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Budget AI weekly meal plans (tell it your budget, household size, and usual supermarkets; get a week of dinners and a shopping list with the total cost), subscription $9.99/month or $29.99/year. The English market is saturated. Openings are in Portuguese and Spanish, soft paywalls, real supermarket prices, and special diets.
Open Trackable · consumer subscription app (language / paywall swaps) First seen 2026-11-01 · last updated 2026-11-06
- Status
- Open (the English version is narrowing; gaps are in Spanish/Portuguese and soft paywalls)
- Why now, and how long the window lasts
- Reviews keep repeating "grocery bill insane" and "saw it on TikTok": the demand is grocery-price anxiety, the channel is TikTok, and LLM-generated recipes let one or two people build it. The English window closed around 6–July. Play launched 1–3 months after iOS; the Portuguese/Spanish and soft-paywall gaps likely have about a quarter left (inferred).
- Confidence
- High (demand is real, the English market is full); medium (the Portuguese/Spanish gaps are inferred, and Brazil's F&D chart is thin). Falsifiers: within 30 days, more than 20 local meal-plan apps appear in the top 2 of Brazil's or Mexico's F&D Top Grossing; or TapCook or NeatEat ships a free ad-supported tier.
Evidence
Grouped by store. Each group starts with the charts that can be graphed (real curves, data dates below the chart), then the scanner's original notes and source links.
App Store3 evidence items · 7 products with curves
TapCook: Budget Meal Plans testmaxx LLC
App Store · Launched 2026-07-17 · US rating 6,967 · 11-08 best overall Top Free rank #192 (Canada) · Charted in 11-08 66 stores
CanadaBM
Data 2026-10-31 → 2026-11-08 (9 days, 2 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
Whipp: Meal Planner & Recipes EVOY LTD
App Store · Launched 2026-06-12 · US rating 730 · 11-08 best overall Top Free rank #155 (Spain) · Charted in 11-08 7 stores
SpainUKCanada
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
mise - meal planner TEGS LABS LTD
App Store · Launched 2026-06-10 · US rating 4,698 · 11-08 best overall Top Grossing rank #150 (Australia) · Charted in 11-08 77 stores
AustraliaGermanyUK
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
NeatEat - Meal Planner Streamline Merch LLC
App Store · launched 2026-07-17 · US store rating 1,443 · charted in 11-08 of 71 stores
US storeCanadaAustralia
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
Potto - meal planner Anete Ziedina
App Store · launched 2026-06-12 · US store rating 2,367 · charted in 11-08 of 36 stores
US storeCanadaAustralia
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
Herbi: Meal Planner + Recipes Tempo Labs Creative Ltd
App Store · launched 2026-06-16 · US store rating 65 · charted in 11-08 of 40 stores
Data 2026-11-02 → 2026-11-03 (2 days, 2 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Best rank across each day's category charts
Yuma: Weekly Meal Planner Adrien Long
App Store · launched 2026-09-15 · US rating 9 · 11-08 best Top Free overall rank #89 (Belgium) · charted in 11-08 stores 13
FranceSpainBelgium
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-08 (11 days, 10 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that day
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-08 (11 days, 10 observations)
- App Store (US, 11-02, Food & Drink top grossing): TapCook (6769601354) #3, Whipp (6778126199) #4, mise (6777471316) #5, NeatEat (6783742855) #8, Potto (6778760884) #11 (the report is #5 / #3 / #4 / #7 / #11 on 11-01). All 5 launched between 2026-06 and 07, and the developers have only 1 apps each, while the 2013-year-old eMeals (52,778 rating) sits at #17. US ratings: TapCook 6,082 (11-01 is 5,998), mise 4,261, Potto 2,350, NeatEat 1,404, Whipp 628.
- App Store (other stores, 11-02, F&D Top Grossing): gb mise #3, Whipp #4, Herbi (6777230233) #9, NeatEat #20; de mise #2 (overall Top Grossing #170,11-01 is #133); au mise #2, NeatEat #6, Whipp #12; es Whipp #2 (overall Top Grossing #106,11-01 is #92), Yuma #8; fr Yuma (6811329112, solo dev, launched 9-15) #3; mx Recipy (launched 9-16) #6 but with 0 ratings. mise's overall Top Grossing today only remains in de #170 and nz #194 (its au #11-01 has dropped out at #165).
- App Store (all stores, 11-02, supply): counting new releases by name (meal plan / menu / menú / ementa / essensplan / maaltijd) that charted in F&D and H&F: 17 in June, 24 in July, 15 in August, 27 in September, 27 in October (the report's October count is 32). The highest-rated launches after September is Yuma at 387; the highest for October launches is 37. The batch from 6–July produced 5 winners with over a thousand ratings, and none since.
Google Play2 evidence items · 4 products with curves
mise - meal planner TEGS LABS LTD
Google Play · Launched 2026-08-03 · 11-07 installs 213,647
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
NeatEat: Meal & Recipe Planner Neat Builds
Google Play · Launched 2026-07-15 · 11-07 installs 83,969
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
TapCook: Budget Meal Plans TapCook
Google Play · Launched 2026-09-21 · 11-07 installs 66,459
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations)
Herbi: Meal Planner + Recipes Tempo Labs Creative Ltd
Google Play · Launched 2026-09-11 · 11-07 installs 24,985
Data 2026-10-29 → 2026-11-07 (10 days, 10 observations). Google's detail page only refreshes install counts every other day, so a flat day doesn't mean nobody installed.
Data 2026-11-01 → 2026-11-07 (7 days, 7 observations)
- Google Play (11-02): mise com.gregorytaylor.shopping 204,015 installs, au F&D Top Grossing #1, au overall Top Grossing #151; NeatEat com.forkcast890.app 83,076 installs (report 79,826), us #3, ca #2; TapCook com.testmaxx.reelchef 62,044 (report 52,408), us #2; Whipp app.whipp 56,659 (report 39,381), es overall Top Grossing #95 (up consecutively since #10-29 #164), es F&D #2; Herbi com.tempolabs.herbi 20,016, gb #2. Report count: only 2026 meal-plan launches on Play in 18, while iOS had 100 over the same period.
- Google Play (br, 11-02): the local F&D Top Grossing chart only reaches rank 2, and it's all wine apps (Vivino, Wine ID), with no meal-plan app. mx F&D Top Grossing is a global fallback chart (it shows Japan's クラシル and Germany's Chefkoch), so Mexico can't be judged.
Meta Ad Library 1 evidence items · 1 products with curves
ReciMe join.recime.app
Meta Ad Library · running 983 ads · earliest seen running from 2026-06-04
Data 2026-11-01 → 2026-11-06 (6 days, 3 observations). Meta Ad Library tracking started 11-01; an advertiser is tracked about every 2–3 days.
- Meta Ad Library (11-02): searching "meal plan" turns up none of the new winners; only the established ReciMe is running 1,500 ads, plus the calorie app Calo with 1,408. Either they rely on TikTok and skip Meta, or the 60 keywords missed them; two days of data can't tell which.
Qualifying list 1 pieces of evidence
- Qualifying list (11-02): mise and Whipp (first qualified 10-30) are tracked in the same diet / calorie / meal-plan cluster. Two-day rating deltas: Mealbird 419, mise 242, Whipp 109, all flat.
Already doing it
The US, UK, Australia and Canada have TapCook, mise, Whipp, NeatEat, Potto and Herbi; the established players are ReciMe, NYT Cooking, Mob and eMeals. French has Yuma; in German, below mise are all old apps (Thermomix, Chefkoch); Spanish has Whipp and Recipy; Mealbird has made more than ten smaller-language versions; Japan has Repitta (Play jp.mogaming.recipe_app, 57,219 installs) and CookGo; Germany's Play has Piatto. Brazil has neither.
The hardest step
Distribution and retention. The winners rely on TikTok, and a single video decays within a few weeks (mise's late-September peak has already faded). Hard paywalls keep written reviews at 1.5–2.7 stars, and Potto has already slowed. Real supermarket prices require local supermarket data; TapCook's "national reference prices" drew the review "prices way off."
Who it's for
Someone who can ship iOS and Android, can write Portuguese or Spanish (or find a native reviewer), and can make short videos: 1–2 people. Subscription, or "free + ads + optional subscription"; start with Brazil and Mexico. Dietary needs (GLP-1, keto, allergies) are named by users in bad reviews, see also: [018]. For the approach, see [019].
Should every product builder know this?
Yes. This is the clearest sample this year of one opportunity area producing several solo-dev winners on the App Store at once, and also of a gold rush whose window closed within three months.
Change log
2026-11-06
Piatto broke into the main markets' Top Grossing charts: de Health & Fitness Top Grossing #22 (60 days after launch), es Food Top Grossing earlier at #46, 7,584 Play installs; Mealbird (Portuguese) rose from 419 to 543 over two days and is still climbing. Today I checked this category's acquisition channels for the first time in Google and TikTok ad libraries (googleads channels, 60 food entries on the list): TapCook, NeatEat, RecipeLab, Yuma, Piatto and a dozen newly listed local-language weekly-plan apps are all "checked, not running" on Google, and Meta is empty too; mise has 1 Google ads and 679 TikTok ads in Europe (only Europe is visible); Mealbird has 15 Google ads. In other words, the English leaders and new local-language launches rely mainly on organic store traffic plus TikTok content, not paid acquisition. This strengthens the case that a small local-language team can do it: charting doesn't require an ad budget.
2026-11-05
Piatto's two-day rating went from 67 to 86 and is still rising; BeFitWay (Brazilian calorie app, MARKETING AFFILIATES LTDA) entered the br Top Grossing overall chart at #180.
2026-11-04
The diet / meal-plan cluster on the qualifying list now has 9 apps. New qualifiers: Yuma (French developer, weekly meal plans; fr two-day +85 ratings, de category Top Grossing #65, fr overall Top Grossing #199) and a calorie-app promoter named Page. mise's two-day rating went from 239 to 334, and Whipp's from 98 to 145, both still rising. Meta: ReciMe's ads went from 1,500 to 1,182 (−21%); Welmi (calorie app) went from 660 to 743 (+13%). English keeps getting crowded, and French, Spanish and Portuguese builders are starting to appear (Yuma, Piatto, Mealbird's Portuguese version).
2026-11-03
The diet / meal-plan cluster on the qualifying list has 6 apps. The newly qualified Piatto: Menú Semanal y Recetas (6802251768, Portuguese developer, launched 9-07, mainly Spanish) is at #46 in es Food Top Grossing and #46 in fr Free by category, with a rating of 326 and +61 over two days; 4,490 Play installs. This is the "Spanish gap" the record mentioned, and builders are starting to enter it. We're still far from the falsifier (20 or more local apps in Brazil's or Mexico's F&D Top Grossing top 2); Mexico only reaches #144 in Free.
2026-11-02
Backfill check: us F&D Top Grossing TapCook #5→#3, Whipp #3→#4, mise #4→#5, NeatEat #7→#8; mise au #1→#2, de overall Top Grossing #133→#170, dropped out of au overall; Whipp es overall Top Grossing on App Store #92→#106, Play #97→#95; Play installs TapCook +9,636, Whipp +17,278 (compared against the report); Brazil's Play F&D chart still has no meal-plan apps.
2026-11-01
First logged (backfilled from App Store new opportunities §1.1, Google Play new opportunities §1.1, Stringers §3.4, and the Meta Ad Library §5; data as of 2026-11-01).
Original: Scanner opportunity library #017 (updated daily, 06:00); this page was generated on the 2026-11-08 edition.