Chowdown 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?
Chowdown
Static-site recipe collection built on Jekyll
VS
Grocy
ERP for your home groceries and pantry
| Feature | Chowdown | Grocy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Recipe Managers | Recipe Managers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | HTML | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 665 | ★ 9,363 |
| First released | 2014 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Paprika, BigOven | Pantry Check, AnyList |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Chowdown or Grocy better?
Neither is universally better. Grocy has the larger community, while Chowdown is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Chowdown and Grocy free and open-source?
Yes. Chowdown is licensed under MIT and Grocy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chowdown and Grocy with Docker?
Chowdown: check the project docs for container support. Grocy: yes.