Comparison

Culinary Compass vs Mealio

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

Head to head
About

Culinary Compass

Discover recipes tailored to your dietary needs and restrictions. Identify food items and get instant nutritional information. Plan meals and generate shopping lists for any party size.

Highlights
  • AI-powered meal assistant
  • Global recipe search
  • Picture-based nutritional identification
  • Aggregate nutritional information
  • Customizable shopping lists
Features
Read full description

Culinary Compass is an advanced tool for finding and identifying meal, recipes, and nutritional information. Using global search for recipes based on your specific needs and restrictions to advanced picture identification for nutritional information on demand. Plan your meals with aggregate nutritional information and create weekly, daily or per meal shopping lists based on your party size. End User License Agreement is located https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ and the privacy policy for the app is located https://culinary-compass.com/privacy.html

About

Mealio

Features
Read full description

Mealio is a simple meal diary built around one idea: snap a photo now, fill in the details whenever you have time. No complicated setup. No pressure to log everything perfectly. Just open the app, take a photo of your meal, and move on with your day. Your food journal builds itself, one meal at a time. SNAP NOW, DETAIL LATER The camera opens the moment you launch Mealio. One tap captures your meal and saves it to your diary instantly. Come back later to add notes, nutrition info, a rating, or a location -- whenever it suits you. YOUR MEAL TIMELINE Every meal you capture appears in a clean, scrollable diary organized by date. Browse through today, this week, or scroll back months. Your personal food history, always at your fingertips. SEARCH AND FILTER Looking for that great lunch from last Tuesday? Search your entries by keyword, filter by meal type(breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, drink), or sort by date, calories, or rating. Find any meal in seconds. NUTRITION TRACKING Add calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sugar, and sodium to any entry. Keep it simple with just calories, or go detailed -- it is entirely up to you. View nutrition info at a glance on each entry. LOCATION TAGGING Meals are tagged with location automatically when you allow it. See exactly where you ate on a map, and tap to open directions. Perfect for remembering that restaurant you want to revisit. NOTES AND RATINGS Write a quick note about how the meal tasted. Rate each meal so you can sort by your favorites later. Mark meals as "would eat again" to build a personal list of go-to dishes. WORKS OFFLINE Start using Mealio immediately as a guest with no account required. All your meals are stored on your device. When you are ready, sign in with Apple or Google to sync across devices and unlock unlimited entries. DESIGNED FOR COMFORT Choose between light and dark themes. Adjust font sizes to your preference. Switch between English and Korean. Mealio adapts to how you like to use your phone. Mealio is not a diet app. It is a personal food journal that respects your time and your pace. Some days you will log every detail. Other days, a quick photo is enough. Both are perfectly fine.

Screenshots

Culinary Compass4 screens
Mealio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mealio at none against Culinary Compass's 2. On price, update cadence, 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. Culinary Compass sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Mealio asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Culinary Compass ships an update every 6 days, Mealio every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Culinary Compass versus Mealio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCulinary CompassMealio
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 11 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB56 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperBergosoft LLCYOUNGSEOK JOO

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Culinary Compass

Subscriptions2
  • Pro7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Pro7 Days trial$19.991 Year
None

Mealio

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Culinary Compass free?
Culinary Compass is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mealio free?
Mealio is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Culinary Compass or Mealio have ads?
Neither Culinary Compass nor Mealio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Culinary Compass or Mealio?
Culinary Compass ships an update every 6 days, and Mealio every 11 days. Most recently, Culinary Compass was updated on October 8, 2026 and Mealio on October 25, 2026.

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