Best Apps to Replace Paprika 3 in 2026

Paprika 3 has been the default recipe manager for over a decade.
It still works. The problem is that the world around it moved on — most
recipes now live in TikToks, Reels, cookbook PDFs, and paywalled blogs
full of popups. Paprika's web clipper handles the old web. It struggles
with the rest.

If you are looking for a replacement, here is an honest comparison of
the four apps people actually consider in 2026.

## What to evaluate

Before jumping into names, write down what matters. For most cooks the
short list is:

- **Import.** Can it pull a recipe from a TikTok, a cookbook PDF, or a
blog behind a popup wall?
- **Sync.** Does the same library show up on your phone, your tablet,
and your laptop without manual work?
- **Meal planning.** Can you drag a recipe onto a day and get a grocery
list?
- **Pricing.** One-time purchase, subscription, or free?
- **Data portability.** Can you export if you change your mind?

Everything below is scored against that list.

## Paprika 3 — the incumbent

Strengths: one-time price around twenty to thirty dollars per platform,
solid offline mode, decent meal planner, reliable sync across its own
devices.

Weaknesses: its web clipper relies on hand-written parsers per site.
When a blog changes its layout, the clipper breaks until Paprika ships
an update. It has no real handling for video, no PDF import, and no AI
fallback. Cross-platform pricing adds up — buying it on macOS, iOS, and
Windows is three separate purchases.

Good for: people who already own it and mostly cook from a fixed set of
recipe websites.

## Whisk — the grocery-first option

Whisk focuses on turning recipes into orderable grocery lists. The
import works for most recipe sites, and the grocery integration with
major retailers is the best in the category.

Weaknesses: meal planning is thinner than Paprika. Video and PDF import
are limited. The app pushes you toward its social feed and branded
content, which not everyone wants.

Good for: households who already order groceries online and want the
shortest path from recipe to cart.

## Cookmate (formerly My CookBook) — the database for hoarders

Cookmate is the closest spiritual successor to Paprika's "everything in
one local database" model. It handles thousands of recipes without
choking, has flexible categories, and supports manual entry well.

Weaknesses: the interface shows its age. Sync requires a paid tier.
Import from modern sources — video, image-only posts, complex PDFs —
is basic. It is a great filing cabinet. It is not a great importer.

Good for: people migrating a huge existing collection and willing to
edit entries by hand.

## Yummly — discovery, not management

Yummly is really a recipe search engine with saving bolted on. If you
want to find a new dinner idea based on what is in your fridge, it is
excellent. If you want to save your grandmother's lasagna scanned from
a 1980s church cookbook, it is not the tool.

Weaknesses: your library is limited to recipes Yummly already indexes,
plus whatever its clipper can parse. Import of arbitrary PDFs, videos,
and screenshots is not a first-class feature.

Good for: inspiration, not archiving.

## Recipe Manager — the import-first option

Full disclosure: this is our product, so treat the strengths section
with appropriate skepticism and go try it.

Strengths: multi-source import is the core feature, not an afterthought.
Drop in a TikTok link, a cookbook PDF, an Instagram Reel, a blog URL,
or a photograph of a handwritten card, and a four-stage extraction
pipeline turns it into structured ingredients and steps. Sync is
web-first, so the same library opens on any device with a browser —
no per-platform purchase. Meal planning, grocery lists, scaling, and
nutrition estimates are included. Pricing is subscription, with a free
tier that covers light use.

Weaknesses: it is newer than Paprika, so the ecosystem of third-party
guides and community templates is smaller. Offline mode exists but is
less mature than Paprika's. Subscription pricing is not for everyone —
if you prefer one-time purchases, Paprika and Cookmate still win on
that axis.

Good for: people whose recipes live across PDFs, videos, screenshots,
and blogs, and who do not want to babysit an importer.

## How to decide

Write down the last ten recipes you actually saved. Count how many came
from a clean blog URL versus a video, a PDF, or a photo. If most were
clean URLs, Paprika still works fine. If most were not, you will save
hours a month with an import-first tool.

You can migrate to Recipe Manager by exporting Paprika as JSON and
importing the archive — see /import for the full flow, or browse
/explore to see what ends up in the library after extraction. Our
/pricing page lays out the free tier so you can test your real library
before paying anything.

The best recipe app is the one that survives your actual source mix.
Try two or three for a week each with real recipes you want to cook,
not a demo. Whichever one still has your library at the end of the
month is the right answer.