Chowdown vs Mealie
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
Mealie
Self-hosted recipe manager and meal planner
| Feature | Chowdown | Mealie |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Recipe Managers | Recipe Managers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 665 | ★ 12,932 |
| First released | 2014 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Paprika, BigOven | Paprika, Plan to Eat |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Chowdown or Mealie better?
Neither is universally better. Mealie has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Chowdown and Mealie free and open-source?
Yes. Chowdown is licensed under MIT and Mealie under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chowdown and Mealie with Docker?
Chowdown: check the project docs for container support. Mealie: yes.