Pluck vs NYT Cooking: Your Recipes, No Paywall
NYT Cooking has some of the best-tested recipes on the internet. Its Recipe Box holds NYT recipes only, it costs about $5/month or $40/year, and it doesn't save from other websites, social media, videos or photos. Pluck is a different kind of app: instead of subscribing to one publisher's recipes, you save recipes from anywhere you find them, including cooking videos.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Pluck | NYT Cooking |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Save recipes from any source | Access NYT's tested recipes |
| Save from other websites | Yes (AI extraction from any URL) | No (Recipe Box holds NYT recipes only) |
| Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook | Yes (reads the video) | No |
| Photo / image extraction | AI vision (cookbooks, handwriting, screenshots) | No |
| AI cooking assistant | Yes, in cook mode (paid plans) | No |
| Cook mode | Yes (step timers, ingredients per step) | Yes (added May 2026) |
| Meal planning | Yes (weekly; Fill my week on Plus and Pro) | None listed |
| Grocery list | Yes (merged, sorted by aisle, shared with up to 5 people) | Yes (with Instacart; shared by email or export only) |
| Cooking log | Yes (times cooked, last cooked) | Yes ("Mark as Cooked" list) |
| Editorial recipe catalog | No | Yes (tested by NYT) |
| Platforms | iOS, Android | iOS, Android, web |
| Price | Free; paid plans from $2.99/mo | Subscription, about $5/mo or $40/yr |
Where NYT Cooking falls short
A subscription to read the recipes
NYT Cooking is a content subscription: about $5/month or $40/year (the App Store also lists other monthly and annual tiers). Without one, NYT's recipes are behind the paywall. Pluck's recipe box is free to start, and paid plans are optional.
Nothing from outside NYT Cooking
NYT's help centre says recipes hosted outside NYT Cooking can't be saved to your Recipe Box. That rules out other websites as well as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and it can't read a photo of a cookbook page or a handwritten card.
No AI help
NYT's headnotes and reader notes are excellent, but there's no assistant to ask about a substitution or scaling for the recipe you're cooking.
What Pluck does differently
Recipes from anywhere, including videos
Food blogs, Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, YouTube, Facebook and cookbook photos. Pluck's AI reads the page, the video or the image and writes a structured recipe.
A full copy in your recipe box
Every recipe Pluck saves is a complete, editable copy. It stays in your recipe box if the original page goes offline.
AI cooking assistant
On paid plans, ask about substitutions, scaling, unit conversion or technique while you cook, right from the step you're on.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pluck a replacement for NYT Cooking?
They do different jobs. NYT Cooking is a publisher with professionally tested recipes behind a subscription. Pluck is a personal recipe box that saves recipes from anywhere using AI. Plenty of people browse NYT Cooking for ideas and use Pluck for everything they find on social media, videos and family recipe cards.
Can NYT Cooking save recipes from other websites?
No. NYT's help centre says recipes hosted outside NYT Cooking can't be saved to your Recipe Box, and it doesn't save from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Facebook or read a photo. Pluck saves from all of those, and from NYT Cooking's own pages.
Can Pluck save recipes from NYT Cooking?
If a recipe page is publicly visible, Pluck can extract it. Paywalled pages need an active NYT subscription to see, and Pluck only extracts what's on the page.
What happens to my NYT Cooking recipes if I cancel?
Without a subscription you lose access to NYT's recipes. Check NYT's current terms for what stays visible in your Recipe Box. In Pluck, every saved recipe is your own copy and stays in your recipe box on any plan.
Does Pluck have a cook mode and grocery list like NYT Cooking?
Yes. Pluck's cook mode shows one step at a time with the ingredients for that step and timers you start from the step. Its grocery list merges duplicates and sorts by aisle, and you can share it with up to 5 other people. NYT's grocery list connects to Instacart, which Pluck doesn't.
Read our comparison of the best recipe apps in 2026.
Related reading: Best Recipe Apps 2026, How recipe apps compare, Yummly shut down: what to use instead, and Pluck vs ReciMe.
Ready to save recipes without a paywall?
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