Replace / Paprika
Best free Paprika alternatives (open source, self-hosted) 2026
The best open-source alternative to Paprika is Mealie or Tandoor Recipes, self-hosted on Railway. Recipes you host. Mealie is AGPL-3.0 — Paprika without the app-store seat. Tandoor is AGPL-3.0 with Commons Clause (not OSI).
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How Paprika compares
| Paprika | Mealie / Tandoor | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hosted subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Public list price not verified this run | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Mealie
AGPL-3.0 recipe manager and meal planner (the OSI path)
- Tandoor Recipes
AGPL-3.0 with Commons Clause — not OSI; household self-host only
FAQ
- What is the best free open-source Paprika alternative?
- The best open-source alternative to Paprika is Mealie or Tandoor Recipes, self-hosted on Railway. Recipes you host. Mealie is AGPL-3.0 — Paprika without the app-store seat. Tandoor is AGPL-3.0 with Commons Clause (not OSI).
- Is it free?
- The Mealie / Tandoor licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Paprika seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Paprika?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Mealie / Tandoor stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Paprika links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Mealie / Tandoor stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Mealie + a database and a volume for images. Bind HTTP to 0.0.0.0:$PORT. Tandoor is the other box if you accept Commons Clause. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway.
- What does this replace?
- Paprika. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
Related pages
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