Comparison

Recipe Keeper vs Backyard Pitmaster Pal

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

Head to head
About

Recipe Keeper

Organize and share your favorite recipes with this digital culinary journal. Create, save, and edit dishes with images and step-by-step instructions. Enjoy a stylish, intuitive interface for easy recipe management and sharing.

Highlights
  • Create and save recipes
  • Attach images to recipes
  • Organize by category
  • Mark favorite recipes
  • Advanced search functionality
  • Share recipes easily
  • Automatic data saving
Features
Read full description

Recipe Keeper: Cooking Diary is the perfect assistant for everyone who loves to cook. Create, save, and share your favorite recipes in a stylish and user-friendly app — all your culinary masterpieces stored in one place, organized and always at your fingertips. Best of all, all features are available for free during the first 3 days! The app offers a modern, intuitive interface with elegant recipe cards and photo support. You can easily create your own dishes, attach images, structure ingredients, and add step-by-step instructions. Smart sorting helps you organize recipes by category, mark favorites, and quickly find the ones you need with advanced search. Recipe Keeper: Cooking Diary makes cooking even more convenient. Automatic saving ensures your data is never lost, while simple editing lets you update ingredients, add steps, or modify a recipe at any time. Want to share your culinary inspiration? Export any recipe as a beautifully formatted PDF, print it, or send it to friends in just a few taps. Recipe Keeper: Cooking Diary is great for both beginners and professional chefs alike — the ideal tool for anyone who loves experimenting in the kitchen and creating new culinary masterpieces. Terms: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZQAJBVp6uzzRSUqXlN_gjymBSZ18JaCAAFTGdCyxl3k/edit?usp=sharing Privacy Policy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10efDjtjuCd2j6PdKzUMa_XKYp8c19zaY8eokAqMXCtI/edit?usp=sharing

About

Backyard Pitmaster Pal

Log your favorite barbecue cooks and smokes with details like meat, cooker, temperatures, and notes. Get started with 8 common cooks and 3 popular smokers, all customizable. Share your recipes with others.

Highlights
  • Log meat, cooker, temperatures, and times
  • Record notes on spice rubs and brines
  • Includes 8 common BBQ cooks to start
  • Features 3 popular smoker types
  • Customizable meat and smoker lists
  • Edit or delete saved recipes
  • Export and import cook details
Features
Read full description

A simple means to log your favorite barbecue cooks or smokes. Are you often frustrated trying to remember how you cooked those ribs last time, or that pork shoulder for perfect pulled pork? Record you meat, cooker, temperatures, times, and notes such as spice rubs and brines here for easy recall the next time. If you are new to the world of grilling or BBQ (note: grilling and barbecue are NOT the same thing), then take advantage of the 8 most common cooks that are included to get you started: Ribs, Brisket, Chicken Thighs, Chicken Wings, Pork Butt, Corned Beef Brisket, Hamburg Patties, and Steaks. Plus three popular "smokers" that are used here: Big Green Egg, Bullseye pellet grill, Weber charcoal grill. Both lists (meats and smokers) are customizable and all recipes can be edited (or deleted) for your preference. You also have the ability to share a cook by exporting the cook's information to a text message (or other means), in order for another user of the app to import that cook into their app's data.

Screenshots

Recipe Keeper4 screens
Backyard Pitmaster Pal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Backyard Pitmaster Pal at none against Recipe Keeper's 2. Backyard Pitmaster Pal also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Recipe Keeper's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Recipe Keeper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. Backyard Pitmaster Pal asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Backyard Pitmaster Pal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Recipe Keeper has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Recipe Keeper versus Backyard Pitmaster Pal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRecipe KeeperBackyard Pitmaster Pal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.617.6
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSerhii KravchukJames Houvener

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Recipe Keeper

Subscriptions2
  • 3-day Trial Then 6.99$/week3 Days trial$6.997 Days
  • Premium Yearly$29.991 Year
None

Backyard Pitmaster Pal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Recipe Keeper free?
Recipe Keeper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backyard Pitmaster Pal free?
Backyard Pitmaster Pal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Recipe Keeper or Backyard Pitmaster Pal?
Backyard Pitmaster Pal is rated higher. Recipe Keeper averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Backyard Pitmaster Pal averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Recipe Keeper or Backyard Pitmaster Pal have ads?
Backyard Pitmaster Pal shows ads; Recipe Keeper does not.
Which is updated more often, Recipe Keeper or Backyard Pitmaster Pal?
Recipe Keeper ships an update every 6 weeks, and Backyard Pitmaster Pal every 6 weeks. Most recently, Recipe Keeper was updated on October 8, 2026 and Backyard Pitmaster Pal on October 30, 2026.

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