Anova Culinary vs Masterbuilt
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Anova Culinary
Discover and create sous vide recipes with a vast collection from professional chefs and home cooks. Control your precision cooker remotely, monitor cooking progress, and share your culinary creations. Offers guided cooking, time and temperature guides, and personal recipe saving.
- Largest sous vide recipe collection
- Remote cooker control
- Guided cooking instructions
- Recipe creation and sharing
- Time and temperature guides
- Personalized cooking profiles
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The Anova family of precision cookers allows everyone to cook like a pro! Paired with the Anova Culinary app, now perfectly cooked restaurant quality meals are as easy as the touch of a button. Browse the largest collection of sous vide recipes by Michelin star chefs and home cooks just like you. Then simply connect your cooker to the app and start, stop, and monitor your cook right from your mobile phone. Feeling inspired? Create and share your own recipes and go viral on the ‘gram. Whatever your pleasure, the Anova Culinary app is the place for everything sous vide. FEATURES ======== • LARGEST COLLECTION OF SOUS VIDE RECIPES: Access sous vide recipes created by Michelin star chefs and home cooks just like you. • COOK FROM AFAR: Start, stop, change the temperature, set the timer, and monitor your cooking status from just about anywhere, as long as your device is within Wi-Fi range. • RECIPE DISCOVERY: Cook recipes by James Beard Award-winning chefs, food editors, celebrity chefs, and more. • GUIDED COOKING: Follow the step-by-step instructions and click start to start cooking. • COOK NOTIFICATIONS: Stay up-to-date on your cooking status without getting tied to the kitchen. • RECIPE SHARING: Share your recipe with friends directly through the app. • TIME AND TEMP GUIDES: Learn the basics with our simple sous vide guides. • MANUAL CONTROL: Customize your cook settings with manual time and temperature control. • RECIPE COLLECTIONS: A series of new and appetizing recipe collections that are sure to keep you cooking. • RECIPE CREATION: Easily create and save your own personal sous vide recipe. • FAVORITES: Have a recipe or two that you love? Mark it as a favorite for quick and easy access. • PERSONAL PROFILE: Create your personal profile and see a history of all the meals you’ve cooked. Try all the features free for 14 days. Options in-app for monthly or yearly subscription terms. Payment will be charged to the iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. The account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the renewal cost will be identified. Subscriptions may be managed by the user, and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. End User License Agreement (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Masterbuilt
Control your smart grill or smoker remotely. Adjust temperature, monitor cooking progress with real-time graphs, and receive alerts. Explore a vast recipe library to elevate your outdoor cooking experience.
- Remote grill and smoker control
- Set and adjust temperature and time
- Monitor meat probes and view graphs
- Receive cooking notifications and alerts
- Access a recipe library
- View cooking history
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Control your Masterbuilt Gravity Series®, AutoIgnite™ Series, and WiFi Smokers with our improved mobile app for a seamless grilling experience. Made for the modern grill master, you easily control your cooks with the power in the palm of your hand. Set and adjust temperature and time, monitor meat probes, view cooking history, discover hundreds of recipes, and take outdoor grilling to the next level. Features: Control Multiple Devices – Sync multiple Masterbuilt grills or smokers to the app for a digitally-driven outdoor cooking experience. Set Time and Temperature – Easily set your product’s desired cooking time and temperature. Notifications and Alerts—Receive alerts and notifications to help power on/off the grill, notify you when your meat probe has reached the desired temperature, and more. Interactive Cooking Graphs – Scroll through temperature graphs as you cook to stay on top of your game. Cooking History – Easily compare and interact with your past cooking adventures with a new session history feature. Recipe Library – Discover hundreds of new recipes and filter by food type, cooking style, or cook time. Product Compatibility – The Masterbuilt App is compatible with all Gravity Series Grills & Smokers, the AutoIgnite Series 545 Digital Charcoal Grill, and the 710 WiFi Digital Electric Smoker. Compatible products: Gravity Series 560 Grill & Smoker (MB20040220) Gravity Series 600 Grill & Smoker (MB20041023) Gravity Series 800 Grill & Smoker (MB20040221) Gravity Series 900 Grill & Smoker (MB20040122) Gravity Series 1050 Grill & Smoker (MB20041220) Gravity Series 1150 Grill & Smoker ( MB20041525) Gravity Series XT Grill & Smoker (MB20041223) 40” Digital Charcoal Smoker (MB20060321) AutoIgnite Series 545 Digital Charcoal Grill & Smoker (MB20041124) 710 WiFi Digital Electric Smoker (MB20070924) 710 WiFi Digital Electric Smoker EU (MB20072024, MB20072124, MB20072224)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Masterbuilt at none against Anova Culinary's 2. Anova Culinary's advantage is review sentiment (32% vs 13%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Anova Culinary sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Masterbuilt asks for nothing beyond the download.
Masterbuilt holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 26K and 12K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 32% of Anova Culinary's written reviews are positive against 13% of Masterbuilt's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Anova Culinary ships an update monthly, Masterbuilt every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Anova Culinary | Masterbuilt |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (26K ratings) | 4.6 (12K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.6% of reviews — better | 13.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 26K — better | 12K |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #32 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anova Culinary | PREMIER SPECIALTY BRANDS, LLC |
Customer experience
Anova Culinary
Masterbuilt
User reviews
Anova Culinary
From 26K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🚀 Consistent cooking results
- 🚀 Versatile for various foods
- 🚀 Game-changing cooking method
- 🚀 Convenient remote control
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues with app
- 🐛 Unreliable timer functionality
- 🐛 Glitchy app interface
- 🐛 Difficult WiFi setup
- 🐛 Lack of manual controls
Masterbuilt
From 12K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great smoker and grill
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🔥 Excellent flavor from charcoal and wood
- 🍽️ Versatile (smoking, grilling, baking)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues with app
- 🔌 App frequently disconnects from smoker
- 🔍 App lacks important features (e.g. temperature history, notifications)
- 🔢 Inconsistent temperature readings
- 🤖 App is buggy and unreliable
Bugs and requests
Anova Culinary
Reported bugs
5 issues- App unable to maintain connection to device
- Timer resets unexpectedly during cooking
- Recipes not saving properly in the app
- Compatibility issues with certain WiFi networks
- Notifications not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- Improved recipe management
- Better app integration with smart home devices
- More customization options for cooking
- Clearer instructions and troubleshooting guides
- Ability to save personal recipes
Masterbuilt
Reported bugs
4 issues- App frequently loses connection to smoker
- Temperature settings not always reflected in smoker
- Probe temperature selection options are limited
- App crashes when trying to access certain features
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to set custom probe temperatures
- Improve app connectivity and reliability
- Add more detailed cooking data and history
- Provide better notifications and alerts
In-app purchases
Anova Culinary
- Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Sous Vide Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$9.991 Year
Masterbuilt
No in-app purchases








