InstaChef vs HeyChef!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
InstaChef
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INSTACHEF provides chefs who will visit the customerβs home at a time allotted by them and cook their meal according to their requirements (keeping in mind their dietary restrictions and food allergies).An affordable & time saving option that allows people to choose healthy and accommodate a wide variety tastes.
HeyChef!
This AI-powered cooking companion helps you discover recipes based on ingredients you already have. It offers personalized meal planning, generates shopping lists, and adapts recipes to your dietary needs and preferences.
- Scan fridge for ingredient-based recipes
- AI-powered recipe generation and modification
- Personalized weekly meal planning
- Automatic shopping list creation
- Dietary restriction and allergy filtering
- Voice command navigation
- Nutritional information tracking
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"What's for dinner tonight?" HeyChef answers. Say what you feel like and get a week of meals, the shopping list to go with it, and ideas from what's already in your fridge. YOUR WEEK, PLANNED IN ONE SENTENCE Tell the Smart meal planner what you want: "quick dinners, more vegetables, no fish, for two." It builds your whole week around your goal and your profile. "Quicker on Tuesday"? It swaps the dish, and the shopping list follows. The week after, it remembers what you liked. WHAT CAN I MAKE WITH WHAT I HAVE? Take a photo of your fridge. HeyChef reads your ingredients and suggests dishes you can cook right now, so the forgotten zucchini ends up on a plate, not in the trash. CHEFBOT: ASK LIKE YOU'D ASK A FRIEND "I've got chicken, I'm tired, and I don't want a pile of dishes." ChefBot gets it and offers real options. No cheese? Less butter? It adapts the recipe, tells you what it changed and saves your version. And if the dish you want doesn't exist yet, it writes it for you, ingredients and steps included. ALLERGIES AND DIETS, SET ONCE Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan, nut or egg allergy: fill in your profile once. The planner checks every dish against it, and ChefBot adapts any recipe that doesn't fit. THE SHOPPING LIST WRITES ITSELF One tap turns your week into a shopping list, in portions for your household. Share it with whoever's heading to the store. BATCH COOKING, WITHOUT THE HEADACHE Pick a few recipes for your Sunday session. HeyChef merges them into one cooking schedule, filling the waiting time of one dish with the prep of another, and gives you a single shopping list. COOK HANDS-FREE Hands covered in flour? Move through the steps by voice, without touching your screen. NUTRITION WITHOUT THE MATH Nutrition values on every recipe, recalculated whenever you change the servings or quantities. A COMMUNITY OF HOME COOKS Follow cooks you like, see their recipes in your feed, comment and share your own. Real people cooking everyday food. HEYCHEF IS FOR YOU IF⦠⒠You open the fridge three times a night and still have no idea. ⒠You eat the same five meals on repeat. ⒠You keep throwing away vegetables you forgot about. ⒠You want to eat better without spending your evening in the kitchen. ⒠You cook around an allergy or a diet and want recipes that already fit. ⒠You're starting out and want help without being made to feel clueless. NO JUDGMENT, EVER Takeout, eating out, a week without cooking: that's life. Going from 0 home-cooked dinners a week to 2 is already a win. We're here to help, not to lecture. FREE, WITH ONE OPTIONAL SUBSCRIPTION Recipes, ChefBot, the fridge scan, shopping lists, batch cooking and the community are free. The Smart meal planner is an auto-renewing subscription, with a 30-day free trial for new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at the end of the trial, and the subscription renews unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the period, from your App Store account settings. Terms of use: https://heychef.co/terms Privacy policy: https://heychef.co/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: InstaChef at none against HeyChef!'s 2. InstaChef also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. HeyChef! sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. InstaChef asks for nothing beyond the download.
InstaChef ships an update every 2 months, HeyChef! monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | InstaChef | HeyChef! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | β | 50.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Monetization | β | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 β better | 15.0 |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 83 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mohammed Arif | HeyChef |
In-app purchases
InstaChef
No in-app purchases
HeyChef!
- HeyChef Premium1 Month trial$14.991 Month
- HeyChef Premium1 Month trial$99.991 Year









