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How much does it cost to build a meal planner app?

Standard price for a meal planner app: $52,500

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What is a meal planner app?

A meal planner application is a web, mobile, or desktop application that enables users to plan their meals and grocery shopping. Users can create shopping lists based on recipes they've saved. Once users have selected an ingredient from the list, the app shows them information about how much of each ingredient they need to buy, and where to find it in stores.

Meal planning apps are similar to food ordering apps and meal delivery apps. One of the most popular meal planner apps on the market today is MyFitnessPal.

Here are some recent meal planner app examples built with Crowdbotics:

  • A food app that would help indecisive people pick a restaurant or meal to be cooked in a given night. There would be a "dine out" option as well as a " dine in" option, which will work in the following ways. Central to the idea for dining in is improving existing pantry apps. Users would be able to search for a random recipe, similar to the restaurant dating game.

    Build this app

  • Build this app

  • Build this app

What is the typical cost to build a meal planner app?

A meal planner app usually costs $52,500 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $30,000 or as high as $75,000. A meal planner app with a low number of features (also known as a "minimum viable product", or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.

For example, here are some recent meal planner app price quotes from Crowdbotics:

  • $52,500

Here are some considerations that may impact the cost of a app:

How long does it take to build a meal planner app?

A meal planner app usually takes 700 hours to build. However, a meal planner app can be built in as few as 400 hours, or in as many as 1,000 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, or non-standard release platforms.

For example, the most recent meal planner apps built with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:

  • 700

How to successfully grow your meal planner application

A meal planner app is designed to make users' lives easier by providing access to a wide variety of recipes and the ingredients needed to cook them. It's common for meal planner apps to offer users free credits in exchange for referring other users to the app. Other ways that meal planner apps can grow virally include providing a large database of user-generated recipes, and offering a personalized shopping list based on a user's past purchases.

Risks and challenges of building a meal planner application

A meal planner app can face risks associated with the delivery of food products, including food poisoning and allergic reactions. In addition, meal planner apps must comply with local zoning laws related to food preparation and distribution, which can be complex in large urban areas. Additionally, meal planning apps that require highly customized food-ordering processes could run afoul of local health codes if they do not meet special requirements for serving meals as prepared by a licensed chef. Meal planning apps will also want to ensure that they are compliant with the ADA and other disability-related legislation. Meal planning apps should utilize third-party food delivery services, such as Postmates or ChowNow, to ensure compliance.

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Some of the descriptions on this page were completed with AI assistance. Learn more here.

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