# MealsUp vs Meal Planner

The clearest difference is update cadence: Meal Planner at every 5 days against MealsUp's monthly. Meal Planner also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 80%). MealsUp's advantage is ratings volume (294 vs 16) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.2). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. MealsUp sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Meal Planner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for MealsUp against 4.6 for Meal Planner. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MealsUp has 294 ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of MealsUp's written reviews are positive against 100% of Meal Planner's.

MealsUp ships an update monthly, Meal Planner every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MealsUp | Meal Planner |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (294 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mealsup/id1200169378/reviews)** | [4.6 (16 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/meal-planner-weekly-planning/id6448211124/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **294** | 16 |
| Positive reviews | 79.6% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 5 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 29 MB | 19 MB |
| Requires iOS | **11.0** | 16.2 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Benjamin Styles](https://appshunter.io/developer/856831184) | [David Manso](https://appshunter.io/developer/1645844109) |

## What reviewers say

### MealsUp

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mealsup/id1200169378)

Plan your weekly meals and manage your grocery lists with this app. Save favorite recipes, share plans with housemates, and reduce food waste by buying only what you need. Enjoy offline access and real-time syncing for seamless collaboration.

**Highlights:** Meal planning for days and weeks, Save and access favorite recipes, Real-time shared accounts with housemates, Automated grocery list generation, Offline support with seamless syncing, Metric and US unit conversion, Intelligent ingredient suggestions

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Shopping List | $1.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use and functional
- 💡 "Surprise me" option is helpful
- 👍 Great for meal planning
- 👍 Simplifies grocery shopping
- 👍 Allows saving custom meals

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Grocery list duplicates items
- 🐛 Grocery list not sorted by department
- 🐛 Cannot add recipe steps, only ingredients
- 🐛 Difficulty adding recipes without workarounds
- 🐛 Payment issues with shopping list

**Reported bugs**

- Grocery list duplicates items
- Grocery list not sorted by department
- Payment issues with shopping list
- Cannot create account (password field issue)
- Confusing to add breakfast/lunch separately

**Requested features**

- Add a widget for iPhone
- Categorize dishes into breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Screenshot feature to add recipes from cookbooks
- Categorized "surprise me" option (e.g., Indian, Mexican)
- Ability to export shopping list to other apps or print


### Meal Planner

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/meal-planner-weekly-planning/id6448211124)

Effortlessly plan your weekly meals, save favorite recipes, and automatically generate organized shopping lists. This app makes healthy eating and culinary organization simple and enjoyable.

**Highlights:** Streamlined weekly meal planning, Personalized recipe keeper, Intelligent grocery list generator, Customizable meal plan visuals, iCloud sync across devices

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PRO (1 Month) | $2.99 | per month |
| PRO (1 Year) | $9.99 | per year |
| PRO (Lifetime) | $14.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MealsUp free?

MealsUp is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Meal Planner free?

Meal Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, MealsUp or Meal Planner?

MealsUp is rated higher. MealsUp averages 4.7 out of 5 from 294 ratings, while Meal Planner averages 4.6 from 16 ratings.

### Do MealsUp or Meal Planner have ads?

Neither MealsUp nor Meal Planner shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, MealsUp or Meal Planner?

MealsUp ships an update monthly, and Meal Planner every 5 days. Most recently, MealsUp was updated on November 2, 2026 and Meal Planner on November 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*