AnyList vs Paprika: Shared Lists or Your Own Recipe Library?
AnyList is the better app if the grocery list is the point: it is shared in real time, sorted by aisle and works on every device, with the meal planner behind a $9.99 a year paywall. Paprika is the better app if your recipe collection is the point: it clips any web page, works offline and costs a one-time price per platform. Pick by which one you open more often, the list or the recipe.
Two apps people keep comparing, two different jobs. AnyList is the best shared grocery list with a planner attached; Paprika is the best recipe library with a list attached. Here is the honest split.
AnyList and Paprika get compared constantly and it is mostly a category mistake. AnyList is a grocery list app that grew a recipe box and a planner. Paprika is a recipe manager that grew a grocery list. Both do both jobs; each does one of them very well and the other adequately. The honest answer to which is better is a question back: which screen do you open more, the list or the recipe?
The short version
- Shared grocery list with a partner or family: AnyList, by a distance.
- A recipe library you clip from the web and cook from, offline: Paprika.
- Meal planning on a calendar: both, but AnyList's planner is paywalled and Paprika's is included.
- Cross-platform on the cheap: AnyList (one subscription covers everything). Paprika charges per platform.
- Deciding what to cook in the first place: neither. That is a different kind of app; see the end.
AnyList: what you get, free and paid
The free tier is a genuinely good grocery list: shared lists that update on everyone's phone the moment someone ticks an item, aisle sorting, recurring items, and a recipe box you can type into. The catch is import: free accounts can save five recipes from the web for the lifetime of the account, not five a month. The meal planning calendar is entirely behind AnyList Complete, which costs $9.99 a year for one person or $14.99 a year for a household, billed annually only. Complete also adds themes, photos on lists and the Apple Watch and web versions. We covered the free versus paid line in detail in the AnyList review.
Paprika: what you get, and what it costs
Paprika Recipe Manager 3 is bought once per platform: $4.99 on iOS, $29.99 each on Mac and Windows, and on Android free up to 50 recipes with a $4.99 unlock, so $69.96 if you want all four. Sync between your own devices is free and unlimited through Paprika Cloud. It clips recipes from any web page with a browser inside the app, scales servings, converts units, runs timers from the step text, plans meals on a calendar and builds a grocery list from the plan. It works fully offline, which AnyList does not. What it does not do: import from a photo, a PDF or a social video, and it does not share a list with someone who is not signed into your account. The Paprika review has the full test.
The grocery list, head to head
AnyList's list is built for two people shopping at once: one adds, the other sees it, items sort by aisle in whatever order your store actually has, and it remembers what you buy. Paprika's list is built for one cook: it is generated from the recipes you planned, groups by category, and syncs to your other devices, but a partner needs your login. If shopping is a shared job in your house, this decides it.
The recipe library, head to head
Paprika's clipper is the best in the category: open any recipe page inside the app, tap save, and the ingredients and steps land in clean fields you can scale and edit. AnyList's web import works too, but free accounts get five for life, and its recipe view is a list app's recipe view: fine for reading, not built for cooking from. If you collect recipes, Paprika.
Who should pick which
- Couples and families who shop together: AnyList, free tier first, Complete if you want the planner.
- Solo cooks with a growing collection: Paprika on your main platform.
- Windows or Mac desktop users: Paprika, it is one of the two real desktop programs; see best recipe apps for Windows.
- Android households: AnyList, because Paprika's Android app lags the others.
What neither app does
Both start after the decision. You have to know what you want to cook, then AnyList lists it and Paprika stores it. If the real problem is the empty stare into the fridge at six, you want an app that decides: Pann takes the one ingredient you name, builds a meal around it, sized to you, plans the week and writes the list, then cooks it with you. Keep AnyList for the shared shop or Paprika for the archive; use Pann for the part they skip.
Tell Pann the one thing you have and it builds the meal around it, for any meal of the day, then hands you the shopping list. The list app can take it from there.
Frequently asked questions
Is AnyList or Paprika better for meal planning?
Paprika includes its calendar planner in the one-time price. AnyList's planner is only in AnyList Complete at $9.99 a year. Both plan by dragging recipes onto days and build a list from the plan.
Does Paprika have a shared grocery list?
It syncs your list to your own devices, but sharing with another person means sharing your account login. AnyList is built for real shared lists.
Which one works offline?
Paprika works fully offline, recipes and lists included. AnyList needs a connection for syncing and its web features.
Can I use both?
Many people do: Paprika for the recipe archive and AnyList for the shared shop. There is no direct sync between them, so the list is copied over by hand or by sharing the recipe text.