Full disclosure: we make Popotam, one of the apps in this guide. That's why everything about the others comes from their official sites, dated, with sources, and why our own limits are written as clearly as theirs. This guide compares apps that build your grocery list from the week's meals, instead of making you type it.
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.
By Jérémy, who makes Popotam. Profiles checked on September 19, 2026 at the earliest.
Fill-in lists are tidy notepads: you type “milk, pasta, tomatoes”, they check off and share. It's simple and often free, but you're still the one deciding what to buy, and how much.
Lists built from a menu do the opposite: you say what you're eating this week, and the list works itself out, quantities added up, what you already have taken off. That's what the tables on this page compare: Popotam, Jow, Pimzi, Cookimag and Romi all build the grocery list from a menu.
Then, two questions make the difference: where the list goes (in your pocket for the store of your choice, or into an online cart at a retailer), and what it asks of you (a subscription, an account, an email address).
Six criteria and the listed price: where the list goes, whether it estimates the budget, and what each one asks in return.
| Criterion | Popotam | Jow | Pimzi | Cookimag | Romi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery listGet the list of ingredients to buy, grouped for the store. | Yessorted by aisle, with checkboxes | Yesturned into a cart | Yesorganized by aisle, with an estimated total | Yessorted by aisle | Yessorting by aisle isn't announced |
| Shop wherever you wantBuy at any store, with no required retailer and no partnership. | Yesno partner store chain | Partlysix partner store chains listed | Partlymenus follow the prices of one of the thirteen announced store chains | Yesno partner store chain announced | 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 | Not verified |
| Estimated budgetKnow what the week costs before you go shopping. | Yesestimated ingredient by ingredient | Partlythe price of the cart at the store chain | Yesan estimated total before shopping, announced to within 10% | Not verified | 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 | Partlyfirst menu free, then a monthly subscription or lifetime access, both paid | Partlya free version, whose limits aren't detailed | Noseven-day trial, then paid |
| 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 | Nothe terms of sale mention the account and its email address | Nocreating an account is part of getting started | Nothe subscription requires an account |
| What it costsThe price the service lists, as of the check date. | €0no strings attached | €0with a linked store | Not verifiedamounts not shown | €0then €8.99 a month for Premium | €4.99a month, or €39.99 a year |
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.
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.
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.
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.
Popotam builds the week's meals, or the month's, and turns them into the list. Here's what it does, exactly what the app does:
What it doesn't do: no ingredient delivery: it's a planner, not a grocery service ; you can't order your groceries from Popotam, no store chain is a partner ; the prices shown are estimates, based on average in-store prices (Open Prices), not the actual prices of a given store.
A paper list works great, as long as the week doesn't change. The app wins as soon as a meal changes: the list follows, so does the budget, and the whole household sees the new version. The two aren't at odds: our printable grocery list template reminds you of what you always buy, our printable meal plan has a grocery column, and Popotam prints your week and its list.
A list built from a menu is the surest way to stick to a budget: you only buy what the week needs, and anything used twice only counts once. Our grocery list for under €50 a week gives a full example, aisle by aisle.
Simple list apps, where you type in your items yourself, aren't compared here: we haven't checked their features and prices on their official sources yet, and a comparison based on blog numbers would be worthless. Prices and features change; each profile says the date it was checked, and we recheck at least every six months.
Say what you like, get your week and its grocery list, and keep it all in one link. No account, no credit card.
It depends on what you expect from it. If you just want to jot down items, any list app will do. If you want the list to build itself from the week's meals, you need an app that builds or organizes those meals. Among the ones compared here, Popotam and Jow can be used without a subscription for their main use; Pimzi, Cookimag and Romi offer a trial, a first menu or a free version, then a paid plan.
Yes, every app in this guide does. Popotam puts together the week's meals, lunch and dinner, or the month's, then turns them into the grocery list, with no account and no subscription. It's our app: the page also says what it doesn't do.
Popotam, Pimzi and Cookimag list a grocery list sorted or organized by aisle. Jow: turned into a cart; Romi: sorting by aisle isn't mentioned. With Popotam, you can also jump to the aisle you're in, and the aisle header stays on screen while you shop.
Jow sends the list to an online cart at a partner retailer: that's the heart of the service. Popotam doesn't order anything: the list is yours, for the store of your choice. For Pimzi, Cookimag and Romi, we couldn't find the info on an official page.
Some list it: Popotam (estimated ingredient by ingredient), Jow (the cart price at the retailer), Pimzi (an estimated total before you shop, stated as accurate to within 10%). An estimate is still an estimate: your store's prices and your brands will move it. Popotam's comes from average in-store prices (Open Prices), and says so.
With Popotam, yes, and live: the meal plan and its list are shared with a link or a QR code, with no account, and what one person checks off or adds shows up for the others within seconds. You can also send the list to Google Keep, WhatsApp or your notes, one line per item. For the other apps in this guide, we haven't verified it on their official pages.
Among the apps compared, only Popotam can be used without an account: the meal plan and its list live behind a private link. The others require an account, tied to a store, a subscription or an email address.
Popotam plans up to four weeks ahead, and its “The whole month” list brings them together: an item used across several weeks shows up only once. For a tight budget, our €50-a-week grocery list gives a complete example.