Comparison

Custrd vs mAIChef

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

Head to head
About

Custrd

Transform your fridge contents into delicious meal ideas with AI-powered recipe suggestions. Simply photograph your ingredients, and get personalized recipes with clear cooking steps. Track your kitchen inventory and manage shopping lists effortlessly.

Highlights
  • Scan fridge contents with AI
  • Personalized recipe suggestions
  • Ingredient tracking
  • Shopping list creation
  • Step-by-step cooking instructions
  • Dietary preference filtering
Features
Read full description

What can you make with the food you already have? Custrd turns a photo of your fridge, pantry, or counter into recipe ideas built around your ingredients. Review what the camera found, see what each recipe uses and what is missing, then follow clear cooking steps when you are ready. SCAN YOUR INGREDIENTS Take a photo, use multiple photos, scan a supported barcode, or try a sample fridge. You stay in control: review and edit the detected ingredients before searching for meals. FIND REAL RECIPES Explore complete recipes with ingredients, instructions, cooking time, and nutrition details. Results show how much of a recipe is already in your Kitchen and what you still need. PERSONALIZE YOUR RESULTS Choose cuisines and dietary preferences, set optional nutrition goals, and use exclusions to shape your results. Always verify recipe ingredients and product labels for your own dietary needs and allergies. KEEP YOUR KITCHEN CURRENT Save ingredients to your Kitchen, track food to use soon, and move missing recipe ingredients to your shopping List. Shared Lists help a household keep the same list up to date. COOK AND KEEP THE RECIPES YOU LOVE Follow step-by-step instructions, save meals, organize your collection, log what you cooked, and share finished dishes. Custrd is free to download. Optional Custrd Pro features are available through in-app purchase. Subscription availability and pricing are shown before purchase. Custrd provides general cooking and nutrition information, not medical advice. Ingredient detection and automated dietary matching can make mistakes. Always check every ingredient yourself before cooking or eating. Privacy Policy: https://custrd.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://custrd.com/terms

About

mAIChef

Features
Read full description

You know the feeling at six o'clock: the fridge is not empty, and there is still nothing to eat. mAIChef takes it from there. Say what you feel like — or photograph the fridge — and you get a recipe built around your diet, your equipment and the time you actually have. Not a recipe someone else wrote for someone else. ASK IN YOUR OWN WORDS Type it, dictate it, or take a photo. "Something with the chicken and the courgettes, thirty minutes, no dairy." The recipe arrives in about twenty seconds, with a photo of the dish. IT READS YOUR FRIDGE Up to five photos at once. It names what it sees — down to the butter next to the bread — and you cook from what is already there. NUTRITION THAT IS COUNTED, NOT GUESSED Calories and macros are computed from the ingredient list against a food database, with a breakdown per ingredient. Set calorie or macro targets and the plan is built to them. A WEEK OF MEALS, PLANNED Breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, up to seven days, each with its time and its calories. One shopping list for the whole week, grouped by aisle, that knows what is already in your cupboard. BATCH PREP — COOK ONCE, EAT ALL WEEK Pick four dishes and mAIChef works out the order: which oven, which pan, which step goes while something else roasts. Then it runs the session with you — one step at a time, timers going, nothing forgotten. Four recipes in about an hour, instead of four evenings. COOK MODE Big type, hands-free voice, screen stays awake, timers per step. IT LEARNS WHAT YOU LIKE Rate what you cook. mAITaste picks up the cuisines, the ingredients and the effort level you keep coming back to, and the suggestions follow. NINE LANGUAGES English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese — the recipes too, not only the buttons. FREE • 10 AI recipes a month • Save up to 100 recipes • One 3-day meal plan a month • One photo analysis a month • Nutrition on every recipe • Voice input, dark mode PREMIUM • 150 AI recipes a month • Save up to 10,000 • 7-day plans, up to six meals a day • 30 photo analyses a month, five photos each • Batch prep sessions • Shopping lists and pantry • Recipe tuning and cook mode • High-quality photos on every recipe Cancel any time. Your recipes stay yours. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Custrd4 screens
mAIChef4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: mAIChef at every 3 days against Custrd's every 3 weeks. 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. Custrd sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and mAIChef sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Custrd ships an update every 3 weeks, mAIChef every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Custrd versus mAIChef: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCustrdmAIChef
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB55 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperLangate Corp.CS CONTROLCOM

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Custrd

Subscriptions3
  • Custrd Pro Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Custrd Pro Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Custrd Pro Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
8 purchases

mAIChef

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Premium Annual$44.991 Year
One-time6
  • 33 Photo Credits$0.99
  • 50 Photo Credits$0.99
  • 20 Recipe Credits$1.00
Show 3 more
  • 50 Recipe Credits$1.99
  • 100 Photo Credits$3.00
  • 100 Recipe Credits$4.00

Questions

Is Custrd free?
Custrd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is mAIChef free?
mAIChef is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Custrd or mAIChef have ads?
Neither Custrd nor mAIChef shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Custrd or mAIChef?
Custrd ships an update every 3 weeks, and mAIChef every 3 days. Most recently, Custrd was updated on October 24, 2026 and mAIChef on October 24, 2026.

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