Tamari vs Tandoor Recipes
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted recipe managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Tandoor Recipes
Recipe manager for organizing and planning meals
| Feature | Tamari | Tandoor Recipes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Recipe Managers | Recipe Managers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 139 | ★ 8,625 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Paprika, Mealie | Paprika, Plan to Eat |
What are Tamari and Tandoor Recipes?
Tamari
Tamari is a fully-featured recipe manager web application built with Python and Flask. It stores recipes with ingredients, instructions, nutrition, and photos, and includes meal planning, shopping lists, and an API.
- Detailed recipe records with photos
- Search-as-you-type
- Meal plans and shopping lists
- REST API
Tandoor Recipes
Tandoor is a self-hosted application for managing recipes, planning meals, and creating shopping lists. It supports recipe scaling, meal plans, and ingredient-aware grocery lists.
- Recipe import and scaling
- Meal planning calendar
- Smart shopping lists
- Cookbook organization
Tamari vs Tandoor Recipes: key differences
Tamari is written in Python, while Tandoor Recipes is built with HTML. Licensing differs — MIT for Tamari versus AGPL-3.0 for Tandoor Recipes. Tamari is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Tandoor Recipes. Tandoor Recipes has the considerably larger community, at 8,625 GitHub stars versus 139.
Why pick each one
Choose Tamari if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Choose Tandoor Recipes if…
- Powerful planning features
- Good multi-user support
Watch out for
- Configuration can be complex
- UI has a learning curve
Frequently asked questions
Is Tamari or Tandoor Recipes better?
Neither is universally better. Tandoor Recipes has the larger community, while Tamari is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Tamari and Tandoor Recipes free and open-source?
Yes. Tamari is licensed under MIT and Tandoor Recipes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tamari and Tandoor Recipes with Docker?
Tamari: yes. Tandoor Recipes: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Tamari or Tandoor Recipes?
Tamari has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Tandoor Recipes. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.