Productivity · head to head
Mealime vs RowShare
Mealime
Productivity
Freemium meal planning app that suggests simple recipes and builds a grocery list, subscription for full customisation
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
RowShare
Productivity
Shared online table where each contributor sees only their own rows
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Mealime has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Mealime its recipe library is its own and deliberately simple, so it does not accommodate importing or organising an existing personal recipe collection the way Paprika does.; RowShare it is a table rather than a spreadsheet, so the formula and analysis capability people expect from Excel is not there, and anything requiring modelling or charting has to be exported and finished elsewhere.
- They diverge on capability: Mealime covers Personalised weekly meal plans, RowShare covers Row-level permissions.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mealime and RowShare actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Mealime
- Personalised weekly meal plans
- Consolidated grocery list
- Simple recipe library
- Recipe swapping
- Dietary filters
- Grocery delivery integration
Only in RowShare
- Row-level permissions
- Column-level permissions
- Typed columns
- Forms
- Automatic reminders
- Microsoft Teams integration
- Zapier connections
- Excel import and export
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Mealime
- Someone who finds deciding what to cook each week more tiring than the cooking itselfnot RowShare
- A household with specific dietary restrictions wanting meal suggestions pre-filtered to fit themnot RowShare
- A beginner cook who wants simple, short-ingredient recipes rather than an open-ended personal collectionnot RowShare
- Someone who wants a grocery list generated automatically from a week of planned meals without manual entrynot RowShare
RowShare
- Collecting a recurring return such as timesheets, budget lines or stock counts where contributors must not see each other's entries.not Mealime
- Replacing an emailed spreadsheet that one person consolidates by hand at the end of every month.not Mealime
- A shared list where some columns belong to the contributor and others are only for the administrator.not Mealime
- A structured departmental table inside Microsoft Teams that does not warrant a full database or a heavier platform licence.not Mealime
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Mealime
- Its recipe library is its own and deliberately simple, so it does not accommodate importing or organising an existing personal recipe collection the way Paprika does.
- The free tier limits customisation and recipe swaps, pushing habitual users toward the paid Pro subscription for a fuller experience.
- Recipes lean toward quick, mainstream weeknight cooking, so someone wanting more ambitious or cuisine-specific recipes will find the library thin.
- Grocery delivery integration is only available in supported markets, so users outside those regions get the grocery list without the delivery convenience.
- Because meal suggestions come from the Mealime catalogue rather than the wider web, variety is narrower than a service like Paprika that can import from anywhere.
RowShare
- It is a table rather than a spreadsheet, so the formula and analysis capability people expect from Excel is not there, and anything requiring modelling or charting has to be exported and finished elsewhere.
- It is a small independent product, so putting a recurring business process on it means a single vendor decision can end that process, and unlike the larger alternatives there is no ecosystem or partner network to fall back on.
- Integration is largely through Zapier rather than deep native connectors, which adds an intermediary service, another subscription and another place for a data flow to fail silently.
- The niche it occupies is increasingly covered by list tools included in Microsoft 365, so the purchase has to be justified against something the organisation may already be paying for and already administers.
- Licensing in this category is per user, so if contributors need accounts rather than form links, an occasional contributor costs the same per head as a daily one, and it is worth confirming which model applies before planning a rollout.
Pricing, plan by plan
Mealime
Free- MealimeFree
- Basic weekly meal plan generation
- Consolidated grocery list
- Mealime Pro$5.99/month
- More recipe swaps and customisation
- Nutrition tracking
- Larger recipe library access
RowShare
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the RowShare review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Mealime if
- You need personalised weekly meal plans.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want consolidated grocery list.
Choose RowShare if
- You need row-level permissions.
- You also want column-level permissions.
Questions people ask
- Is Mealime or RowShare better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mealime starts at Free and RowShare at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mealime or RowShare?
- Mealime has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Mealime and On request for RowShare.
- Does Mealime or RowShare run on more platforms?
- Mealime runs on iOS, Android, Web. RowShare runs on Web.
- Can I use Mealime for free?
- Yes. Mealime has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. RowShare starts at On request.
- What is Mealime best used for?
- Mealime is most often used for someone who finds deciding what to cook each week more tiring than the cooking itself, a household with specific dietary restrictions wanting meal suggestions pre-filtered to fit them, a beginner cook who wants simple, short-ingredient recipes rather than an open-ended personal collection, someone who wants a grocery list generated automatically from a week of planned meals without manual entry. Of those, someone who finds deciding what to cook each week more tiring than the cooking itself and a household with specific dietary restrictions wanting meal suggestions pre-filtered to fit them are not what RowShare is typically brought in for.
- What can Mealime do that RowShare cannot?
- Mealime covers Personalised weekly meal plans, Consolidated grocery list, Simple recipe library, Recipe swapping. RowShare covers Row-level permissions, Column-level permissions, Typed columns, Forms.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Mealime: Is Mealime free?
There is a free tier with basic weekly plans; a paid Pro subscription unlocks more customisation and nutrition tracking.
RowShare: How is this different from a shared spreadsheet?
Sharing is per row rather than per file. Everyone works in one table, and each person sees only their own rows, which removes the consolidation step rather than speeding it up.
Mealime: Can I add my own recipes to Mealime?
No, it works from its own recipe library rather than importing external recipes, unlike Paprika.
RowShare: Can I get my data out?
Tables export to Excel and CSV, so the data itself moves. The permission structure, forms and reminders that made the process work do not, so an exit means rebuilding the workflow.
Mealime: Does it integrate with grocery delivery?
Yes, in supported markets, generated grocery lists can be sent to a delivery or pickup service such as Instacart.
RowShare: Is it a database?
No. It is a permissioned table with typed columns, not a relational store you can query, so it collects structured data rather than modelling it.
RowShare: Who is behind it?
A French vendor with named enterprise customers. It is a small company, so weigh continuity carefully before making it the home of a process you expect to run for years.
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