costed plateThe meaningful difference
Costed Plate is a free local browser ledger for ingredients, nested recipes, portions and menu-price scenarios. It also provides manual sales-based menu engineering, price-change previews, backups and printing. It has no live stock ledger, purchase orders, POS connection, accounting integration or shared team account. The optional invoice reader sends a selected image to an AI provider after consent and requires review before applying changes.
ChefTec's checked official page describes recipe and menu costing, inventory control, purchasing and production features across editions. That makes it a different operating choice from a browser-only costing worksheet. Product editions, integrations and contract terms still need to be confirmed for your situation.
| Decision | Costed Plate | ChefTec |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Local recipe and menu costing | recipe and menu costing, inventory control, purchasing and production features across editions |
| Purchase decision | Free browser ledger, no account | No normalized package price is quoted here. Ask Culinary Software Services about the edition, modules and cloud-service terms. |
| Best evaluation | Cost your own recipe and export it | Demonstrate the operating workflow you need |
Where ChefTec is the stronger fit
An established foodservice operation seeking purchasing and inventory controls alongside costing. If that describes your operation, a free costing worksheet does not replace the surrounding controls. Evaluate the vendor's supported workflow before trying to recreate it with disconnected files.
List the profit centers you actually operate and ask which edition covers them. Show an ingredient used in more than one kitchen and request a transfer demonstration. Verify the installation and support arrangement on the devices your staff will use.
Where Costed Plate fits
Use the local ledger when the immediate job is to understand a recipe, test a portion or see the effect of a purchase-price change. Manual inputs make the calculation inspectable. Keeping the ledger on a device can suit an individual operator, provided that person exports backups and understands that clearing browser data can remove the working copy.
The tradeoff is responsibility for updates. No supplier feed keeps Costed Plate prices current, and no sales integration enters units sold. If those manual tasks are the reason your numbers go stale, put their ongoing workload into the evaluation. A lower software bill does not automatically mean a lower total operating cost.
Before you choose
Use the same real recipe and pack specification in both products. Confirm the purchase unit, trim yield and finished batch yield before comparing the totals. A different result may reflect a different input rather than a calculation defect. Ask for an export and test whether it preserves the information you need for a future move.
We reviewed public vendor documentation, not an authenticated paid account. Feature statements are vendor-described, not independently timed performance tests. No savings claim, customer rating or universal ranking is implied.
Prices and features checked on October 29, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email contact@costedplate.com.
Sources and method
Checked October 30, 2026. Example inputs and computed results are identified in the text.
- Product limits and data handling. Costed Plate. Application limits are enforced in the source code. Local examples are explicitly illustrative. Checked 2026-10-30.
- CorTec and ChefTec Software for the Foodservice Industry. ChefTec. Checked 2026-10-29.