Updated 23 September 2026

Paprika alternatives: when to switch, and to what

Paprika is $4.99 once, has more than 53,000 US ratings averaging 4.9, and has been quietly excellent for years. Most people who look for an alternative are not unhappy with it. They have one specific need it was not built for. Here is the app for each, and how to take your recipes with you.

What Paprika does well

In its own listing, Paprika downloads recipes from websites, builds grocery lists that combine ingredients and sort them by aisle, keeps a pantry with expiry dates, plans meals on daily, weekly or monthly calendars, scales and converts measurements, and stores everything on the device so it works offline. It is one price, with no subscription.

Two things it does not claim: its listing says nothing about TikTok or Instagram, and "each version is sold separately", so iPhone, Mac, Android and Windows are separate purchases.

US prices; they change by country.

"I save recipes from TikTok and Reels now"

ReciMe saves from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest and adds calories to every recipe. It is the safe choice.

Repimame (ours) turns a TikTok or Instagram caption into ingredients and steps, and pins a still from the video beside each step the video shows, so you do not have to scrub back to see what "until glossy" looks like. It plans your week by breakfast, lunch and dinner and sends a recipe's ingredients to your shopping list with one tap; it does not add the same ingredient up across recipes. It has no pantry, no calories, no Android version, and cannot read Paprika's export file, so you would keep Paprika for your website recipes and use ours for videos.

"I want it on Android and Windows without paying again"

Samsung Food has Android and web apps and a free tier, so a mixed household can share one collection. Its large public recipe library is a bonus if you also want ideas, not only a place to store yours.

"I want the week planned for me"

Paprika gives you a calendar, but you fill it. Crouton can generate a meal plan from the dinner recipes you have organised, and has a step-by-step mode you can move through without touching the screen.

"I want one library with my partner"

Mela syncs with iCloud and can share a recipe library with other iCloud users. It keeps its grocery list in Reminders and its meal plan in Calendar, so both work on any Apple device. Its Mac and iOS versions are separate purchases.

"I want to scan cookbook pages"

Recipe Keeper scans cookbooks, magazines and handwritten recipes with the camera, or from photos and PDFs, and can print your collection as a cookbook with a table of contents. Mela and Crouton scan too.

How to take your recipes out of Paprika

Paprika exports in two formats. The .paprikarecipes file is its own bulk format; HTML is a readable copy you can keep anywhere. On iPhone the export is under Settings, Export Recipes.

Mela's help page says it reads .paprikarecipes files, and is honest about the limits: links between recipes and photos embedded in the directions do not come across. Most other apps cannot read the file, so for them, re-save the recipes you actually cook from their original pages. Check a few of your most-used recipes after the move, and keep Paprika installed until you have.

Or just stay with Paprika

If you cook mostly from recipe websites, you have already paid, and the pantry and aisle-sorted list are part of how you shop, there is no reason to leave. Add a second app for the one thing Paprika does not do, and keep it for everything else.

Try Repimame
Completely free. iPhone and iPad.