Most meal planning apps range in cost from free to up to $120 for an annual membership. The average cost of most meal planning apps is between $35 and $45 per year. Meal planning apps are beneficial for planning meals throughout the week which can help you save time in the kitchen. They’re also beneficial for staying organized to prevent food waste which may help you save money. However, you have to purchase the premium option to generate a meal plan beyond just a single day. You’re also unable to access grocery lists and grocery delivery on the free plan.

• If you are on a tight budget, FatSecret or Samsung Health give you solid tracking at zero cost.
• If you’ll need to manually enter all meals instead of, say, scanning a barcode or choosing from a preset roster of dishes, odds are that this practice will grow tiresome over time.
• Meals are created by chefs and reviewed by registered dietitians.
• A 2020 review of diet strategies explains that a high protein diet typically involves eating more than 0.8 grams (g) of protein per kilogram (kg) of body weight daily.
• This data-driven approach is ideal for athletes, bodybuilders, or anyone focused on weight management who needs precise nutritional control without manual calculation.
• It also lacks variety in food groups and types of foods, making it harder to meet micronutrient and fiber needs, she adds.

More Than Just Food In a Box

The premium version also provides advanced nutrition features like custom insights based on what you track and the ability to sync your fitness data from your smartwatch or other fitness apps. WeightWatchers WW app is designed to supplement its proven dietary plan by putting the resources members need right at their fingertips. That includes a massive database of rated foods using the WeightWatchers point system, putting less emphasis on calories and more on total awareness of exactly what foods you’re eating. Our tester felt that his nutritional needs were met by the program. If you’d like to shop for meals that have clear nutritional information, check out our review of healthy meal delivery services. Meal planning apps can also offer the benefit of tracking nutrient intake which may be beneficial if you need to meet specific nutrient targets or are looking to lose weight.

Plant-Based Diets

Noom is our pick for the best overall weight loss app because it uses psychology-based lessons to retrain how users think about food, exercise, triggers, emotions, and more. It has built-in meal planning and tracking, optional coaching, and community support. As of this writing, it has a 4.7 out of 5 on the Apple App Store, based on about 850,000 reviews. “Being in a calorie deficit is key for weight loss, but there’s a degree when it can be too much,” says Zenker. Yes, you’ll likely lose weight on a very low-cal, restrictive diet, but it’s not unsustainable or healthy, she explains. In fact, too big of a calorie deficit can lead to rapid weight loss which can decrease muscle mass and energy levels, and cause nutritional deficiencies, she adds.

How We Tested and Chose the Best Weight Loss Apps

From there, you enter your details to set a calorie range based on your health goals and activity level. The app also offers the ability to customize your dietary preferences including allergies and dislikes. Janet Renee, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian nutritionist with over a decade of experience in clinical practice and health communications, specializing in weight management, spor… Healthcare professionals designed the Oviva weight loss app.

Table of Contents

Reverse Health is our pick for the best weight loss app for motivation because it includes optional one-on-one or group coaching, plus chat access to health coaches, which can help with accountability. There’s also a large (80,000+ members) community of women which can also boost feelings of social support. Pete found the program easy to stick with, rating sustainability a 4 out of 5. It’s non-judgmental, and when you log ‘less-healthy’ meals, the app offers ways you could potentially improve the meal. This is helpful and can make the program feel more sustainable for people who are learning how to build more nutrient-dense meals,” he said.

Top 12 Meal Planning Apps Feature Comparison

With just under a month, there’s no time to fool around, so get started on your high-protein meal plan now to lose weight and build muscle while you’re at it. Come breakfast time tomorrow, follow his plan as strictly as you can and get ready to show off those impressive muscles in a month. Hundreds of fad diets, weight-loss programs and outright scams promise quick and easy weight loss. But the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to make lasting lifestyle changes. These healthy changes include eating a balanced diet and moving more each day.

Limiting saturated fats, trans fats, and added sugars can also lower disease risk. The priority is long-term behavioural changes that promote not only weight loss but also weight management. You’ll receive expert support, steering you towards the best diet for weight loss that’s unique to you.

MyNetDiary – #1 Calorie Counter & Food Tracker App

The website isn’t as user-friendly as others on this list and may be cumbersome to use. Additionally, the app offers a 14-day free trial after which you must pay a subscription fee of $2.99 per month or $32.99 per year. Also in the paid version, full nutrition information for each recipe is available and is calculated by Yummly using the USDA nutrient database. Meal planning functionality such as a calendar to organize recipes is also available when you upgrade. PlateJoy is a user-friendly app with beautiful, full-color photos and a high level of customization.

If you’re at home, it’s much easier to do—just scramble a few egg whites and have a whole-grain item (whole-wheat bread or a bagel, for instance), and/or some fruit. Eat dinner at home, again a healthy, clean meal consisting of a lean protein source, green vegetable, and whole grains. Then, bring a protein shake or bar with you to work for a midday meal. “You’ve now got three clean meals taken care of,” says Juge. So if you’re eating at a restaurant at lunch and you want to have something different, you can have it.

Christina is a health commerce staff writer at Fortune with more unimeal reviews than a decade of experience crafting engaging content for digital platforms. Grant stopped using Noom about a year, once he reached his goal weight and he had learned how to build a sustainable diet. Zero is the most popular fasting app globally, with over 10 million downloads. The app was co-founded with input from Dr. Peter Attia, a physician known for his work on longevity and metabolic health. In my testing, the photo recognition correctly identified about 7 out of 10 meals.

Why choose the Mayo Clinic Diet?

However, for most people looking for a true, automated solution that takes the stress out of eating well, Eat This Much is the clear winner. Its powerful combination of automatic planning, precise nutritional customization, and unmatched flexibility makes it the best all-around choice for putting your diet on autopilot. Look for apps that create automated grocery lists that update as you change your plan.

Fitelo: Weight loss & Diet App

It’s a versatile tool, blending the world of nutrition with a touch of digital elegance. It’s got the substance but needs a sprinkle of user-friendliness and a dash of community connection. If you want an app that goes beyond the superficial layers of dieting and delves into the core of mindful eating, Noom might just be the perfect dining companion for your journey.

The Good Housekeeping Medical Review Board

News and World Report in 2025, Noom Weight is a virtual weight management program that helps lose weight by focusing on the mental aspects of weight loss. The goal of most weight loss programs is to help you stick to a certain eating pattern with the intention of making long-term lifestyle changes. The word „diet“ can refer to the eating plan a person follows on such a program, or just a person’s general approach eating. A premium membership provides access to specific diet plans, recipes, and tracking tools, along with more in-depth nutrient analyses for foods.