Best meal planning apps (2026): 16 apps compared, with prices and App Store ratings
By the Cado team · Updated
The best meal planning app depends on how you plan. If you want the plan made for you, start with eMeals or Eat This Much; if you save recipes from TikTok, Instagram and blogs and plan from those, look at ReciMe, Paprika, Plan to Eat or Samsung Food; if a shared grocery list matters most, AnyList; and if you plan around a health goal, MyFitnessPal (for tracking) or Cado (for making recipes healthier). Below are 16 apps with their App Store price and rating as listed on November 1, 2026, what each does well and where each falls short, plus the apps that have shut down, including Mealime (October 21, 2026) and Ollie (November 6, 2026).
Disclosure: Cado makes Cado, one of the 16 apps on this list. Every rating and price comes from that app's US App Store page, opened on the date shown, and every feature claim comes from the app's own store listing or website. Cado is listed under the same rules as everyone else, in its group, ordered by number of ratings, which puts it last.
The apps at a glance
| App | Best for | Price (App Store) | App Store rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| eMeals | Families who want a ready-made weekly dinner plan | Free download; plans $37.49 to $99.99 (in-app) | 4.6 (52,778 ratings) |
| Eat This Much | Hitting calorie and macro targets on autopilot | Free; Premium $8.99 to $84.99 (in-app) | 4.7 (22,177 ratings) |
| Real Plans | Strict diets like Whole30, paleo or autoimmune | Free download; $18.99/month, $41.99/quarter or $78.99/year (in-app; Whole30 plans cost more) | 4.6 (2,174 ratings) |
| ReciMe | Saving recipes from Instagram, TikTok and YouTube | Free; ReciMe Plus $29.99 to $59.99 (in-app) | 4.8 (324,942 ratings) |
| Paprika Recipe Manager 3 | Serious recipe collectors who want a one-time purchase | $4.99 to download; Paprika 4 Premium $9.99 to $14.99 (in-app) | 4.9 (54,186 ratings) |
| Samsung Food | A big free recipe library with planning and shared lists | Free; Samsung Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year | 4.8 (6,434 ratings) |
| Plan to Eat | Planners who want their own recipes on a calendar | Free 14-day trial; $54.99/year (in-app) | 4.8 (6,115 ratings) |
| Deglaze | Households sharing one recipe box, plan and list | Free; Deglaze Pro $49.99 (in-app) | 4.9 (4,048 ratings) |
| Crouton | A clean, cheap recipe keeper with a great cooking mode | Free; Crouton Plus $24.99, Discover $1.99/month or $14.99/year (in-app) | 4.8 (2,943 ratings) |
| Stashcook | A flexible, low-pressure weekly plan | Free; Premium $7.99 to $49.99 (in-app) | 4.7 (1,862 ratings) |
| Honeydew | AI recipe tools: copycat dishes, substitutions, translation | Free; listed at $6.99/month or $39.99/year (other plans in-app) | 4.8 (1,836 ratings) |
| Prepear | Free planning from your own recipes | Free; Prepear Gold $9.99 to $119.99 (in-app) | 4.4 (503 ratings) |
| AnyList | A shared grocery list that stays in sync | Free; AnyList Complete $9.99/year individual or $14.99/year household | 4.9 (81,244 ratings) |
| Cooklist | Cooking from what's already in your pantry | Free; Cooklist Pro $5.99 to $9.99/month or $49.99 to $59.99/year | 4.7 (11,372 ratings) |
| MyFitnessPal | Tracking calories and macros, with meal plans on its top tier | Free; Premium and Premium Plus $9.99 to $79.99 (in-app) | 4.7 (2,387,079 ratings) |
| Cado(our app) | Making the recipes you save healthier, then planning the week | Free; Cado Pro $9.99/month or $59.99/year | 5.0 (56 ratings) |
Prices and ratings are from each app's US App Store page on November 1, 2026. "In-app" prices are the in-app purchases Apple lists; where Apple doesn't say whether a price is monthly or yearly, we show the range.
1. eMeals
Best for: Families who want a ready-made weekly dinner plan · Free download; plans $37.49 to $99.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.6 (52,778 ratings)
eMeals sends 7 new recipes a week from 15 meal and diet plans (including low carb, low calorie, paleo and keto), builds the shopping list as you pick, and sends it to grocery partners for pickup or delivery.
Pros
- Plans are made for you each week, so there's nothing to search for
- 15 food styles and diets, all included in a subscription
- Grocery list connects to Walmart, Instacart, Shipt, AmazonFresh, Albertsons, Safeway, H-E-B and Kroger
- Shopping list sorted by store location for in-person trips
Cons
- Built around eMeals' recipes; the listing doesn't describe importing recipes you find elsewhere
- The meal plans are paid in-app purchases
2. Eat This Much
Best for: Hitting calorie and macro targets on autopilot · Free; Premium $8.99 to $84.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.7 (22,177 ratings)
Tell Eat This Much your diet goals, the foods you like, your budget and your schedule, and it generates a meal plan that meets your targets. Free accounts plan a day at a time; Premium generates the whole week and emails a grocery list.
Pros
- Plans to calorie and macro targets automatically
- Works for keto, paleo, vegetarian, vegan or a custom style
- Swap any suggestion or limit the generator to foods you like
- Free tier can build and customize single-day plans
Cons
- Weekly plans, grocery lists and the virtual pantry need Premium
- Focused on hitting numbers more than on cooking recipes you already love
3. Real Plans
Best for: Strict diets like Whole30, paleo or autoimmune · Free download; $18.99/month, $41.99/quarter or $78.99/year (in-app; Whole30 plans cost more) · App Store 4.6 (2,174 ratings)
Real Plans offers over 2,000 recipes with filters down to the ingredient, builds the plan for you or lets you choose meals, and creates the grocery list for the week.
Pros
- Strong diet filters, including Whole30, low carb and gut-healing diets
- Choose every meal yourself or let it plan for you
- Adjust portions for leftovers, guests or family size
Cons
- One of the pricier subscriptions on this list
- Recipe add-on packs (Whole30, Nom Nom Paleo and others) are sold separately
4. ReciMe
Best for: Saving recipes from Instagram, TikTok and YouTube · Free; ReciMe Plus $29.99 to $59.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.8 (324,942 ratings)
ReciMe saves recipes from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest into a clean format, then lets you plan meals, build a grocery list sorted by aisle and calculate nutrition.
Pros
- Imports from the major social apps, plus Notes, Google Docs and Notion
- Grocery list by aisle or by recipe, with in-app grocery ordering
- The most App Store ratings of any recipe app on this list (nearly 325,000)
Cons
- Unlimited social imports, photo imports and nutrition need the paid plan
- The meal planner is a calendar you fill; the listing doesn't describe it planning for you
5. Paprika Recipe Manager 3
Best for: Serious recipe collectors who want a one-time purchase · $4.99 to download; Paprika 4 Premium $9.99 to $14.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.9 (54,186 ratings)
Paprika downloads recipes from websites, organizes them, and plans meals on daily, weekly or monthly calendars, with a pantry, aisle-sorted grocery lists and sync across devices.
Pros
- 4.9 average across more than 54,000 App Store ratings
- Pantry with expiry dates, reusable menus and printing
- Imports from older apps like MacGourmet and MasterCook
Cons
- Paid upfront, and each platform's version is sold separately
- The listing doesn't mention AI, social video imports or health scoring
6. Samsung Food
Best for: A big free recipe library with planning and shared lists · Free; Samsung Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year · App Store 4.8 (6,434 ratings)
Samsung Food has over 240,000 public recipes, saves recipes from any website, plans the week, turns it into a shared shopping list and connects to 23 grocery retailers. Samsung Food+ adds AI meal plans tailored to health goals.
Pros
- Most of the planner is free, on iPhone, iPad and the web
- Nutrition information and health scores on over 218,500 recipes
- Filters for 14 diets and search by ingredient
Cons
- AI-personalized weekly plans and recipe customization need Samsung Food+
- Some features are aimed at Samsung's SmartThings kitchen appliances
7. Plan to Eat
Best for: Planners who want their own recipes on a calendar · Free 14-day trial; $54.99/year (in-app) · App Store 4.8 (6,115 ratings)
Plan to Eat stores recipes you import from the web or type in, puts them on a meal plan calendar (with leftovers and frozen meals), and generates an organized shopping list with staples and store-specific lists.
Pros
- Built for people who like to plan, with leftovers and freezer tracking
- Customizable shopping list categories and per-store lists
- Simple pricing: one annual membership
Cons
- No free plan after the 14-day trial
- The listing describes web imports; it doesn't mention TikTok or Instagram video imports
8. Deglaze
Best for: Households sharing one recipe box, plan and list · Free; Deglaze Pro $49.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.9 (4,048 ratings)
Deglaze saves recipes from social media or the web in two taps (or from a cookbook photo or screenshot), auto-categorizes them, and adds them to a shared meal plan and grocery list.
Pros
- Fully featured free version, according to the listing
- Household sharing is free, and one Pro subscription covers the household
- Photo import for cookbook pages and screenshots
Cons
- Planning is from your saved recipes; the listing doesn't describe auto-generated plans
- Smaller user base than the big recipe keepers
9. Crouton
Best for: A clean, cheap recipe keeper with a great cooking mode · Free; Crouton Plus $24.99, Discover $1.99/month or $14.99/year (in-app) · App Store 4.8 (2,943 ratings)
Crouton imports recipes from websites or scans them from cookbooks with OCR, plans meals (or generates a plan from your dinner recipes), and has a step-by-step cooking mode with tap-to-start timers.
Pros
- Step-by-step and hands-free cooking modes
- Can auto-generate a meal plan from your own recipes
- Low-cost upgrade options
Cons
- The listing doesn't mention nutrition or health scoring
- Mostly an organizer: the recipes are the ones you bring
10. Stashcook
Best for: A flexible, low-pressure weekly plan · Free; Premium $7.99 to $49.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.7 (1,862 ratings)
Stashcook saves recipes from websites, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook, or from photos and handwritten cards, then lets you plan any meals of the week and turn them into a shopping list.
Pros
- Saves from social apps and from photos or handwritten cards
- Flexible planning: dinners only or every meal, and repeat weeks that worked
- Keeps recipes in their original language
Cons
- Premium pricing varies a lot across the listed options
- The listing doesn't describe nutrition or health features
11. Honeydew
Best for: AI recipe tools: copycat dishes, substitutions, translation · Free; listed at $6.99/month or $39.99/year (other plans in-app) · App Store 4.8 (1,836 ratings)
Honeydew imports recipes from social media, screenshots and websites, and adds AI tools: weekly meal plans, ingredient substitutions, a copycat recipe generator from restaurant photos, cookbook translation and automatic calories and macros.
Pros
- Lots of AI features in one app
- Automatic calorie and macro calculation
- Household sharing for plans and grocery lists
Cons
- Many plan options listed in-app, which makes pricing hard to compare
- Feature list is broad; the listing says less about health goals than about convenience
12. Prepear
Best for: Free planning from your own recipes · Free; Prepear Gold $9.99 to $119.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.4 (503 ratings)
Prepear lets you save and import unlimited recipes, plan a full week and generate a grocery list for free. Prepear Gold and creator content are paid extras.
Pros
- Unlimited recipes, a weekly plan and a grocery list on the free tier
- Creator recipe content if you follow specific food creators
Cons
- Cook Mode for recipes you don't own needs Gold or a purchase
- Lowest average rating on this list
13. AnyList
Best for: A shared grocery list that stays in sync · Free; AnyList Complete $9.99/year individual or $14.99/year household · App Store 4.9 (81,244 ratings)
AnyList is a shared grocery list first, with a recipe box and a meal plan everyone in the house can see. Lists sort into categories you can rearrange to match your store.
Pros
- Real-time shared lists, widgets, Siri and Alexa
- Cheapest annual upgrade on this list ($9.99 a year)
- Very high rating across 81,000+ ratings
Cons
- You do the planning; the listing doesn't describe generated plans
- The listing doesn't mention nutrition or health features
14. Cooklist
Best for: Cooking from what's already in your pantry · Free; Cooklist Pro $5.99 to $9.99/month or $49.99 to $59.99/year · App Store 4.7 (11,372 ratings)
Cooklist connects to grocery loyalty cards to build a digital pantry from your purchases, matches recipes to what you have, and builds a shopping list of only the missing ingredients.
Pros
- Pantry fills itself from loyalty cards at Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, Wegmans and more
- Shopping list includes only what you're missing
- Barcode scanner for pantry items
Cons
- Works best if you shop at a supported store and link your card
- Several Pro price points listed
15. MyFitnessPal
Best for: Tracking calories and macros, with meal plans on its top tier · Free; Premium and Premium Plus $9.99 to $79.99 (in-app) · App Store 4.7 (2,387,079 ratings)
MyFitnessPal is a calorie and macro tracker with an AI Coach. Its Premium Plus tier adds personalized, nutrition-focused meal plans, integrated grocery delivery and 1,500+ recipes tailored to your goals.
Pros
- By far the most App Store ratings on this list (2.38 million)
- Meal plans built around your calorie, macro and fitness goals (Premium Plus)
- GLP-1 dose logging and reminders
Cons
- A tracker first; full meal planning needs the top paid tier
- Plans come from its recipe set rather than recipes you save from elsewhere
16. Cado(made by us)
Best for: Making the recipes you save healthier, then planning the week · Free; Cado Pro $9.99/month or $59.99/year · App Store 5.0 (56 ratings)
Cado imports recipes from TikTok, Instagram, blogs and any website, gives each a health score with a breakdown of nutrition and inflammatory ingredients, and lets you ask its AI to change a recipe (more protein, dairy-free, fit a diet) while it recalculates nutrition. You build a weekly plan from your recipes, get a grocery list and can check out through Instacart.
Pros
- Rewrites any recipe to fit a goal such as high protein, anti-inflammatory or PCOS-friendly eating
- Health score and nutrition on every recipe you save
- Social and web imports, weekly plan, grocery list and Instacart checkout in one app
Cons
- A new app with far fewer ratings than the others here
- Free users get a limited number of imports, AI edits and health scores per week; unlimited needs Cado Pro
- Grocery ordering is through Instacart only, with Instacart's fees
Discontinued meal planning apps
| App | Status | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Mealime | Shut down October 21, 2026 | Mealime says its recipes moved to Meals Hub inside Albertsons Companies' grocery apps, Pro subscriptions were wound down, and all personal data would be deleted at shutdown. Its App Store page no longer loads. (Mealime closing notice) |
| Ollie | Shutting down November 6, 2026 | Ollie says it will text users an export of their data to share with another assistant, cancel billing for Ollie and Ollie for Meals, and refund partial or unused months. (A farewell to Ollie) |
| Yummly | Shut down December 2024 | Yummly's app and website went offline in December 2024 (Plan to Eat dates it to December 20). yummly.com now redirects to KitchenAid's recipes page. (Plan to Eat: Yummly is closing) |
| PlateJoy | Discontinued in 2025 | platejoy.com no longer resolves and PlateJoy is not on the US App Store (checked November 1, 2026). Third-party trackers date the end of service to mid-2025. (MealThinker: PlateJoy shut down) |
How we made this list
- We started from the meal planning apps named in published 2026 meal planning lists and in App Store search, and kept the ones that are live on the US App Store and actually plan meals (a calendar or weekly plan plus a grocery list).
- Ratings, rating counts and prices were read from each app's US App Store page on November 1, 2026. Prices are the download price plus the in-app purchases the App Store lists; they can differ by region and change often.
- Pros and cons are based on what each app's own listing says it does. We note when a listing doesn't mention a feature rather than claiming the app lacks it.
- The list is grouped by how you plan: apps that build the plan for you (1 to 3), recipe keepers you plan from (4 to 12), grocery-list-first apps (13 to 14), and apps built around a health or nutrition goal (15 to 16). Within each group, apps are ordered by number of App Store ratings. The order is not a score.
- Shut-down apps are checked against the company's own notice where one exists. We'll re-check this page monthly.
Questions
What is the best meal planning app in 2026?
It depends on how you plan. For a plan made for you, eMeals (family dinners) or Eat This Much (calorie and macro targets). To plan from recipes you save, ReciMe, Paprika, Plan to Eat or Samsung Food. For a shared grocery list, AnyList. To plan around a health goal, MyFitnessPal for tracking or Cado for making your recipes healthier.
What is the best free meal planning app?
Samsung Food and Prepear both let you save recipes, plan a week and make a grocery list without paying, according to their App Store listings. ReciMe, AnyList, Deglaze, Crouton and Cado also have free tiers with limits. Plan to Eat has a 14-day trial and then needs a membership.
Which meal planning apps have shut down?
Mealime shut down on October 21, 2026 and moved its recipes to Albertsons' Meals Hub. Ollie is shutting down on November 6, 2026. Yummly went offline in December 2024, and PlateJoy was discontinued in 2025.
What can I use instead of Mealime?
Mealime's own successor is Meals Hub in Albertsons Companies' grocery apps, which Mealime says has all its recipes for free. If you'd rather plan from recipes you save yourself, ReciMe, Plan to Eat, Paprika, Samsung Food and Cado are the closest fits on this list.
Which meal planning app saves recipes from TikTok and Instagram?
ReciMe, Stashcook, Honeydew, Deglaze and Cado all say they import from social media in their App Store listings. ReciMe and Stashcook name TikTok and Instagram specifically; Cado names TikTok and Instagram too.
Is there a meal planning app for health goals like PCOS or high protein?
Eat This Much and MyFitnessPal plan to calorie and macro targets, and Real Plans filters for strict diets like Whole30. Cado's listing names PCOS, anti-inflammatory and high-protein eating: it scores each recipe and can rewrite it to fit. None of these apps is medical advice; talk to your doctor or a dietitian about a condition.
Do meal planning apps make grocery lists?
Every app on this list builds a grocery list from your plan. eMeals, ReciMe, Samsung Food, MyFitnessPal and Cado also connect to grocery ordering, and Cooklist builds a list of only what's missing from your pantry.
Plan your week around your health goals
Save recipes from anywhere, make them healthier, and get one grocery list.
Download CadoRatings and prices checked 2026-11-01. Sources: eMeals on the App Store · Eat This Much on the App Store · Real Plans on the App Store · ReciMe on the App Store · Paprika on the App Store · Samsung Food on the App Store · Plan to Eat on the App Store · Deglaze on the App Store · Crouton on the App Store · Stashcook on the App Store · Honeydew on the App Store · Prepear on the App Store · AnyList on the App Store · Cooklist on the App Store · MyFitnessPal on the App Store · Cado on the App Store · Mealime closing notice · A farewell to Ollie · Plan to Eat: Yummly is closing · MealThinker: PlateJoy shut down