What should I use now that Mealime is shutting down?

Mealime's closing page says the app “will be discontinued as of October 21, 2026” and that “all personal data will be deleted when the Mealime application is shut down”. The free replacement Mealime names is Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons Companies grocery apps. If you would rather not plan inside a supermarket app, the alternatives are Paprika, Samsung Food, SuperCook, Cooklist, Eat This Much and WhatsCook.ing, which differ mostly in what the plan starts from.

The date is 21 October 2026

Mealime's own closing page says: “Effective immediately, Pro subscribers will not be charged any additional subscription fees before Mealime is discontinued on October 21, 2026.” Pro features are open to every user until then, so the app is free for the rest of its life.

Your data goes with it

The closing page says all personal data will be deleted when the application is shut down, and it describes no export or download of your saved recipes, plans or lists, so anything you want to keep must be copied out before the date. This is first a deadline to save your work, not to choose an app.

Mealime points you at Meals Hub

The closing page says all Mealime recipes continue in Meals Hub, inside the Albertsons Companies grocery apps and websites, run by the same team. It is free and supports dietary preferences, though the closing page says certain preferences and settings have to be set up again in Meals Hub. It sits under the More icon in the store app and works with no Albertsons store nearby.

Save your recipes tonight

It takes about half an hour, and it matters more than the app you choose next. Screenshot the ingredients and method of each saved recipe, and your usual shopping list. Then write down the ten dinners you genuinely repeat: on paper, they rebuild your rotation in any planner. The step by step version is on our Mealime page.

Meals Hub, the one Mealime names

The same recipes and team, free. The trade is where the planning lives: inside a retailer's app, with the shopping built around that chain.

Paprika 3, if you want to own it

One payment of $4.99, no subscription, and 4.90 stars from 53,706 ratings, the highest here. You keep your recipes and place them on a calendar by hand. It does none of the deciding, and it is the only option that does not depend on a company staying in business.

Samsung Food, if free matters most

Free, with premium at $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year, and 4.78 stars from 6,333 ratings. It imports recipes from most sites, plans a week, makes a list, and runs on iPhone, iPad and the web: the closest replacement for Mealime, usable without paying, though premium is more than double what Mealime Pro cost. That premium, Samsung Food+, adds meal plans tailored to your health goals, pantry management and nutrition tracking.

Eat This Much, if you plan to numbers

Free to download with in-app tiers from $8.99 to $84.99, and 4.72 stars from 22,087 ratings. It starts from your calorie and macro targets, your budget and your schedule, and has a virtual pantry too. The trade is that the plan starts from numbers rather than from your kitchen.

SuperCook and Cooklist, if the pantry is the point

Two apps already start from what you own, and neither is ours. SuperCook is free with no in-app purchases listed and rates 4.82 from 21,712 ratings: you tick your ingredients and it shows recipes needing only those, tonight rather than the week. Cooklist rates 4.73 from 11,292 ratings and fills its pantry from your grocery loyalty cards, the least effort here, but a receipt knows what you bought, not what is left.

WhatsCook.ing, if the week should come from your goals and your kitchen

We make this one, so weigh it accordingly. You set your goals and tastes, photograph the shelf, and the week is written around both; the shopping list leaves out what your pantry covers and leads with the foods that close your nutrient gaps. Every meal you cook is read nutrient by nutrient, and the day's nutrition moves a BioAge estimate, a nutrition-derived number with its method shown in the app, not a medical measurement.

The trade is price and platform: $29.99 a month or $179.99 a year on the US App Store after a 7-day free trial through your Apple Account, iPhone only, and no free tier.

Three questions worth asking of whatever you pick

Can you get your data back out? Mealime's closing page describes no export. Who pays for it, and what does that steer? A subscription has to keep earning its place, which is fair to hold us to. And does the plan start from a shop or from your kitchen?

Where it is not a replacement for Mealime

Nothing imports, so dishes you loved in Mealime cannot come across. There is no free tier, and $29.99 a month on the US App Store is roughly ten times what Mealime Pro cost, so it has to buy you something Mealime never did. It has no grocery ordering or barcode scanner. The questionnaire is long and the first plan takes three to four minutes.

The full Mealime page quotes the announcement, ten apps sit side by side on the comparison page, and the questions page answers the common ones.

Related guides: planning from what is in your fridge, the best app for one person, a week without going to the store, and which planners track nutrition.

Where the figures come from

App Store prices and ratings are what Apple showed on the US storefront on 9 September 2026, and counts rise daily. The Mealime closing notice was read on 14 September, 21 September and 27 September 2026.

Mealime's closing notice at mealime.com/closing, for the 21 October 2026 date, the quotes above, the subscription wind-down, the move to Meals Hub and the deletion of personal data.

App Store listings, read that day: Mealime, for its 53,992 ratings and the $2.99 a month Pro price; Paprika Recipe Manager 3, for 4.90 stars from 53,706 ratings and the one-off $4.99; Samsung Food, for 4.78 stars from 6,333 ratings and the premium price; Eat This Much, for 4.72 stars from 22,087 ratings and the in-app tiers; SuperCook, for 4.82 stars from 21,712 ratings and no listed in-app purchases; and Cooklist, for 4.73 stars from 11,292 ratings.