Comparison

Cookbook Log vs Mealyn

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

Head to head
About

Cookbook Log

This app allows you to maintain a personal food diary, discover what friends and family are cooking, and curate your own recipe collections. It helps you save meaningful food memories and decide on your next culinary creation, fostering a more personal and social home cooking experience.

Highlights
  • Personal food diary
  • Discover loved ones' cooking
  • Create cookbook lists
  • Decide what to make
  • Save food moments
  • Share recipes
Read full description

Use Cookbook Log to: • Keep a personal food diary • See what loved ones are cooking • Create your own cookbook lists • Decide what to make next • Save meaningful food moments From everyday meals to favorite recipes, Cookbook Log helps you save what you cook, discover what others are making, and start cooking and sharing, together. We believe food is a love language – it carries memory, connection and care. Whether you’re logging meals or saving inspiration from restaurants, trips, or gatherings with friends, Cookbook Log makes home cooking feel more personal, social, and lasting.

About

Mealyn

Capture your meals with photos and notes to remember the moments around them. Organize meals, track expenses, and revisit memories through a personal timeline. AI assists with descriptions and weekly reviews.

Highlights
  • Photo food diary
  • AI-assisted descriptions
  • Expense tracking
  • Personal timeline
  • Weekly reviews
  • Shareable moments
Read full description

Remember the meal. Keep the moment. Mealyn is a photo food diary for capturing everyday meals and remembering the moments around them. Take a photo, add a note, and revisit the tastes, places, and memories that make up your everyday life. CAPTURE A MEAL Take a photo or choose from your library. Keep multiple photos together, add a personal note, and organize meals by date and time. Optional AI-assisted descriptions help put a moment into words. REVISIT YOUR MEMORIES Browse your Moments timeline or zoom through your personal photo wall. As your journal grows, explore preset questions about your saved meals, favorite places, and recorded spending. REMEMBER PLACES AND EXPENSES Keep lists of restaurants you have visited or want to try. Attach a receipt to a meal or enter its cost manually. Save everyday shopping receipts, review recognized details, and make corrections before confirming. WEEKLY REVIEWS Look back on a recorded week with a short AI review of your meals and highlights, including a summary of your recorded meal and shopping receipt spending. When you share a review, you choose whether spending is included. SHARE WITH FRIENDS Choose meals or restaurants to share with friends, enjoy their posts, or create a photo card to save and share elsewhere. There is no public community feed. MADE FOR IPHONE Use Home Screen widgets to revisit a meal or jump into the camera. Control Center and Lock Screen shortcuts make it easier to capture the next moment. FREE AND MEALYN PLUS Mealyn offers a Free plan and optional monthly or yearly Mealyn Plus auto-renewable subscriptions. Plus includes higher allowances for meal recording, AI descriptions, weekly reviews, and related food tools. Current benefits, prices, and billing periods are shown before purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled; manage or cancel them in your iPhone subscription settings. AI features require an internet connection. Generated descriptions and food estimates are informational, not medical or nutritional advice. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Cookbook Log4 screens
Mealyn4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cookbook Log at none against Mealyn's 2. Cookbook Log also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Mealyn sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Cookbook Log asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cookbook Log against 5.0 for Mealyn. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cookbook Log ships an update every 3 weeks, Mealyn every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Cookbook Log versus Mealyn: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCookbook LogMealyn
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB38 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperCookbook Log LLCGUOHUA DING

Customer experience

Cookbook Log

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Mealyn

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

In-app purchases

None

Cookbook Log

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Mealyn

Subscriptions2
  • Mealyn Plus Monthly1 Month trial$5.991 Month
  • Mealyn Plus Annual1 Year trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Cookbook Log free?
Cookbook Log is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mealyn free?
Mealyn is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Cookbook Log or Mealyn?
Cookbook Log and Mealyn are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Cookbook Log or Mealyn have ads?
Neither Cookbook Log nor Mealyn shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cookbook Log or Mealyn?
Cookbook Log ships an update every 3 weeks, and Mealyn every 2 weeks. Most recently, Cookbook Log was updated on October 31, 2026 and Mealyn on October 31, 2026.

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