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Add to SafariWhen comparing BigOven vs Basil, the Slant community recommends Basil for most people. In the question“What are the best recipe manager apps for iOS?” Basil is ranked 1st while BigOven is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Basil is:
Basil uses a highlighting system that allows selecting each element of the recipe instead of having to type it in.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Household grocery list and menu planning sharing
Use a single grocery list and menu plan with multiple accounts.
Pro Can scan in handwritten and printed recipes
Can convert images to text.
Pro Allows ad-free use
With optional membership, lets you get rid of all ads and add unlimited recipes; great free trial model.
Pro Breaks down ingredients into nutritional info
Users can see the nutritional information of any meal based on the contents of the ingredients.
Pro Good grocery list creator
Pro Great organizational options
Great use of Folders -- can set them up for occasions, people you cook for, and more. Also the separate "Favorite" and "Try" list let you keep track of things that you'd like to try apart from those that are truly your favorite.
Pro Can upload your own photos of your typed-in recipes
Pro Offers a big list of recipes to search through and an advanced search
Has over 350.000 recipes to search through and an advanced search that allows setting dietary restrictions, ingredients to be added or excluded and what categories to search through.
Pro Everything syncs with web and other devices
Pro Offers a free trial
Pro Good menu planner
Pro Reasonable site-clipping
Pro Manual recipe clipping doesn't require typing
Basil uses a highlighting system that allows selecting each element of the recipe instead of having to type it in.
Pro Good web clipper
Recipes found on the web can be added to Basil by simply navigating to the recipe using the built-in web browser and clicking the plus icon. It will automatically import recipes from a variety of sources including epicurious.com, seriouseats.com and chow.com.
Pro Flexible organizational methods
Recipes added to Basil get automatically tagged. Tags include ingredients as well as meal and cuisine types. It allows quickly finding what recipes can be made from available ingredients.
Pro Tools that help prepare meals
The app includes timers that can be activated from the directions section.
Pro Easy to use grocery list creator
Grocery list creator is easy to use and it does small helpful things such as combine all quantities of ingredients and offers substitution suggestions.
Pro Simple interface
The interface is very clean, clear, easy to understand and pleasant to use.
Cons
Con Charges for image scanning
BigOven lets users take pictures of handwritten or typed recipes and have them transcribed. The first 3 are free, and then it costs $20.00 per year for up to 25 additional scans.
Con You can't do very much with the FREE option - you pretty much have to pay the $20/year
Con Limited organizational options
Recipes can be saved to "Try", "Favorites" and "Folder" (creating folders requires a subscription). Additionally there are categories for recipes added and made.
Con No longer maintained
No bug fixed, waste of time
Con iPad only
There's no iPhone version.
Con No meal planner
There are no tools for planning out meals in advance.
Con Web clipper requires using the built-in browser
To import a recipe, Basil's built-in browser has to be used to navigate to the recipe. There's no way to "share" to Basil.
