Comparison

BlueCook vs Ding!

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

Head to head
About

BlueCook

Features
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Your recipe book and your shopping list, finally in the same app. Save your recipes, send the ingredients to your shopping list in one tap, plan the week's menu and carry your supermarket loyalty cards on your iPhone. RECIPES YOUR WAY β€’ Create recipes with a cover photo, time, servings, ingredients with amount and unit, and numbered steps. β€’ Split a recipe into parts (dough, filling, sauce) when things get serious. β€’ Import by pasting a link: BlueCook reads recipe pages and YouTube videos and fills in the fields for you with AI. β€’ Search by name or by ingredient β€” and find your recipes straight from iOS search too. NUTRITION, PER SERVING β€’ Calories, protein, carbs, fat and fibre, shown as a ring on the recipe. β€’ Three sources, and BlueCook tells you which one it used: read from the source website when you import, typed in by hand, or estimated from the ingredients. β€’ Approximate values: they don't replace labelling or professional advice. A SHOPPING LIST YOU'LL ACTUALLY USE β€’ Send a recipe's ingredients to a list in one tap: all of them, or only the part you're missing. β€’ Catalogue with more than 340 everyday products in 14 categories, with search and per-item notes ("brand X", "the big one"). β€’ Tick off what's already in the trolley and watch the progress: pending and bought. β€’ Give each list its supermarket's logo and recognise it at a glance: more than 300 chains across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia. COOKBOOKS AND WEEKLY MENU β€’ Group your recipes into cookbooks with a photo or colour cover. β€’ Plan breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in the calendar, by week or by month. LOYALTY CARDS β€’ Scan the barcode of your supermarket loyalty cards, or type the number in by hand. β€’ Show them full screen at maximum brightness: the scanner catches them first time. ON YOUR WATCH (Apple Watch) β€’ Open your shopping lists on the watch and tick off what you pick up. β€’ Show the barcode of your supermarket cards on your wrist. SHARE WITH WHOEVER COOKS WITH YOU (Premium) β€’ Send a recipe, a cookbook or a shopping list as a link. β€’ Shared lists update in real time: when someone at home ticks off the milk, you see it. β€’ Receiving and importing what other people share with you is free. FREE AND PREMIUM, NO SMALL PRINT Free: unlimited recipes, lists, cookbooks, calendar and cards, stored on your iPhone, plus up to 50 AI imports a month, shared between recipes and list photos. Zero ads, always. Premium: up to 500 AI imports a month (recipes and list photos), cloud backup and sync across your devices, and sharing recipes, cookbooks and lists. THE AI IMPORT, IN DETAIL Paste the link of a recipe page or a YouTube video and BlueCook fills in the title, the photo, the time, the servings, the ingredients with their amounts and the numbered steps. The reading is done by a cloud AI, through our servers: it only receives the page's text, never your name or your email; it doesn't use that text to train models and deletes it within 30 days. It works on every compatible iPhone and iPad with an internet connection, and the app tells you how many imports you have left this month. ALSO 19 languages, light or dark theme, Siri shortcuts to open your lists or add an item, and not a single ad in any version. A free account is required (email, Google or Apple). You can delete it, with all your data, from inside the app. BlueCook Premium has two plans: EUR 1.99/month or EUR 14.99/year in Spain, a 37% saving (the app shows the price for your country before you buy). Both renew automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage or cancel them in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://bluecook.app/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://bluecook.app/privacy-policy

About

Ding!

Features
Read full description

Stop guessing cooking times. Ding! is the kitchen timer that knows what you're cooking. Choose a dish, set how you like it β€” soft or hard eggs, rare or medium steak, extra-crispy fries β€” and Ding! calculates the time for you. Every step is guided: flip, shake, rest, serve. SMART PRESETS β€’ 30 dishes: eggs, steak, chicken, salmon, pasta, rice, air fryer favorites, baking, tea and coffee β€’ Times adjust to doneness, thickness, size and quantity β€’ Fine-tune any step by 30 seconds, or type your own time STEP-BY-STEP TIMERS β€’ Clear prompts when a step ends: "Flip the steak!", "Shake the basket!" β€’ Steps that need you wait for your tap; the rest carry on automatically RUN SEVERAL TIMERS AT ONCE β€’ Rice, pasta and steak side by side, all visible at a glance NEVER MISS THE DING β€’ Allow Alarms and Ding! rings even when your iPhone is on Silent or in a Focus β€’ Live countdown on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island β€’ Huge, easy-to-read digits, dark mode, and the screen stays awake while you cook β€’ Big buttons that are easy to hit with messy hands MY TEMPLATES β€’ Save your perfect toast or jammy eggs and start them with one tap HANDS-FREE β€’ "Start Boiled egg in Ding!" β€” works with Siri and the Shortcuts app DING! PRO Ding! is free to use with quick timers, 15 presets, 2 timers at once, 3 templates and 2 alarm sounds. Ding! Pro unlocks every preset, up to 8 timers at once, unlimited templates and all alarm sounds β€” as a one-time purchase or a yearly subscription. The alarm itself is always free. PRIVACY No account. No ads. No data collected. Your timers and templates stay on your device. Cooking times are estimates; appliances and ingredients vary. For meat, poultry and seafood, use a thermometer to confirm safe internal temperatures. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.monikstudio.com/terms-of-service/ Privacy Policy: https://www.monikstudio.com/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

BlueCook4 screens
Ding!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: BlueCook at none against Ding!'s shown. BlueCook also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.2 vs 26.0). Ding!'s advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. BlueCook sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Ding! sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BlueCook ships an update every 2 weeks, Ding! every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences Β· 2 level
BlueCook versus Ding!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlueCookDing!
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days β€” better
AdsNo β€” betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.2 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size58 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPedro Antonio Flores CasquetTran Thanh

In-app purchases

2 purchases

BlueCook

Subscriptions2
  • BlueList Premium$1.991 Month
  • BlueList Premium Annual$12.991 Year
2 purchases

Ding!

Subscriptions1
  • Ding! Pro – Yearly$2.991 Year
One-time1
  • Ding! Pro – Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is BlueCook free?
BlueCook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ding! free?
Ding! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BlueCook or Ding! have ads?
Ding! shows ads; BlueCook does not.
Which is updated more often, BlueCook or Ding!?
BlueCook ships an update every 2 weeks, and Ding! every 4 days. Most recently, BlueCook was updated on November 10, 2026 and Ding! on November 13, 2026.

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