Paprika Alternative - Free & Open Source

Paprika is a paid recipe app sold per platform: $4.99 on iOS, $4.99 on Android, $29.99 each on macOS and Windows. There's no web app, and each license covers a single platform.

My wife and I made RecipeSage as the recipe app we wanted ourselves. It's free, open source, and runs in any browser, on iOS, on Android, and on the desktop. Auto-import works from URLs, photos, PDFs, and Word docs.

How they price

RecipeSage

Free forever. No paywall, no ads, no per-device fees, and no selling your data.

Paprika

One-time purchase per platform: $4.99 iOS, $4.99 Android, $29.99 macOS, $29.99 Windows. A full household easily passes $40.

Feature by feature

We've tried to be fair here. Where Paprika is genuinely stronger, we say so. Numbers and feature claims are sourced from each product's own documentation as of August 2026.

Feature	RecipeSage	Paprika
Price	Free, open source	Paid per platform (around $40 for a household)
Web app (use from any browser)	Yes	No
iOS app	Free	$4.99
Android app	Free	$4.99
Native desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux)Paprika sells native Mac and Windows apps separately and has no Linux app. RecipeSage's desktop app is free on all three.	Free	$29.99 each (Mac and Windows only)
Apple Watch appPaprika has a watchOS app for timers and grocery list viewing.	No	Yes
Auto import from a URL	Yes	Yes
Import from a photo (OCR)Paprika has no native OCR. AI photo scanning is announced for Paprika 4 but isn't available yet.	Yes	No
Import from PDF and Word documents	Yes	No
Firefox and Chrome extensionPaprika offers a bookmarklet only. No official browser extension.	Yes	No
Drag-and-drop meal planner	Yes	Yes
Recurring meal plan itemsPaprika adds meals to specific dates only. You can save and reapply menus, but there's no repeating option.	Yes	No
Smart shopping list with aisle categorization	Yes	Yes
Recipe scaling and metric/imperial conversion	Yes	Yes
Nutrition tracking (macros, vitamins, minerals)	Yes	No
Typo-tolerant searchPaprika search is substring-based, not fuzzy.	Yes	Partial
Real multi-user collaborationPaprika households share one login. Separate accounts and cookbook sharing are announced for Paprika 4 but aren't available yet.	Yes	No
Works offline	Yes	Yes
Cook Mode (full-screen, distraction-free cooking view)	Yes	Yes
Built-in kitchen toolkitPaprika converts ingredient units. RecipeSage's toolkit adds a pan and bakeware converter that suggests bake time and temperature adjustments and a cooking-temperature reference for safe internal temperatures.	Yes	Partial
Open source	Yes	No
Self-hostable	Yes	No
Data portabilityPaprika's export is a non-standard .paprikarecipes archive. RecipeSage supports well-recognized standardized formats.	Yes	Proprietary
Public sharing by link or embed, no account neededRecipeSage gives you a public profile to share a recipe, a label, or your whole collection by link, plus website embed codes. Paprika shares recipes only by emailing or AirDropping its proprietary files.	Yes	No
Printable PDF cookbook generatorRecipeSage's Cookbook Generator compiles your recipes into one printable PDF with a cover page, optional table of contents, and each recipe on its own page.	Yes	No

Why people switch from Paprika to RecipeSage

Kitchen tools beyond unit conversionRecipeSage adds a pan and bakeware converter and a safe cooking-temperature reference on top of unit conversion. Paprika converts ingredient units only.
No per-device feesSetting up a household with Paprika across phone, tablet, and desktop quickly passes $40. RecipeSage is free on every device, for everyone in the family.
Use it from any browserRecipeSage is a real web app, so it works on a borrowed laptop, a Chromebook, or any computer with a browser. Paprika has no web app at all.
Photo, PDF, and Word importRecipeSage imports from photos, PDFs, and Word docs in addition to URLs. Paprika has no native OCR and no PDF or Word import.
Built-in nutrition trackingRecipeSage tracks macros, vitamins, and minerals per serving, and you can paste a nutrition label to auto-fill. Paprika doesn't track nutrition at all.
Collaboration with separate accountsEach family member can have their own RecipeSage account and still share recipes, plans, and shopping lists. Paprika households share one login.
Open sourceRecipeSage's code is on GitHub under the AGPL. You can export everything in standard formats.
Share your recipes with anyoneRecipeSage gives you a public profile to share a single recipe, a whole label, or your entire collection by a link anyone can open without an account, plus embed codes to drop a recipe onto a website or blog. Paprika only shares by emailing or AirDropping its proprietary files.
Turn your collection into a printable cookbookRecipeSage's Cookbook Generator assembles your recipes into a single PDF, with a cover page, an optional table of contents, and each recipe on its own page with its image and nutrition. It's an easy way to print a personal cookbook or give one as a gift. Paprika has no built-in cookbook generator.

Where Paprika is honestly stronger

We're not pretending RecipeSage wins on everything. Here's whatPaprika does better than us today.

Apple Watch appPaprika has a watchOS app for timers and grocery lists on your wrist. RecipeSage doesn't have an Apple Watch app.
Pantry with expiration datesPaprika's pantry tracks expiration dates and can uncheck items you already have from the grocery list. RecipeSage's doesn't do this.

Bringing your Paprika recipes over

RecipeSage has a one-click Paprika importer. Titles, ingredients, directions, source URLs, notes, photos, and categories all come across.

1In Paprika, go to Settings and choose Export Recipes. Save the .paprikarecipes file.
2Create a free RecipeSage account at recipesage.com.
3In RecipeSage, open Settings then Import then Paprika, and upload the file you just exported.
4RecipeSage runs the import in the background so you can try things out while the import happens.

Start importing Read the full Paprika import guide

About the people behind RecipeSage

My wife and I built and run RecipeSage. We're not a venture-backed startup. We cook every night, we got tired of paying subscriptions and losing access to recipes when an app changed hands, so we built the app we wanted to use. Hosting is funded by optional contributions and has been since 2018, and the source code is on GitHub under the AGPL.

If you ever want to leave RecipeSage, you can export everything in standard formats or run the whole thing on your own server. Your recipes are yours.

Common questions about switching from Paprika

Is RecipeSage actually free? What's the catch?

Genuinely free. No ads, no premium tier, no email upsells. We accept contributions from people who want to support development, but every feature is available to everyone.

Can I keep using Paprika while I try RecipeSage?

Yes. Importing into RecipeSage doesn't touch your Paprika account. Take a few weeks to see if RecipeSage fits your kitchen before you decide.

Will my Paprika categories and ratings come across?

Yes. Paprika categories map to RecipeSage labels, and ratings, notes, photos, and source URLs all come through. Custom aisles in the grocery list don't import, but you can rebuild them quickly.

Is there a free alternative to Paprika?

Yes. RecipeSage is a free, open source alternative to Paprika, with no paywall and no ads. You can import your recipes, plan meals, build shopping lists, track nutrition, and use it on the web, desktop, iOS, and Android. If you ever decide to leave, you can export everything or self-host.

Try RecipeSage alongside Paprika for a couple of weeks. It's free, so if it works for you, switch over. If it doesn't, your Paprika library is still right where you left it.

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The free, open source Paprika alternative