| Mealime | Mealody | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | What will we eat this week, and what do I buy? | What should I cook right now, with what I own? |
| Starts from | A weekly plan you build, then a shopping trip | The fridge you already have |
| Who picks each meal | You choose from its personalized suggestions | The app decides and notifies you at mealtime |
| Grocery list | Yes — auto-built from your plan, sorted by store aisle | Yes (Pro) — only the items your plan needs that you don't already have |
| Allergies, diets & dislikes | Yes — allergies, dislikes and diet types | Yes — per household member; the strictest diet at the table wins |
| Recipe catalog | Not published; the full collection is Pro-only | 1,248 across 22 cuisines, hand-checked, all free |
| Platforms | iOS, Android | iOS only |
| Price | Free; Pro is $2.99/mo on its App Store listing | Free core; Pro $3.99/mo, Pro+ $7.99/mo — yes, ours costs more |
Mealody vs Mealime
First, the thing you might actually be here for: no, they are not the same app. Mealime is an established meal-planning app from a different company; Mealody is ours. The names are coincidentally similar, and if you were looking for Mealime, its site is mealime.com — no hard feelings.
If you are genuinely comparing the two, the difference is not quality, it is direction. Mealime plans forward: you pick a week of recipes, it builds a grocery list sorted by store aisle, you shop, then you cook the plan. Mealody plans backward: you tell it what is already in your fridge, and at mealtime it tells you one thing to cook from that — no shopping trip required.
Mealime is very good at what it does — by its own count over 4.5 million people use it, its recipes run about 30 minutes, and its Pro tier costs less than ours. If “decide the week on Sunday, shop once, cook the plan” matches how you live, this comparison is over and Mealime is your answer.
Side by side
Choose Mealime if…
- You like deciding the week up front and shopping to a list — that loop is Mealime's whole product, and it is polished.
- You are on Android. Mealody is iPhone-only.
- You want the cheaper Pro: $2.99/month against Mealody's $3.99.
- Grocery-list quality matters most to you — Mealime's aisle-sorted list is the feature its users rave about.
- You cook from a plan, not from whatever is in the fridge.
Choose Mealody if…
- Your week never survives the plan — by Wednesday you're improvising from what's left in the fridge anyway.
- You want zero decisions at 6pm: one notification, one meal, cook it.
- Your fridge already has food in it and the goal is to use it up before it turns, not to buy more.
- You cook for a household where each person's allergies and diets differ — Mealody filters per member, automatically.
- You want the whole recipe catalog free; Mealody never paywalls recipes.
The honest verdict
These apps disagree about where dinner starts. Mealime believes dinner starts at the store: decide the week, buy exactly what it needs, cook it. Mealody believes dinner starts at the fridge: you already own food, and the hard part is deciding what to do with it at 6pm tonight.
Both are right — for different people. If your meal plans actually get cooked, Mealime is mature, cheaper, and on more platforms; use it. If your meal plans die by midweek and the real question is “what do I do with what's in there right now,” that is the only question Mealody is built to answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mealody the same app as Mealime?
No. They are unrelated apps from unrelated companies — the similar names are a coincidence. Mealime (mealime.com) is an established meal-planning app for iOS and Android where you pick a week of recipes and it builds your grocery list. Mealody (getmealody.com) is an iPhone app that works the other way around: it decides what you should cook at mealtime, from the ingredients already in your fridge.
Which is better, Mealody or Mealime?
Neither, universally — they answer different questions. Mealime is better if you plan your meals ahead and shop to a list: it is polished, cheaper ($2.99/month Pro), and runs on Android as well as iOS. Mealody is better if planning is exactly what keeps failing for you: it sends one meal suggestion at breakfast, lunch and dinner built from what is already in your fridge, so there is nothing to plan and nothing to browse.
Is Mealody or Mealime free?
Both have real free tiers. Mealime's core planning and grocery list are free, with a $2.99/month Pro that unlocks nutrition information, calorie filters and its full recipe collection. Mealody's core loop — your fridge, all its recipes, and the mealtime notifications — is free and ad-free, with Pro ($3.99/month) adding weekly plans and the smart grocery list, and Pro+ ($7.99/month) adding family profiles and Studio.
Does Mealime tell you what to cook?
Mealime suggests recipes matched to your preferences, but you choose each meal and build the week's plan yourself — that is its model, and its users like being the one choosing. If you specifically want an app that makes the decision for you and pushes it to your phone at mealtime, that is the model Mealody is built on.
Can I use Mealody and Mealime together?
Reasonably, yes. Some people plan the week's big shop with Mealime and let Mealody catch the improvised nights — the evenings the plan didn't survive and dinner has to come from whatever is actually in the fridge.
Stop choosing. Start cooking.
Mealody sends you one meal at mealtime, built from what is already in your fridge and safe for everyone at your table. Free on iPhone, no ads.