Free vs. PrepSmart+: What's Included in Each Tier

PrepSmart is free by default and 100% ad-free. The full Plan > Shop > Cook loop is yours forever at no cost. On top of that free foundation sit two completely independent, optional upgrades: PrepSmart+ and creator subscriptions. You can add either, both, or neither — and you never need one to get the other.

The Free Foundation (free forever)

Everyone gets the complete planning, shopping, and cooking experience — no trial, no expiration, no ads.

What's included:

• The full Plan > Shop > Cook loop: build a Weekly Plan (a freeform canvas, not a rigid calendar), group meals into Meal Tiles like "Taco Tuesday," and follow your Cook List when it's time to cook.
• Your Recipe Box to save recipes, plus sortable, aisle-organized shopping lists.
• Starter Recipes — a small, fixed set of recipes matched to your diet, included with every account so you can start cooking right away.
• Every recipe from the food brands, grocery stores, and appliance brands you follow — no caps.
• 3 free recipes from every creator you follow, yours to keep forever.
• Your personalized Food World — your diet-filtered universe of recipes and creators. Your diet is the organizing principle, and you can change it anytime; nothing is deleted.
• Browse and discover across 25+ diet types and growing in Explore.

Who it's for: Anyone who wants to plan a week of meals, shop smarter, and cook with confidence — for free, for good.

PrepSmart+

Cost: $4.99/month, or $39.99/year — about 11¢ a day, which saves about 33% versus paying monthly. Every subscription starts with a 7-day free trial (a card is required to start the trial). We'll remind you before it ends — no surprise charges — and you can cancel anytime.

PrepSmart+ unlocks four headline features:

1. Save & reload any week — keep and reopen as many Weekly Plans as you like, not just the current one.
2. Import any recipe — bring in recipes from a link, photo, or video with Smart Convert.
3. Shop smarter — your Smart Shopping List auto-aggregates from your Meal Tiles, organized by aisle and aware of your stores, and cascades automatically when you edit your plan.
4. One pass, many hands — use Flex Steps to divide cooking tasks across your household so the work gets shared.

PrepSmart+ also includes cloud sync across your devices, household sharing for up to 5 people, and offline access — capabilities that come with the subscription, supporting the four features above.

Who it's for: Households, meal preppers, and anyone who wants their whole week saved, imported, shopped, and shared without the busywork.

Creator Subscriptions (separate and independent)

Creator subscriptions are completely separate from PrepSmart+. Following a creator is always free and gives you 3 of their recipes to keep forever. Subscribing to a creator is a paid upgrade that unlocks their full catalog beyond those 3 free recipes.

• Each creator sets their own price — most fall between $2.99 and $9.99/month (a creator priced around $6.99 is a common example).
• Creator subscriptions are independent of PrepSmart+ — you can subscribe to a creator whether or not you have PrepSmart+, and vice versa.
• You decide on creator subscriptions in the app, on the creator's profile — not during onboarding.

Follow (free) and Subscribe (paid) are two different things — following always stays free.

How to Start a PrepSmart+ Trial

1. Open the app and go to Settings or Account.
2. Tap Upgrade to PrepSmart+.
3. Choose Monthly ($4.99) or Yearly ($39.99).
4. Add your card to start your 7-day free trial.

Your PrepSmart+ features unlock right away, and your trial begins immediately.

How to Manage Your PrepSmart+ Subscription

To view or change it:

• Go to Settings > Account > Subscription.
• See your current plan and renewal date.
• Tap Manage Subscription to change or cancel.

Cancellations:

• Canceling takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep full PrepSmart+ access until then, then return to the free foundation.
• If you cancel within the 7-day trial, you won't be charged.

Why the Upgrades Are Optional

The free foundation is genuinely complete — the full Plan > Shop > Cook loop is free for everyone, forever, with no ads anywhere. PrepSmart+ is for people who want to save every week, import any recipe, shop smarter, and share the cooking. Creator subscriptions are for when you want a specific creator's full catalog. You add what you want, when you want it — and we show you all of it up front, because that honesty is the point.

Questions?

See our other help articles or contact support if you need clarification on what's included in your plan.