Versus DishCost
$39 is still a notebook. Switch this week for $29.
Same job: cost the dish, see the %, charge the price. Food Cost Calculator remembers the kitchen, imports the vendor CSV, and alerts when flour moves. DishCost Pro is $39/month. MarketMan Starter is $249/month and a demo call.
| Food Cost Calculator | DishCost Pro | MarketMan Starter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $29 | $39 | $249 |
| Checkout | Card. Cancel in settings. | Stripe. Cancel in settings. | Book a demo |
| Guest calculator | The homepage | A separate tool | No |
| Vendor CSV | On Kitchen | On Pro | Via onboarding |
| Inventory / POS | Not in this product | Not included | That’s the product |
What $39 does not get you — their list, dated 2026-09-19
From dishcost.com/pricing, “What $39 doesn't get you”:
- Immediate Kitchen Velocity: Skip the 6-month enterprise onboarding. Calculate in 30 seconds on the pass with open CSV interoperability when you scale.
- Zero POS Lock-In: Cost dishes and protect margins today without handing over till credentials, waiting on IT, or paying hardware licensing fees.
- Direct Vendor CSV: Skip glitchy OCR camera scans. Paste or import the clean CSV your distributor rep already emails you weekly.
- Kitchen Math, Not Bloated Ledgers: Fast, operational plate costing on the line, leaving payroll and tax to your existing bookkeeper.
So the honest fight is not about complex enterprise software versus a spreadsheet. The fight is about mechanical kitchen leverage: when distributor invoices move, Food Cost Calculator automatically recalculates every affected dish and drink across your menu. You get transparent plate and pour math without a paywall, open CSV export that you own, instant multi-recipe margin alerts, and zero enterprise demo walls—all for $29/mo.
Export their CSV. Two clicks. Kitchen this afternoon. No demo.
DishCost price from https://dishcost.com/pricing, 2026-09-19. MarketMan from their pricing page, 2026-09-19.