Best Grocery List Apps That Make Your Shopping Trip Faster and Easier

Top 12 grocery list apps on the market

1. Ibotta

Ibotta started as a couponing app that helped you find cash savings and rewards offered at your local stores, restaurants, or even for travel. As it grew, it added an amazing integration by allowing you to build your grocery list, and then it automatically finds deals for you at local stores like Walmart, Costco, Walgreen’s, and more. It’s called Ibotta’s “Smart Shopping List,” and will show you coupons across any brand of item you want that matches your shopping list item entry.

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

2. Remember The Milk

The title of this app speaks for itself: Remember The Milk. It brands itself as the “smart to-do app for busy people,” and helps you to remember what’s going on in your life so you never forget anything again. It works very well as a grocery list app, but can also help you get your life on track with other tasks you might forget on a regular basis. It has a “smart add” feature that allows you to type all of the information into one line (task, due date, priority, tags, repeating, etc.) and it will populate all the information for you in one easy reminder. You can also choose from pop-up notifications, emails, Google Hangouts, Skype, or other platforms to receive your reminders!

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

3. Evernote

Evernote is an amazing app for notetaking, reminders, lists, compilation projections, storing information, and so much more. You can easily create an ongoing grocery list that you add to and check items off every week. You can create a check list to easily tick things off as you shop, you can create different “notes” for specific types of shopping or the different stores you visit, and you can even take pictures of things around your house (such as the inside of your refrigerator or pantry) to remind yourself about things you need to pick up, if you’re just too busy to write them down!

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

4. Smartphone/Device Assistants

[Image source: “Android Assistant on the Google Pixel XL smartphone”, by Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italy – CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52110130]

If you have an Apple, Android, Amazon, or Microsoft device, there’s a chance you could be making use of the built-in personal assistant. These assistants use voice-activated technology that allows you to speak to them through your device, and tell them what you want. For example, if you activate it and say “add apples to my grocery list,” it will create an ongoing note for you that stores all of the items you ask it to.

You can also manually type to add items to these lists at any time, so it’s particularly useful if you speak to it to add random items you will need as you notice them, and then before heading out to the store, check on the list and add anything else you think of.

For popular devices, the assistants you can use are:

Apple/iOS: Siri
Android: Google Assistant ("OK Google")
Amazon: Alexa
Microsoft: Cortana

Download It Now: These apps are built into your devices.
Cost: Free

5. Out Of Milk

Out Of Milk helps you build an intuitive shopping and to-do list. You can build your grocery list, and add daily reminders at the same time, all in one place. It also has a “Pantry List,” which keeps track of all the items in your house like spices, essentials, etc. so you know automatically when something runs out based on how often you use it and are buying it from the store.

One great feature of this app is that creating your account, syncing it across all devices, and sharing the list with others is completely free – so you can get your lists on any device, and share with everyone in your house, without needing to pay any extra fees!

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

6. AnyList

AnyList considers itself to be the best way to create and share a grocery shopping list, and organize your recipes! You can quickly and easily create and share grocery lists, and AnyList will suggest items as you type. You can sync your list across devices and share it with your family, and you can add items using your voice because AnyList integrates with Siri. AnyList also collects and organizes your recipes for you, and even lets you add recipes from other blogs or websites. Simply tap on ingredients in a recipe to add them to your weekly shopping list.

Download It Now: iOS
Cost: Free (but is limited in some ways)
AnyList Complete Single Subscription: $7.99/year
AnyList Complete Family Subscription: $11.99/year

7. PushCart

PushCart is a relatively new shopping list app that’s only for iOS, but it has made a pretty big splash in a rather short amount of time. It allows you to edit, organize, and share shopping lists in real time, so your family or other group can coordinate what needs to be bought and what has already been picked up. It also makes putting lists together easier with a database full of thousands of common products, as well as “Favorites” and “Add From History” functions. In addition, you can use it to set reminders for items you need, or use a simple voice command to add an item to a list via integration with Siri. You can even order your groceries from your favorite stores right from the app! And best of all, it’s completely free — and that includes free of advertisements!

Download It Now: iOS
Cost: Free

8. List Ease

If you’re looking for something a little less complex, and want a simpler checklist app, then List Ease may be the right app for you. You can create a shareable grocery list, and sync with all devices, get reminders for items, and even get notifications if other people on your shared list make purchases – if you take turns doing the shopping with other members of your household, this is a really helpful feature. It also has a bar-code scanner, lets you sort you lists into pantry and grocery items, and can keep track of quantities, measurements, prices, and any additional notes you add – all right in your list.

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

9. Big Oven

Big Oven aims to bring your grocery shopping, meal planning, and recipe organization all in one place. The app gives you access to over 350,000 recipes, and helps you build a meal planner, that you can then turn into a grocery list. You can search for recipes that suit you, get ideas from other app users, store your own recipes or add them from your favorite sites, and then add everything you need to your grocery list with a few taps! Your list can also be sorted by department, or by recipe, and you need only swipe items on the list to the side as you shop to remove them. If you need to simplify the process the cooking and meal planning for your family, then this is the app for you.

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free
Offers optional in-app purchases for your recipes or home cooking.

10. MealBoard

MealBoard is an app similar to Big Oven, as it aims to combine grocery lists, meal management and planning, and event planning – all in one app. You can store and add recipes, plan your meals for the week including specific notes, number of servings, and add your own food prep reminders, generate a grocery list from the meals you plan, and keep track of items stored in your pantry. If you like cooking meals, planning parties, or need to keep track of a larger number of people for your weekly meals and shopping, then this is probably the best app for you.

Download It Now: iOS
Cost: $3.99

11. Grocery Pal

Grocery Pal is exactly that – your shopping friend – and aims to help you build a list while matching your items up to local savings and coupons. You can browse through weekly flyers, savings, and discount offered at your local retailers, and immediately add sale items to your grocery list. You can organize your items by store, aisles in store, departments, or other categories you want. Grocery Pal offers discounts and sales for over 100 retail stores, at 50,000 locations across the U.S. You can even get some coupons digitally on your device, which can be scanned at your local store.

Download It Now: Android | iOS
Cost: Free

Features to look for in a good grocery list app

1. Collaboration

This feature is likely going to be an important one for you if your grocery shopping is for more than just yourself. The ability to collaborate with other members of your household and allow them to add the items they need whenever they want will completely change your life.

No more coming home and having someone tell you that you forgot something of theirs – or that you didn’t buy the right one. By allowing collaboration, and giving everyone in your home the ability to access the list at any given time, other people become responsible for writing down the things they want, so you never have to chase anyone down again!

2. Offline access

This feature might not be necessary for everyone, but if you don’t have a lot of Internet data on your smartphone (or other device you take shopping with you to access the list), then having your list open may eat up a fair bit of data wile you’re shopping – especially if it takes you up to an hour to get through the whole store.

The ability to access your list offline, or even better, to check items off while offline that will save and update when you return to your Internet connection, will help you save data. It’s also good if you shop in an area that might not offer Wi-Fi, or you don’t have a data plan on your device at all.

3. Voice-to-text capabilities

Not all apps will have this, and your device itself may not be compatible, but voice-to-text commands can be very useful while shopping, rather than fumbling around with your device while trying to cross things off or remove them from the list each time you put something in the cart.

One of the best ways to make use of this is with personal device assistants like Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, or Alexa. They run based on voice-to-text, and all have grocery list integrations built in. The ability to tell the app to take things off or add them with your voice will make walking around the store a lot easier than manually typing and erasing items off of your grocery list.

4. Price

Price should definitely be a factor of consideration when you’re choosing a grocery app because you shouldn’t need to pay a lot of money for something that – let’s face it – you can do for free with a pen and paper. The apps are definitely more convenient, but that doesn’t mean you should be paying a lot for them.

A couple of dollars is reasonable if you like the app, and it will probably remove the advertisements that often come along with free apps. Make sure before you pay for one and download it that it doesn’t make you pay for in-app add-ons that you need in order for it to work, and don’t spend a lot of money on an app that offers you a ton of other features when an app that makes a grocery list for you, and is free, will suffice.

5. Image integration

An app that allows image integration can be really useful if you’re the kind of person who forgets to add the things they need to your list when they run out. If the app allows you to take a picture of something – an empty carton of milk or eggs for example – and add that to your list, you’ll never forget to pick up those regular items while at the store again.

With this feature, you won’t ever be left be wondering how much of something is left at home if you forgot to check before you leave. Even taking a picture of the entire inside of your refrigerator or pantry can be really useful at the store to help with things you may have forgotten to think of before you left!

We hope that helped you make a decision about a grocery list app that will make your life that much easier! If you need other time-saving apps to make daily tasks better, check out our articles on helpful lifestyle apps. We have information about how to use dozens of other apps that can make running your household a breeze!