Comparison

SideСhef vs Cracklins

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

Head to head
About

SideСhef

Discover and cook delicious meals with step-by-step instructions, personalized recommendations, and integrated grocery shopping. This app simplifies meal planning and helps you explore new cuisines, even if you're a beginner cook.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step recipe guidance
  • Personalized recipe recommendations
  • Integrated grocery list creation
  • One-click online grocery shopping
  • Meal planning tools
  • Smart appliance control
  • Beginner-friendly cooking tutorials
Features
Read full description

SideChef’s 18,000 step-by-step recipes help you get from “what’s for dinner?” to cooking your next meal in just minutes. Filter by diet and preferences, search by ingredients, create a grocery list, and instantly shop ingredients from your favorite grocer. Called “best app” by USA Today and the New York Times’s “favorite cooking app,” SideChef empowers you to eat healthier, save money, and live your most delicious life. PERSONALIZED RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS Quickly find recipe inspiration tailored to your preferences. Filter by dietary requirements, allergies, food preferences, and ingredients you already have at home to find a recipe you like in less than one minute. ONE-CLICK GROCERY SHOPPING Easily create a grocery list, and shop ingredients directly from Instacart, Walmart, Amazon Fresh, Target, and more online grocers. Ingredients are intelligently matched to in-store products, and updated with real-time prices and availability. Make smarter decisions by seeing the percentage of each ingredient used in a recipe – an easy way to plan for leftovers and minimize food waste, while also saving money. GREAT FOR BEGINNERS New to cooking? Our step-by-step recipes include an image or video at every cooking step so you know exactly what to do. Built-in timers ensure you never overcook anything again, while how-to videos teach you valuable culinary skills – from how to properly dice an onion, to how to press tofu. Rate recipes, upload photos, exchange tips, and share cooking fails and successes with the SideChef home cooking community. EASY MEAL PLANNING Use our meal planning tool to select recipes for the week, or save appealing recipes to your cookbook. Browse thousands of curated recipe collections and meal plans for more inspiration and ideas on what you’ll cook next. RECIPES FOR EVERYONE Personalized recipe recommendations for these diets and allergens: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Low-Carb, Paleo, Keto, Gluten, Egg, Dairy, Soy, Peanut, Tree Nuts, Fish, Shellfish Recipes cover a variety of cuisines: American, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, French, and more! Browse recipes from your favorite culinary influencers – top food bloggers, writers, and renowned chefs. PRAISE FROM MEDIA “If you’re always scorching the stew and you just can’t seem to achieve perfectly puffed chocolate chip cookies, let this free app serve as your new cooking companion.” — Real Simple “If you’ve ever ruined an entire meal because of a seemingly tiny mistake in timing or ingredient proportioning, then we have an app for you.” — Business Insider _________________ By downloading and using this app or purchasing a SideChef Premium subscription, you are agreeing to the SideChef terms of use and service: https://www.sidechef.com/terms For more information about how we use your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy: https://www.sidechef.com/privacy-policy. By downloading this app, you acknowledge the terms of our Privacy Policy. SIDECHEF PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION PRICING & TERMS SideChef is free to download and use. Should you choose to upgrade to SideChef Premium, we offer two auto-renewing subscription options: * Monthly SideChef Premium subscription: $4.99 USD. Cancel anytime. * Annual SideChef Premium subscription: $49.99 USD. Cancel anytime. These auto-renewing subscription plans renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. Your payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew each month or year 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings.

About

Cracklins

Features
Read full description

Real Southern cooking, taught by a chef who never leaves your kitchen. Cracklins brings you 167 authentic Southern recipes, from dark-roux gumbo and crawfish etouffee to fried chicken, collard greens, biscuits and sausage gravy, and Kentucky stack cake. Every recipe has adjustable servings, step-by-step instructions, and built-in timers. MEET C.J.! C.J. Thibodaux is your personal cooking guide: a Louisiana-born, classically trained chef persona powered by Apple Intelligence. Ask him anything while you cook. "Why did my roux burn?" "What can I use instead of andouille?" "How do I know when the brisket is done?" C.J. answers in seconds and explains the why behind every technique, so you become a better cook with every dish. His reactive avatar even follows along, thinking while you type and grinning when your gumbo comes together. EVERY SOUTHERN TRADITION Cajun and Creole. Texas and Memphis BBQ. Low Country seafood. Appalachian home cooking. Soul food Sunday dinners. Each region gets the respect it deserves, with recipes and history to match. PRIVATE BY DESIGN C.J. runs entirely on your iPhone using Apple Intelligence. Your questions never leave your device. No account, no cloud, no tracking, nothing to sign up for. COOK MODE Check off ingredients as you gather them, follow steps one at a time, and let the built-in timers keep you on track. Flour-covered hands welcome. FAIR AND SQUARE PRICING Your first 5 recipes are completely free, C.J. included. One purchase of $1.99 unlocks all 167 recipes forever. No subscription. No upsells. No ads. Ever. Good cooking, good eating, good loving. Download Cracklins and get the roux going. Note: C.J.'s AI chat requires Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or later with iOS 26). On other devices, Cracklins provides built-in cooking guidance from its knowledge base.

Screenshots

SideСhef4 screens
Cracklins4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: SideСhef at 15.1 against Cracklins's 26.0. 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. SideСhef sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Cracklins sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
SideСhef versus Cracklins: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSideСhefCracklins
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.7K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB46 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperSideChef Group LimitedMatthew Fisher

In-app purchases

2 purchases

SideСhef

Subscriptions2
  • SideChef Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • SideChef Premium - Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
1 purchases

Cracklins

One-time1
  • Cracklins Full Unlock$1.99

Questions

Is SideСhef free?
SideСhef is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cracklins free?
Cracklins is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SideСhef or Cracklins have ads?
Neither SideСhef nor Cracklins shows ads.

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