Best Meal Planning Apps

Best Overall: Paprika

Key Specs
Price: $4.99 to $29.99 (one-time fee)
Features: Customizable recipes, easy imports from the web, and dietary restriction options
Platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows

Why We Chose It
Paprika doesn’t require a subscription, and its highly customizable user interface makes downloading and organizing recipes from other websites a cinch.

Pros
Quick and easy access to materials
Easy download and sync capabilities

Cons
Extensive user's guide can seem overwhelming
No chance to try before you buy the app

Overview
Paprika feels like a digital version of an old-school family recipe box. Whether you want to build an entire database of carb-rich comfort foods or recipes that cater to a paleo diet, how you customize the app is entirely up to you. There aren’t any built-in recipes in the app, but the platform’s built-in browser allows you to easily link to numerous popular food and recipe sites, including Serious Eats, Cook’s Illustrated, Epicurious, and The New York Times. You can also add your own recipes.

The grocery list and pantry functions make it easy to organize your shopping list and keep track of ingredients you already have on hand. Since the data is stored locally, you don't need Wi-Fi to access recipes. Paprika has more than 37,000 reviews in Apple’s App Store and sports a rating of 4.9/5 stars.

Unlike the other meal planning apps in this roundup, Paprika, which is created by Seattle-based Hindsight Labs, isn’t a subscription. Instead, you pay a one-time download fee, which varies by device ($4.99 iOS; $4.99 Android; $29.99 MacOS; $29.99 Windows). One downside to this setup is that if you want to have the app on more than one platform, you have to buy each separately. However, if you decide to get the app for multiple devices, Paprika’s cloud service allows you to seamlessly sync your data across your desktop and mobile platforms.

Best for Vegetarians: Forks Over Knives

Key Specs
Price: $24.99 per month to $99.99 per year
Features: Plant-based recipes and weekly customized meal plans
Platforms: iOS and Android

Why We Chose It
In addition to being a great resource for those who already embrace vegetarian and vegan diets, Forks Over Knives is an excellent gateway meal planner app for omnivores who are looking to add more plant-based meals.

Pros
Flexible enough for curious omnivores
“Weekend Prep” streamlines cooking and prep work

Cons
Expensive
Only connects to one grocery shopping service

Overview
Tied to the 2011 documentary and a New York Times bestselling book "Forks Over Knives," this meal planning app focuses on a whole-food, plant-based diet. Loading up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, tubers, and other starchy vegetables is encouraged. Nuts, seeds, tofu, plant-based milk, tempeh, and whole-grain bread can be enjoyed in moderation. A plant-based diet is the goal, but the movement recommends minimizing rather than altogether forbidding meat, poultry, and seafood, along with eggs, dairy, oils, and other more processed foods like refined sweeteners, white rice, pasta, and bread.

The app features hundreds of plant-based recipes designed by professional chefs that are meant to be prepared in 35 minutes or less. Each week, the app sends you a customized meal plan and recipes; all you have to do is shop, prep, cook, and eat.

Grocery lists are automatically uploaded and can be sorted by recipe or by aisle. If you have an Amazon Fresh account, you can buy groceries directly within the app. The app also has a “Weekend Prep” feature that helps you plot out and batch-cook in advance. If you don’t like a recipe from your weekly meal plan, you can easily swap it out with a click.

More than a recipe resource and meal planner, Forks Over Knives feels like a mission-driven food community. Subscriptions are on the pricey side, at $99.99 per year or $24.99 per month, so this app, which is available for iOS and Android, may not be for everyone. If you want to give it a spin before committing, there’s a free two-week trial offered.

Best Free Option: Yummly

Key Specs
Price: Free to $4.99 per month
Features: Scheduled meals, grocery ordering, smart appliance pairing, and more
Platforms: iOS and Android

Why We Chose It
With 2 million recipes available on the free version of this app, the sky's the limit when it comes to cooking inspiration. The step-by-step cooking videos featured in a number of recipes are also a nice touch.

Pros
Huge selection of recipes
Diverse chef voices
Step-by-step video instructions for some recipes

Cons
Occasionally clunky shopping interface

Overview
With Yummly, you can personalize your recipes based on cooking goals (learn new skills, try new cuisines, save time and money, or eat healthy), skill range (beginning, intermediate, and advanced), or dietary preferences (keto, vegetarian, low FODMAP, etc.). The step-by-step guided video instructions with some of the recipes are a nice touch. Yummly also enables you to schedule meals and sync directly onto your personal calendar rather than in the app. The shopping feature is set up so you can order ingredients instantly via grocery delivery services.

Owned by kitchen appliance giant Whirlpool, Yummly also lets you link smart appliances, such as Yummly’s very own smart thermometer, to the app via the My Connected Kitchen function. The Virtual Pantry feature enables you to keep a digital running tab on all the ingredients you have on hand and search for recipes that use up those items. The feature will even remind you when an ingredient is running low or about to expire. One of the biggest standout features in the premium version is Yummly’s diverse collection of recipes and instructional videos from featured chefs, including Carla Hall, the Potash Twins, Judy Joo, and others.

The basic version of the app, which boasts over 2 million recipes, is free. Yummly Pro, which includes even more bells and whistles, is $4.99 per month. If you want to save more, you can choose the annual plan which is $49.99 per year. If you want to test out the upgraded version before committing, Yummly offers a free 14-day trial. Yummly is available on iOS and Android.

Best for Families: Cozi

Key Specs
Price: Free to $29.99 per year
Features: Recipe planner, grocery list builder, and recipe imports from the web
Platforms: iOS, Android, MacOS, and Windows

Why We Chose It
The app is good for more than recipes and groceries; it's also a family organizational app that handles calendars, chore-tracking, and more.

Pros
Helpful family organizing features
The app’s “keep screen on” function

Cons
Limited number of recipes within the app
Clunky to transfer ingredients to grocery lists

Overview
Cozi, which was started by former employees of Microsoft and Amazon, has over 20 million users. Designed as a family organizing app, it also includes a recipe planner and grocery list features. The basic version of the app, available on iOS, Android, MacOS, and Windows, is free. A premium version, Cozi Gold, is $29.99 per year and is ad-free, offers a calendar search and birthday tracker, and more.

The fact that the app helps you organize more than your cooking schedule makes it feel like you're getting your money’s worth. Recipe-wise, the app is a bit bare-bones, but it’s easy enough to add recipes from websites and even upload your own to the recipe box. One especially nice feature is the “keep screen on” function, which ensures your device's screen doesn't go dark while you’re cooking.

Best for Fitness Goals: PlateJoy

Key Specs
Price: $12.99 per month to $99 per year
Features: Meal plans from nutritionists, grocery ordering, and dietary restriction options
Platforms: iOS and Android

Why We Chose It
Nutrition is front and center, from nutritionist-designed menus to the option to meet with dieticians and nutritionists.

Pros
Nutritionist-designed menus
User-friendly and intuitive
Instagram-worthy recipe photos

Cons
Expensive

Overview
Unlike some of the other diet-focused meal planning apps we looked at, this one doesn’t feel like you’re getting stuck with humdrum diet food. The recipes feel fresh and modern, and the photos of each dish are so attractive that it feels like you’re scrolling through Instagram. The app itself is user-friendly and intuitive. Available as a one-month ($12.99), six-month ($69), or annual subscription ($99), PlateJoy is one of the pricier meal planning apps which you can test out first with a 10-day free trial.

Meal plans are designed by nutritionists and customizable to suit your diet preferences and needs. There are options for low-carb, Mediterranean, dairy-free, keto, gluten-free, and plant-based diets. Nutritional information is provided for each recipe. Available on iOS and Android, you can also connect the PlateJoy app to your Fitbit.

With optional grocery delivery, you can connect your shopping list directly to Amazon Fresh or Instacart. PlateJoy also allows you to sync your meal plans with your own calendar or use the in-app one. (Calendar scheduling is only available on a desktop, though you can view your calendar on the mobile app). Recipes are searchable by ingredient, cuisine, and appliance.

Best for Shopping Lists: Mealime

Key Specs
Price: Free to $2.99 per month
Features: Easy grocery list builder, grocery ordering, and recipes for dietary restrictions
Platforms: iOS and Android

Why We Chose It
The app’s easy-to-use grocery lists and access to a wide variety of online retailers make shopping for ingredients a breeze.

Pros
Easy shopping features
Food waste savings tracker

Cons
Free version has limited features

Overview
The recipes featured on Mealime are created by chefs and registered dieticians, and you can choose the menu type you want to follow, from classic and flexitarian to keto, vegan, and paleo options. Overall, the recipes are approachable and healthy, albeit a bit basic. You can search recipes by diet, cuisine type, price per serving, and even calories (in the premium version), and build meal plans to reduce food waste, save money on groceries, and use up what’s in your pantry. One especially cool feature is the app’s food waste savings tracker, which keeps tabs on how much food waste you prevent by using Mealime’s recipes and meal planning.

What really sets this app apart for us is how straightforward the grocery shopping features were. In the pro version, you can search recipes by calories. The app’s “Shop Online” feature allows you to shop for ingredients from a wide variety of stores and delivery services, including Walmart, Instacart, Kroger, and Amazon Fresh.

Available on iOS and Android, the basic version of the app is free, but you can upgrade to a premium version for $2.99 per month. With the upgraded version you get exclusive recipes, the ability to import your own recipes, a nutrition tracker, and advanced recipe filters (by nutrients, grocery price, and cook time), among other extras.