Comparison

Chef vs smartchef

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

Head to head
About

Chef

Organize your recipes, plan meals, and create shopping lists. Cook step-by-step with guided instructions and import recipes from various online sources. Discover and share culinary creations with a community of home cooks.

Highlights
  • Recipe import from online sources
  • Digital cookbook with search
  • Weekly meal planner
  • Smart shopping list generation
  • Step-by-step Cooking Mode
  • Recipe discovery and sharing
Features
Read full description

Chef is your all-in-one app to manage every part of your cooking life, right from your phone. Easily save and organize your recipes, plan your weekly meals, generate shopping lists, and cook step by step with our intuitive Cooking Mode. You can even import recipes from social media or blogs, and Chef will extract the key information for you: ingredients, instructions, and the original link. Explore a growing community of home cooks, share your own creations, and save others to adapt them to your personal taste. Why you'll love Chef: - Import recipes from anywhere. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs... Chef automatically pulls ingredients, summarizes steps, and saves the original link. - Your digital cookbook. Store all your recipes in one place with tags, photos, and notes. Quickly search and find what you need. - Weekly meal planner. Select how many meals you want per day, then assign recipes to each moment. - Smart shopping list. Add all ingredients from your meal plan with one tap, or select ingredients from specific recipes. - Cooking Mode. Follow each recipe step by step with clear instructions and timers. - Discover and share recipes. Join a growing community of home cooks. Share your recipes and explore new ideas to bring to your kitchen. Chef makes cooking easier, more organized, and more enjoyable.

About

smartchef

Generate personalized recipes based on ingredients you have, dietary needs, and available appliances. Discover classic dishes and build a digital recipe book. Scan your fridge for automatic ingredient detection.

Highlights
  • AI-generated personalized recipes
  • Recipes based on available ingredients
  • Classic global recipes
  • Digital recipe book
  • Automatic ingredient detection via camera
Features
Read full description

smartchef – Your AI-Powered Cooking Assistant. Whether you're a busy professional, a student, or a home cook looking for inspiration, smartchef helps you create personalized recipes using the ingredients you already have, and more. Key Features: - AI-Generated Recipes tailored to your taste, diet, time, and appliances. - Recipes based on what’s in your fridge. - Classic recipes of traditional meals from around the world. - Save & View Recipes: build your personal digital recipes book. - Automatic Ingredients Detection: scan your fridge with a camera - smartchef will detect your ingredients. Powered by GPT and advanced food AI, smartchef brings inspiration to your fingertips. smartchef Plus: Unlock unlimited recipe generation and advanced features. Try smartchef Plus free for 3 days and enjoy the full experience! smartchef Plus is a monthly auto-renewable subscription. €9.99/month (The price may vary by region). Cancel anytime in your iTunes account settings. Terms of Use: https://rfrostapps1.web.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://rfrostapps1.web.app/privacy.html Disclaimer: https://rfrostapps1.web.app/disclaimer.html

Screenshots

Chef4 screens
smartchef4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chef at none against smartchef's 1. smartchef's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, 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

Both are free to download. smartchef sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Chef asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chef ships an update every 3 weeks, smartchef every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chef versus smartchef: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChefsmartchef
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPablo Munoz GarciaRoman Moroz

Customer experience

Chef

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

smartchef

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Chef

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

smartchef

Subscriptions1
  • smartchef Plus3 Days trial$9.991 Month

Questions

Is Chef free?
Chef is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is smartchef free?
smartchef is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chef or smartchef have ads?
Neither Chef nor smartchef shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chef or smartchef?
Chef ships an update every 3 weeks, and smartchef every 9 days. Most recently, Chef was updated on October 31, 2026 and smartchef on October 24, 2026.

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