Larder vs starting a recipe blog
If you've thought about starting a recipe blog, you've probably also been told to pick a domain, install WordPress, configure SEO plugins, design a theme, write a brand kit, and post weekly for a year before anyone Googles you. That's a real path - but it's a lot. Larder is the opposite: sign up, paste in your recipes, share your public link. No hosting, no theme decisions, no SEO plugins, no Google AdSense. It's not a replacement for a serious food-blog business - it's a replacement for the hours you'd otherwise spend setting one up.
Side by side
| Feature | Larder | a recipe blog |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first published recipe | Under 60 seconds - sign up, paste, publish | Hours to days - domain, hosting, theme, layout, first post |
| Hosting | Included, free, fast | You manage it (or pay a managed host) |
| Recipe structure | Built in - ingredients, steps, scaling, nutrition, time | Plugin or manual; varies wildly between blogs |
| Mobile reading experience | Designed for cooks holding phones in the kitchen | Depends on theme; often heavy with ads |
| Ads | None | Often required to monetize, hurts reading experience |
| SEO | Static HTML, JSON-LD recipe schema, sitemap - fast and indexable | Strong if you invest in it; weak by default |
| Best for | Sharing recipes with friends, followers, family | Building a media business with ads, sponsorships, courses |
Pick Larder when
- → You want to share recipes, not start a media business.
- → You don't want to maintain a website or pay for hosting.
- → You want clean reading without ads or pop-ups for your followers.
- → You're a creator on Instagram/TikTok and need a bio link for recipes.
Pick a recipe blog when
- → You're building a long-term content business with ads, courses, or sponsorship as the goal.
- → You want full control over every aspect of design and infrastructure.
- → You plan to publish hundreds of long-form posts and rank in Google for them.
Common questions
Can Larder rank in Google like a blog can? +
Public cookbooks and recipes on Larder are statically rendered with proper Recipe schema markup, so they're indexable by Google and AI search engines. They won't out-SEO a dedicated food blog you've worked on for five years, but they're competitive for your name and your recipes.
Can I move from Larder to a blog later? +
Yes - your recipes are yours. You can export them and move to WordPress or any other platform if you outgrow Larder.
Does Larder have ads? +
No. We don't run ads on your cookbook or your recipes.