The Best Meal Planning Apps in 2026, Compared Honestly
Meal planning apps do three different jobs: plan the week for you, hit nutrition numbers, or organize your own recipes. The best app is the one built for your job, so this list is organized by "best for", not a single ranking.
We make Ultimate Meal Plans, so read our entry with that in mind. For every other app we used published pricing and feature pages, checked on September 29, 2026, and linked the sources at the bottom.
Updated September 29, 2026 · Prices and features checked September 29, 2026
Quick picks
- Best for diet-specific weekly plans: Ultimate Meal Plans
- Best budget done-for-you family dinners: eMeals
- Best for calorie and macro targets: Eat This Much
- Best free all-rounder: Samsung Food
- Best for planning from your own recipes: Plan to Eat
- Best one-time purchase: Paprika 3
- Best for Albertsons and Safeway shoppers: Meals Hub (Albertsons Companies)
Meal planning apps compared
Prices are US list prices. The "Plans made for you" column is the biggest difference between these apps.
| App | Price (US) | Trial | Plans made for you | Your own recipes | Grocery list | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Meal Plans(us) | $36 every 3 months ($14/mo monthly, $96/yr annual) | 14 days on quarterly or annual, card required | Yes: a new weekly plan for your diet | No | Automatic, with Instacart and Kroger options | Having dinner decided for you on a specific diet (keto, paleo, AIP, diabetic-friendly and more) |
| eMeals | $29.99 per 3 months or $59.99/yr (dinner plans) | 14 days | Yes: a new weekly menu for your chosen food style | No | Yes, sends to Walmart, Kroger, Instacart and others | Done-for-you family dinners at a low price |
| Eat This Much | $14.99/mo or $59.99/yr (Premium); free tier available | 14 days | Yes: generated to your calorie and macro targets | Yes (manual entry) | Yes (Premium) | Hitting calorie and macro numbers |
| Samsung Food | Free; Food+ $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr | 7 days on Food+ | With Food+ (AI-personalized plans) | Yes: save from any website | Yes, with online ordering from partner grocers | A free all-rounder for saving recipes and planning |
| Plan to Eat | $49/yr or $5.95/mo | 14 days, no card | No: you plan with your own recipes | Yes: web recipe importer | Yes | Keeping your own recipe collection and planning from it |
| Paprika 3 | One-time: $4.99 iOS or Android, $29.99 Mac or Windows (each sold separately) | No | No | Yes: built-in browser saves recipes from the web | Yes | Owning your recipes with no subscription |
| Meals Hub (Albertsons Companies) | Free | Not needed | You build plans from its recipes | No | Yes, shoppable at Albertsons-owned stores | Mealime fans who shop at Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, Jewel-Osco or another Albertsons banner |
US list prices checked September 29, 2026. App-store prices, regional prices, and sales can differ.
The best meal planning apps, by what you need
Each pick includes what to watch out for.
1. Best for diet-specific weekly plans: Ultimate Meal Plans
$36 every 3 months ($14/mo monthly, $96/yr annual) · Trial: 14 days on quarterly or annual, card required
Pick a diet and get a new weekly plan with a shopping list that builds itself, ready to send to Instacart or Kroger. Most recipes are built around 15 minutes of prep and 5 everyday ingredients. Our focus is diets that general apps handle loosely:
- Keto meal plans
- Paleo meal plans
- Low Carb meal plans
- Clean Eating meal plans
- AIP meal plans
- Diabetic-Friendly meal plans
We make this app. It is not the cheapest here, and it doesn't store your own recipes.
Watch out for: Not the cheapest option here, and it does not store your own recipe collection.
2. Best budget done-for-you family dinners: eMeals
$29.99 per 3 months or $59.99/yr (dinner plans) · Trial: 14 days
A new week of dinners for the food style you pick, with one-tap grocery ordering from Walmart, Kroger, Instacart, and others. On the annual plan it is one of the least expensive done-for-you options.
Watch out for: Dinner-only unless you pay for the all-day bundle; you cannot add your own recipes.
3. Best for calorie and macro targets: Eat This Much
$14.99/mo or $59.99/yr (Premium); free tier available · Trial: 14 days
Enter calorie and macro targets and it generates meals to hit them, with a grocery list on Premium. Best if the numbers matter more to you than the menu.
Watch out for: Plans are built around the numbers first, so meals can feel repetitive.
4. Best free all-rounder: Samsung Food
Free; Food+ $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr · Trial: 7 days on Food+
Free recipe saving from any site, a weekly planner, and grocery lists with online ordering. Food+ adds AI-personalized plans. You don't need a Samsung phone.
Watch out for: The free planner saves only 3 meal plans; personalized plans need Food+.
5. Best for planning from your own recipes: Plan to Eat
$49/yr or $5.95/mo · Trial: 14 days, no card
Import recipes from the web, drag them onto a calendar, and get a combined grocery list. Customer-funded with no ads, and the trial needs no card.
Watch out for: No recipe library of its own and no free plan.
6. Best one-time purchase: Paprika 3
One-time: $4.99 iOS or Android, $29.99 Mac or Windows (each sold separately) · Trial: No
Buy it once per platform and keep your recipes, plans, and lists without a subscription. You do the planning yourself.
Watch out for: You do all the planning yourself, and each platform is a separate purchase.
7. Best for Albertsons and Safeway shoppers: Meals Hub (Albertsons Companies)
Free · Trial: Not needed
The free recipe and meal-planning feature inside Albertsons Companies grocery apps, and the new home of Mealime's recipes. Shopping is built around Albertsons-owned stores.
Watch out for: Lives inside Albertsons grocery apps and sites. You need a store account and must set your preferences again.
How to choose a meal planning app
- Decide who plans. If you want the week decided, choose a done-for-you app. If you like choosing, a recipe keeper with a calendar is better.
- Match your diet. Keto, paleo, AIP, and diabetic-friendly eating need more than a filter. Check that the app builds whole plans for your diet. Our diet quiz can help you pick one.
- Check the grocery list. The time saving comes from a list that builds itself and sends to your store.
- Protect your recipes. Keep your favorites somewhere you control. Mealime, PlateJoy, and Yummly all closed without a bulk export.
- Use the trial. Two weeks of real cooking tells you more than any review, including this one.
Want the week planned for you?
Get a weekly plan for your diet and a shopping list that builds itself. Start with a 14-day free trial on the quarterly plan.
14-day trial on quarterly or annual · card required · cancel anytime
Frequently asked questions
What is the best meal planning app?
There isn’t one best app, because they solve different problems. If you want plans made for you, look at Ultimate Meal Plans (diet-specific) or eMeals (family dinners). For calorie and macro targets, Eat This Much. For a free option, Samsung Food. To plan from your own recipes, Plan to Eat or Paprika.
What is the best free meal planning app?
Samsung Food has the most complete free plan: recipe saving, a weekly planner, and grocery lists. Meals Hub is free inside Albertsons Companies grocery apps. Eat This Much has a free tier that plans one day at a time.
Is Mealime still available?
Only until October 21, 2026. Mealime is shutting down, has no export, and deletes personal data at shutdown. Its recipes continue in Meals Hub.
Is PlateJoy still available?
No. PlateJoy shut down on July 1, 2025. Its recipes moved to the Wellos app.
How do I avoid losing my recipes if an app shuts down?
Keep your own recipes in an app you pay for directly, preferably one with an export, and keep a copy of your favorites outside any app. Free apps funded by a larger company (Yummly by Whirlpool, Mealime by Albertsons) have been the ones to disappear.
Are meal planning apps worth paying for?
If one saves you from a couple of takeout nights or wasted groceries a month, most pay for themselves. Pick the job you want done first (planning for you, tracking numbers, or organizing recipes), then use the free trial to test it for two weeks.
How much does Ultimate Meal Plans cost?
The quarterly plan is $36 every 3 months with a 14-day free trial (card required, cancel anytime). There is also a $14 monthly plan without a trial and a $96 annual plan with the same trial.
Keep reading
Sources
- Mealime, "Mealime is moving to Meals Hub" (closing notice and FAQ)
- PlateJoy Help Center, "PlateJoy is ending July 1st, 2025"
- eMeals App Store listing (subscription prices)
- Eat This Much, "What do I get for subscribing?"
- Samsung Food Help, "Meal Planner FAQ"
- Plan to Eat, "How much does Plan to Eat cost?"
- Paprika Recipe Manager (official site and store listings)
Ultimate Meal Plans makes a competing meal planning app. We are not affiliated with any other app named on this page, and we don't earn a commission from them.