Comparison

MasterCook vs ckbk

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

Head to head
About

MasterCook

Organize your recipes and create shopping lists with this app. It allows you to import recipes online, scale ingredients automatically, and search your collection. Collaborate with others by creating private group cookbooks.

Highlights
  • Import recipes online with one click
  • Organize recipes into custom cookbooks
  • Automatically scale recipe ingredients
  • Add recipes to shopping lists
  • Search recipes by cookbook, category, and title
  • Create private group cookbooks for collaboration
Features
Read full description

Chefs, culinary schools, restaurants, home cooks, and foodservice companies have trusted the MasterCook products for over 27 years. Let MasterCook organize your recipes and shopping lists in your private online account. A FREE 30-day trial allows you to store up to 25 recipes in your online account with full functionality of features. A paid subscription allows you to store up to 100,000 recipes in your online account until your subscription expires. Here’s what you can do with the MasterCook App: • Download recipes online with just 1 click! View a recipe in a web browser and use the Share button to send it to your MasterCook app. • Organize recipes into custom cookbooks. • Scale a recipe to change its servings, and MasterCook will adjust the ingredient amounts automatically. • Add a recipe to a shopping list. • Search your recipes based on cookbook, category, and recipe title. • Create private group cookbooks to collaborate with friends and family. Use the MasterCook mobile app on its own or use it in conjunction with the MasterCook Windows product to access even more tools like adding recipes to menus and meal plans and performing nutritional and cost analysis of your recipes and menus and meal plans. Learn more at https://www.mastercook.com/learn-more If you have any questions, contact MasterCook Support and receive a timely reply.

About

ckbk

Access a vast library of recipes from renowned cookbooks, with advanced search filters and unit conversions. Organize your favorite dishes, add personal notes, and connect with a culinary community for cooking advice. Explore global cuisines and chef recommendations.

Highlights
  • Extensive recipe library
  • Advanced search filters
  • Automatic unit conversion
  • Recipe playlists
  • Community Q&A
  • Chef recommendations
  • Offline recipe access
Features
Read full description

ckbk offers the world’s best cookbooks, all in one place: • Filter your searches by diet, type of dish, national cuisine, author and more... • Recipes are enhanced with macronutrient data to help you meet your healthy-eating goals • Customize your preferred units (metric or US cups) and dietary filters (e.g. vegan, keto, gluten-free) • Create and share your own ‘recipe playlists’ • Swipe left/right to browse the full content of every cookbook (not just the recipes!) • Pin recipes to the top of the screen for quick access • Tag recipes once you have cooked them, and add star ratings and reviews • Add private notes to keep track of your own tweaks • Post questions about any recipe to get advice from the ckbk community • Follow recommendations from leading chefs and authors to explore new areas • Discover regional cuisines from around the world • Browse bookshelves to find the most popular cookbooks by country or category FEATURED CHEFS AND AUTHORS Featured authors include Dominique Ansel, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Mark Bittman, Paul Bocuse, Jayne Cohen, Le Cordon Bleu, Chantal Coady, The Culinary Institute of America, Josceline Dimbleby, Alain Ducasse, Naomi Duguid, Auguste Escoffier, Keith Floyd, Eleanor Ford, French Culinary Institute, Bo Friberg, Daniel Galmiche, Peter Gilmore, Wayne Gisslen, Darra Goldstein, Peter Gordon, Alice Hart, Valentina Harris, Marcella Hazan, Pierre Hermé, Mark Hix, Ken Hom, Nisha Katona, Tessa Kiros, Jennifer Joyce, Prue Leith, Deborah Madison, Nick Malgieri, Christine Manfield, Francisco Migoya, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Sri Owen, James Peterson, Darren Purchese, Steven Raichlen, Stéphane Reynaud, Gary Rhodes, Claudia Roden, Julee Rosso, Michael Ruhlman, Richard Sax, Nick Sharma, David Tanis, Jeremiah Tower, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Anne Willan, Paula Wolfert and many more. A WEALTH OF COOKBOOKS • ckbk covers every style of cooking: from simple 20-minute weeknight meals and healthy vegan options to dinner party show-stoppers and Michelin-starred chef creations • Award winning titles from top food writers and chefs, reference works including The Oxford Companion to Food, Escoffier and On Food & Cooking, and professional titles such as Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen • Build your expertise with titles from great culinary schools including Le Cordon Bleu and the French Culinary Institute • Explore culinary history with vintage cookbooks from Mrs Beeton, Hannah Glasse and Fannie Farmer WORLD CUISINES From Italian to Indonesian, and Spanish to South African, ckbk has it covered. Featuring more than 80 national cuisines, ckbk puts recipes from every corner of the world at your fingertips. BENEFITS OF USING THE CKBK APP • Instant access to ckbk, wherever you are • No need to keep waking up your phone with sticky fingers! The ckbk app keeps your recipe visible while you cook! CKBK MEMBERSHIP • Free Members can search ckbk's entire collection and access up to 3 recipes per month • Premium Members have unlimited access to the full content of every book • Take out a free 14-day trial of monthly Premium Membership • Save even more with annual Premium Membership • ckbk members can use their membership via the app and also via the ckbk website Terms & Conditions https://www.ckbk.com/terms Privacy Policy https://www.ckbk.com/privacy Get in touch: hello@ckbk.com

Screenshots

MasterCook4 screens
ckbk4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ckbk at 94% against MasterCook's 32%. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. MasterCook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ckbk sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MasterCook ships an update every 5 weeks, ckbk every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 3, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
MasterCook versus ckbk: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMasterCookckbk
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (98 ratings) — better
Positive reviews31.8% of reviews93.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings98 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size265 MB43 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperValusoft Finance, LLC1000 Cookbooks Ltd

Customer experience

MasterCook

All ratings41 ratings
Positive46.3%
Neutral7.3%
Negative46.3%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive31.8%
Neutral12.1%
Negative56.1%

ckbk

All ratings98 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews125 reviews
Positive93.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.4%

User reviews

MasterCook

From App Store reviews

What we love

  • 👍 Great for organizing recipes
  • 🌟 Excellent customer support
  • 📲 Syncs across devices
  • 💡 Easy recipe import
  • ✅ Long-time user satisfaction

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes
  • 🐛 Registration/login issues
  • 🐛 Display/font problems
  • 🐛 Editing and saving errors
  • 📉 Poor app functionality

ckbk

From 98 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Vast collection of cookbooks
  • 👍 Convenient access to recipes
  • 💡 Diverse range of cuisines and authors
  • 🔍 Powerful search and filtering capabilities
  • 🌟 Highly recommended by users

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Limited access to premium content
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or navigation issues
  • 💰 Concerns about pricing and value

Bugs and requests

MasterCook

Reported bugs

21 issues
  • App crashes when opening
  • Cannot register/login
  • Text invisible or unreadable
  • Editing fails with error message
  • Recipes not saving
Show 16 more
  • App closes randomly
  • Recipes not importing correctly
  • Syncing issues
  • Cannot export app recipes to PC
  • Search function not working
  • App crashes on search for non-existent item
  • System error on login
  • Cannot delete app
  • Display issues after upgrade
  • Cannot see cookbook names
  • Ingredients not recognized for nutritional info
  • Cannot move between recipe edit screens
  • Keyboard covers input field
  • App not opening after upgrade
  • App not recognizing online status
  • Login credentials shown for another user

Requested features

11 requests
  • Search by ingredient
  • Print recipes and shopping lists
  • Copy/paste functionality
  • Improve UI/reduce whitespace
  • Direct web import on tablet
Show 6 more
  • Meal planning feature
  • Search function for recipes
  • Sort by category
  • Pantry functionality
  • Landscape mode for iPad
  • Ascending sort for downloaded recipes

ckbk

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Difficulty cancelling subscriptions
  • Crashes when trying to access certain cookbooks

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to easily browse through entire cookbooks
  • Improved syncing of saved recipes across devices
  • More free access to premium content

In-app purchases

1 purchases

MasterCook

One-time1
  • MasterCook One Year Subscription$99.99
3 purchases

ckbk

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Premium Membership14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Premium Membership (Annual)$39.991 Year
  • Annual Premium Membership$39.991 Year

Questions

Is MasterCook free?
MasterCook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ckbk free?
ckbk is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MasterCook or ckbk have ads?
Neither MasterCook nor ckbk shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MasterCook or ckbk?
MasterCook ships an update every 5 weeks, and ckbk every 3 weeks. Most recently, MasterCook was updated on September 3, 2026 and ckbk on September 22, 2026.

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