Side by side

Freecost vs Ratatool

Both stand on restaurant recipe costing software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Freecost

Free plan AndroidWeb

Freecost brings ingredient pricing, recipe costing, inventory, and waste tracking together for kitchen operators. Its free plan has no usage cap, but it omits several scheduling, purchasing, vendor, and catering workflows.

Visit Freecost

Ratatool

Free plan Web

Ratatool links recipe costing with production, purchasing, inventory, and traceability workflows. Its free plan has tight limits, while the listed paid plans are billed annually.

Visit Ratatool

The facts

	Freecost	Ratatool
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	Android, Web	Web
Lowest paid plan	Free or on request	Free or on request
Plans published	1	3
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	freefoodcost.com	ratatool.com
On restaurant recipe costing software	#8 of 28	#12 of 28

Freecost: what it does well

Calculates recipe and menu-item food-cost percentages
Tracks ingredient vendors, pack sizes, and allergens
Invoice scans update ingredient and recipe costs
Offline inventory counts include dated valuations
Free plan has unlimited recipes and ingredients

What to know first

No labor scheduling
No purchase-order approval workflows
No vendor management across several locations
No catering event or BEO management

Ratatool: what it does well

Tracks supplier price history and critical thresholds.
Production quantities can become supplier orders.
Exports data in PDF, CSV, and Excel.
Multi-site users can have assigned rights.
A free plan includes four recipes and 15 ingredients.

What to know first

ESSAI is limited to four recipes and 15 ingredients.
STANDARD is billed 24 € per month, billed annually.
PREMIUM is billed 41 € per month, billed annually.
Subscriptions auto-renew.

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