Comparison

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu vs Platelab

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu

This app helps you plan your weekly meals, organize recipes, and automatically generate grocery lists. It also includes a simple calorie counter to track your macros and supports features like meal prep and batch cooking.

Highlights
  • Weekly meal planning
  • Recipe organization
  • Automatic grocery list generation
  • Calorie and macro tracking
  • Meal prep and batch cooking support
  • Family sharing of recipes and plans
Features
Read full description

Did you know that meal planning can improve your health and mood? YouMealPlan is a beautiful all-in-one weekly meal planner that makes meal planning and preparation simple and fun. PLAN YOUR MEALS WITH A BEAUTIFUL DESIGN Create weekly meal plans, organize recipes and automatically generate grocery lists. Always have your meal planner, digital recipe keeper and grocery list at your fingertips. WEEKLY MEAL PLAN With this meal plan organizer, planning is quick and easy. In just a few minutes a week, you'll have your meal plan ready. Save your favorite meal plans and repeat them whenever you want. YOUR RECIPE KEEPER Organize recipes, create your personal recipe book and take it with you wherever you go. Your recipe collection will be your best ally in maintaining a balanced diet and healthy eating habits. SMART GROCERY LIST Turn meal plan ingredients into an automatic grocery list. Add only what you need, reduce food waste and save money. It's perfect for your diet and budget. Also ideal for meal prep and batch cooking. SIMPLE CALORIE COUNTER Track your macros without complications. The built-in calorie counter shows calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber and sugar for your meals, so you always know what you're eating and reach your goals more easily. SAVE TIME, MONEY AND FOOD - Reduce your budget by shopping with purpose - Stop wasting food (how many times have you bought onions you already had?) - Sync with your family and share recipes and meal plans easily - A great companion for intermittent fasting or keto diet planning FREE AND AD-FREE You can use the weekly planner, save recipes and organize grocery lists without ads or cost. The premium version supports development and unlocks multiple weekly meal plans, custom templates and unlimited sync. DOWNLOAD NOW AND TRANSFORM YOUR DIET Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Platelab

Features
Read full description

Following a recipe teaches you that recipe. It doesn't teach you to cook. The cooks you admire aren't recalling steps. They're making decisions — what belongs beside the lamb, where the acid goes, when to stop adding. That's the actual skill, it's learnable, and you can start on it tonight whether this is your fiftieth dinner or your fifth. Platelab teaches it the way it's really learned: by having you compose the plate yourself, one decision at a time, with the reasoning out in the open — until the instinct is yours and you don't need the app to find it. WHAT CHANGES You walk into the kitchen with an idea instead of a search. You cook things you've never made before, and they work. Your plates start looking composed rather than assembled. You stop rotating the same six dinners and don't miss them. You learn why a pairing works, so the next one is your own. Dinner suits everyone at your table without becoming a compromise. The week stops being seven separate problems. HOW IT WORKS Build a plate in six moves. Start with one good thing — a cut, a fish, a vegetable in its short season. Then compose outward: something to echo it, a vegetable with real presence, a sharp note to cut the richness, texture so the last bite is as good as the first, and a finish that ties it together. Every pairing tells you why. Behind the app is a canon built one affinity at a time — French and European foundations, wok cookery from East and Southeast Asia, Indian tempering, Persian, Levantine, Latin — where each combination earns its place through real precedent or the chemistry underneath it. Nothing is there to fill space. Balance is watched while you work. Acid where the dish has gone heavy. Fat where it does actual work. Salt, crunch, a finishing gesture. Take the plate anywhere you like; the structure comes with you. See the plate before you cook it. Ask for a photograph and your composition arrives the way it would at the pass — the placement, the sauce, the garnish, the space you left alone. Ask anything, mid-cook. Why the vinegar goes in last. What to do with the bones. How to make the same dish gentler for someone who won't eat heat. You get an answer from someone who has stood at a stove. Compose a whole week. Seven nights that go somewhere — varied in technique, honest about a Tuesday, and aware of what's in the pantry and what you'll owe the market. Set your table once. Say who eats with you and what is never welcome, and every plate after that quietly respects it. Elegance isn't complication. It's the three right things, put down with nerve. Start there. SUBSCRIPTION Platelab Pro unlocks the full app. New subscribers get a 1-week free trial, after which the subscription renews monthly at $9.99 USD. Prices may vary by region and are shown in the app before you purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel it any time in your Apple Account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Privacy Policy: https://food.rdews.com/legal/platelab-privacy Terms of Use: https://food.rdews.com/legal/platelab-terms

Screenshots

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu4 screens
Platelab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Meal Planner & Weekly Menu at #198 against Platelab's unranked. Meal Planner & Weekly Menu also leads on device support (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Platelab's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 11 days). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Meal Planner & Weekly Menu sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year and Platelab sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu ships an update every 11 days, Platelab every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Meal Planner & Weekly Menu versus Platelab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeal Planner & Weekly MenuPlatelab
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews88.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.7K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
Best chart rank#198 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB570 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperRaquel Martinez FigueiridoRyan Dewsbury

Bugs and requests

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Language switching not working as expected
  • Widget not updating correctly
  • Compatibility issues on certain devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to plan for multiple weeks or months
  • Option to customize meal categories (e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks)
  • Syncing and sharing functionality across devices
  • Checklist-style grocery list with ability to mark items as purchased
  • Printing or exporting meal plans
Show 1 more
  • More design theme options

Platelab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Meal Planner & Weekly Menu

Subscriptions1
  • Advanced Meal Planning7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time6
  • Lucky Theme: Maneki-neko$2.99
  • Golden Theme: The Dragon$2.99
  • Day & Night: Black Cat$2.99
Show 3 more
  • Purple Theme: The Wise Owl$2.99
  • Dark Theme: Night Hedgehog$2.99
  • Warm Theme: The Chef Bear$2.99
1 purchases

Platelab

Subscriptions1
  • Platelab Pro7 Days trial$9.991 Month

Questions

Is Meal Planner & Weekly Menu free?
Meal Planner & Weekly Menu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Platelab free?
Platelab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Meal Planner & Weekly Menu or Platelab have ads?
Neither Meal Planner & Weekly Menu nor Platelab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meal Planner & Weekly Menu or Platelab?
Meal Planner & Weekly Menu ships an update every 11 days, and Platelab every 5 days. Most recently, Meal Planner & Weekly Menu was updated on November 8, 2026 and Platelab on October 31, 2026.

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