Bar Assistant vs Grocy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted recipe managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Bar Assistant
Manage your home bar while adding your ingredients, searching for
VS
Grocy
ERP for your home groceries and pantry
| Feature | Bar Assistant | Grocy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Recipe Managers | Recipe Managers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,059 | ★ 9,363 |
| First released | 2026 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | Pantry Check, AnyList |
Why pick each one
Choose Bar Assistant if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Bar Assistant or Grocy better?
Neither is universally better. Grocy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bar Assistant and Grocy free and open-source?
Yes. Bar Assistant is licensed under MIT and Grocy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bar Assistant and Grocy with Docker?
Bar Assistant: yes. Grocy: yes.