AT A GLANCE
Paprika already plans and lists: its own guide documents daily, weekly and monthly meal plans, ingredient-based grocery lists, local storage and optional cloud sync. iOS and desktop versions have different prices.
The distinction: Paprika helps you schedule recipes you choose. It does not generate a personalised week of dinners or supply a built-in recipe catalogue.
Decide which job you need help with
Paprika stores recipes, lets you schedule them and builds grocery lists from the meals you choose. Keep using it if that manual workflow works for you. If choosing dinners is the sticking point, compare apps that suggest a week automatically.
You want the week suggested and the list written
MealPot (iPhone and iPad, free to download; full planning requires Pro) offers a browsable recipe catalogue and suggests a week around your preferences and household size, then writes one aisle-sorted list. Paprika offers more control over which saved recipes go onto your calendar.
Plan to Eat ($5.95 a month or $49 a year) uses your saved recipes on a calendar, with the grocery list built from the plan. Its pricing page lists current US rates.
You mostly want the shared shopping list
AnyList has real-time household list sharing, recipe import and a meal-planning calendar in its Complete tier. Its feature comparison lists individual and household prices. Choose it when collaboration matters more than Paprika’s recipe archive; both products can turn selected meals into a grocery list.
You want free with a big library
Samsung Food clips from any site like Paprika does, adds a planner and lists, and costs nothing for the basics; the Food+ tier ($6.99 a month) unlocks personalised planning. The trade-off versus Paprika is that recipes live on someone else’s platform.
Moving out of Paprika
- Export your Paprika recipes first: Paprika’s own export produces .paprikarecipes files and HTML you can keep.
- Keep Paprika installed as your archive — it is paid for, it does not expire, and your collection stays searchable.
- Try the planning app with one real week: five dinners, one grocery list, one shop.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Paprika?
Samsung Food is the closest free clip-and-plan option. MealPot is free to download with its full recipe library browsable; the generated weekly plan and recipe import are Pro features.
Does Paprika do meal planning?
It has a calendar you fill manually and a list built from it. What it does not do is decide — there is no generated week based on your preferences and no built-in recipes.
Can I get my recipes out of Paprika?
Yes. Paprika documents export options. Keep a current backup of any recipe collection you care about, regardless of which app stores it.
Paprika or MealPot?
Paprika if your recipes are the point and you enjoy choosing them yourself. MealPot if the point is a week of dinners decided and listed without the choosing.
Skip the clipping, keep the dinners.
MealPot comes stocked with tested recipes and plans the week for you.