Recipe apps for iPhone and MacHead to head
Crouton vs Mela
Crouton ranks #2 and Mela ranks #3 in our guide to the best recipe apps for iPhone and Mac. Crouton is the better pick for most people.
CroutonPick Crouton if you want a free recipe box with a step-by-step cooking mode and timers.Free to start#3 in the guide
MelaPick Mela if you mainly save recipes from blogs and want a clean iCloud cookbook, with Mela+ at $6.99 once.Free to startWhat decides it
- On price: Crouton is free. Discover is $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year. Mela is free to download. Mela+ is $6.99 once on iPhone and iPad, $14.99 once on Mac.
- Both run on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Only Crouton runs on Apple Watch.
- Crouton has the higher App Store rating: 4.8 from 2.9K ratings, against 4.6 for Mela.
Side by side
Prices are checked every day.
| At a glance | Crouton | Mela |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. Discover is $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year | Free to download. Mela+ is $6.99 once on iPhone and iPad, $14.99 once on Mac |
| How you pay | Free, with paid upgrades | Free, with paid upgrades |
| 3 years of use | $44.97 Yearly plan | Depends on the plan |
| Free trial | Free to start | Free to start |
| Runs on | Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | Mac, iPhone, iPad |
| Where to buy | App Store | App Store |
| Rating | 4.8 2.9K ratings Higher | 4.6 884 ratings |
| Features | iCloud sync, Widgets, Shortcuts, Family Sharing | iCloud sync, Privacy, Family Sharing, Widgets |
| Made by | Crouton LLC | Silvio Rizzi |
| Last updated | 26 Oct 2026 | 8 Jun 2025 |
Who should get which
Get Crouton if
You cook from food blogs and cookbooks and want every recipe in 1 place without the ads and life stories.
Get Mela if
You cook from recipe blogs and are tired of scrolling past ads to reach the ingredients.
Skip Crouton if
You cook the same handful of dishes from memory and never look anything up.
Skip Mela if
You cook the same 10 dishes from memory and keep the rest in a note in Apple Notes.
Our verdicts
Crouton
Save a recipe from a website or scan a cookbook page, and Crouton keeps the ingredients and steps, synced over iCloud to your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Cooking mode shows 1 step at a time, reveals the amount when you tap an ingredient and starts timers from the step text. All of that is free, unlike Paprika's $29.99 Mac app, and only AI photo import and ingredient swaps need the $14.99-a-year Discover plan.
Mela
Recipe blogs bury the ingredient list under ads and a long life story, and Mela pulls out just the recipe onto a clean card you can cook from in large text. It also scans printed cookbooks with your camera and sends groceries to Reminders, where your family can see the list. The full feature set takes Mela+ at $6.99, and the Mac copy is a separate $14.99, still well under Paprika's $29.99 Mac app.
What each one helps you do
Crouton
- Save a recipe from any website without the clutter
- Scan a recipe straight out of a cookbook
- Plan a week of dinners in minutes
- Turn recipes into a grocery list
Mela
- Save a blog recipe without the ads
- Scan a recipe from a printed cookbook
- Follow each step in large text while cooking
- Send ingredients straight to your grocery list
Where to get them
Crouton
Free. Discover is $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year
-
App Store, iPhone, iPad and Apple WatchWith in-app purchasesFree downloadApp Store
Mela
Free to download. Mela+ is $6.99 once on iPhone and iPad, $14.99 once on Mac
-
App Store, iPhone and iPadWith in-app purchasesFree downloadApp Store
-
Mac App StoreWith in-app purchasesFree downloadMac App Store
Neither one quite right?
The other picks in our guide to the best recipe apps for iPhone and Mac.
Read the full guideAll Crouton alternativesAll Mela alternatives