Best recipe costing software in the UK: a fair look at who fits whom

Most "best software" lists are written by directories that get paid per click. This one is written by one of the products on it. So read it with that in mind. I have tried to be fair, and I say where each tool is the better pick.

Facts and prices are from each company's own site in November 2026. They change. Check before you buy.

First, what do you actually need?

The right tool depends on three questions. Answer them before you book any demo.

1. How many sites? One kitchen, a handful, or a group with a head office.
2. Costing or stock? Do you want to know what a dish costs, or also count stock, place orders and match deliveries?
3. Who does the typing? If nobody will enter supplier prices every week, you need something that reads invoices. Otherwise the numbers go stale in a month.

If you run ten dishes from one supplier, a good spreadsheet may be all you need. Spreadsheet or software is honest about when that is true.

The tools, one by one

KitchenNmbrs

Built for independent restaurants, roughly one to five sites. It covers recipe and menu costing, allergens, HACCP checklists and menu engineering.

• Good for: a chef who wants costing plus allergens and food safety in one place, with a lot of help articles.
• Worth knowing: it has a free food cost calculator with no account. The app comes in 11 languages.
• Price: in euros, per location, ex VAT. €24.99 a month paid yearly, €34.99 on a 12-month plan, €54.99 month to month. 7-day free trial.
• Check: whether it reads supplier invoices for you, if that matters to you.

Jelly

A London company. It reads supplier invoices, costs recipes, alerts you when prices move and reports GP and sales mix. It also does stock and ordering.

• Good for: UK independents, pubs and small groups who want invoices, GP and stock in one tool.
• Worth knowing: it connects to Lightspeed K-Series for sales data.
• Price: not published that we could find. Ask them.
• Check: which POS systems it links to, if you are not on Lightspeed.

MarketMan

A full back-of-house system: recipe costing, inventory, ordering, waste and actual vs theoretical food cost. It scans invoices with AI.

• Good for: operators who want to run stock and purchasing properly, from one busy site up to chains.
• Worth knowing: it links to Square, Toast, Lightspeed and Clover. Starter includes 50 invoice scans a month. Growth has unlimited.
• Price: in US dollars, per month. Starter $249, Growth $299, Enterprise from $449.
• Check: whether you will really use the inventory side. If not, it is a lot of system for costing alone.

Apicbase

Built for multi-outlet operations: groups, hotels, contract catering. Recipes, menu engineering, allergens, nutrition labels, procurement, inventory, forecasting and POS links.

• Good for: a group with a central kitchen and a team that owns the numbers.
• Worth knowing: its Growth plan starts at five outlets, so it is not aimed at a single site.
• Price: on request. Billed yearly; monthly billing costs 15% more.
• Check: onboarding time. A system this broad takes set-up.

meez

Started as a recipe tool for chefs, now with costing on every plan. Inventory comes in from Pro, invoice processing from Premium. Menu engineering and POS links are Enterprise only.

• Good for: chefs who care most about writing, scaling and sharing recipes, with costing alongside.
• Worth knowing: the Starter plan is cheap and built for one chef. There is no native phone app.
• Price: in US dollars, per month, paid yearly (monthly in brackets). Starter $19 ($24), Pro $89 ($119), Premium $179 ($199), Enterprise on request. 14-day trial.
• Check: which tier you need for invoices. It is not the cheap one.

Mise n' Price (us)

Built for a chef-owner who wants one answer: what does this dish cost me today? You photograph a supplier invoice. The ingredient prices fill in. Every dish that uses them shows its new cost and GP, with VAT taken out.

• Good for: one kitchen, or a chef running a few, who wants dish costs to stay current without typing.
• Worth knowing: yield, waste, sub-recipes and batches go into the cost. There is a UK allergen sheet and tasting menu budgets. It works in English and Hebrew.
• What it does not do: no stock counts, no purchase orders, no POS link. If you need those, look at MarketMan, Jelly or Apicbase.
• Price: free until 13 December, in closed beta. After that, £39 a month for one kitchen, £79 for up to five. Prices are on our pricing page.
• Check: that a small, new product suits you. We are small. You will talk to the founder.

Side by side

"Check" means we could not confirm it from their site. Ask them.

How to choose in one afternoon

• Take your three best sellers and one recent invoice.
• Book a trial or demo of two tools, no more.
• Cost the same three dishes in each. Time it.
• Change one supplier price. See how long it takes for the dishes to update.
• Pick the one your team will still use in March.

The cheapest tool is the one that gets used. A £200 system nobody opens costs more than a spreadsheet that is kept up.

If you are not sure your numbers are right to start with, begin with how to cost a dish and what GP to aim for. Software only makes good numbers faster.

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Check one dish before you choose anything. The free GP calculator takes the VAT off and shows your real GP.

Want to try invoice-to-dish costing? Mise n' Price is in closed beta, free until 13 December. Apply for the beta.