Comparison

Thyme vs Mela

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

Mela

This app helps you organize your recipes, browse and save them from the web, and manage your grocery lists. It offers a cook mode with timers and supports meal planning through your calendar.

Highlights
  • iCloud recipe syncing
  • In-app browser with live preview
  • Recipe blog feeds
  • Cook mode with timers
  • Recipe scanner
  • Grocery list integration
  • Meal planning calendar
Features
Read full description

Mela is a simple, elegant and modern recipe manager that syncs with iCloud. SYNC Sync your recipes with iCloud, either privately (default) or by sharing a recipe library with other iCloud users. IN-APP BROWSER WITH LIVE PREVIEW Quickly save a recipe while browsing: If Mela detects a recipe on the currently viewed page, it will be displayed in Mela's native recipe viewer*, on the same screen on the iPad and a swipe-left away on the iPhone. Want to add or view a recipe from outside of Mela? No problem, just use Mela's sharing extension. FEEDS Subscribe to your favorite recipe blogs to view all the recipes in Mela's native recipe viewer*. COOK MODE The cook mode makes it easy to follow all steps while cooking, displayed using a larger font to make sure everything stays readable even when you're not right in front of your device. You can add multiple recipes to the cook mode, easily letting you switch between them. TIMERS No need to switch to another app for setting up a timer. When in cooking mode, Mela let's you easily create and manage timers. Timers come with support for Live Activities (iOS 16.1+). SCANNER Scan a recipe from a book: With the help of text recognition, you can just add it to your personal collection and view it in Mela's native recipe viewer, as any other recipe. GROCERIES Mela uses the Reminders.app to manage your grocery list. This has the advantage that you’re always able to access your grocery list on all your devices even if Mela is not installed on a specific device. CALENDAR Do your meal planning by using Mela's built-in calendar. It's managed by Calendar.app which also has the advantage that you're always able to access it on all your devices. There's also a widget, showing you the next planned meal from your calendar. ORGANIZING Recipes can be organized in categories, marked as “Favorite” or as “Want to Cook”. PRINTING Of course, Mela supports printing in case there’s a recipe you want to have on paper or save as PDF. Please note: If iCloud Sync is enabled (default), Mela will sync these items with iCloud: - Recipes - Browser bookmarks - Subscription list (feeds) Not synced: - Feed recipe entries - Browser history Groceries are always stored in Reminders.app Mela is free to download but will require a one-time purchase to unlock all features. * Extracting recipes only works for websites that support this, most of them do.

Screenshots

Thyme3 screens
Mela4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Mela at 4.6 against Thyme's 3.0. Mela also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 47%) and ratings volume (884 vs 73). Thyme's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads 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. Mela sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Thyme asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mela holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mela has 884 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 84% of Mela's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thyme ships an update every 10 days, Mela every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Thyme versus Mela: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThymeMela
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (73 ratings)4.6 (884 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.7% of reviews84.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings73884 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#149 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB22 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperThuy Gia NguyenSilvio Rizzi

Customer experience

Thyme

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

Mela

All ratings852 ratings
Positive90.6%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews513 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral7.2%
Negative8.4%

Bugs and requests

Thyme

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Mela

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Recipes sometimes disappear from calendar and widgets
  • PDF import not working for some users
  • Typing becomes slow and unresponsive with large recipe collections

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to rate and review recipes
  • Implement nested categories and tags
  • Improve recipe scanning and OCR accuracy
  • Add option to assign recipes to specific users or family members
  • Integrate with external grocery delivery services

In-app purchases

None

Thyme

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Mela

One-time1
  • Mela+ for iOS/iPadOS$6.99

Questions

Is Thyme free?
Thyme is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mela free?
Mela is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thyme or Mela?
Mela is rated higher. Thyme averages 3.0 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while Mela averages 4.6 from 884 ratings.
Do Thyme or Mela have ads?
Neither Thyme nor Mela shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thyme or Mela?
Thyme ships an update every 10 days, and Mela every 3 weeks. Most recently, Thyme was updated on October 26, 2026 and Mela on October 29, 2026.

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