Comparison

TasteMatch vs Chef Notebook

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

Head to head
About

TasteMatch

Discover creative cooking ideas and recipes using ingredients you already have. Get intelligent suggestions for meals, sides, and pairings, and connect with a community of home chefs. Offers a distraction-free experience with no ads.

Highlights
  • AI-powered ingredient matching
  • Intelligent recipe suggestions
  • Combinator feature for ingredient pairing
  • Community feed of user creations
  • Full recipe access
  • Ask The Chef assistant
Features
Read full description

TasteMatch helps you think like a chef, save time, and cook creatively every day using what you have on hand. The app features lightning-fast combinations, intelligent suggestions and full recipes based on your choices. All with no ads and no distractions. With more than 50,000 matches at your fingertips, you can instantly find ingredients that fit with what you're making, make choices on the fly, and focus on using what you have in the fridge. You can refine your matches by regional cuisine, season, and cooking method, allowing you to choose your path with confidence. Using the combinator feature, you can combine multiple ingredients and see shared matches instantly, effortlessly building a dish or an entire meal from a single starting point. You can also get intelligent recommendations for what to make, sides, wine pairings, desserts and more. TasteMatch is also a community of real people posting their creations and publishing innovative, classic and seasonal combinations to spark your imagination. And if you want to post your own creations, you’re welcome to. We want to see what you’re cooking. MATCHES At the core of TasteMatch is an extensive collection of more than 50,000 pairings that we call “matches”. These matches are designed to help you make ingredient choices in the moment. Every single match has been carefully researched, scored and cross-checked against multiple references, including regional experts. COMBINING INGREDIENTS The combinator feature instantly shows you the shared matches between items you select, helping you effortlessly build a well-matched creation from a single starting point. SUGGESTIONS & RECIPES You can get intelligent suggestions for what to make with your choices, what sides to serve, what wines pair well and more. This feature is an awesome synthesis of human and artificial intelligence. We review all suggestions for quality and we're continually updating our systems to improve results. You can also use our Ask The Chef assistant feature to get quick answers for any cooking-related questions you have. FULL RECIPES While TasteMatch is mainly designed for free-form cooking, we know that sometimes you want a recipe as a reference. We've got you covered. You can get full recipes directly from the suggestions in the app. POST YOUR CREATIONS TasteMatch is a community of people who love to cook. Browse the feed to see what others are posting and if you decide to post, rest-assured, you're among kindred spirits. We want to see what you're cooking. COMPLETELY AD FREE We built TasteMatch to help you in the kitchen every day. We don't have ads, paid promotions or shopping links. Instead TasteMatch is available via subscription, with a free trial for new users. This approach lets us keep the experience pure. SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS Monthly Subscription: $1.99 Cancel anytime. The app is free to download. Users must Subscribe to access app features and content, and must sign in to save bookmarks and post. Subscribers receive unlimited access to all content and functionality. Non-subscribers may access the app by starting a free trial. Please contact support@tastematch.app with any issues or questions. The subscription includes a 7-day free trial, after which it will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period and will state the cost of renewal. Subscriptions may be managed by the user, and auto-renewal may be turned off by updating the user’s App Store Subscription settings after purchase. Payment will be charged to your App Store account at confirmation of purchase. Please Note: Users can cancel their subscription anytime from App Store settings. Terms Of Use: https://tastematch.app/policies/terms Privacy Policy: https://tastematch.app/policies/privacy Support: https://tastematch.app/support/contact

About

Chef Notebook

Features
Read full description

Chef Notebook is a recipe keeper and cooking app for saving, importing, editing, scaling, and cooking the recipes you actually make. FREE ACCESS Browse saved recipes and export your full recipe library at any time as portable JSON-LD. Your recipes stay yours, even if you do not subscribe. CHEF NOTEBOOK PRO Unlock recipe import, editing, version history, smart scaling, Cook Mode, iCloud sync, printing, and formatted recipe sharing with Chef Notebook Pro. SAVE RECIPES FROM ANYWHERE Snap a photo of a magazine page, paste a recipe link, or start from scratch. Chef Notebook turns your source into a clean, structured recipe with ingredients, steps, notes, and photos. BUILD YOUR PERSONAL COOKBOOK Edit ingredients, rewrite steps, add notes, save variations, and keep a version history of what worked. Roll back to an earlier version any time. SCALE RECIPES PRACTICALLY Scale a recipe for two, six, or a crowd. Chef Notebook adjusts ingredients and timing with practical cooking logic for salt, leavening, eggs, and pan sizes. COOK WITH LESS FRICTION Cook Mode keeps your screen awake and walks you through one step at a time. Built-in timers are ready when you need them, and Siri can advance to the next step hands-free. ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN Group recipes into collections, add tags, search your whole library, and archive recipes you do not make often. SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Recipes sync with your private iCloud and follow you across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. One subscription unlocks every device. PRINT AND SHARE Print recipes on standard paper or 4x6 index cards. Share a recipe as a formatted image when you want to send it to someone else. PRICING Try Chef Notebook free for 7 days with the yearly plan. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available. See the app for current pricing. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage subscriptions in your Apple account settings. Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://chefnotebook.com/privacy

Screenshots

TasteMatch4 screens
Chef Notebook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chef Notebook at every 3 days against TasteMatch's every 2 weeks. TasteMatch's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. TasteMatch sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Chef Notebook sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TasteMatch ships an update every 2 weeks, Chef Notebook every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
TasteMatch versus Chef Notebook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTasteMatchChef Notebook
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (15 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscription—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB32 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperTasteMatch, Inc.Casey Smith

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TasteMatch

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Pro Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
2 purchases

Chef Notebook

Subscriptions2
  • Chef Notebook Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Chef Notebook Pro Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is TasteMatch free?
TasteMatch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chef Notebook free?
Chef Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TasteMatch or Chef Notebook have ads?
Neither TasteMatch nor Chef Notebook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TasteMatch or Chef Notebook?
TasteMatch ships an update every 2 weeks, and Chef Notebook every 3 days. Most recently, TasteMatch was updated on September 16, 2026 and Chef Notebook on September 19, 2026.

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