Best meal planning apps
By the rule below, the best meal planning app is Samsung Food (16 of 16 points), if you want free meal planning with shared lists on Android and the web as well as iPhone. Next are Honeydew (14 of 16 points), if you want a household that shares everything on iPhone and Android, and you will pay for Plus; and SideChef (14 of 16 points), if you want a big catalog of guided recipes with a photo or video at every step, and you order groceries from Walmart, Instacart or Amazon Fresh. 22 apps qualify.
The ranking
Samsung Food
You want free meal planning with shared lists on Android and the web as well as iPhone.
Price. Free for saving recipes, planning and shared lists. Samsung Food+ is $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. App Store
SideChef
You want a big catalog of guided recipes with a photo or video at every step, and you order groceries from Walmart, Instacart or Amazon Fresh.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (no).
Price. Free to download and use. Recipes, meal plans and grocery ordering do not need a subscription. SideChef Premium adds 800+ cooking classes and premium recipes for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, after a 7-day free trial. sidechef.com
CookNest
You want a free plan with sharing, Android and the web, or a printed cookbook of your recipes.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found).
Price. Free with 3 automatic imports a week and no card. The App Store lists PRO purchases from $3.99 to $29.99, with periods not shown. cooknest.app
Eat This Much
You want a planner that picks your meals to hit exact calorie and macro targets, on iPhone, Android or the web.
Short of full marks: Grocery list (partly), Send the list to grocery delivery (partly), What can I make from what I have (partly).
Price. Free for planning one day at a time. Premium is $59.99 a year ($5 a month) or $14.99 month to month, with a 14-day trial. help.eatthismuch.com
Plan to Eat
You plan the whole week on a calendar from your own recipe box, and you want the web and Android too. It has no free plan.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (partly), What can I make from what I have (not found).
Price. No free plan. $5.95 a month or $49 a year, with a 14-day trial and no card. The App Store lists a one-year membership at $54.99. plantoeat.com
Deglaze
You want free household sharing, a web app and Android, and a connector for ChatGPT and Claude with a paid plan.
Short of full marks: What can I make from what I have (partly), Nutrition (not found).
Price. Free: 20 imports, then 5 a week, with household sharing. Pro is $49.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. App Store
AnyList
The grocery list is what you really need, you share it with a partner, and recipes are a nice extra.
Short of full marks: What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found).
Price. Free. AnyList Complete is $9.99 a year for one person or $14.99 a year for a household. App Store
ReciMe
You want the most widely used social-video saver, you are on Android too, and you do not need a pantry.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (partly), Send the list to grocery delivery (partly), What can I make from what I have (not found), Web app (partly).
Price. Free with 5 imports a week. In the US the yearly plan is $39.99, with a 7-day trial. recime.app
Recipe Keeper
You want to pay once, you have family on Android or Windows, or you have a big backlog of paper recipes.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (partly), Web app (not found).
Price. Free download. Pro Upgrade is $19.99, once, on iPhone and iPad. The Mac version is $29.99. Each platform is a separate purchase. App Store
Saucepan our app
You want to save from Instagram, TikTok and websites, fill a Pantry by scanning your receipt, and cook with timers that ring, on iPhone. It is new: it launches November 13, 2026.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (no), Android (coming), Web app (partly).
Price. Free to use, with no ads. Saucepan+ is $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial. Saucepan
Cookpad
You want a large community of home-cook recipes with photos from people who cooked them, on iPhone, Android and the web.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (not found), Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), Nutrition (not found).
Price. Free, with no ads. The App Store lists Premium Service at $4.99 and $1.99. Premium puts the most popular recipes first in search, allows unlimited imports and adds advanced filters. App Store
Umami
You want a low-priced manager that works on iPhone, Android and the web, and gives your recipes back in open formats.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found).
Price. 30-day trial, then a subscription or lifetime purchase to add recipes. You can still view and export. The App Store lists $0.99 or $3.99 a month, $9.99 or $19.99 a year, $19.99 or $59.99 lifetime. App Store
Copy Me That
You mostly clip recipes from websites, want the lowest price, and like to use a browser as much as the phone.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (partly), Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found).
Price. Free up to 40 recipes. $0.99 a month for unlimited recipes, or $65 for lifetime. App Store
Paprika
You want to pay once, you cook with an Apple Watch or on Windows, or your library already lives in Paprika. Paprika 4 is in beta and says premium features will need a subscription afterwards.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (partly), Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (partly), Web app (no).
Price. iPhone and iPad $4.99, once. Mac $29.99. Each version is sold separately. paprikaapp.com
Foodie
You want a new iPhone app that also shares a household list. It is young and has too few ratings on the App Store to show a score.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), Nutrition (not found), Android (no), Web app (not found).
Price. Free: 3 AI imports and 5 chef messages every 7 days. Premium is $6.49 a month or $44.99 a year. foodie.chewable.fit
Crouton
You use a Mac or an Apple Watch in the kitchen, or you want SharePlay cooking, and you keep everything on iCloud.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (partly), Android (no), Web app (no).
Price. Free with limits. The App Store lists Crouton Plus at $24.99 and Crouton Discover at $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year. App Store
BigOven
You want a long-running recipe and meal planning app with an Apple Watch app and a shared grocery list.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found), Android (not found), Web app (not found).
Price. Free download. The App Store lists BigOven Pro at $2.99, $19.99 and $24.99, with periods not shown, and credit packs. App Store
Pestle
You want a design-led recipe manager with an Apple Watch app and a Chrome extension, and you are fine paying for Pro.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found), Android (no), Web app (not found).
Price. Free for 15 recipes. Pestle Pro is $24.99 a year, with a 14-day trial. The App Store also lists a monthly plan and lifetime purchases. App Store
Mela
You want a quiet Apple-only library on iCloud with a one-time price and a Mac app. Its last App Store update was June 2025.
Short of full marks: Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (partly), Android (no), Web app (no).
Price. Free to download. Mela+ is a one-time unlock: $6.99 on iPhone and iPad, $14.99 on Mac, bought separately. App Store
Pepperplate
You already use it and it still works for you. The iPhone app was last updated in April 2023, and it has 54 ratings on the US App Store.
Short of full marks: Shared with a household (not found), Send the list to grocery delivery (not found), What can I make from what I have (not found), Nutrition (not found), Android (not found).
Price. Free download. The App Store lists an auto-renewing monthly membership at $2.99. App Store
Partly qualify, so not ranked: Tasty (The App Store subtitle says "Meal Planner" and tasty.co has curated Meal Plans (Easy Meal Prep, Family Dinners, $40 A Week, $50 A Week). Planning your own week is not described); Kitchen Stories (The listing has a meal planning section with recipe suggestions for the week ahead. No day-by-day plan or calendar is described).
Feature by feature
- Yes
- Partly
- No
- Not found
- Coming
| App | Meal plan | Grocery list | Household | Delivery | What can I make | Nutrition | Android | Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Food | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Honeydew | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| SideChef | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CookNest | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Eat This Much | Yes | Partly | Yes | Partly | Partly | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cooklist | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Yes | Not found |
| Plan to Eat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Not found | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deglaze | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Not found | Yes | Yes |
| AnyList | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Yes | Yes |
| ReciMe | Yes | Yes | Partly | Partly | Not found | Yes | Yes | Partly |
| Recipe Keeper | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Partly | Yes | Yes | Not found |
| Saucepan (ours) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Coming | Partly |
| Cookpad | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Yes | Not found | Yes | Yes |
| Umami | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Not found | Yes | Yes |
| Copy Me That | Yes | Yes | Partly | Not found | Not found | Not found | Yes | Yes |
| Paprika | Yes | Yes | Partly | Not found | Not found | Partly | Yes | No |
| Foodie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Yes | Not found | No | Not found |
| Crouton | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Partly | No | No |
| BigOven | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Not found | Not found | Not found |
| Pestle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Not found | No | Not found |
| Mela | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Partly | No | No |
| Pepperplate | Yes | Yes | Not found | Not found | Not found | Not found | Not found | Yes |
Tap a mark for the note and its source. Each app’s name opens a page with every row.
How we ranked
A meal plan is required. Then the things that make planning stick: a grocery list from the plan, sharing it, sending it to delivery, cooking from what you have, nutrition, and planning from a laptop or an Android phone.
- To qualify, an app must have “Meal plan” (Yes, not Partly). Closed apps and general tools like Apple Notes and Notion are left out.
- Score: 2 points for Yes, 1 for Partly, 0 for No, Not found or Coming, over 8 features: Meal plan, Grocery list, Shared with a household, Send the list to grocery delivery, What can I make from what I have, Nutrition, Android and Web app. Most is 16.
- Apps with no App Store update since November 2025 go below the ones that are kept up.
- Ties go to the app with more US App Store ratings. Saucepan has none yet, so it goes below any app it ties with.
- “Not found” scores zero: we credit only what an app’s own pages show. That can undercount an app that does more than its pages say.
Saucepan is our app. It is scored from its own feature list by the same rule.
Questions
What is the best meal planning app?
By the rule below, the best meal planning app is Samsung Food (16 of 16 points), if you want free meal planning with shared lists on Android and the web as well as iPhone. Next are Honeydew (14 of 16 points), if you want a household that shares everything on iPhone and Android, and you will pay for Plus; and SideChef (14 of 16 points), if you want a big catalog of guided recipes with a photo or video at every step, and you order groceries from Walmart, Instacart or Amazon Fresh. 22 apps qualify.
How did you rank these apps?
To qualify, an app must have “Meal plan” (Yes, not Partly). Closed apps and general tools like Apple Notes and Notion are left out. Score: 2 points for Yes, 1 for Partly, 0 for No, Not found or Coming, over 8 features: Meal plan, Grocery list, Shared with a household, Send the list to grocery delivery, What can I make from what I have, Nutrition, Android and Web app. Most is 16. Apps with no App Store update since November 2025 go below the ones that are kept up. Ties go to the app with more US App Store ratings. Saucepan has none yet, so it goes below any app it ties with. “Not found” scores zero: we credit only what an app’s own pages show. That can undercount an app that does more than its pages say.
Which of these have a free plan?
Samsung Food, Honeydew, SideChef, CookNest, Eat This Much, Cooklist, Deglaze, AnyList, ReciMe, Recipe Keeper, Saucepan, Cookpad, Copy Me That, Foodie, Crouton, BigOven, Pestle and Mela. Free plans have limits; each app’s line above says what it is.
Which of these work on Android?
Samsung Food, Honeydew, SideChef, CookNest, Eat This Much, Cooklist, Plan to Eat, Deglaze, AnyList, ReciMe, Recipe Keeper, Cookpad, Umami, Copy Me That and Paprika, as their own pages say.
Is Saucepan on this list because you make it?
Saucepan is our app, so we score it by the same rule from its own feature list, and say so on the list. It ranks #12 of 22 here. It launches on November 13, 2026 and has no ratings yet.
When was this checked?
Feature marks were read from each app’s App Store listing, website and help pages on November 1, 2026, and prices, platforms and update dates on November 4, 2026. Apps change often.