Best meal planning apps in 2026: 12 compared
Meal planners matched to how much of the planning you want done for you, with each price, platform and limit taken from the app's own pages.
By The Scullery team · Written
Updated
In this article
The right meal planning app depends on how much of the planning you want done for you. To plan together from your own recipes for free, try Scullery. For a calendar built from saved recipes, Plan to Eat. For dinners chosen for you, eMeals. For calorie and macro targets, Eat This Much or MealPrepPro. For the family calendar, Cozi.
We make Scullery. Facts about the other apps come from their own websites, help pages and app store listings, checked on 6 October 2026 and listed under Sources at the end. We haven't trialled them, so this page compares what each app says it does, not how well it does it. Prices are in US dollars unless marked, and store prices vary by country.
What to look for in a meal planning app
Start with who does the choosing. Some planners work from recipes you've saved, some send you a menu, and some build meals around a nutrition target. After that, check what the free plan covers and whether everyone who cooks can see the plan.
- Who chooses the meals. Plan to Eat, Paprika, Recipe Keeper, Crouton, Mealie and Scullery plan from your own recipes. eMeals sends seven new dinners a week. Eat This Much and MealPrepPro generate plans to calorie and macro targets. Samsung Food (with Food+), Cozi (with Max) and Crouton add AI or automatic plans.
- A calendar or a loose list. Plan to Eat is a drag-and-drop calendar, and Paprika has daily, weekly and monthly calendars with reusable menus. Scullery lets a meal sit on the plan with or without a day, which suits weeks that change.
- What the free plan plans. Samsung Food's weekly planner is free. Eat This Much plans a day at a time for free, with weekly plans on Premium. AnyList's calendar needs Complete. Plan to Eat and eMeals have 14-day trials and MealPrepPro a 7-day trial, with no free plan after them.
- The shopping list. All twelve have one. Check whether it's built from the plan: Plan to Eat, eMeals, Samsung Food and Scullery do this, and on Eat This Much the grocery list is Premium.
- Sharing the plan. If two people cook or shop, both need to see the plan. Some apps give each person a login in a shared household; Plan to Eat and MealPrepPro suggest sharing one login.
- Getting your own recipes in. Plan to Eat and Mealie import from websites, social posts and other apps' files. MealPrepPro takes your own recipes by hand, as a name and its nutrition.
- Platforms. Crouton's pages list Apple devices only. MealPrepPro is on iOS and Android, with no web app stated. AnyList's web app needs Complete. Mealie runs on your own server.
- Cost. A subscription, a one-time purchase per platform, or free. Some apps price differently on their own site and in the App Store: Plan to Eat is $49 a year on its website and $54.99 through the US App Store.
Compare 12 meal planning apps
| App and platforms | Cost | Best suited to | Check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scullery Web, in phone and desktop browsers | Cost: Free: no subscription or app purchase | Best suited to: Shared shortlists and flexible plans | Check first: Free account needed; AI features run in usage windows |
| Plan to Eat Web, iOS, Android | Cost: $49/year or $5.95/month on its site ($54.99/year through the US App Store); 14-day trial | Best suited to: Calendar built from saved recipes | Check first: No free plan after the trial |
| Paprika iOS, Android, Mac, Windows | Cost: One-time, per platform: iOS $4.99, Mac and Windows $29.99, Android unlocked in the app | Best suited to: Reusable menus beside recipes | Check first: Bought per platform; Paprika 4 premium features will need a subscription |
| AnyList iOS, Android; web and Mac with Complete | Cost: Free lists; Complete $9.99/year individual, $14.99/year household | Best suited to: Planning around shared shopping | Check first: Calendar requires Complete |
| Samsung Food iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, web | Cost: Free; optional Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year | Best suited to: Saving and planning discovered recipes | Check first: Personalised plans require Food+ |
| Crouton iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision | Cost: Free download; Crouton Plus $24.99 on the US App Store | Best suited to: Weekly planning from Apple collections | Check first: Apple devices only on its own pages |
| Recipe Keeper iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows | Cost: Free download; Pro one-time per platform: iOS and Android $19.99, Mac $29.99 | Best suited to: Planning with scanned family recipes | Check first: Pro bought per platform |
| Eat This Much Web, iOS, Android | Cost: Free daily plans; Premium $59.99/year or $14.99/month | Best suited to: Automatic plans around nutrition goals | Check first: Weekly plans and lists paid |
| MealPrepPro iOS, Android | Cost: Monthly or yearly subscription, priced by country; 7-day trial | Best suited to: Batch preparation and nutrition targets | Check first: Subscription only; own recipes by hand |
| eMeals iOS, Android; sign-up on the web | Cost: Dinner $59.99/year; breakfast and lunch extra; 14-day trial | Best suited to: Choosing from supplied weekly menus | Check first: Breakfast and lunch plans cost extra |
| Cozi iOS, Android, web | Cost: Free with ads; Gold $39/year; Max $79/year | Best suited to: Meals beside the family calendar | Check first: AI meal planner requires Max |
| Mealie Self-hosted web app | Cost: Free, open source; you pay for and run the server | Best suited to: Planning on your own server | Check first: Server setup and maintenance |
Facts checked 6 October 2026, from each app's own pages and US store listings. Your store's prices may differ.
The 12 apps, one by one
Scullery comes first because it's ours. The others follow the table. Each section has the facts from the app's own pages, then what we'd check before choosing it.
Scullery
Scullery is a shared cookbook and meal planner for a household, used in a phone or desktop browser. Anyone in the household can add recipes to a shared shortlist and mark the ones they like; someone then picks the meal, and it goes on the plan with or without a day. Ingredients from one recipe or the whole plan go onto one shopping list, still linked to the meals that need them.
It's free, with no subscription or app purchase, and in open beta with no invite needed. There's no cap on how many recipes you save; AI features, such as importing social posts and photos, run in per-account and per-household usage windows, which can mean a short wait. It doesn't send ready-made weekly menus, plan to calorie or macro targets, or order groceries, and there's no App Store app. Create a free account to try it.
- Best for
- A household that wants one free cookbook, a shared shortlist and a list built from the chosen recipes
- Platforms
- Web, in phone and desktop browsers
- Price
- Free: no subscription or app purchase
- Worth it if
- You're happy in a browser and want everyone in the house deciding together
- Check first
- No App Store app (it runs in the browser), no ready-made weekly menus, and usage limits on AI imports
Facts checked . Sources: Scullery FAQ
Plan to Eat
Plan to Eat plans from recipes you've saved yourself: drag them onto a calendar, and the shopping list is built from the planner, sorted by store. Its clipper and social imports fill the recipe book from Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Substack, TikTok and YouTube, and since September 2026 video posts give up their steps too. A household shares one login; separate accounts can swap recipes and menus as Friends.
- Best for
- A meal calendar built from your own saved recipes
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
- Price
- $49/year or $5.95/month on its site ($54.99/year through the US App Store); 14-day trial
- Worth it if
- You plan most weeks and want the list made from the calendar
- Check first
- There's no free plan after the 14-day trial, and the yearly price is higher through the App Store
Facts checked . Sources: Official site, FAQ and pricing, US App Store, Export help, September 2026 update
Paprika
Paprika plans on daily, weekly or monthly calendars beside its recipe collection, and saves menus you can reuse. Its shopping list combines ingredients and sorts them by aisle, with a pantry list too, and on iOS meal plans go to Calendar. Today Cloud Sync covers your own devices; family sharing with separate logins is in the Paprika 4 beta, after which Paprika says premium features will need a subscription, with no price or date yet.
- Best for
- A personal collection on native apps, bought outright
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, Mac, Windows
- Price
- One-time, per platform: iOS $4.99, Mac and Windows $29.99, Android unlocked in the app
- Worth it if
- You want one-off purchases and a long list of file imports from other apps
- Check first
- Each platform is a separate purchase, its site lists no web app, and Paprika says premium features will need a subscription after the Paprika 4 beta (no price or date yet)
Facts checked . Sources: Official product page, Paprika 4 beta post, 28 September 2026, US App Store (iOS), US Mac App Store, Windows page, Google Play, User guide
AnyList
AnyList's shared shopping list is free; its meal planning calendar, and sharing the plan with your household, are part of Complete. Complete costs $9.99 a year for one person or $14.99 for a household, and also opens the web and Mac apps. Plans can be emailed or printed.
- Best for
- A shared shopping list, with recipes and a plan as a cheap paid layer
- Platforms
- iOS, Android; web and Mac with Complete
- Price
- Free lists; Complete $9.99/year individual, $14.99/year household
- Worth it if
- The list is the main job and $14.99 a year covers your household
- Check first
- The meal planning calendar and the web app need Complete, and free web recipe imports stop at five
Facts checked . Sources: Features, Complete pricing, Recipe import help
Samsung Food
Samsung Food's weekly planner is free, alongside its recipe library, saving from any website, shared shopping lists and grocery ordering. Food+ adds AI-personalised plans, recipe customisation, and pantry and nutrition tracking. Samsung Food's website and help centre blocked our checks, so these facts come from its store listings and Samsung's newsroom.
- Best for
- Finding recipes in a large library and planning around them for free
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, web
- Price
- Free; optional Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year
- Worth it if
- You want a free planner and list on phone and web
- Check first
- Personalised plans and more photo imports need Food+, and export options aren't stated on the pages we could read
Facts checked . Sources: US App Store, Google Play, Samsung Newsroom launch post
Crouton
Crouton plans the week from your own recipes on Apple devices, and can generate a plan for you. The recipes and the meal plan are shared with your household through iCloud, and the shopping list works with Reminders. Its pages list iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision, and don't mention Android.
- Best for
- An Apple household sharing recipes and a plan through iCloud
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision
- Price
- Free download; Crouton Plus $24.99 on the US App Store
- Worth it if
- Everyone who cooks uses an iPhone, iPad or Mac
- Check first
- Its own pages list Apple devices only, and the free version's limits aren't stated
Facts checked . Sources: Official product page, US App Store
Recipe Keeper
Recipe Keeper has a weekly and monthly planner beside the collection it builds from scans, PDFs, websites and social posts, and you can share the plan with your family. Shopping lists are grouped by aisle, and you can keep several. Pro is a one-time upgrade bought separately on each platform.
- Best for
- Turning paper recipes and PDFs into a collection, then printing cookbooks
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows
- Price
- Free download; Pro one-time per platform: iOS and Android $19.99, Mac $29.99
- Worth it if
- You'll pay once on your main device and scan a lot
- Check first
- Pro is bought per platform, and the free trial's limits aren't stated
Facts checked . Sources: Official product page, US App Store (iOS), US Mac App Store, Google Play, Microsoft Store
Eat This Much
Eat This Much generates meals to hit a calorie or macro target. Daily plans are free; weekly plans, the grocery list and delivery need Premium, which has a 14-day trial and a 30-day refund. Its clipper imports recipes from websites for free, and family account linking is in beta, though a combined list needs Premium on each account.
- Best for
- Generating meals to hit calorie or macro targets
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
- Price
- Free daily plans; Premium $59.99/year or $14.99/month
- Worth it if
- Nutrition targets drive what you cook and you'll pay yearly
- Check first
- Weekly plans and the grocery list are Premium
Facts checked . Sources: Official product page, Pricing, FAQ
MealPrepPro
MealPrepPro builds weekly batch-cooking plans to your calorie and macro needs, with a shopping list sorted by aisle. You can add a second person with their own calories, and a partner shares the login. Your own recipes go in by hand, as a name and its nutrition. After a one-time 7-day trial it's a monthly or yearly subscription, priced by country.
- Best for
- Batch cooking to calorie and macro targets
- Platforms
- iOS, Android
- Price
- Monthly or yearly subscription, priced by country; 7-day trial
- Worth it if
- You prep for the week and want the plan made for you
- Check first
- It's subscription only, and your own recipes go in by hand
Facts checked . Sources: Official product page, Subscription help, Adding your own recipes
eMeals
eMeals hands you seven new dinners a week in the style you choose, and one dinner subscription covers all 15 styles. The shopping list is made for you, sorted by store location, and can be sent to Walmart, Instacart, Kroger and others. Breakfast and lunch plans cost extra, and its pages don't say how a household shares an account.
- Best for
- Being handed a weekly dinner menu with its list
- Platforms
- iOS, Android; sign-up on the web
- Price
- Dinner $59.99/year; breakfast and lunch extra; 14-day trial
- Worth it if
- You'd rather choose from supplied menus than plan from scratch
- Check first
- There's no free tier beyond the trial, and breakfast and lunch cost extra
Facts checked . Sources: Official site, Plans and checkout, Breakfast and lunch help
Cozi
Cozi is a family organiser first: a shared calendar, to-do lists and shopping lists, with a recipe box and meal planning beside them. One family account holds up to 12 people under one subscription, and recipe ingredients can go straight onto the shopping list. Recipes come in by pasting a link or typing them; Max's AI Recipe Creator writes new ones rather than importing.
- Best for
- Meals and shopping kept beside the family calendar
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, web
- Price
- Free with ads; Gold $39/year; Max $79/year
- Worth it if
- The calendar is the household's hub and meals are one part of it
- Check first
- The free version has ads, and the AI meal planner needs Max
Facts checked . Sources: Official FAQ, Plan comparison, Meals and recipe box
Mealie
Mealie plans on a calendar from your own recipes, and can fill it with random picks and rules. Groups and households share recipes, the meal plan and shopping lists, and it imports from links, photos and other apps' files. It's free, open-source software you run on your own server with Docker, so installing, updating and backing it up are your job.
- Best for
- A household that wants its recipes on its own server
- Platforms
- Self-hosted web app
- Price
- Free, open source; you pay for and run the server
- Worth it if
- Someone at home already runs Docker
- Check first
- You install, update and back it up yourself
Facts checked . Sources: Official site, Features, GitHub releases
Choose by job
Pick the job you most need done, then read that app's section above.
- Planning together from your own recipes, for free: Scullery. Mealie does it too, if someone will host it.
- A meal calendar built from recipes you've saved: Plan to Eat. For a one-off purchase per platform, Paprika or Recipe Keeper.
- Being handed dinners for the week: eMeals.
- Hitting calorie or macro targets: Eat This Much, or MealPrepPro if you batch cook.
- Meals kept on the family calendar: Cozi.
- A free planner with a big recipe library: Samsung Food.
- An all-Apple household: Crouton.
- The shopping list comes first: AnyList. For list-first apps, see the best grocery list apps.
- A recipe collection first, with planning on the side: see the best recipe apps.
- Leaving Mealime before it closes on 21 October 2026: see Mealime alternatives.
If you're new to planning, three meals a week is a manageable start; weekly meal planning for beginners walks through it.
Three kinds of meal planning app
"Meal planner" covers three kinds of app, and knowing which one you want narrows the list quickly.
Planners for your own recipes. You save the recipes and the app helps you place them in the week and shop for them. Plan to Eat, Paprika, Recipe Keeper, Crouton, Mealie, AnyList and Scullery work this way. They suit households that already know what they like to cook.
Menu services. The app chooses the meals for you, as eMeals does with seven new dinners a week, and as Mealime does until it closes on 21 October. They suit weeks when nobody wants to decide.
Nutrition planners. The app builds meals around calories or macros, as Eat This Much and MealPrepPro do. They suit anyone eating to a target, and each person's numbers shape the plan.
The lines blur: Samsung Food has a free planner for your own recipes and AI-personalised plans on Food+, and Cozi Max adds an AI meal planner to a family calendar. Choose by the kind you'd use most weeks.
Mealime is closing
Mealime closes on 21 October 2026. Its notice says Pro billing has stopped and every Pro feature is free until then, and that its recipes and planning move to Meals Hub in Albertsons Companies apps in the US. It mentions no export, and says all personal data will be deleted at shutdown.
Our free Mealime import tool brings your Mealime recipes into Scullery in one go, or downloads them as a ZIP that Paprika, Mealie and Tandoor import. Mealime alternatives compares six apps by the job Mealime did for you.
Switching between apps
Recipes move between planners more easily than plans do. Before you switch, check what the old app exports and what the new one reads; past plans rarely come with you.
Recipe exports, from each app's own pages:
- Plan to Eat: the whole recipe book as CSV or TXT, whether or not you're subscribed.
- Paprika: HTML (one file per recipe) and its own .paprikarecipes file.
- Crouton: Crouton files, PDF, plain text or Markdown, several at once.
- Mealie: ZIP backups, and JSON or Markdown.
- Recipe Keeper: PDF cookbooks; other formats aren't stated.
- AnyList: single recipes as AnyList files, by email or printed; a bulk export isn't stated.
- MealPrepPro: recipes and lists can be shared or printed; a file export isn't stated.
- eMeals: recipes can be shared by email, social or text; a file export isn't stated.
- Samsung Food, Cozi and Eat This Much: a recipe export isn't stated on the pages we could read.
Plan exports are rarer. Paprika sends meal plans to Calendar on iOS, Cozi prints calendars and has an iCal feed, AnyList emails or prints plans, and Eat This Much makes meal plan PDFs on Premium.
Which planners say they read another app's files:
| Moving from | Planners whose pages say they import it |
|---|---|
| Paprika | Plan to Eat, AnyList, Recipe Keeper, Mealie |
| Plan to Eat | Mealie |
| Recipe Keeper | Plan to Eat, Mealie |
| Copy Me That | Plan to Eat (HTML), Mealie |
| MasterCook | Paprika, Recipe Keeper, Plan to Eat |
What Scullery takes in today
Scullery imports one recipe at a time. In Library, choose Add recipe, then paste a link to a recipe website or a TikTok, Instagram or YouTube post, paste the ingredients and method as text, or use Scan a recipe with a screenshot or a photo of a page. On Android, once Scullery is on your home screen, you can share a recipe to it from another app. The import guide walks through each route.
It doesn't read other apps' export files or plans yet. The one bulk route is the Mealime tool above. To move from another planner, bring across the recipes from the next week or two you'd plan anyway, then plan from your collection as it grows.
Scullery's own export is a JSON copy of your account, households, recipes, meal plans and shopping lists. Ask for it in Settings, under Privacy & Data, with Request your data; once the request is approved, it's emailed to your account address.
Sources
Every page below was checked on 6 October 2026. Scullery's facts come from our own product and its FAQ.
- Plan to Eat: site, FAQ and pricing, US App Store, export help, file import help, September 2026 update
- Paprika: product page, Paprika 4 beta post, 28 September 2026, US App Store (iOS), US Mac App Store, Windows, user guide
- AnyList: features, Complete pricing, Paprika import help
- Samsung Food: US App Store, Google Play, Samsung Newsroom launch post
- Crouton: product page, US App Store
- Recipe Keeper: product page, US App Store (iOS), US Mac App Store, Google Play
- Eat This Much: site, pricing, FAQ, family account linking help
- MealPrepPro: site, subscription help, adding your own recipes, adding a partner, sharing or printing
- eMeals: site, plans and checkout, breakfast and lunch help, sharing a recipe, US App Store
- Cozi: FAQ, compare plans, meals and recipe box
- Mealie: site, features, FAQ
- Mealime: closing notice
Common questions
Is there a free meal planning app?
Yes, with limits on most. Scullery is free, with plans and a shared list included and no cap on recipes saved; AI features, such as importing social posts and photos, run in usage windows that can mean a short wait. Samsung Food's weekly planner is free, with AI-personalised plans on Food+. Cozi's free version, with ads, has shared shopping lists and a recipe library, and its AI meal planner needs Max. Eat This Much's daily plans are free, but weekly plans and the grocery list need Premium. Mealie is free software you run on your own server. AnyList's lists are free but its meal planning calendar needs Complete, and Plan to Eat, eMeals and MealPrepPro are paid after a trial.
Which meal planning app plans meals for me?
eMeals sends seven new dinners a week in the style you choose. Eat This Much generates meals to a calorie or macro target, and MealPrepPro builds weekly batch-cooking plans to your calorie and macro needs. Samsung Food's Food+ and Cozi Max add AI meal planners, Crouton can auto-generate a plan, and Mealie can fill a plan with random picks and rules. Scullery doesn't hand out menus or choose the meal: it brings your own recipes forward and the household picks.
What is the best meal planning app for a family?
One where everyone can see and change the plan. Scullery and Mealie keep one plan for a household with a login each; Mealie needs a server. Cozi's family account holds up to 12 people under one subscription. AnyList shares the meal plan on Complete, which has a household price. Crouton shares recipes and the plan through iCloud, so everyone needs an Apple device. Recipe Keeper and Samsung Food say you can share the plan with family. Plan to Eat and MealPrepPro suggest sharing one login, and eMeals' pages don't say.
Which meal planning apps track calories or macros?
Eat This Much and MealPrepPro plan to calorie and macro targets, and Samsung Food's Food+ adds nutrition tracking. Scullery doesn't do nutrition planning.
Can I pay once for a meal planning app?
Paprika is a one-time purchase on each platform, with meal planning calendars included, though Paprika says premium features will need a subscription after its version 4 beta. Recipe Keeper's Pro upgrade is one-time per platform: $19.99 on iOS and Android and $29.99 on Mac in the US. Scullery is free, and Mealie is free to run yourself.
What happens to Mealime meal plans after 21 October 2026?
Mealime closes on 21 October 2026 and says all personal data will be deleted at shutdown; its notice mentions no export. Its recipes and planning move to Meals Hub in Albertsons Companies apps in the US. Our free Mealime import tool brings your recipes into Scullery or downloads them as a ZIP; past plans don't come across with its button.
Do meal planning apps make a shopping list?
All twelve here have a shopping list. Plan to Eat builds it from the planner, sorted by store; eMeals makes it automatically, sorted by store location; Samsung Food builds it from your plans and can order online; Scullery adds ingredients from a recipe or the whole plan, linked to the meals that need them. On Eat This Much, the grocery list is a Premium feature.
