The best grocery list app for iPhone depends on your household. If everyone has an iPhone and you want no ads, no account and no subscription, Grocery List or Apple Reminders. If someone uses Android, OurGroceries, Bring! or Listonic. If you plan meals and cook from saved recipes, AnyList or Paprika. Here are seven apps on the same criteria, with prices from the US App Store on the date above.

We make Grocery List, one of the apps on this list, and we've labeled it. The facts about the other apps come from their own websites, help pages and App Store listings, linked below, and we recheck them every quarter.

At a glance

App Pricing Ads Account Shared lists Recipe import Siri Platforms
Grocery List (ours) Free; Premium is one payment No No (iCloud) Premium Premium: sites, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Yes iPhone, iPad
Apple Reminders Free, built in No Apple Account Free No Yes iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, web
AnyList Free; $9.99/yr or $14.99/yr household None mentioned Yes Free Websites (5 recipes free) Yes iPhone, iPad, Watch, Android, Mac, web
OurGroceries Free; remove ads ~$1/mo, $6/yr or $20 once Yes One per household Free No link import Yes iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Android, web
Bring! Free; Premium $1.99/mo or $8.99/yr Yes Yes Free Websites Yes iPhone, iPad, Watch, Android, web
Listonic Free; Premium (several prices) Yes Optional Free No No iPhone, Mac, Watch, Android, web
Paprika 3 $4.99 once (iPhone and iPad); Mac sold separately None mentioned For sync Through one shared account Websites Yes iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, Android, Windows

Grocery List (our app)

Best for: iPhone households who want a simple shared list without ads, an account or a subscription.

A shopping list that looks like a paper notebook. Add items by typing, by voice, with Siri or from a photo of a handwritten list. Premium, a one-time purchase, adds shared lists, recipe import (from most recipe sites and from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube captions), templates and item photos. The list can sit on the Lock Screen, where you check items off without unlocking.

Not for you if: someone at home uses Android, or you want the list on a Mac, Apple Watch or the web.

Grocery List features

Apple Reminders

Best for: free sharing among Apple users, when a plain list is enough.

A Reminders list set to the Groceries type sorts items into sections as you add them, and it's shared with other Apple Account users at no cost. It's on every Apple device. It doesn't import recipes or read a photo of a list.

Grocery List vs Apple Reminders

AnyList

Best for: households that plan meals and keep their recipes in the same app.

Recipes, a meal-planning calendar and the shopping list together, on iPhone, Android, Mac, Apple Watch and the web. Sharing is free with an AnyList account. Unlimited recipes and the web app need AnyList Complete, a yearly subscription.

Grocery List vs AnyList

OurGroceries

Best for: mixed iPhone and Android households who want Alexa, barcode scanning or a web app.

A long-running shared list on almost every platform, free with ads. Everyone in the household signs in to one OurGroceries account. You can pay monthly, yearly or once to remove the ads. You type recipes in rather than importing them from a link.

Grocery List vs OurGroceries

Bring!

Best for: free cross-platform sharing, if you like store offers and loyalty cards in your list app.

Free shared lists and recipe import from websites, on iPhone, Android, Apple Watch and the web. It shows ads and retailer offers, needs a login, and offers Bring! Premium as a subscription.

Grocery List vs Bring!

Listonic

Best for: shopping on a budget.

Item prices, running totals and an AI assistant that suggests meals, free with ads. Lists can be shared by link without the other person signing up. It doesn't work with Siri and doesn't import recipes from a link.

Grocery List vs Listonic

Paprika Recipe Manager 3

Best for: home cooks who mainly want a recipe manager, with a grocery list attached.

Paprika saves recipes from websites with its built-in browser, then builds a grocery list sorted by aisle and merges duplicate ingredients. It's a one-time purchase on each platform. Sharing means using the same Paprika Cloud Sync account, which shares the whole recipe collection.

How we compared them

We looked at what matters most for a household grocery list:

  • the pricing model (subscription or one payment);
  • ads;
  • whether you need an account;
  • whether sharing costs extra;
  • recipe import;
  • Siri;
  • platforms.

Prices are from the US App Store and change by country and over time. Each app's own pages are linked below. If something here is out of date, tell us at hi@getgrocerylist.app.

Sources