22: classification, axial force, bending, shear, flexural and lateral-torsional buckling, beam-column interaction, with every formula shown - Section Builder: welded I and box sections, built-up channels, tees and angles, plated beams, with full properties - Bolts: metric M8 to M64 and imperial 1/2" to 1 1/2", with shear, tension, bearing and slip resistance - Steel grades: EN 10025, EN 10210/10219, ASTM, CSA, AS/NZS and JIS, with strengths by thickness - iCloud sync of favorites, projects and saved sections - Bulb flats (HP) to EN 10067 - PDF and CSV export, imperial fractions and smarter search (HEA 200, HEA200, W10x49) SECTION PROPERTIES - Complete geometric and structural properties with descriptions and a cross-section drawing - Filters by area, weight, moment of inertia, section moduli and radii of gyration - Favorites, Spotlight search and Siri TOOLS - Equivalent Finder: the closest section in another standard, optionally from the same shape family - Comparator: up to three sections side by side - Weight lists organized in projects and folders, exported to CSV - Unit converter for engineering units LIBRARIES USA: AISC 16 and AISC 16 SI (16th Edition), AISC 14 and AISC 14 SI (14th Edition) Canada: CISC 92 Europe: IPE, HE (HEA, HEB, HEM, HEAA), HD, HL, HP, IPN, UPE, UPN, angles, tees, bulb flats, hot-finished and cold-formed hollow sections United Kingdom: UB, UC, UBP, J, PFC, T, angles, hollow sections Australia / New Zealand: AS/NZS FREE AND PAID The free download includes dimensions for every library, the weight calculator, Section Builder, bolts, steel grades, the unit converter and iCloud sync. Unlock a library to see its full properties and run design checks on its sections, or get All Libraries for everything. Results are design aids for preliminary sizing and must be verified by a qualified engineer.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Engineering Cookbook at none against Steel Profiles's 7. Engineering Cookbook also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). Steel Profiles's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 34 months) and ratings volume (334 vs 6). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Steel Profiles sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Engineering Cookbook asks for nothing beyond the download.
Steel Profiles holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Steel Profiles has 334 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 73% and 72% positive.
Engineering Cookbook ships an update every 34 months, Steel Profiles every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Engineering Cookbook | Steel Profiles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (6 ratings) | 4.7 (334 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better | 72.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 334 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 34 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Loren Cook Company | Matteo Rossi |
Customer experience
Engineering Cookbook
Steel Profiles
In-app purchases
Engineering Cookbook
No in-app purchases
Steel Profiles
- AS/NZS$2.99
- CISC92$2.99
- UK$2.99
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- EU$2.99
- AISC 14$2.99
- AISC 16$2.99
- All libraries$6.99




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