ChatGPT
"Give me a chicken recipe."
You get a generic recipe. You cook it, maybe change a few things. Close the tab. Next week you can't remember what you changed. You ask again and get a completely different recipe. Your cooking history? Gone.
A private kitchen journal
Your AI cooking partner
that remembers everything.
ChatGPT gives you a recipe and forgets you exist. PrivateCookbook remembers every meal you've cooked, every change you've made, and every rating you've given — then uses that history to help you cook better every week.
Free forever plan No credit card Cancel anytime
- Plan whole meals — main, sides, desserts, drinks
- AI cooking timeline coordinates timing
- Every cook saved as a versioned snapshot
- Snap your fridge for instant recipe ideas
March 14
Sunday Banana Bread
v6 · Bobby's kitchen
Changes: 1 tsp cardamom + 2 extra bananas
Outcome: Crumb softer than v5. Best one yet. Cardamom stays.
45 min · 350°F cooked 6×
The honest answer
Why not just use ChatGPT?
Fair question. Here's what the difference actually feels like.
PrivateCookbook
"Plan dinner for Saturday — chicken with sides."
I know you've cooked 47 recipes. Your lemon herb chicken got 5 stars last month — adjusted for 4, no tree nuts. Pair it with the roasted asparagus you loved in March and a simple garlic bread. Combined grocery list ready. And here's the timeline: chicken in at T-45, asparagus at T-25, bread at T-10. Everything done at the same minute.
Any AI can generate a recipe.
Only PrivateCookbook remembers what happened after you cooked it.
That's the whole pitch
How it's different
Seven things no other app can do.
Real differentiators, not feature checklists.
Level 12
It coordinates the whole meal
Real cooks plan meals, not isolated recipes. Add a main, a side, a dessert, a drink — PrivateCookbook combines the ingredient lists, estimates timing, and asks the AI to build a chef's-eye prep + cook timeline so everything's ready at the same time. No other app does this.
Add sides + desserts Combined ingredient list AI cooking timeline Cook like a chef
It remembers every cook
Every time you make a recipe, PrivateCookbook saves exactly what you did — what you changed, how it turned out, what you'd do differently. After a few weeks, you have a living history of your cooking that no other app or AI can match.
It learns what you love
Your taste profile builds automatically from your cooking history. Favorite ingredients, preferred cuisines, dietary needs, household size. The longer you use it, the better it knows your kitchen.
It plans your whole week
Tell the AI how many nights you want to cook. It builds a meal plan from your highest-rated recipes mixed with new suggestions that match your taste — then generates your grocery list automatically.
It sees what you have
Snap a photo of your fridge or pantry. The AI identifies your ingredients and suggests recipes you can make right now — from your own collection first, then new ideas that fit your profile.
It cooks with you
Cook mode keeps the screen on, walks you through each step with large text and timers, and lets you ask the AI questions mid-cook. "Can I substitute almond milk?" Just ask — it knows the recipe and your preferences.
It shares without oversharing
Send any recipe to family or friends. They get their own copy and track their own versions. Your full cookbook stays private.
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing.
Free forever for the core. Premium unlocks unlimited everything.
Free
Everything you need to get started — including AI.
$0forever
- 20 recipes
- 10 AI chat messages per day
- 5 photo analyses per month
- Version tracking on every recipe
- Cook mode with universal timers
- Share up to 3 recipes
Premium
Unlimited everything. Your full AI cooking partner.
Best value
$3.33/ month
Billed $39.99 yearly — save 33%
- Unlimited recipes
- Unlimited AI chat
- Unlimited photo analyses
- Unlimited AI meal planning + auto-grocery
- Unlimited recipe sharing
- Dietary modifications (keto, allergen-free, scale)
- Nutrition + calorie estimates
- Recipe print + PDF export
Start free — no credit card required. Upgrade when you're ready.
Questions
Things people ask.
How is this different from ChatGPT?
ChatGPT forgets you the moment you close the tab. PrivateCookbook remembers every recipe you've cooked, every change you've made, and every rating you've given — then uses that history to suggest things you'll actually love. The longer you use it, the better it gets.
Is it really free?
Yes. The free plan includes 20 recipes, full version tracking on every cook, cook mode with timers, 10 AI chat messages per day, and 5 photo analyses per month. No credit card required to start.
What does Premium add?
Unlimited everything. Unlimited recipes, unlimited AI chat, unlimited photo analysis, unlimited meal planning + auto-grocery lists, unlimited recipe sharing, dietary modifications, nutrition data. $4.99/month or $39.99/year.
Can I plan meals with sides and desserts?
Yes — this is the level-12 feature. Add a main dish, then attach sides, desserts, and drinks. PrivateCookbook combines the ingredient lists across every dish, estimates total cook time, and the AI generates a chef's-eye prep + cook timeline so everything's ready at the same minute. No other meal planning app does this.
How does sharing work?
Open any recipe, click Share, enter someone's email. They get read access to that one recipe under their own account. They can cook it and track their own versions. You can revoke a share anytime. Sharing one recipe never exposes the rest of your cookbook.
Is my data private?
Yes. We don't sell your data, we don't share it with advertisers, and we don't train AI models on your private cookbook. The only people who can see your recipes are you and the specific people you explicitly share individual recipes with.
What about the AI — does it train on my recipes?
No. We use API endpoints from our AI provider (OpenAI for vision, optionally a local model for text) that are contractually committed to NOT training on user content. Your recipes stay yours.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel from your settings page in two clicks. You keep access through the end of the billing period you paid for, and your recipes + cooking history stay exactly where they are even after cancelling.
Cook today.
Remember it forever.
Open your cookbook in under 30 seconds. No credit card. No setup. Just start writing things down.