KitchenOwl vs Mealime
KitchenOwl
kitchenowl.orgMealime
mealime.comSide by side
| Figure | KitchenOwl | Mealime |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Recipe Apps | 8.1 (#2) | 7.6 (#3) |
| Meal planning | Meal plans can use suggestions based on preferences and pantry inventory and sync with shopping lists. | Users can choose recipes themselves or use Mealime’s meal-plan builder to generate a plan. |
| Support | The documentation directs users to GitHub issues for bug reports and feature requests and lists [email protected] for privacy questions. | Mealime Pro subscribers can receive email support, according to the Pro feature page. |
Plans
In their own words
KitchenOwl
KitchenOwl is a free grocery list and recipe manager for households, with meal planning and expense tracking. Household members can collaborate on recipes, shopping lists, plans, and expenses. Lists support descriptions and categories, can be sorted by store, and sync in real time across users and devices. Users can create recipes or import them from popular websites, then add ingredients to shopping lists. Meal plans can use preferences and pantry inventory to generate suggestions and connect with shopping lists. Members can split bills and review monthly expense reports and charts. The apps provide partial offline support for keeping track of grocery lists. KitchenOwl also lists Home Assistant integration for automations and smart home connectivity. It is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web, with self-hosting supported. The official server installation uses Docker or Docker Compose, and the documentation recommends HTTPS behind a reverse proxy. KitchenOwl is Free Software under the AGPL-3.0 license.
Mealime
Mealime is a meal-planning and home-cooking service for web, Android, and iOS. It helps users choose recipes or generate meal plans with a built-in planner offering more than 200 personalization options. Selected recipes produce a grocery list that groups ingredients and calculates required quantities. Grocery delivery connections named by Mealime include Kroger, Walmart Grocery, Amazon Fresh, and Instacart. The mobile app can import many recipes from website URLs, while iOS and Android cooking mode advances instructions hands-free. Mealime includes dietary filters, nutrition targets, shopping lists, and family meal plans. Its getting-started guide describes sending nutrition information for cooked recipes to Apple Health, although a support article says direct integrations with Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, and Weight Watchers have not been built. Grocery lists cannot be shared through a sharing feature. The free plan covers meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. The homepage says the service will shut down on October 21, 2026.