Best shopping list app: AnyList vs OurGroceries vs LystBot
Of the apps compared here, AnyList is the best shopping list app for people who cook from recipes, OurGroceries suits households that repeat familiar meals on one shared account, and LystBot (our product) is the pick when a script or AI assistant should update the list. Each one is good at a different job, and the job decides.
We read each app's feature pages, plan pages and help guides on October 18, 2026. We've compared the documentation; we haven't timed the apps.
How we compared apps for grocery lists
We skipped an overall score. A score hides the one thing that matters most for a household, which is how the list gets filled and who uses it. We looked at these questions instead:
- Sharing: how do other people in the household get to the list?
- Planning: does the app turn recipes into list items, and is there a meal calendar?
- Automation: does the app maker publish an API or MCP interface? A community wrapper is someone else's project, so it doesn't count here.
Picture an ordinary week. One person notices the cupboard is out of rice, another plans dinners from a recipe site, and someone else does the shopping on the way home from work. Each of them touches the list at a different moment, and each app handles that hand-off in its own way. A list kept by one person for one weekly trip needs far less than a list that several people edit all week long.
That is why a meal calendar shouldn't decide the purchase when a shared list is the whole job. A household that starts every week from recipes, on the other hand, will feel the difference between a good and a clumsy ingredient workflow every time it shops. And automation only matters if a script or an assistant is going to write to the list at all.
Price is its own question. Our free plan comparison walks through what each app gives away and where the paid plans start.
AnyList vs OurGroceries vs LystBot at a glance
| Criterion | AnyList | OurGroceries | LystBot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharing | Create and share lists on the free plan | Household members sign in to one shared account; single lists can go out as a link | Join a list with its share code |
| Recipes | Collect recipes and send ingredients to a list | Recipes are ingredient groups you can send to a list | Item entry by hand, CLI, API or MCP |
| Meal calendar | Complete plan | Not established by the cited sources | Not established by the cited sources |
| App maker's API or MCP | We found none | We found none | REST API, CLI and MCP tools |
| Detail worth checking | Five website recipe imports on the free plan; unlimited with Complete | Ingredients go to the list one by one or as a whole recipe | Item quantity runs 1 to 99; weight goes in the unit field |
Community-built connectors don't count in the API row.
Sources: AnyList features, AnyList Complete, OurGroceries user guide and LystBot docs.
AnyList: the best pick for recipe cooks
AnyList is built around a recipe collection. You save recipes in the app, and their ingredients go onto the shopping list from there. The free plan lets you create and share lists and import five recipes from websites. Complete removes that import limit and adds a meal planning calendar and recipe scaling.
If your week starts with "what are we cooking?", we'd pick AnyList. Recipes, the calendar and the list sit in one app. The plan comparison shows which of those pieces are free and which need Complete.
A recipe-led week with AnyList
Say you cook two dinners from saved recipes this week, and one of them is for a crowd. In Complete, the calendar holds recipes and notes for each day, and you send some or all of a recipe's ingredients to the shopping list. Scaling changes the ingredient amounts after you pick the servings, so the list shows what the larger pot needs instead of the amounts for a regular dinner. Then compare the ingredients on the shopping list with what you already have in the kitchen.
The five-import cap is the number to watch on the free plan. Someone who saves a recipe from a website now and then can live with it for a long time. Someone who imports new recipes every week will run into it soon.
There is also a plain case against paying. If the household only needs a shared list, the calendar is money spent on a feature nobody opens, and the free plan already shares lists. AnyList is worth Complete when the hard part of your week is turning recipes into a plan. More saved recipes won't fix a week where the plan itself is missing.
OurGroceries: one account for the whole household
OurGroceries keeps sharing simple: everyone in the household signs in to the same account, identified by one email address. Two people with two different account emails don't share those lists, so the household has to agree on that address before anyone types in the weekly shop. Single lists can also go out as a link, which helps when someone outside the account needs to see one list.
For a household that cooks the same handful of meals and wants one list everyone sees, we'd pick OurGroceries. The setup asks for one decision, the shared address, and after that the list is the same on every phone signed in to it. The user guide has the step-by-step sharing instructions.
A repeat shopping trip with OurGroceries
Recipes in OurGroceries are ingredient lists with notes, such as how to prepare the dish or where the recipe came from. From a recipe, ingredients go to the shopping list one at a time or all at once. For a meal you cook every couple of weeks, that means the ingredients stay grouped in one place, and next trip you send only the ones you're out of.
Item notes solve a smaller problem. Say the shopper keeps coming home with the wrong yogurt. An item note holds the brand, size or flavor, so the detail travels with the item to the shop and the shopper doesn't need to call home. Tapping an item crosses it off and moves it to the bottom of the list, which leaves everything still missing at the top.
The account rule is the part to get right early. If one person signs up with a work address and another with a personal one, they end up with two separate sets of lists. Settle the shared address first.
LystBot: a list that scripts and AI assistants can write to
LystBot has a REST API for lists and items, a command-line tool and MCP tools, all described in the developer docs. Through them, a script or an AI client can share and join lists, read lists, add items and check them off. Authentication uses a bearer API key, which you find in the app under Settings → AI Agents.
If another tool should keep the list up to date, we'd pick LystBot. LystBot documents bearer API-key authentication, so an assistant can add the missing olive oil while you're still in the kitchen. The grocery list API automation guide covers scripted workflows, and the Claude MCP setup guide connects Claude to your lists.
A first automation with LystBot
Pay attention to the item format before sending a whole recipe. LystBot keeps quantity and unit apart: quantity is a count from 1 to 99, and a weight or volume belongs in the unit field. A recipe that calls for 250 grams of flour should not turn into a quantity of 250. Any meal plan kept in another tool needs its amounts checked on the way in.
A safe first run uses a separate test list. The script adds one missing ingredient, reads the list back and checks that the item landed on the right list with the right text and amount. Once that works, the same script can point at the household list.
You don't need an API for every shopping routine. If nobody in the house writes scripts or uses an AI assistant, the API is a feature you won't use, and AnyList or OurGroceries may fit your week better.
Community wrappers are someone else's project
An official interface is one the app's maker publishes and supports. A community wrapper is a separate project that talks to the app on its own terms, so its upkeep, sign-in method and compatibility depend on whoever maintains it.
For AnyList and OurGroceries, the cited manufacturer pages do not establish a public API or MCP contract. A community wrapper may still cover your task. Judge it by its own maintenance record and sign-in requirements.
Which is the best shopping list app for your household?
Pick by the job the list does in your week:
- You plan the week around recipes: AnyList, because recipes, the calendar and scaling sit in one app. Stay on the free plan if five website imports are enough.
- Your household repeats familiar meals and wants one list: OurGroceries, because one shared account and item notes keep the repeat shop clear.
- A script or AI assistant should update the list: LystBot, because it is the one with an API, CLI and MCP tools from the app maker.
If two apps both fit, run the same small shop in each. Build the list, add one item that needs a note, and check everything off at the store. The app where nobody had to ask a question is the one to keep.
For dividing the shopping between family members, our family grocery routine shows who adds what and when. The LystBot sharing guide walks through share codes one step at a time. If a script or assistant belongs in your routine, try LystBot for your household's shopping list.
Questions about apps for grocery lists
Which app should I try for recipes?
AnyList. It saves recipes and sends their ingredients to the list, and Complete adds a meal calendar and scaling. The free plan caps website recipe imports at five.
AnyList vs OurGroceries: which fits a household?
AnyList fits a household whose meals start from recipes and a weekly calendar. OurGroceries fits a household that repeats the same meals and wants one shared account, as long as everyone signs in with the same email address.
Can an AI agent update the list?
Yes, with LystBot. Its API and local MCP server can add items and check them off, and the LystBot introduction explains the connection options.