Chowdown vs Recipya
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted recipe managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Chowdown | Recipya |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 62 · Good |
| Category | Recipe Managers | Recipe Managers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 669 | ★ 412 |
| First released | 2014 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Paprika, BigOven | Paprika, Whisk |
What are Chowdown and Recipya?
Chowdown
Chowdown is a simple, open-source recipe site generator built on Jekyll. Recipes are stored as plain-text Markdown files and rendered into a clean static website.
- Markdown-based recipes
- Static site output
- No database required
- Simple and minimal design
Recipya
Recipya is a clean, easy, and powerful self-hosted recipe manager written in Go. It imports recipes from thousands of websites, organizes a cookbook, and offers meal planning.
- Import from many recipe sites
- Cookbook organization
- Meal planning
- Single-binary Go app
Chowdown vs Recipya: key differences
Chowdown is written in HTML, while Recipya is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Chowdown versus GPL-3.0 for Recipya. Chowdown is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Recipya. Chowdown is the more established project (first released 2014), while Recipya arrived in 2022. Recipya lists first-class Docker deployment; Chowdown does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Chowdown if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Easy to host anywhere
Watch out for
- No interactive features
- Manual recipe entry
Choose Recipya if…
- Fast and lightweight
- Strong website import support
Watch out for
- Single-user oriented
- Younger project
Frequently asked questions
Is Chowdown or Recipya better?
Neither is universally better. Chowdown has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Chowdown and Recipya free and open-source?
Yes. Chowdown is licensed under MIT and Recipya under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chowdown and Recipya with Docker?
Chowdown: check the project docs for container support. Recipya: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Chowdown or Recipya?
Chowdown has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Recipya. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.