Top 5 Best Alternatives to Mealime
If you like how Mealime makes healthy eating simple but you're craving deeper personalization, better macro alignment, or a planning flow that actually does the busywork for you, this guide compares five strong alternatives. It's written for bottom-of-funnel readers who want to choose quickly. Meal Chef AI is included and stands out for AI-driven planning that learns your taste, turns fridge photos into meals, builds shoppable lists, and syncs to your calendar—priced at $49.99/year or $12.99/month.
Quick Comparison Overview
| App | Best For | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Meal Chef AI | AI-assisted planning for iPhone | $49.99/year or $12.99/month |
| Plan to Eat | Total recipe control | Monthly/Annual |
| eMeals | Curated menus with grocery pickup | Monthly/Annual |
| Eat This Much | Automatic macro-based plans | Free + Premium tiers |
| PlateJoy | Nutritionist-guided structure | Monthly/Semi-annual/Annual |
How We Chose These Alternatives
We looked at the most common reasons people move on from Mealime: stronger adherence to goals and macros, faster "plan → shop → cook" execution, family coordination, bring-your-own-recipe control, and AI assistance that reduces decision fatigue. Each pick below excels on at least one of these outcomes so you can match the tool to your real-world constraints.
A Quick Note on Meal Chef AI
Meal Chef AI focuses on AI-generated meal plans, multi-language support, and iOS-first UX. The App Store listing confirms the price points: Premium Monthly at $12.99 and Annual Premium at $49.99. If you're BOFU-ready (i.e., close to starting a plan), keep those numbers in mind as you weigh value versus competitors below.
Mealime at a Glance (Baseline for Comparison)
Mealime's strengths are a clean recipe experience, simple week planning, and tidy grocery lists. Use it as the baseline for fast, healthy defaults. If you need stricter nutrition targeting, smarter suggestions from what you already have, or an end-to-end flow that automates the admin, consider the options below.
The Top 5 Mealime Alternatives
Meal Chef AI — Best AI-Assisted Alternative for iPhone
Meal Chef AI creates personalized meal plans from your BMR, calorie target, diet type, and ingredient/cuisine preferences. It supports dietary restrictions, learns what you like over time, and suggests meals based on mood or what's in your fridge via an AI camera that can analyze photos. Shopping lists are generated automatically (by meal or ingredient), pantry-aware, and you can sync meals to your calendar for timely reminders. A personal cookbook lets you save, import, and even publish recipes so your wins become reusable.
Choose Meal Chef AI if you want a plan you'll actually follow, with AI doing the heavy lifting from ideas to execution.
Plan to Eat — Best for Total Recipe Control
Plan to Eat is ideal if you already collect recipes from across the web and want frictionless import, calendarization, and list creation. It trades "done-for-you" menus for ownership and organization. Choose it if your recipes are the center of gravity and you want the planner to get out of the way.
eMeals — Best for Curated Weekly Menus with Rapid Grocery Pickup
eMeals focuses on ready-made plans and a streamlined path to grocery pickup or delivery. It's the fastest route from "what's for dinner?" to a cart you can check out. Choose it if speed and convenience beat tinkering and you're happy with curated menus.
Eat This Much — Best for Automatic Macro-Based Meal Plans
Eat This Much auto-generates plans to hit calories and macros. If your top priority is compliance with numbers and you want minimal manual planning, this is the pragmatic, metrics-first option. Choose it if you live by targets and want the app to back-solve meals for you.
PlateJoy — Best for Nutritionist-Guided Structure and Lifestyle Filters
PlateJoy emphasizes detailed onboarding and lifestyle-aware plans. It's a good fit if you want a curated, "tell me what to eat this week" experience with strong dietary filtering, and you don't mind a more guided approach. Choose it if decision fatigue is your main blocker.
Where Each Option Fits
Pick Meal Chef AI if you want AI-generated plans tailored to your goals and tastes, plus mood-based and fridge-scan suggestions, automatic shopping lists, calendar sync, and a personal cookbook you can grow over time.
Pick Plan to Eat if you value total recipe ownership and organization.
Pick eMeals if you want the fastest jump from plan to grocery checkout.
Pick Eat This Much if macro compliance is non-negotiable.
Pick PlateJoy if you want a polished, nutritionist-influenced path with strong lifestyle filters.
Pros and Cons at a Glance
Meal Chef AI:
AI personalization from BMR to diet type; learns your tastes; mood-based ideas; fridge-scan suggestions; auto shopping lists; calendar sync; pantry-aware shopping; personal cookbook. Requires brief onboarding to dial in preferences.
Plan to Eat:
Maximum control and import flexibility; you curate everything yourself.
eMeals:
Speed from plan to cart; less customization depth than DIY systems.
Eat This Much:
Macro targets on autopilot; variety depends on constraints and your inputs.
PlateJoy:
Structured, guided planning with strong filters; higher hand-holding if you prefer full control.
Why Meal Chef AI is a Compelling Mealime Alternative
The core promise is adherence. Plans start from your numbers (BMR and calories) and diet type, then adapt to your cuisines, ingredients, and restrictions so you actually enjoy and follow them. The AI recipe creator removes guesswork when you're short on time or inspiration, and the camera can turn a fridge photo into viable recipes that reduce waste.
Automatic, pantry-aware shopping lists move you from planning to groceries without copy-pasting, and calendar sync protects your plan from life's chaos with timely reminders. Over time, the model learns your likes and dislikes and improves suggestions—so the plan gets easier to stick to, not harder.
Add a personal cookbook to save, import, and publish recipes, and you've got one home for AI ideas, family favorites, and web imports. Pricing is transparent at $49.99/year or $12.99/month.
Comparison Notes versus Mealime
Mealime is excellent for healthy recipes and a simple routine. If you find yourself asking for stricter macro alignment, suggestions from what you already have, or a system that automates lists and reminders, Meal Chef AI is the logical upgrade.
If you primarily want your own saved recipes to drive everything, choose Plan to Eat. If you want curated menus plus grocery pickup speed, choose eMeals. If you want the app to optimize for macros automatically, choose Eat This Much. If you want a guided, nutritionist-style plan, choose PlateJoy.
Pricing Snapshot (Verify at Checkout)
- • Meal Chef AI: $49.99/year or $12.99/month for AI planning, mood and fridge-scan suggestions, auto shopping lists with pantry awareness, calendar sync, and personal cookbook features.
- • Plan to Eat: Typically a low monthly or annual subscription focused on recipe ownership and planning tools.
- • eMeals: Typically monthly or annual options tied to curated plans and grocery integrations.
- • Eat This Much: Free tier plus a low monthly premium tier aimed at macro automation.
- • PlateJoy: Monthly, semi-annual, and annual options for a curated, guided planning experience.
How to Decide Quickly
Choose Meal Chef AI if you want an AI planner that learns your taste, works with what's in your kitchen, and automates lists and reminders so you actually cook the plan.
Choose Plan to Eat if you want the best organizer for a personal recipe collection.
Choose eMeals for the fastest "plan → pickup" flow.
Choose Eat This Much if your top priority is macro compliance.
Choose PlateJoy if you prefer a guided, nutritionist-influenced approach.
Final Thoughts
Mealime remains a great starter for healthy, simple planning. But if you're ready for a system that personalizes to your goals and pantry, removes admin, and improves with your feedback, Meal Chef AI is built for adherence in the real world—turning your goals, tastes, and what's in your fridge into a plan you can actually follow.
Ready to Try an AI-Powered Alternative?
Experience personalized meal planning that adapts to your preferences and goals.
Try Meal Chef AI FreeFree tier available. $49.99/year or $12.99/month.