Mealime alternative — meal planning and calorie tracking in one app
Mealime plans weeknight dinners fast, but it doesn't count calories or scan meals. Here's how Swoodie compares.
The bottom line
Mealime is a focused, free-to-use meal planner — and a good one. Swoodie does the planning too (trial, then Premium) and adds the calorie counter, photo scanning and couples mode Mealime doesn't have.
Mealime is excellent at one job: building a clean weekly meal plan and grocery list in about five minutes. Quick, beginner-friendly, no clutter.
What it doesn't do: count calories, scan food, track macros, or compare what you ate against what you planned. Swoodie does the planning (trial, then Premium) and the tracking — one app.
Features evolve fast
Swoodie ships new features regularly, so this page may not reflect the very latest. The homepage is always up to date — check there for everything Swoodie does today.
See the latest on the homepage →Feature by feature
| Feature |  Swoodie | Mealime |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent free plan (not a trial) | Free — $0 forever | Free tier |
| Monthly price | $9.99 / month | ~$5.99/mo Pro |
| AI features without paying | 10 free one-time uses, no card | No AI features |
| AI photo calorie / meal scan | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | |
| Multi-photo / multi-dish scan | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | |
| Barcode scanner | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | |
| Log a meal you ate ("ate it") | Free — basic calorie logging | No intake logging |
| Meal journal / food diary | Free: last 3 days · Premium: full history | |
| Packaged-product quality score (0–100) | Free — scan, score & breakdown · Premium: better swaps + Ask AI | |
| Blood-sugar impact read on a scanned meal | Blood Sugar Score — Free: steady / moderate / spiky, estimated from carbs & fibre | No logging or tracking |
| One-tap steadier swap for a spiky meal | Smart Swaps — Premium | |
| Recipe discovery / browse | Free — 8,000+ recipe library | Curated recipe library |
| Swipe-to-choose recipe UX | Free | |
| Filter recipes by ingredients you have | Free — Discover Mode | |
| AI recipe generation (Chef AI) | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | Curated, not AI-generated |
| Import a recipe from a video / social post | Trial — 5 free saves, then Premium | |
| Hands-free voice cooking mode | Free | |
| Built-in kitchen tools (converters, scaler, cook times) | Kitchen Tools — Free: 6 offline tools (unit, oven & air-fryer converters, scaler, cook times, safe temperatures) | Serving scaler only (max 6) |
| Multi-day meal planner (1/3/7-day) | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | Core feature |
| AI-built meal plan | Trial — 10 free uses, then Premium | Curated, not AI |
| Auto-generated shopping list | Trial — built with the plan | Generated grocery list |
| Shopping list merges duplicate ingredients | Trial — built with the plan | Consolidated grocery list |
| Real-time couples meal matching (Swipe Together) | Host: Lite or Premium · Join: Free | |
| Shared meal plan | Host: Lite or Premium · Join: Free | Shared grocery list only |
| Separate macro targets per person | Free | |
| Multi-person session (family / friends) | Host: Lite or Premium · Join: Free | |
| Intermittent fasting tracker | Tracker: Free · Coach quips: Premium | |
| Paired wellness accountability (2-person daily score) | Host: Lite or Premium · Join: Free | |
| Shareable meal report card | Meal Report Card — Free | Plain link/PDF share |
| Calorie & macro goal setting | Free | Not a calorie counter |
| Diet-style macro targets (keto / low-carb / high-protein) | Free | Diet picker filters recipes; no macro-split target |
| Custom macro targets (set your own grams) | Premium | Pro calorie-range filters only |
| Daily insight drawn from what you logged | Coach Ollie — daily insight: Free · Pattern insights: Premium | No food diary |
| iOS app | ||
| Android app |
Where Mealime wins
Mealime is genuinely the fastest way to get a clean weeknight meal plan and grocery list — beginner-friendly and clutter-free. If you only want planning and explicitly don't track calories, it does that single job very well.
Honest scorecard
Where Swoodie wins
- Swipe-to-choose recipe UX
- Real-time couples meal matching (Swipe Together)
- Multi-person session (family / friends)
- Paired wellness accountability (2-person daily score)
The verdict
Switch to Swoodie if…
you want meal planning and a calorie counter, photo scanning and recipe generation together in one app.
Stay with Mealime if…
you only want fast weeknight meal planning and explicitly don't track calories.
Made up your mind? Start free.
Swoodie plans the week, tracks what you eat and lets two people pick dinner together. The recipe library and tracking are free, no account needed — every scan carries a Blood Sugar Score, six Kitchen Tools work offline, and Premium is free for 7 days on the yearly plan.
We put these comparisons together from publicly available information and each app's own website. Prices and features change — if you spot anything inaccurate or out of date, email support@swoodie.app and we'll correct it. We want this comparison to stay fair.
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