Cook's Country Magazine vs MasterCook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cook's Country Magazine
Discover foolproof American home cooking recipes, including lost classics and regional favorites. Each issue offers unbiased equipment and ingredient reviews, plus app-exclusive features like step-by-step photo guides and expanded review charts. Enjoy a culinary journey without advertisements.
- Foolproof American recipes
- Lost and regional favorites
- Objective equipment testing
- Supermarket ingredient tastings
- Cooking Mode slideshows
- Expanded review charts
- Recipe makeovers
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The Cook’s Country Magazine app is packed with easy and quick foolproof-tested recipes that celebrate American home cooking at its finest. We highlight Lost Recipes from your youth that you thought were gone forever, as well as Regional Favorites that showcase little-known specialties from across the country. Every issue also includes objective equipment testing and supermarket ingredient tastings so you can shop smart. Download our free app and select the issue you’d like to buy, or subscribe to receive each new issue as it is released and save 44% off the single issue price. Each issue of Cook’s Country magazine on this app features everything found in the print issue – every recipe, every kitchen shortcut, every equipment review, and every ingredient taste test, all without a single page of advertising so you get unbiased information on every page. In addition, each app issue includes additional app-only features to help guarantee foolproof results in the kitchen, including: •“Cooking Mode” Slide Shows – large step-by-step color photos showing you the critical aspects of select recipes, designed to be easy to read and understand when you’re cooking in the kitchen •Expanded review charts for all equipment reviews and ingredient taste tests •Plus much more FEATURED IN EVERY ISSUE •Foolproof recipes of classic American dishes, all updated for the modern kitchen •Step-by-step illustrations that demonstrate the right way to prepare a recipe •Cooking Class gives you detailed “How-To” instruction on everything from the secrets behind perfect chicken broth or how to make Smoky Pulled Pork •Recipe Makeovers of your favorite dishes that trim down the fat – but not the flavor •Cooking for Two downsizes recipes when you’re not cooking for a crowd •Unbiased reviews of cookware, gadgets, and supermarket ingredients •Not a single page of advertising! Cook’s Country Magazine subscriptions available: * 1-month subscription available for $1.99 (includes a 7-day Free Trial), automatically renewed until canceled * 1-year subscription available for $19.99 (includes a 30-day Free Trial), automatically renewed until canceled * A single issue for $5.99 (non-subscription) – All subscriptions start at the end of the applicable free trial period. – Free trials are only available upon an initial subscription. – Payment will be charged to your iTunes account after your free trial period or at confirmation of purchase, if you're not eligible for free trials. – Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of your current subscription period. – Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of your current subscription period, and identify the cost of the renewal. – Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Please view our Terms of Use: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/corporate-pages/terms-of-use And our Privacy Policy: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/corporate-pages/privacy-policy About Cook’s Country Cook’s Country, launched in 2006, is located just outside Boston where a team of more than three dozen test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists work in a 2,500-square-foot test kitchen. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the “best” version of a particular recipe. The result, we hope, is the best version of a particular recipe, but we realize that only you can be the final judge of our success (or failure). As we like to say in the test kitchen, “We make the mistakes so you don’t have to.” Cook’s Country recipes, testings, and tastings can be found in Cook’s Country magazine and cookbooks, online at CooksCountry.com, or featured on our public television show, Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen.
MasterCook
Organize your recipes and create shopping lists with this app. It allows you to import recipes online, scale ingredients automatically, and search your collection. Collaborate with others by creating private group cookbooks.
- Import recipes online with one click
- Organize recipes into custom cookbooks
- Automatically scale recipe ingredients
- Add recipes to shopping lists
- Search recipes by cookbook, category, and title
- Create private group cookbooks for collaboration
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Chefs, culinary schools, restaurants, home cooks, and foodservice companies have trusted the MasterCook products for over 27 years. Let MasterCook organize your recipes and shopping lists in your private online account. A FREE 30-day trial allows you to store up to 25 recipes in your online account with full functionality of features. A paid subscription allows you to store up to 100,000 recipes in your online account until your subscription expires. Here’s what you can do with the MasterCook App: • Download recipes online with just 1 click! View a recipe in a web browser and use the Share button to send it to your MasterCook app. • Organize recipes into custom cookbooks. • Scale a recipe to change its servings, and MasterCook will adjust the ingredient amounts automatically. • Add a recipe to a shopping list. • Search your recipes based on cookbook, category, and recipe title. • Create private group cookbooks to collaborate with friends and family. Use the MasterCook mobile app on its own or use it in conjunction with the MasterCook Windows product to access even more tools like adding recipes to menus and meal plans and performing nutritional and cost analysis of your recipes and menus and meal plans. Learn more at https://www.mastercook.com/learn-more If you have any questions, contact MasterCook Support and receive a timely reply.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: MasterCook at every 5 weeks against Cook's Country Magazine's every 14 months. MasterCook also leads on review sentiment (32% vs 22%) and device support (3 vs 1). Cook's Country Magazine's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Cook's Country Magazine sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and MasterCook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Cook's Country Magazine ships an update every 14 months, MasterCook every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cook's Country Magazine | MasterCook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 21.7% of reviews | 31.8% of reviews — better |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 265 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | America's Test Kitchen LP | Valusoft Finance, LLC |
Customer experience
Cook's Country Magazine
MasterCook
Bugs and requests
Cook's Country Magazine
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
MasterCook
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes when opening
- Cannot register/login
- Text invisible or unreadable
- Editing fails with error message
- Recipes not saving
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- App closes randomly
- Recipes not importing correctly
- Syncing issues
- Cannot export app recipes to PC
- Search function not working
- App crashes on search for non-existent item
- System error on login
- Cannot delete app
- Display issues after upgrade
- Cannot see cookbook names
- Ingredients not recognized for nutritional info
- Cannot move between recipe edit screens
- Keyboard covers input field
- App not opening after upgrade
- App not recognizing online status
- Login credentials shown for another user
Requested features
11 requests- Search by ingredient
- Print recipes and shopping lists
- Copy/paste functionality
- Improve UI/reduce whitespace
- Direct web import on tablet
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- Meal planning feature
- Search function for recipes
- Sort by category
- Pantry functionality
- Landscape mode for iPad
- Ascending sort for downloaded recipes
In-app purchases
Cook's Country Magazine
- Cook's Country Magazine7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Cook's Country Magazine1 Month trial$19.991 Year
- Cook's Country October & November 2012$5.99
- Cook's Country December & January 2013$5.99
- Cook's Country February & March 2013$5.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Cook's Country April & May 2013$5.99
- Cook's Country June & July 2013$5.99
- Cook's Country August & September 2013$5.99
- Cook's Country October & November 2013$5.99
- Cook's Country December & January 2014$5.99
- Cook's Country February & March 2014$5.99
- Cook's Country October & November 2014$5.99
MasterCook
- MasterCook One Year Subscription$99.99
Questions
Is Cook's Country Magazine free?
Is MasterCook free?
Do Cook's Country Magazine or MasterCook have ads?
Which is updated more often, Cook's Country Magazine or MasterCook?
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