Comparison

Thyme vs Crouton

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

Head to head
About

Thyme

This app offers a simple and intuitive kitchen timer experience with a unique stove-like interface. It allows users to set multiple timers simultaneously for various cooking tasks, ensuring precise timing for delicious meals.

Highlights
  • Multiple timers simultaneously
  • Stove-inspired UI
  • Easy timer setting
  • Hours and minutes support
  • Modern design
Features
Read full description

IT ONLY DOES ONE THING, BUT DOES IT VERY WELL. Over half a million home-chefs uses Thyme and knows that fine dining needs fine timing. “It gets the job done and makes those complicated meals a little bit easier." - Lifehacker “Thyme is a simple, yet cleverly designed app with an interface that looks like a kitchen stove and has a separate timer for each part..” - BuzzFeed “Thyme offers a unique combination of features that easily sets it apart from the rest.” - Beautiful Pixels Thyme is the simplest and easiest kitchen timer you could envision. It covers all your timer needs in the kitchen. This is so you can give full focus on that delicious food you’ve got cooking. Our kitchen timer gives you a simple and clean layout over your kitchen stove. Four hot plates on top and an oven in the front. To set a timer you simply tap it, swipe it. Boom! You’re done! It´s really that simple! Because fine dining needs fine timing. - The smart and simple UI makes setting new timers super easy. - Multiple timers running at the same time - Our timers support setting hours as well as minutes - Gorgeous and modern UI design that fits right in with iOS - It just works as you’d expect it to Since its launch in Christmas 2013 Thyme has won numerous awards and continues to receive critical acclaim.

About

Crouton

Organize your favorite recipes from any source, plan your weekly meals, and generate grocery lists automatically. Features step-by-step cooking guidance, integrated timers, and AI-powered recipe importing.

Highlights
  • Import recipes from websites, books, and handwritten notes
  • AI and OCR recipe scanning
  • Weekly meal planning and automatic plan generation
  • Step-by-step cooking mode with hands-free navigation
  • Integrated timers and ingredient quantity display
  • Automatic grocery list creation
  • Cloud syncing across devices
Features
Read full description

Crouton is simple feature packed recipe organizer & meal planner. The best place to store your favorite recipes from where ever you find them, websites, cookbooks or a handwritten note from your Grandma. IMPORT ANYWHERE Crouton supports importing recipes from almost everywhere! Pull recipes automatically out of websites and just save the bits you need. You can also scan recipes straight out of your recipe book using AI and OCR PLAN YOUR WEEK With your favourite recipes on hand, Crouton makes it very easy to plan your meals for the week (or even long into the future). If you’re stuck for recipe ideas let Crouton automatically generate the meal plan from your organized dinner recipes. STEP BY STEP MODE Crouton offers a unique step by step mode. Focus on one recipe step at time as you cook, you can tap on ingredients within a step to get the quantity (saves you jumping back and forth between the steps and ingredients). With hands free mode you can move between steps without touching your device! Perfect for when you have messy hands. TIMERS Start timers with a tap. Crouton detects times within recipes and lets you start timers straight from the steps. A convenient heads up display keeps the times front of mind while you continue to use the app. GROCERY LISTS Create shopping lists directly from your recipes, easily copy just the ingredients you need to your list. Integrates with Reminders for convenient access. Your groceries have never been easier! CLOUD SYNCING All of your recipes are conveniently synced between all of your devices using iCloud. RECIPE FEEDS Save your favourite recipe RSS feeds into Crouton to see new recipes as they’re published from your favourite blogs. AI IMPORTING Quickly import recipes using AI. Import a recipe from a single photo with no manual entry required. Also supports plain text and images. FAMILY SHARING Share your recipes with friends and family using iCloud, so everyone knows what’s for dinner. GUIDED WEIGHING Pair to supported Bluetooth scales (such as the Acaia coffee scales) and have Crouton guide you through weighing your ingredients, avoid the mental juggling of recipe steps and amounts COMBUSTION PROBE SUPPORT Crouton pairs with Combustion's temperature prove to provide live updates on your cook Crouton also offers a range of customization including custom icons and app colors. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Thyme3 screens
Crouton4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Crouton at 4.8 against Thyme's 3.0. Crouton also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 47%) and ratings volume (2.9K vs 73). Thyme's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). On price 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. Crouton sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Thyme asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Crouton holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crouton has 2.9K ratings behind it against 73, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of Thyme's written reviews are positive against 79% of Crouton's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thyme ships an update every 10 days, Crouton monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Thyme versus Crouton: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThymeCrouton
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (73 ratings)4.8 (2.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.7% of reviews78.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings732.9K — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#45 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.1
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB345 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThuy Gia NguyenCrouton LLC

Customer experience

Thyme

All ratings73 ratings
Positive46.6%
Neutral6.8%
Negative46.6%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive46.7%
Neutral13.0%
Negative40.2%

Crouton

All ratings2,910 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral1.7%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews539 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative13.0%

Bugs and requests

Thyme

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Crouton

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Grocery list not remembering checked items
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Inability to add more than 5 recipes in free version

Requested features

6 requests
  • Recipe rating system
  • Nutrition information
  • Ability to add recipe notes and descriptions
  • Improved grocery list organization
  • Web/Windows app version
Show 1 more
  • Ability to export recipes in bulk

In-app purchases

None

Thyme

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Crouton

Subscriptions2
  • Discover Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Discover Yearly3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time6
  • Kind Tip$0.99
  • Great Tip$1.99
  • Amazing Tip$3.99
Show 3 more
  • Outrageous Tip$7.99
  • Crouton+ Early Bird$17.99
  • Crouton Plus$24.99

Questions

Is Thyme free?
Thyme is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Crouton free?
Crouton is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thyme or Crouton?
Crouton is rated higher. Thyme averages 3.0 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while Crouton averages 4.8 from 2.9K ratings.
Do Thyme or Crouton have ads?
Neither Thyme nor Crouton shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thyme or Crouton?
Thyme ships an update every 10 days, and Crouton monthly. Most recently, Thyme was updated on October 26, 2026 and Crouton on October 29, 2026.

Other comparisons