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If you’ve spent any time on Instagram or TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen a Recime ad. Save any recipe from social media in one tap, it promises. It’s a genuinely useful feature, and it’s a big reason Recime has grown fast.
We hear about it a lot too, usually from people asking if Plan to Eat can do the same thing. So let’s clear that up first: yes, you can already import recipes from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest directly into Plan to Eat!
Now, this is a post on the Plan to Eat blog, so it’s fair to say we’re not a neutral third party. We think Plan to Eat is the better meal planning app for most people, but we’re not the only ones who feel that way. Plan to Eat holds a 4.8-star rating from more than 6,000 genuine App Store reviews, and Fortune named it the Best Meal Planning App with Grocery Lists in its 2026 roundup.
We can also be honest that Recime does a few things well, and no single app is the right fit for everyone. But the underlying question is worth asking: if the main feature they promote isn’t unique, what actually separates Recime from an app like Plan to Eat?
Quick comparison
| Plan to Eat | Recime | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Meal planning app built around the full loop: save a recipe, plan your week, shop from the generated list. | Recipe-saving app built around importing from social media, with meal planning and grocery lists added on. |
| Social media import | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook |
| Free tier | No free tier; see trial info below | Capped at 5 recipe imports a week |
| Trial | 14 days, no credit card required | 7 days, credit card required upfront |
| Pricing | $49/year, every feature included from day one | Listed anywhere from $39.99 to $59.99/year depending on source and region |
| Meal plan to shopping list | Connected by date range, updates automatically | Manual, doesn’t update automatically |
| Saved meal plans | Included as Saved Menus on every plan | Not available |
| Freezer Inventory | Included on every plan | Not available |
| Separate staples list | Included on every plan | Not available |
1. Social media recipe import
This is the feature doing the heavy lifting in Recime’s marketing, so let’s look at it first. Recime imports from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook. Plan to Eat also imports recipes from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest through the same share-to-app or paste-a-link workflow, with no cap on how many you save.
Recime’s free plan limits you to 5 “smart” recipe imports a week before you hit a paywall, which is a common complaint in App Store reviews since importing is the entire premise of the app. Plan to Eat doesn’t limit the number of recipes you can import, ever.
Winner: Tie on capability, Plan to Eat on access. Both apps save recipes from videos and into a usable format. Only one of them lets you actually use it without hitting a wall.
2. What happens after you hit save
Saving a recipe is the easy part. The real test of a meal planning app is what it does with that recipe next, and this is where the gap opens up.
Recime’s meal planner and shopping list aren’t connected. Add a recipe to your plan, or change a serving size, and you have to go update the shopping list yourself. Miss that step, and you’re at the store with an inaccurate list.
Plan to Eat was built as a solution for meal planning, not just recipe saving, so the planner and shopping list are intrinsically linked by date range. Plan your week, and the list builds itself. Change the plan, and the list updates with it. In a recent survey, customers told us they cut their weekly planning and shopping time from around 140 minutes to about 73, roughly half, because they didn’t have to manually create or adjust their shopping list.
Winner: Plan to Eat.
3. Shopping list customization
Recime’s list sorts items into categories, but it doesn’t merge duplicates (even from the same recipe planned twice), and you can’t move an item to a different category if it’s sorted wrong.
Plan to Eat’s list merges duplicate ingredients automatically; you can have lists populated for multiple stores, and every category is fully customizable, so your list matches how your store is laid out.
Winner: Plan to Eat.
4. Features Recime doesn’t have at all
Beyond the planner and shopping list connection, a handful of features come standard with Plan to Eat that don’t exist in Recime in any form:
- Saved meal plans: Build a plan once, save it as a Menu, and reuse it later instead of rebuilding your calendar from scratch every time.
- Freezer inventory: Batch cook a recipe, log it in the Freezer with the date and number of servings, and pull straight from there onto the meal planner.
- Staples List: A running list of what you keep stocked at home (coffee, paper towels, whatever you buy on repeat), so restocking is a couple of taps instead of adding things from memory.
- Leftover planning: Mark a recipe as a leftover on your calendar so you remember to eat it later in the week.
- Customizations: Custom shopping list categories, multiple stores, detailed recipe organization, and account settings that make the app function the way you prefer.
Plan to Eat was built for more than saving recipes from the internet; it was built to be an all-in-one meal planning tool.
5. Pricing and free trial
Things get a little murky on Recime’s side when it comes to cost. Depending on where you look, the premium plan is listed at $39.99/year or $59.99/year. Recime also offers a separate monthly plan you can switch to at any time, but the monthly rate wasn’t consistent across the sources we checked, so we’re not comfortable printing a number we can’t confirm. It’s worth checking the current price directly in the app before you commit.
The free trial also requires a credit card before you start, a process that’s led to a steady stream of reviews about being charged after trying to cancel.
Plan to Eat is $49/year or $5.95/month with every feature unlocked from the start. Plus, the 14-day trial doesn’t ask for payment info upfront.
Winner: Plan to Eat, mostly on transparency. Even if Recime is cheaper at its lowest listed price, knowing what you’ll pay and when matters just as much as the number itself.
Which app is actually right for you?
If your only goal is pulling recipes off social media into one place and you don’t plan to do much with them after that, Recime’s import works fine, as long as you’re comfortable with the free tier limit or ready to pay for premium.
But if you’re trying to solve the harder problem of turning what you save into an actual week of meals and a shopping list, Plan to Eat is the better choice.
FAQ
Can Plan to Eat import recipes from Instagram and TikTok like Recime?
Yes. Use the share extension from either app, or paste the post link directly into Plan to Eat, and it imports the same way.
Does Plan to Eat limit how many recipes you can import?
No. There’s no cap on imports, on the trial or on a paid plan.
Is Plan to Eat cheaper than Recime?
It depends on which Recime price you’re comparing against, since that varies by source. Plan to Eat is $49/year with no paywalled features, versus Recime’s premium tier at $39.99 to $59.99/year.
Try Plan to Eat free for 14 days – no credit card required.
