ChefExtract vs Samsung Food vs CookBook (2026)

Most “best recipe app” lists mix two different jobs: saving a recipe you found online, and planning what you’ll cook next week. ChefExtract, Samsung Food, and CookBook – Recipe Manager all sit in that market — but they optimize for different users.

This guide compares them on free tiers, yearly price, offline cooking, and what each app is actually best for.

Quick comparison

Prices and data checked on November 2026. App Store / Play prices vary by country.

All three apps are available for Android and iOS (Samsung Food and CookBook also offer web).

If you want a simple offline cookbook from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and more, start with ChefExtract. If meal planning is the product, look at Samsung Food. If you want discovery plus a meal planner in the same class as Samsung — at a lower yearly price — look at CookBook.

What these apps are actually optimizing for

Saving from social video (Instagram Reels, TikTok) is a different problem from clipping a food blog or dragging recipes into a weekly calendar. Apps that win at meal planning often ship a heavier cloud product. Apps that win at kitchen-ready cookbooks often stay mobile-first and offline.

The gap shows up when wifi is bad, when you only need ingredients and steps, and when you care more about “what are we eating Monday?” than “extract this reel in one tap.”

Apps tested

ChefExtract — best personal offline cookbook

ChefExtract is a recipe saver first: Share Sheet on iOS and Android, multi-modal extraction from social video, photo/screenshot import, and a local cookbook you can cook from without wifi.

Strengths:

• One-tap Share Sheet from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest
• Multi-modal AI for caption-sparse reels and TikToks
• Fully editable ingredients and steps
• Offline recipes and images
• Pro at $29.99/year — lowest yearly price of the three
• Small download size (iOS 45.4 MB · Android 13 MB)

Where it’s limited:

• No weekly meal planning calendar
• No discovery community / social feed
• Free tier is intentionally small (5 / 5 per year)

Best for: people who find recipes on social media and want a searchable offline cookbook — not a meal-planning suite.

Samsung Food — best for meal planning

Samsung Food markets itself as an all-in-one cooking app: save recipes (especially from websites), discover dishes in communities, drag recipes into a weekly meal plan, generate shopping lists, and unlock nutrition detail on paid tiers.

Pricing (US, November 2026): free plan includes limited savings from photos and 3 saved meal plans. Full access is about $69.99/year — the most expensive yearly plan in this comparison. App size: iOS 165 MB · Android 35 MB. Does not work offline.

Best for: cooks who want meal planning as the center of the product and are fine staying online and paying ~$70/year for the full suite.

CookBook — Recipe Manager — best for discovery + meal planner

CookBook combines social and website import (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, sites, photos) with organization, a discovery / trending section, meal planning, shopping lists, and cooking mode. On meal planning, it’s on par with Samsung Food — the differentiator is discovery plus a lower yearly price.

Pricing (US, November 2026): free plan limits at 20 recipes and 20 smart imports (CookBook’s site also notes 2 shopping lists and a 14-day Pro trial on the yearly plan). Yearly Pro is about $39.99/year. App size: iOS 231 MB · Android 85 MB. Cloud sync — treat kitchen use as online-first.

Best for: people who want to browse what’s trending, save from social and sites, and plan meals in one app — without Samsung Food’s $69.99/year price.

How to pick

You want the simplest offline cookbook from social media and blogs: ChefExtract. Pro $29.99/year, smallest install, works offline.

You want meal planning first and don’t mind paying more: Samsung Food at about $69.99/year. Strong planner; no offline.

You want discovery plus a meal planner on par with Samsung: CookBook at about $39.99/year, with a more generous free cap (20 / 20) to try before upgrading.

For most iPhone and Android users who mainly need to turn Instagram and TikTok into a kitchen-ready cookbook, ChefExtract is the right starting point. Add Samsung Food or CookBook when weekly planning becomes the product.

Ongoing offers and promotions

ChefExtract — Follow & DM. Follow ChefExtract on Instagram and send a DM with the word recipe. You’ll get 3 months of Pro free. Terms and conditions apply: you must keep following the ChefExtract Instagram account for the entire free period — if you unfollow, Pro access may be removed. The offer is not cumulative (you can’t stack multiple Follow & DM grants).

CookBook. CookBook’s site advertises a 14-day Pro trial when you start the yearly plan. Confirm current terms in the App Store / Play listing or on cookbookmanager.com.

Samsung Food. No official ongoing promotion found on Samsung Food’s site at check time. The ~$69.99/year plan is standard pricing, not a limited offer.

FAQ

Which app is best for meal planning?

Samsung Food and CookBook both ship a full meal planner. Samsung Food leans hardest into planning as the product; CookBook pairs a discovery section with a planner on par with Samsung. ChefExtract focuses on a personal offline cookbook instead.

Which app works offline?

ChefExtract stores recipes and images on your device so you can cook without wifi. Samsung Food does not work offline. CookBook syncs to the cloud — treat kitchen use as online-first unless you have a recent cache.

What do the free plans allow?

ChefExtract: 5 extractions and 5 saved recipes per year. Samsung Food: limited savings from photos and 3 saved meal plans. CookBook: 20 recipes and 20 smart imports.

Which app is cheapest for unlimited use?

ChefExtract Pro is $29.99/year. CookBook Pro is about $39.99/year. Samsung Food’s yearly plan is about $69.99/year — the highest of the three for full access.

Can they save from Instagram and TikTok?

ChefExtract and CookBook are strong on social import (Instagram, TikTok and more). Samsung Food is strongest at saving from websites into a digital recipe box, then planning meals from that collection.