There's no single best tool for everyone. There are three types of services that don't solve the same problem, and the right pick depends on what you want to get rid of: the mental load, the grocery run, or the cooking.
Prices and features change. Everything here comes from the services' official pages, checked on that date. Nothing is copied from a comparison site or a blog.
Most comparisons put these services on the same line, which makes no sense: they don't sell the same thing. Before comparing features, you need to pick what you want gone from your week.
Meal planners organize meals you buy yourself. They give you a meal plan and a grocery list, and you stay free to pick the store, the brands and the budget.
Cart apps do the same job, then send the list to an online grocery cart at a partner retailer. The time saved is real: you don't retype anything. The trade-off: the tool is tied to a small number of retailers.
Meal kits don't plan much: they sell pre-portioned ingredients, delivered every week with their recipe cards. They take away the grocery run, not the cooking. Comparing them to a meal planner is like comparing a caterer to a recipe notebook.
One short profile per service: its type, what it does and what it costs. The business model expands, and each service has its own “Popotam or…” page and alternatives page. Mostly looking for a free weekly menu app? Our guide compares the five that do it.
A meal planner that puts together your week, or your month, plus the grocery list that goes with it, with no account and no subscription.
A recipe app that turns the menu you pick into a grocery cart at a partner store chain.
An English-language meal planner: you put your week together, and the app turns it into a grocery list sorted by category.
A French-language meal planner: it puts together the week's meals and the grocery list that goes with them, taking a budget and preferences into account.
A meal kit: pre-portioned ingredients and recipes are delivered to your home or picked up via click & collect, you cook.
A weekly meal kit: pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards arrive at your door, you cook.
A dinner planner: it puts together the week's dinners and their grocery list based on a budget, using the prices of the store chain you pick among thirteen announced.
A recipe notebook that imports recipes from Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest or a website in one click, then places them on your week with a grocery list sorted by aisle.
These five criteria describe what each service is, not its options. They're what decides, and they're almost always enough to rule out two types out of three.
| Criterion | Popotam | Jow | MealimeCloses 10/21/2026 | Romi | Quitoque | HelloFresh | Pimzi | Cookimag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan your mealsOrganize the week's meals ahead of time, day by day. | Yes14 meals a week, lunch and dinner, up to four weeks | Yes | Yesthe whole week in a few minutes | Yesthe week's meals | Partlyyou pick your recipes for the week | Partlyyou pick your recipes for the week | Yesthe week's dinners | Yesa seven-day calendar, up to four meals a day |
| Grocery listGet the list of ingredients to buy, grouped for the store. | Yessorted by aisle, with checkboxes | Yesturned into a cart | Yessorted by category | Yessorting by aisle isn't announced | Nothe ingredients arrive pre-portioned | Nothe ingredients arrive pre-portioned | Yesorganized by aisle, with an estimated total | Yessorted by aisle |
| Shop wherever you wantBuy at any store, with no required retailer and no partnership. | Yesno partner store chain | Partlysix partner store chains listed | Yes | Yesno partner store chain announced | No | No | Partlymenus follow the prices of one of the thirteen announced store chains | Yesno partner store chain announced |
| Ingredients deliveredGet the ingredients delivered to your door without going grocery shopping. | No | Partlyby the store chain, not by Jow | No | No | Yesto your home or via click & collect | Yesit's the service itself | No | No |
| Usable without a subscriptionUse the tool for its main purpose without paying for a subscription. | Yes | Yesby linking a store; optional subscription from €2.92/month | Yesuntil it shuts down, on October 21, 2026 | Noseven-day trial, then paid | No | No | Partlyfirst menu free, then a monthly subscription or lifetime access, both paid | Partlya free version, whose limits aren't detailed |
How to read this table. “No” means “not offered according to the service's public info as of the check date”: you can't prove a feature doesn't exist, but you can say so honestly. “Not verified” means we couldn't find an official source, and we'd rather say so than guess.
Three ways to pay that don't measure the same thing: free software, subscription software, or delivered ingredients. The scale puts them side by side so you can see the gap, not to rank them.
Popotam ; Mealime until 10/21/2026.
Jow with an optional subscription from €2.92 to €11.99 a month.
Romi €4.99 a month, or €39.99 a year (€3.33 a month) ; Pimzi amounts not shown ; Cookimag Premium €8.99 a month, with a free version whose limits aren't detailed.
Quitoque from €7.74 ; HelloFresh from €3.89 to €8.25 depending on the plan.
Meal kit prices can't be compared as is. A meal kit serving includes the ingredients; a meal planner subscription doesn't. To compare fairly, add your groceries to the planner's price, or take them out of the kit's price. And between two kits, look at the same row: HelloFresh's “from €3.89” is a floor price, reached on the biggest box (six people, six dinners), while its €8.25 is the most expensive case, two people and two dinners. Quitoque's “from €7.74” doesn't say which box it applies to.
The service asks for no subscription and no credit card for its main use. It's funded some other way, and says so.
The tool is free if you link a partner store. The service makes its money from that link, not from you directly.
You pay for pre-portioned ingredients and their delivery: €3.89 to €8.25 per serving depending on the box and the plan. That's the price of a service, worth it if it gives you back time you don't have.
Answer in order: your first “yes” gives you the type, and the services that go with it.
You need a meal kit: Quitoque or HelloFresh. You pay for the ingredients and delivery, per serving. No meal planner will do that, Popotam included.
You need a cart app: Jow, if you shop at Auchan, Carrefour, Chronodrive, Courses U, Intermarché or Monoprix. That's the one thing Popotam doesn't do.
Diet, allergies, cooking time, no oven, tight budget: you need a meal planner you can fine-tune. Popotam offers nearly thirty settings and checks every dish before showing it to you; Romi lists a budget and preferences, Pimzi a budget, a retailer and allergens.
If you already pay for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, might as well use it: Popotam writes the prompt, you paste it into your tool, you bring back the answer. As far as we know, no other service on this list offers that.
All thirteen criteria, in three groups. The first one is open; expand the other two, or compare just two services.
| Criterion | Popotam | Jow | MealimeCloses 10/21/2026 | Romi | Quitoque | HelloFresh | Pimzi | Cookimag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan your mealsOrganize the week's meals ahead of time, day by day. | Yes14 meals a week, lunch and dinner, up to four weeks | Yes | Yesthe whole week in a few minutes | Yesthe week's meals | Partlyyou pick your recipes for the week | Partlyyou pick your recipes for the week | Yesthe week's dinners | Yesa seven-day calendar, up to four meals a day |
| Fine-tuned customizationSet cooking time, equipment, favorite cuisines, spice level, nutrition goal… | Yestime, equipment, cuisines, spice, goal, pantry, time slots… | Not verified | Yesmore than 200 options announced | Partlybudget and preferences announced, no details | Partlypicked from the week's recipes | Partlypicked from the week's catalog | Partlybudget, store chain and allergens announced | Partlycollections by cuisine, season or diet |
| AI generationMenus are put together by AI, not just picked from a catalog. | Yesinstant generation | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified |
| Use your own AIHave your own ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini account create the menu. | YesChatGPT, Claude or Gemini from your own account | No | No | Not verified | No | No | Not verified | Not verified |
| CookbookKeep your favorite recipes from one week to the next. | Yesa cookbook that outlives the week | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Yescollections, favorites and personal notes |
| Automatic weekNext week gets planned on its own, without you asking. | YesPopotam generates it on its own, on the day you pick | Not verified | Not verified | Not verified | Yesthe kit comes back every week | Yesthe box comes back every week | Not verified | Not verified |
| Grocery listGet the list of ingredients to buy, grouped for the store. | Yessorted by aisle, with checkboxes | Yesturned into a cart | Yessorted by category | Yessorting by aisle isn't announced | Nothe ingredients arrive pre-portioned | Nothe ingredients arrive pre-portioned | Yesorganized by aisle, with an estimated total | Yessorted by aisle |
| Shop wherever you wantBuy at any store, with no required retailer and no partnership. | Yesno partner store chain | Partlysix partner store chains listed | Yes | Yesno partner store chain announced | No | No | Partlymenus follow the prices of one of the thirteen announced store chains | Yesno partner store chain announced |
| Order from the toolSend your list straight to an online grocery cart. | No | Yesit's the heart of the service | Not verified | Not verified | No | No | Not verified | Not verified |
| Ingredients deliveredGet the ingredients delivered to your door without going grocery shopping. | No | Partlyby the store chain, not by Jow | No | No | Yesto your home or via click & collect | Yesit's the service itself | No | No |
| Estimated budgetKnow what the week costs before you go shopping. | Yesestimated ingredient by ingredient | Partlythe price of the cart at the store chain | Not verified | Not verified | Yesthe kit price is known in advance | Yesprice per serving known in advance | Yesan estimated total before shopping, announced to within 10% | Not verified |
| Usable without a subscriptionUse the tool for its main purpose without paying for a subscription. | Yes | Yesby linking a store; optional subscription from €2.92/month | Yesuntil it shuts down, on October 21, 2026 | Noseven-day trial, then paid | No | No | Partlyfirst menu free, then a monthly subscription or lifetime access, both paid | Partlya free version, whose limits aren't detailed |
| No accountUse the service without creating an account or giving an email address. | Yesno account, a secret link | Nothe account is linked to a store chain | Not verified | Nothe subscription requires an account | No | No | Nothe terms of sale mention the account and its email address | Nocreating an account is part of getting started |
Popotam isn't a meal kit: it doesn't deliver anything. It isn't a supermarket: it doesn't sell anything and takes no commission. It's a personalized meal planner: it puts your week together, turns it into a grocery list sorted by aisle, and lets you shop wherever you want.
If any of these matters to you, a cart app or a meal kit will suit you better. We're saying it here so you know before you try.
Say what you like, get your week and its grocery list, and keep it all in one link. No account, no credit card.
Each page compares Popotam with one other service, criterion by criterion, with who each one is made for.
A comparison puts Popotam and a service side by side. These pages start from the other end: you already use a service and you're looking for something else. Each one starts with the real reasons to leave, then suggests several options.
One specific question, one complete answer: the apps that handle it, and what they really cost.
There's no single answer, and be wary of anyone who gives one. There are three types of tools: meal planners, which organize meals you buy yourself; cart apps, which send your groceries to a partner retailer; meal kits, which deliver pre-portioned ingredients. Pick the type first, the product second.
Yes. Popotam is free with no strings attached: no subscription, no ads and no account. Mealime is too, in English, until its announced shutdown on October 21, 2026. Cookimag has a free version, whose limits aren't spelled out. Jow doesn't require a subscription for its main use, as long as you link your account to a partner retailer. Our guide to free weekly menu apps tells you which ones really are free.
A meal planner, hands down: Popotam is free and your groceries stay at your store's prices. A meal kit charges for the selection, the portioning and the delivery on top of the ingredients: Quitoque lists prices from €7.74 per serving, HelloFresh from €3.89 to €8.25 depending on the number of people and dinners, plus delivery. Jow doesn't require a subscription if you link a partner store, and otherwise offers a plan from €2.92 to €11.99 per month depending on the commitment length.
A meal planner organizes meals whose ingredients you buy wherever you want: it saves you decision time and leaves the budget in your hands. A meal kit sells and delivers pre-portioned ingredients: it takes away the grocery run, but you no longer choose the store, the brands or the quantities.
With a meal planner like Popotam, yes: the list is yours, take it wherever you want, the market included. With a cart app, the main benefit disappears outside the partner retailers. With a meal kit, the question doesn't come up: the ingredients come to you.
Mealime has announced it's shutting down on October 21, 2026, and deleting personal data. Our “Mealime alternatives” page compares 4 options that cover the same need, each with the case where it fits best.
No. Popotam makes the grocery list, sorted by aisle with checkboxes, but doesn't order or deliver anything: you buy wherever you want. That's exactly what lets it have no partner retailer.
Yes, in two ways. Either Popotam calls its own model and the menu shows up in about thirty seconds, for free. Or you use your own AI: Popotam writes the prompt, you paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini from your account, and you bring back the answer. In this second mode, Popotam doesn't pay for or call any API.
Yes, no subscription and no credit card. A generation costs Popotam less than a cent, and the “my own AI” mode costs it nothing at all. There are no ads, no data reselling and no commission on groceries: no retailer pays it, which is exactly what lets it leave you free to shop wherever you want.
Every row comes from the services' official pages, checked no later than September 19, 2026: 16 sources, listed at the top of the page. Nothing is copied from a comparison site or a blog. When we couldn't find an official source, the cell says “Not verified” instead of guessing.