Meal planning apps compared: 5 apps by price, features and best use

The short answer: the best meal planning app depends on where your recipes come from. Plan to Eat ($49 a year) is best if you save recipes from blogs, AnyList ($9.99–$14.99 a year) is best for a shared family grocery list, Paprika (one-time $4.99 on iPhone) is best if you hate subscriptions, eMeals ($59.99 a year for dinners) is best if you want someone else to pick the menu, and Samsung Food is a free starting point.

• Prices checked November 5, 2026 on each company's own site (table below)
• Pick by job: your recipes → Plan to Eat or Paprika · a shared list → AnyList · done-for-you menus → eMeals or Samsung Food+
• No-app option: a printable plan on the fridge that everyone can see, like the Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99, one-time). Weighing a kit instead of an app? See our meal delivery services price comparison.

Below: a price comparison, what each app is best for, free options, how to choose and when paper works better than an app.

Meal planning apps compared: prices and features

Price tip: Plan to Eat says buying on its website costs $5 less a year than buying through the Apple App Store. Check whether the app you pick has a similar web discount before subscribing.

Best meal planning app for each kind of household

Best for saving your own recipes: Plan to Eat

Plan to Eat has no recipe library of its own. You clip recipes from blogs and social posts, drag them onto a meal planning calendar, and it builds a grocery list organized by store and aisle. One subscription covers your household on iPhone, Android and the web. At $49 a year it costs about $4.08 a month, and it does not auto-renew the yearly plan unless you turn that on.

Best for a shared family grocery list: AnyList

AnyList's free version handles shared, synced shopping lists. AnyList Complete ($9.99 a year, or $14.99 for a household) adds the meal planning calendar, web and Mac access, recipe import from websites, recipe scaling and a running price total for your list, which is handy for grocery budgeting.

Best with no subscription: Paprika 3

Paprika is a one-time purchase per platform: $4.99 for iPhone and iPad together, $29.99 on Windows, with other platforms sold separately. It includes a daily, weekly and monthly meal planner, grocery lists that combine ingredients and sort by aisle, a pantry tracker and recipe import from websites.

Best for done-for-you menus: eMeals

If deciding what to cook is the hard part, eMeals sends weekly dinner menus with a shopping list. The dinner plan is $59.99 for 12 months or $35.99 for 3 months, and breakfast and lunch plans cost extra.

Best free meal planning app to start: Samsung Food

Samsung Food is a free app for saving recipes and planning meals. Samsung Food+ ($6.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial) adds tailored 7-day meal plans, saved meal plan templates and an ad-free app.

Free meal planning app options

How to choose a meal planning app

• Where do your recipes live? Blogs and Pinterest point to Plan to Eat, AnyList Complete or Paprika. If you don't have go-to recipes, pick eMeals or Samsung Food.
• Who shops? If two adults split the shopping, a synced shared list (AnyList, Plan to Eat) beats anything else.
• What does it cost per year? Compare yearly prices: $9.99–$14.99 (AnyList), $49 (Plan to Eat), $59.99 (eMeals dinner or Samsung Food+), or $4.99 once (Paprika on iPhone).
• Will you actually open it? Try the free version or trial for two full weeks of planning before paying.
• Does it build the grocery list for you? This saves the most time. Every paid app above does.

Meal planning app vs a printable planner

Many families use both: an app to save recipes and a printed weekly plan on the fridge so everyone knows what's for dinner. Our paper vs digital planner comparison goes deeper, and how to meal plan covers the weekly routine whichever tool you pick. Whichever app you pick, the weekly habit still starts with our meal planning overview.

The Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99) is a one-time printable with a weekly meal plan and an aisle-sorted grocery list, no subscription. Keep tested recipes in the Family Recipe Binder ($6.99), or get both in the Family Life Admin Bundle ($15.99, $23.95 bought separately). For a month at a glance, try the monthly meal planner, and see meal planning on a budget to cut the grocery bill. Browse all printables.