Written by: JJ Tan, Founder, Jelly
Key Takeaways
- Free recipe costing software tracks ingredient prices, scales portions and calculates menu profit margins without a subscription, but each tool has free-tier caps that limit recipes or ingredients.
- Business type shapes the best free option: CookKeepBook for bakeries needing sub-recipes, Freecost for cafés, Dishboard for caterers, FoodCore for food trucks, and either Freecost or PrepSheet for small restaurants.
- Free tools stop working at five predictable triggers, covered in detail in the section below.
- UK-specific requirements include metric unit conversion, correct VAT treatment and allergen tracking under Natasha’s Law; free tools rarely store this data, which creates compliance risk as menus grow.
- Jelly is the paid upgrade that automates invoice scanning, live dish costing and price alerts for operators who have outgrown free recipe costing software.
See how Jelly automates recipe costing
Quick Overview And Decision Framework For Free Tools
Every recipe cost starts with a few core calculations that free tools must handle reliably.
- Cost per portion: This is the total ingredient cost divided by the number of portions a recipe yields.
- Food-cost percentage: This figure divides cost per portion by selling price, then multiplies by 100. Most restaurants target a food cost component of 28–35% of sales.
- Waste/yield adjustment: This adjustment accounts for the proportion of an ingredient usable after trim, peel and cooking loss. An ingredient that loses 20% weight during preparation costs 25% more per usable gram than the purchase price suggests.
- Pack-size-to-portion conversion: This converts a supplier pack size, such as a 1 kg bag, into the recipe unit, such as grams.
- Recipe scaling: This multiplies or divides a recipe to produce a different yield.
The fastest way to narrow the field is to start with your business type. The table below routes each UK business type to a recommended free tool based on published free-tier terms, so you can skip tools that were not built for how you cook.
| Business Type | Recommended Free Tool | Why It Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Bakery | CookKeepBook | Measurement converters and sub-recipe support for doughs and fillings; suits bakeries that build layered products. |
| Café | Freecost | Web and Android access, automatic food-cost percentage calculation, no credit card required. |
| Food Truck | FoodCore | Free browser-based recipe cost calculator for small UK food businesses, including market stall traders and mobile-style operators. |
| Caterer | Dishboard | Item-level food cost tracking and real-time margin visibility for independent restaurants, bistros, pubs, cafés and multi-site groups. |
| Small Restaurant | Freecost or PrepSheet | Freecost for automatic costing; Prepsheets for a structured recipe-costing workflow via a 14-day free trial. |
Once you have a shortlist from the routing table above, the next question is what each free tier actually allows. For operators comparing tools against a broader software stack, food costing and recipe management software pricing in the UK in 2026 ranges from free spreadsheets through to enterprise platforms at £250–500+ per month, so knowing exactly what each free tier delivers before committing setup time matters.
Named Free Recipe Costing Software: What Each Free Tier Actually Includes
Free-tier caps vary widely, and several vendors do not publish them at all, which makes comparison harder than it first appears. The table below sets out what each tool actually states, so you can see where the real limits sit. All free-tier terms checked September 2026.
| Free Tool | Free-Tier Recipe Cap | Free-Tier Ingredient Cap | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freecost | Not published | Not published | Web, Android |
| CookKeepBook | 20 recipes | Not published separately | Web |
| Dishboard | Not published | Not published | Web, iPhone app |
| PrepSheet | Free 14-day full-access trial; paid Recipes plan (€44.95) includes 100 recipes | Managed ingredient database; no ingredient-count limit published | Web |
| FoodCore | Free calculator: unlimited; full costing features on paid Growth plan from £40/month | Not published | Browser-based (desktop, tablet, mobile) |
Freecost is a free recipe-costing tool built by a chef, available on web and Android, which automatically re-costs every recipe and menu item when an ingredient price is updated or an invoice is snapped with a phone. Its public guides state that the product automates live recipe costing, yield math, invoice capture and waste logging. Freecost publishes no paid tier or pricing ladder, and the only call to action is “Start free — no credit card,” which implies the product is positioned as entirely free. It suits restaurants and kitchens managing costing and kitchen information, including across more than one location. Free-tier terms checked September 2026.
CookKeepBook offers a free standard account. The free tier allows up to 20 saved recipes and 20 smart imports; once either limit is reached, the account switches to read-only mode for content above those limits until the user selects a paid plan. Paid plans unlock unlimited recipes, imports and cloud sync. Indicative pricing is US$6.99/month or US$39.99/year, though the exact sterling amount varies by region and platform. It suits bakeries, caterers and other food businesses that need to cost sub-recipes such as doughs, fillings and sauces. Free-tier terms checked September 2026.
Dishboard is a free platform built for small food businesses to cost recipes down to the gram or millilitre, track margins and see profits update instantly as you type. It is not web-only, because it also offers an iPhone app, “Dishboard for Restaurants”, available on the Apple App Store and requiring iOS 15.1 or later. It suits independent restaurants, bistros, pubs, cafés and multi-site restaurant groups that need item-level food cost tracking and real-time margin visibility. Free-tier terms checked September 2026.
PrepSheet is Prepsheets, a web-based recipe intelligence and costing tool for professional kitchens that offers a free 14-day full-access trial with no credit card required, rather than a permanent free tier. Its paid Recipes plan costs €44.95 and includes 100 recipes. It suits professional kitchens of many types, from restaurants and cafés to hotels, catering companies, bakeries, food producers, schools and butchers, that want to test a structured recipe-costing workflow before committing to paid software. Free-tier terms checked September 2026.
FoodCore is kitchen management software for small UK food businesses whose free, unlimited recipe cost calculator requires no account and runs in any browser on desktop, tablet or mobile. Its full recipe costing features, including cost calculator, margins and supplier price history, sit in the paid Growth plan from £40/month inc. VAT. It suits small UK food businesses including home bakers, bakeries with 1–5 staff, caterers, market stall traders, meal prep operations and small food manufacturers. Free-tier terms checked September 2026.
Some tools are browser-based while others have desktop or offline editions. Several free recipe costing tools publish Windows 10 desktop editions, including the GarvitTech Recipe-Costing-Application (WPF + SQLite, supporting Windows 10/11), erick1773’s Recipe-Costing-Application (requiring Windows 10 or higher), and PlateProfitAI (a local-first Windows desktop application).
Can I Download A Free Recipe Cost Calculator For Excel?
Yes. A free recipe cost calculator for Excel or Google Sheets is a common starting point for UK kitchens with a small number of recipes. Google Sheets templates are widely available and the Eat App Free Food Cost Calculator is one downloadable option. For operators already using spreadsheets, Jelly’s existing guide Free Menu Costing Software: When Spreadsheets Stop Working covers the transition in detail.
How To Do Food Costing In Excel
The pack-size-to-portion formula in metric is straightforward. Cost per unit equals pack price divided by pack size, and portion cost equals cost per unit multiplied by portion size. If chicken costs £8/kg and a recipe uses 180g, the cost per portion is £8 ÷ 1,000g × 180g = £1.44. The food-cost percentage is then £1.44 ÷ selling price × 100. For a dish selling at £12.00, the food-cost percentage is 12%.
Yield adjustment adds a further step. A 5 kg salmon fillet pack at £45.00 with a 180g portion and 90% yield has a raw cost of £0.009 per gram, a usable cost of £0.01 per gram after trim and skin loss, and a portion cost of £1.80.
Manual formulas break at predictable points: recipe volume beyond 15–20 items, supplier price volatility that requires re-costing every dish when one ingredient changes, multi-site consistency where each site maintains its own spreadsheet version, and reporting needs that require actual vs theoretical food cost analysis. At that point, a free recipe cost calculator becomes a liability rather than an asset. For a broader comparison of spreadsheet alternatives, see Jelly’s guide Chef Menu Costing Spreadsheet Alternatives Compared.
UK-Specific Compliance And Unit Conversion For Free Food Costing Software UK
UK kitchens work in metric, but supplier invoices often mix units. Free food costing software UK operators choose must handle kg-to-g and litre-to-ml conversion without manual intervention. Pack-size changes are a known failure point for manual spreadsheets, because hard-coded formulas become wrong if unit references are not updated when a supplier switches pack sizes.
VAT treatment matters for accurate menu pricing. HMRC guidance states that standard 20% VAT must be added to any food and drink prepared for catering or takeaway, including meals eaten in a restaurant or at a café’s tables. Cold takeaway food customers eat elsewhere is usually zero-rated, but exceptions always charged at 20% include potato-based crisps, sweets and chocolate confectionery, ice cream, soft drinks and alcohol. Free tools that do not store VAT treatment against ingredients create a pricing risk as menus grow. VAT is not the only compliance requirement that free tools struggle with, however.
Allergen tracking is a legal obligation. Under Natasha’s Law, any business producing prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food must label it with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens required to be declared by law emphasised within that list. The 14 allergens UK food businesses must declare include celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (where concentration exceeds ten parts per million), and tree nuts. Free recipe costing software that does not store allergen data against ingredients creates a compliance risk for any bakery, café or caterer producing PPDS food.
Ingredient price inflation remains a live pressure. The ONS Consumer Price Inflation bulletin for July 2026 reported that the CPIH “Restaurants and hotels” division rose 4.0% year-on-year, well above the 3.1% headline CPIH rate. Materials and supplies costs for UK catering businesses surged 113% between 2015 and 2025 — the highest increase recorded across all sectors analysed. A free tool that requires manual price updates cannot keep pace with this volatility at scale.
When Free Recipe Costing Software Stops Working
Free recipe costing software stops working at five concrete triggers that show when a paid platform will return its cost.
- Recipe volume beyond the free-tier cap. CookKeepBook’s free tier caps recipes at 20; once the limit is reached, the account switches to read-only mode until a paid plan is selected. Other tools cap recipes or ingredients without publishing the exact number. When you hit the cap, you cannot add new dishes without upgrading.
- Multi-site operations. A decentralised spreadsheet at one location is manageable, but at two locations it becomes impossible because free tools cannot consolidate inventory, log transfers between locations, or compare food cost across sites with consistent data.
- Supplier price volatility. Maintaining live recipe costs across shared sub-recipes is exactly the part spreadsheets cannot sustain. When ingredient prices change weekly, manually updating every recipe in a free tool becomes unsustainable. Manually updating ingredient prices in spreadsheets is tedious, error-prone and usually gets deprioritised when the kitchen gets busy, which leaves operators running inaccurate numbers for weeks.
- VAT and allergen reporting needs. Free tools rarely store VAT treatment or allergen data against ingredients, which creates compliance risk as your menu grows under Natasha’s Law and HMRC catering VAT rules.
- The need for automated invoice data. Free tools require manual entry of ingredient prices. A single-site UK café typically processes 30 to 60 supplier invoices a month, a volume at which manual entry becomes a time sink that erodes the value of the free tool entirely.
The free tier is a starting point, not a destination. Once you hit those triggers, the question shifts from which free tool to what the paid alternative actually delivers.
Jelly: The Paid Upgrade For Operators Who Have Outgrown Free Recipe Costing Software
Jelly is the paid upgrade for established restaurants, pubs and boutique hotels. It is built for operators with £500k+ annual revenue who have outgrown free recipe costing software. Jelly automates invoice scanning, capturing every line item from a photo or email. It then sends Price Alert notifications the moment an ingredient price changes on any supplier invoice. Live dish costing updates every time a new invoice is processed, so a dish that was profitable last week does not quietly become a loss-maker today.
Pricing is a flat £129/month per location. There is no variable charge per user or feature, and no invoice volume cap. For a UK business doing £800k turnover, a £129/month food costing tool represents 0.2% of revenue. Jelly works alongside POS systems including Square, EPOS Now, Lightspeed and Toast, and integrates with Xero for accounting. Jelly is a paid tool, priced at £129/month per location.
Operators who have made the move report measurable results. Stuart Noble, Head Chef at Cairn Lodge Hotel, states: “Price hikes were crushing our margins — I felt helpless. With Jelly, every dish cost is up-to-date at my fingertips. We slashed food costs by 5% in a month.” Murat Kilic, Chef-Owner of Amber restaurant in East London, reports saving £3,000–£4,000 per month through invoice automation, price change alerts and real-time costing. Ruth Seggie, Owner of The Howard Arms, reached 80% gross profit after implementing Jelly, up from a projected 60%.
See Jelly’s pricing page for full details on what is included at £129/month per location.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is There Any Free Software I Can Use To Manage My Recipe Book?
Yes. Several free tools exist for UK operators managing a recipe book. CookKeepBook offers a free standard account with a capped number of recipes and imports before a paid plan is required, and the account switches to read-only mode for content above those limits. Freecost is positioned as entirely free, with no published paid tier, and is available on web and Android with no credit card required. Dishboard, Prepsheets and FoodCore also offer free options, though Prepsheets provides a time-limited trial rather than a permanent free tier. For kitchens with a small number of recipes, Excel or Google Sheets templates are also a viable free option.
Free Recipe Costing Software For Windows 10 — What Are My Options?
Several free recipe costing tools publish Windows 10 desktop editions, including the GarvitTech Recipe-Costing-Application (WPF + SQLite, supporting Windows 10/11), erick1773’s Recipe-Costing-Application (requiring Windows 10 or higher), and PlateProfitAI (a local-first Windows desktop application). Among the named tools, CookKeepBook, Dishboard and Prepsheets are browser-based and run in any modern browser on Windows 10, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge, with no additional purchase required. Excel runs as a native desktop application on Windows 10, whereas Google Sheets is browser-based with no native desktop app for Windows or Mac, though it can be installed as a PWA via Chrome or Edge on Windows.
What Is The Best Free Recipe Costing Software?
There is no single best free tool, because the right choice depends on your business type and recipe volume. Use the routing table above to shortlist two or three options, then check each against the free-tier caps in the second table.
When Should I Move From Free Recipe Costing Software To A Paid Tool?
The triggers are the same five covered earlier: recipe volume, multi-site operations, price volatility, compliance needs and invoice automation. As covered in the compliance section, Natasha’s Law requires allergen labelling for PPDS food, and a free tool that does not store allergen data creates a legal risk. When invoice volume reaches the point where manual entry consumes hours each week, a paid platform that automates invoice scanning and live dish costing delivers a measurable return.
Conclusion: Match The Tool To Your Business, Know The Limits, Recognise The Trigger
Match the free recipe costing tool to your business type, know the free-tier limits and recognise the trigger point at which free stops working. For cafés, bakeries, food trucks, caterers and small restaurants with 15–60 recipes, a free recipe cost calculator is a viable starting point, and dedicated software becomes worthwhile as recipe ranges grow. Free tools handle calculation but not the full system of costing, compliance and invoice automation. When recipe volume, multi-site operations, supplier price volatility, VAT and allergen reporting, or automated invoice data needs exceed what free tools can handle, it is time to evaluate paid software. Jelly is the paid upgrade for growing restaurants, pubs and boutique hotels that have outgrown free recipe costing software.
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