Compare · Plan to Eat alternative
Hedgehog Chef vs. Plan to Eat: an honest comparison.
Plan to Eat has helped people plan meals from their own recipes since 2008, and it's still improving quickly. The two apps share a lot — your recipes at the center, a drag-and-drop planner, an aisle-sorted list, no ads. Here's where they differ, including where Plan to Eat is the better choice.
Compared using Plan to Eat's own pricing page, help center, blog and App Store and Google Play listings. Last checked October 13, 2026.
Hedgehog Chef is the better fit if you want…
- A free plan, not a 14-day trial.
- A login for everyone at home, instead of sharing one.
- An AI planner that turns a request into a week of meals and a shopping list.
- A pantry with expiry dates and “What can I make?” — Plan to Eat chose not to have one.
- Hands-free cook mode with voice commands and read-aloud.
Plan to Eat is the better fit if…
- You need the phone app to work offline: recipes, the planner and the list work without a connection and sync later.
- You're bringing a big library from many apps: it bulk-imports Paprika, Recipe Keeper, Copy Me That, MasterCook, RecipeSage, Living Cookbook and more.
- You want to order groceries for delivery or pickup straight from the list, in the US and beyond.
- You'd like a refund guarantee: 60 days, and export keeps working after you cancel.
- Eighteen years of track record, and 4.8 stars on the App Store.
Why Plan to Eat users switch
What Hedgehog Chef does better than Plan to Eat
Start free, stay free
Plan to Eat is $5.95 a month or $49 a year on its website (more in the app stores) after a 14-day trial. Hedgehog Chef's Free plan keeps unlimited recipes, the meal planner, lists and the pantry for as long as you like.
Everyone signs in as themselves
Plan to Eat's FAQ says a household shares one account and its login. In Hedgehog Chef each person has their own login in a shared kitchen, and nobody has to share a password.
Let the planner draft the week
Plan to Eat added AI substitutions and a beginner mode in 2025, but we couldn't find meal-plan generation. In Hedgehog Chef, ask the planner for “five quick dinners using the chicken in the freezer” and it proposes a plan and a list from your own recipes, for you to approve.
Cook from what you have
Plan to Eat decided against a pantry. Hedgehog Chef keeps a light one — fridge, freezer, cupboard, spices, expiry dates — so the list skips what you have, recipes are ranked by what you can make tonight, and you're reminded before food goes off.
Side by side
Hedgehog Chef vs. Plan to Eat, feature by feature
Every Plan to Eat cell comes from Plan to Eat's own website, help pages or app-store listing, checked on October 13, 2026.
Getting it and paying for it
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Hedgehog ChefIn any modern browser, installable on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook as an app | Plan to EatiPhone and Android apps and the web |
| Price | Hedgehog ChefFree plan with unlimited recipes. Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon): one subscription for the whole household, on every device | Plan to Eat$5.95/month or $49/year on the website; $54.99/year in the App Store. 14-day trial without a card; no free plan |
| Works with no internet connection | Hedgehog ChefPartly: Your shopping list, this week's plan and saved recipes open offline, and checked-off items sync when you're back; the rest needs a connection | Plan to EatYes: In the phone apps: recipes, planner and the current list, synced later |
| Ads | Hedgehog ChefYes: No ads on any plan, and no trackers | Plan to EatYes: No ads |
| Track record | Hedgehog ChefNew: launched in 2026 | Plan to EatSince 2008; rated 4.8 on the App Store |
Planning with AI
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| Plan meals from a request | Hedgehog ChefYes: Ask for “a week of high-protein dinners under $150”; the planner proposes a plan and a list from your recipes for you to approve | Plan to EatNot mentioned in Plan to Eat's help pages or blog |
| Other AI help | Hedgehog ChefYes: Recipes read from photos and messy pages, AI recipe photos, and new recipes from the planner | Plan to EatYes: Ingredient substitutions and a beginner mode that rewrites directions |
| Grocery prices and budget | Hedgehog ChefYes: Prices on your list and plan: live prices at Kroger-family stores, community prices from Open Prices, labeled estimates otherwise | Plan to EatPartly: Estimated and total cost on the planner |
| Works with Claude | Hedgehog ChefYes: A Claude connector: save, search, plan and shop by talking to Claude | Plan to EatNot mentioned in Plan to Eat's help pages or blog |
Getting recipes in
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| From recipe websites | Hedgehog ChefYes: Paste a link, or use the bookmarklet, Android share sheet or iOS Shortcut; AI reads pages without recipe markup | Plan to EatYes: Recipe Clipper extension, share sheet or a pasted link |
| From a photo | Hedgehog ChefYes: Yes: a photo of a cookbook page or a handwritten card | Plan to EatYes: Yes, including several pages |
| From pasted text | Hedgehog ChefYes: Yes: paste any recipe text | Plan to EatYes: Yes |
| From videos and social posts | Hedgehog ChefYes: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest links (the recipe in the description or caption, or the page it links to) | Plan to EatYes: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube; Pinterest pins read from the image |
| From other recipe apps | Hedgehog ChefYes: Paprika (photos included), Mela, Crouton, Recipe Keeper, MasterCook, Plan to Eat, Copy Me That and more | Plan to EatYes: Paprika, Recipe Keeper, Copy Me That, MasterCook, RecipeSage, Living Cookbook, Meal-Master, WP Recipe Maker |
Cooking
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| Step-by-step cooking | Hedgehog ChefYes: Full screen, one step at a time, with that step's ingredients and big type | Plan to EatYes: Cooking View |
| Timers | Hedgehog ChefYes: Tap a time in a step to start a timer; several at once | Plan to EatYes: Up to 5 named timers |
| Hands-free | Hedgehog ChefYes: Voice commands (“next”, “start timer”) and read-aloud in cook mode | Plan to EatNot mentioned in Plan to Eat's help pages or blog |
| Scaling | Hedgehog ChefYes: Scale by servings with real fractions; US ↔ metric | Plan to EatYes: 0.5×, 1×, 2× or a custom amount |
| Nutrition | Hedgehog ChefYes: Calculated from the ingredients with USDA data on every plan, with daily goals and day totals on the plan | Plan to EatYes: Calculated automatically, with macros on the planner |
Planning, shopping and pantry
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| Meal planner | Hedgehog ChefYes: Week board with drag and drop, month view, reusable menus, leftovers, a calendar feed and a kitchen display | Plan to EatYes: Drag-and-drop calendar, reusable menus, bulk edit with undo, calendar sharing |
| Grocery list by aisle | Hedgehog ChefYes: Sorted by aisle, amounts merged, pantry items skipped; your aisle corrections are remembered | Plan to EatYes: Aisle by aisle, with store tabs |
| Online grocery orders | Hedgehog ChefPartly: Send the list to your own Kroger cart for pickup or delivery | Plan to EatYes: Delivery or pickup through Whisk's partner stores |
| Pantry | Hedgehog ChefYes: Fridge, freezer, pantry and spices; expiry dates; “What can I make?” ranked by what you have | Plan to EatNo: Discontinued on purpose |
| Reminders | Hedgehog ChefYes: Thaw the night before, start cooking, shopping day, use it up | Plan to EatNot mentioned in Plan to Eat's help pages or blog |
| Export everything | Hedgehog ChefYes: Paprika's own format, web pages, Markdown or JSON, with photos — free on every plan, plus weekly backups | Plan to EatYes: CSV or text from the website, even after a subscription ends |
Your household
| Feature | Hedgehog Chef | Plan to Eat |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone with their own login | Hedgehog ChefYes: Yes: up to 2 people on Free, 8 on Hedgehog Chef Plus, each with their own login | Plan to EatPartly: One account and login shared by the household, on unlimited devices |
| Price for a household | Hedgehog ChefYes: Free for 2 people; one Hedgehog Chef Plus subscription covers up to 8 | Plan to EatYes: One subscription covers the household |
Sources, checked on October 13, 2026:
- Plan to Eat pricing
- Plan to Eat FAQ
- Offline use (help)
- Importing from other programs (help)
- Export (help)
- On a pantry (help)
- November 2025 updates
- The redesigned app (October 2026)
- Plan to Eat on the App Store
Plan to Eat is a trademark of its owner. Hedgehog Chef isn't affiliated with or endorsed by its owner. Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at hello@hedgehogchef.com and we'll fix it.
Questions
Plan to Eat vs. Hedgehog Chef: common questions
Does Plan to Eat have a free version?
No. Plan to Eat has a 14-day free trial without a credit card, then costs $5.95 a month or $49 a year on its website ($54.99 a year in the App Store). Hedgehog Chef has a Free plan with no time limit.
Can I move my recipes from Plan to Eat?
Yes. Export your recipe book from Plan to Eat's website as text or CSV and import the file in Hedgehog Chef. Plan to Eat says export keeps working even after your subscription ends.
Does Plan to Eat use AI to plan meals?
Plan to Eat has AI ingredient substitutions, a beginner mode that rewrites directions and an AI help chatbot. We couldn't find AI meal-plan generation. Hedgehog Chef's planner proposes a week of meals and a list from a plain request.
Can my family each have a Plan to Eat login?
Plan to Eat's FAQ says a household shares one account's login; it doesn't offer several logins on one account. In Hedgehog Chef, everyone in the kitchen signs in as themselves.
Is Hedgehog Chef free?
Yes. The Free plan has unlimited recipes, binders, meal plans, shopping lists and the pantry for up to 2 people, with daily allowances for the AI features, and no ads. Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon) raises the AI allowances, adds live grocery prices and fits up to 8 people.
Bring your Plan to Eat recipe book.
Export it from Plan to Eat's website as text or CSV, import it in Hedgehog Chef, and plan a week with both open. Plan to Eat isn't touched.
More comparisons
Weighing up other apps too?
- Hedgehog Chef vs. Paprika Paprika for fully offline native apps; Hedgehog Chef for AI planning, the web and a shared household.
- Hedgehog Chef vs. AnyList AnyList for the cheapest shared list and store delivery; Hedgehog Chef for AI planning, a pantry and a free meal planner.
- Hedgehog Chef vs. Samsung Food Samsung Food for a big recipe catalog and Samsung appliances; Hedgehog Chef for your own recipes, no ads and more on the free plan.
- Hedgehog Chef vs. Mealime Meals Hub to keep Mealime's recipes; Hedgehog Chef to plan around your own recipes, with your household.
- Hedgehog Chef vs. Mela Mela for a one-time price and Apple-only privacy; Hedgehog Chef for Android and the web, AI planning and a smarter list.
- All comparisons Every app we've compared, and who each one suits best.
Dinner, looked after.
Start with the recipes you already love. Hedgehog Chef is free to use — bring your household, your favorite sites and your Paprika library.