Crouton vs ReciMe: Apple craft or capture from anywhere?
Crouton is the polished Apple-only recipe app with wink-to-advance cooking. ReciMe saves from TikTok and Instagram anywhere for $39.99 a year.
Crouton and ReciMe get compared because both feel modern next to the older recipe apps, but they put their effort in different places. ReciMe is built to get a recipe out of wherever it was posted, including a TikTok, a reel, a screenshot or a handwritten card, on any device you own. Crouton is built to make the recipe pleasant to cook from once it is in, and only on Apple devices.
We make a competing app and have written importers for both. Prices and features below were checked in October 2026.
The short version
Crouton
Apple only. Wink to go to the next step, timers inside the steps, your library in your own iCloud. Free for 20 recipes, then $24.99 once.
ReciMe
Saves from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and photos, on iPhone, Android and the web. About five free imports a week, then $39.99 a year.
What you pay
Crouton is free for up to 20 recipes. Crouton Plus is a one-time $24.99. Crouton Discover, at $1.99/month or $14.99/year, adds AI import from photos and PDFs and the blog RSS feed.
ReciMe is free with grocery lists, meal planning and cookbooks included, and caps imports at about five a week. ReciMe Plus is $39.99/year. It removes the cap and adds the nutrition calculator, cookbook scanning, recipe export, the measurement converter and the step-by-step cooking mode.
A first year of Crouton with Discover costs $39.98, close to ReciMe Plus. After that Crouton costs $14.99 a year, or nothing if you skip Discover, while ReciMe stays at $39.99.
Where Crouton wins
Crouton wins at the stove, and on where your data lives.
Its timers sit inside the steps: tap a time and it starts, and several can run at once. Its hands-free mode uses the front camera, so you wink right for the next step, wink left to go back, and open your mouth to see the ingredients. Scaling and unit conversion are part of the one-time purchase, where ReciMe puts both behind Plus. It also works with Bluetooth kitchen scales and Combustion thermometers.
Crouton syncs through your own iCloud account. The company never holds your library, and your recipes stay in an account you control whatever happens to the app.
Where ReciMe wins
ReciMe wins at getting recipes in, and on every platform that isn't Apple.
It reads Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, as well as screenshots and photos of handwritten cards. Crouton reads web pages, plus photos and PDFs on its subscription, and doesn't read video at all.
ReciMe also runs on Android, in a browser as a web app, and as a Chrome extension. If you cook on an iPhone but save recipes from a work PC, or share with someone on Android, Crouton can't follow you there.
It has an assistant, "Ask ReciMe", that answers questions about your saved recipes, and a filter for recipes that use ingredients you already have.
Where both stop
ReciMe gets recipes in and Crouton makes them pleasant to cook from, and the decision in between is left to you. ReciMe's ingredient filter is the closest either comes to it, and you still have to run the filter yourself. Neither keeps a pantry that tells you what you could cook tonight.
At the stove, ReciMe's step-by-step mode needs Plus, and Crouton's hands-free mode is gestures only. Neither takes a spoken command.
The third option
Sugo does both halves.
It imports from links, videos with spoken steps, screenshots and photos of book pages, the range ReciMe covers. In cook mode it supports the same wink and mouth gestures as Crouton, and it also reads the steps aloud and takes voice commands such as "next step". It tracks your pantry and ranks your saved recipes by what you can cook right now. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android and the web, and imports from Crouton and ReciMe directly.
The free plan includes cook mode, the pantry, a meal plan and the shopping list, with 25 link imports and 5 photo or video imports a month. Paid plans have no import limit: Sugo+ is $59.99/year and Famiglia $79.99/year.
Where Crouton has the edge: it keeps your library in your own iCloud, which Sugo doesn't.
All three side by side
| Crouton | ReciMe | Sugo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💳 Model | Free (20 recipes) + $24.99 Plus + $14.99/yr Discover | Free (5/wk) + $39.99/yr ReciMe Plus | Free with monthly limits + $59.99/yr |
| 📱 Platforms | Apple only | iOS, Android, web, Chrome extension | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, web |
| 🔗 Import from a link | ✅ | ⚠️ 5/wk, then 💰 | ✅ |
| 🎥 Import from a video | ❌ | ⚠️ 5/wk, then 💰 | ✅ Spoken steps too |
| 📸 Import a photo or screenshot | 💰 Discover sub | ⚠️ 5/wk, then 💰 | ✅ |
| ⚖️ Scaling & metric ⇄ imperial | ✅ | 💰 ReciMe Plus | ✅ |
| 🥫 Pantry tracking | ❌ | ⚠️ Ingredient filter | ✅ And it ranks your recipes |
| 🍽️ "What can I cook right now?" | ❌ | ⚠️ You filter by ingredient | ✅ Ranked for you |
| 👨🍳 Step-by-step cook mode | ✅ | 💰 ReciMe Plus | ✅ |
| 😉 Face gestures: wink for next step | ✅ Wink + mouth | ❌ | ✅ Wink + mouth |
| 🎙️ Voice control while cooking | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ "Hey Sugo" |
| 🤖 AI assistant over your library | ❌ | ✅ "Ask ReciMe" | ✅ |
| ☁️ Where your recipes live | Your own iCloud | ReciMe's cloud | Sugo's servers |
| 📦 Import from the others | ⚠️ Paprika only | ❌ | ✅ |
✅ works on the free tier · ⚠️ limited or partial · 💰 needs a paid plan · ❌ not available
Questions people ask
Is Crouton on Android?
No. Crouton is Apple only: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. ReciMe and Sugo both run on Android.
Does ReciMe have a desktop app?
On a computer, ReciMe runs in the browser as a web app, and its Chrome extension saves recipes straight from a page you are reading. The phone apps are on iOS and Android.
How many recipes can I import for free?
ReciMe's free tier allows about five imports a week. Crouton's free version holds up to 20 recipes in total. Sugo's free plan includes 25 link imports and 5 photo or video imports a month.
Can Crouton import from TikTok or Instagram?
No. Crouton imports from web pages, and from photos and PDFs with the Discover subscription. It doesn't read video.
So which one
Pick Crouton if every device you cook with is Apple, you want the nicest app to cook from, and you'd like your recipes in your own iCloud.
Pick ReciMe if most of what you save comes from social video and screenshots, or if you or the people you cook with use Android or a work PC.
Pick Sugo if you want ReciMe's capture and Crouton's hands-free cooking in one app, plus voice control and a pantry that tells you what you can make tonight.
The five-app comparison adds Paprika and AnyList. There are also direct comparisons of Crouton and AnyList, ReciMe and Paprika, and Sugo and Crouton.
