Recipe Keeper app review: is it good? (2026)

Yes, Recipe Keeper is a good app. It is a well-made recipe box that imports recipes from websites (and, the developer says, from Instagram and TikTok), scans cookbook pages and handwritten cards, plans your week and month, and sorts a shopping list by aisle. It is free to try and then a one-time upgrade instead of a subscription, which is why so many people search for it by name.

Its limits are just as specific. You buy it again for every platform you use, and its shopping list has no idea what is already in your kitchen. Whether those matter depends on whether you want a recipe box or a system that runs your week. This review covers what it does well, where it stops, and which apps to look at instead. For the full field side by side, see the recipe keeper apps comparison.

A note on names: several apps in the stores use “recipe keeper” in their title. This review is about Recipe Keeper by Tudorspan, the long-running one with tens of thousands of App Store ratings. Prices and limits below were checked in November 2026; app pricing changes often, so confirm in the store before you pay.

What Recipe Keeper does well

Getting recipes in. Paste a link from one of hundreds of supported recipe websites and it imports the ingredients, steps, photo and times, without the ads. The developer also lists Instagram and TikTok as places to find and add recipes.
Scanning. Point your phone at a cookbook page, a magazine or a handwritten card, or pick an existing photo or PDF, and it converts the text. For a family recipe collection on paper, this is the feature that makes it worth trying.
Planning. A weekly and monthly planner, and you can add every meal on it to the shopping list in one step.
The shopping list. It groups items by aisle, supports several lists, and has a favorites button for things you buy every week.
Everywhere you are. iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Mac, synced, and usable offline.
Small extras. PDF cookbooks you can print or share, and hands-free reading through Amazon Alexa (English only).

Where it falls short

You pay per platform. The Pro upgrade is a one-time purchase, which is the main draw, but it does not carry across platforms. On iPhone it was $19.99 in November 2026; a laptop or an Android phone in the same house is a separate purchase. If your household mixes iPhone and Android, count the purchases before you decide.
The free version is a trial in practice. It caps how many recipes you can keep, so anyone with a real collection will upgrade.
The list does not know your kitchen. Its feature list has no pantry, so the shopping list cannot leave off the rice and olive oil you already have. You check the cupboard yourself, every week.
Sharing is light. You can share a meal plan with family and email recipes. It is not built around a household working from one live list, where one person adds milk at home and the other sees it in the store.
It does not plan for you. The planner is a calendar you fill. Nothing suggests a week, pairs a big cook with the night that uses the leftovers, or works from what is in your fridge.

None of these are flaws in a recipe box. They are the edge of what a recipe box is.

Who Recipe Keeper is right for

Recipe Keeper fits best if you:

cook mostly from your own collection, including recipes on paper you want digitized;
use one platform, or do not mind paying once per platform;
prefer owning software to a subscription;
shop alone, or share the list in other ways.

If that is you, it is one of the strongest picks in the category, and Paprika is the other app to compare it with.

The alternatives, by what you want instead

Another one-time-purchase recipe box: Paprika. The closest match. Strong web clipper, planner, grocery list and a pantry that connects to the list, sold once per platform. Its free version is limited to 50 recipes without sync.
A cleaner planner, and you do not mind a subscription: Plan to Eat. Arguably the best web clipper, a drag-and-drop calendar and an automatic list. No free tier, only a 14-day trial.
The shared shopping list is the main thing: AnyList. Excellent live household list. Its recipe import is limited on the free plan (five web recipes), and its paid plan is cheap.
A free app with a big library to browse: Samsung Food. Free to save from websites, plan and build a list, with a paid tier for its AI and extra features.
Recipes, plan, shared list and what is already at home, in one place: Mealhive. This is ours, so read it accordingly; more below.

All of these are covered with pros and cons in the full comparison, and the best free recipe keeper apps compares what each one gives you without paying.

Where Mealhive fits

Mealhive starts where a recipe box stops. You save recipes the same ways (a link from almost any recipe site, an Instagram post or a TikTok, a screenshot, a cookbook photo, or pasted text), and it reads a clean recipe for you. Then it keeps going: Plan my week fills the nights, every planned dinner lands on one list merged and sorted by aisle, staples you always have stay off it until you need them, and the whole household works from that list live, with each person’s name on what they added. Snap your fridge with What can I make? and it suggests dinners from what is already there (each photo uses one AI capture). It runs in the browser and installs on iPhone and Android like any other app, so there is no per-platform purchase; one plan covers the household.

The honest limits: it is newer than Recipe Keeper, it has a smaller built-in library (50 starter recipes), and it has no Alexa support or printable PDF cookbooks. The free plan includes planning, the shared list and cook mode, plus 3 AI recipe captures a month; Plus is €3.99 a month or €29 a year for unlimited capture. Try Mealhive free, or read what an all-in-one recipe keeper should do first.

FAQ

Is the Recipe Keeper app good?

Yes. Recipe Keeper by Tudorspan is a well-made recipe box with website import, Instagram and TikTok import, cookbook and handwritten-card scanning, a weekly and monthly planner and an aisle-sorted shopping list. Its weak spots are that the Pro upgrade is bought separately for each platform and that its shopping list has no pantry, so it cannot leave off what you already have.

Is Recipe Keeper free?

It is free to download and try, but the free version limits how many recipes you can keep. Unlimited recipes need the Pro upgrade, a one-time purchase that was $19.99 on iPhone in November 2026, bought separately on each platform you use.

Is Recipe Keeper a one-time purchase or a subscription?

A one-time purchase. Recipe Keeper sells a Pro upgrade you pay for once rather than monthly, but the purchase does not carry across platforms, so an iPhone and a Windows laptop mean two purchases.

What is the best alternative to Recipe Keeper?

Paprika if you want another one-time-purchase recipe box. Plan to Eat if you want the cleanest planner and accept a subscription. Mealhive if you want saved recipes to become a week of dinners and one shared, aisle-sorted list that leaves off what is already at home, on any phone without buying it twice.

Can Recipe Keeper import recipes from Instagram and TikTok?

The developer lists Instagram and TikTok alongside websites as places to find and add recipes. How well it works depends on whether the recipe is written in the caption; when it is only spoken in a video, any app needs more help. Our guides on saving recipes from Instagram and saving TikTok recipes cover the tricky cases.