Comparison

LoafNote vs Just the Dish

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

Head to head
About

LoafNote

This app helps sourdough bakers manage their starter, adjust bulk fermentation based on kitchen temperature, and plan bakes. It offers timed reminders, recipe import, and a built-in learning course for beginners.

Highlights
  • Starter care and health tracking
  • Temperature-adjusted bulk fermentation timing
  • Bake planning and backward scheduling
  • Recipe import from links, text, or photos
  • Timed step reminders
  • Bake logging and learning
  • Beginner sourdough course and glossary
Read full description

Sourdough runs on your kitchen's temperature, not the recipe writer's clock. Tell LoafNote when you want warm bread and it plans the whole bake backward from that moment, tuned to your kitchen and scheduled around your sleep. PLAN THE BAKE BACKWARD Pick a finish time. LoafNote works back through every step: when to feed, when to mix, when to shape, including cold proofs. If a schedule would have you folding dough at 3am, it bends the plan so the work lands while you're awake. When that isn't possible, it says so. BULK THAT WATCHES THE TEMPERATURE Tell LoafNote your kitchen temperature and it adjusts the bulk window with guidance for every rise along the way. YOUR STARTER, LOOKED AFTER Keep one starter or several. LoafNote tracks each feed and shows you at a glance whether a starter is hungry, rising, or at peak, so it's ready when you are. NO STARTER YET? MAKE ONE Mix flour and water and LoafNote takes it from there: what to feed each day, what the jar should look like, and why the quiet day 4 is normal. In about a week, a readiness check walks you through the signs that it can raise bread. A NUDGE WHEN IT'S TIME Start a bake and put the phone down. Step timers and reminders tell you when the dough needs you, and the current step sits on your lock screen with its countdown running. RUN MORE THAN ONE BAKE A boule for Saturday and a focaccia for tonight can run side by side. Each bake keeps its own timers and its own lock screen countdown, and Home lists every active bake in one place. When the day gets away from you, pause a step and resume when you're back at the counter. RECIPES WITHOUT THE SCROLLING Paste a link, paste text, or import from a photo. You get the ingredients and timed steps, with hydration and baker's percentages worked out with everything measured in grams. Your recipes stay on your phone forever and you can share them with friends with one tap! EVERY LOAF TEACHES THE NEXT Rate the crumb and note what you'd change. That note greets you the next time you start the same recipe. LEARN BEFORE BAKING New to sourdough? A built-in course walks you through the basics, and a glossary covers the terms bakers actually use. No question is too small. FREE FOR A MONTH Try everything free for a month. Long enough to wake a starter up and put a few real bakes behind you. After that, LoafNote is $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and the subscription includes the whole app. What you're paying for is the planning: a schedule built backward from when you want bread, bent around your sleep, with bulk timing tuned to your kitchen. A timer alone doesn't do that. No ads, no account needed, and your baking data stays on your device. Terms: https://loafnote.com/terms.html Privacy: https://loafnote.com/privacy.html

About

Just the Dish

Extracts recipes from any website, saving them to a digital cookbook. Organizes recipes into collections, plans meals, and generates smart shopping lists. Offers AI nutrition analysis and community sharing features.

Highlights
  • Smart recipe extraction from URLs
  • Digital cookbook with search
  • Recipe collections
  • Meal planner
  • Smart shopping list generator
  • AI nutrition analysis
Features
Read full description

Just the recipe. Just the ingredients. Just the Dish. Tired of scrolling through endless ads and life stories just to find a recipe? Just the Dish extracts any recipe from the web, saves it to your personal cookbook, and takes you from meal plan to shopping list in seconds — unlimited recipes, for a fraction of what meal kits charge. FEATURES: SMART RECIPE EXTRACTION Paste a URL from any recipe website and get a clean, ad-free version in seconds. Just the ingredients and steps. DIGITAL COOKBOOK Save all your favorite recipes in one beautiful place. Search by ingredient, tag, or title. COLLECTIONS Organize recipes into themed collections — weeknight dinners, holiday baking, meal prep, and more. MEAL PLANNER Plan your meals for the whole week at a glance. Drag and drop recipes into your weekly schedule. SMART SHOPPING LIST Generate a merged, categorized grocery list from any recipe or meal plan. Automatically combines duplicate ingredients. AI NUTRITION ANALYSIS Get estimated macros and nutrition info for any recipe automatically. FAVORITES & RATINGS Star your favorites and rate recipes you've tried. COMMUNITY Share recipes and discover what others are cooking. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS: Just the Dish Pro is available as an auto-renewing subscription: - Monthly: $3.99/month - Annual: $24.99/year (includes a 7-day free trial) Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.just-the-dish.com/privacy

Screenshots

LoafNote4 screens
Just the Dish4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Just the Dish at freemium against LoafNote's subscription. LoafNote's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. LoafNote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Just the Dish sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for LoafNote against 5.0 for Just the Dish. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LoafNote ships an update every 6 days, Just the Dish every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
LoafNote versus Just the Dish: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLoafNoteJust the Dish
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB13 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBruin Labs LLCSimpler Life Studios LLC

Customer experience

LoafNote

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

Just the Dish

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

LoafNote

Subscriptions2
  • LoafNote Monthly1 Month trial$3.991 Month
  • LoafNote Annual1 Month trial$29.991 Year
2 purchases

Just the Dish

Subscriptions2
  • Just the Dish Pro$3.991 Month
  • Just the Dish Pro7 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is LoafNote free?
LoafNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Just the Dish free?
Just the Dish is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, LoafNote or Just the Dish?
LoafNote and Just the Dish are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do LoafNote or Just the Dish have ads?
Neither LoafNote nor Just the Dish shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LoafNote or Just the Dish?
LoafNote ships an update every 6 days, and Just the Dish every 5 weeks. Most recently, LoafNote was updated on October 31, 2026 and Just the Dish on October 31, 2026.

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