Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh: Which Meal Delivery Service Should You Choose?

Do you need a little help making dinner every night? For busy families, it can be hard to get a healthy, home-cooked meal on the table each day.

Fortunately, at-home meal kits like Dinnerly and HelloFresh make it easier by eliminating the need to plan meals and go grocery shopping.

If you’re considering Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh, it’s important to understand the differences between these services so that you know which is a better fit for you. Here’s how the two meal delivery companies compare.

Is Dinnerly or HelloFresh Better?

Dinnerly and HelloFresh offer ready-to-make meals with pre-portioned ingredients delivered weekly. They are similar in many regards, but there are also some key differences between these two meal delivery services.

MMM Consumer Brands, Inc. owns Dinnerly. It also owns the higher-end meal kit service Martha Stewart and Marley Spoon. 

On the other hand, HelloFresh is one meal kit service under the HelloFresh family of meal delivery kits, which includes Factor, Green Chef, and EveryPlate.

Within these two companies, Dinnerly and EveryPlate are considered lower-cost alternatives.

However, to help you decide between Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh, we’ve compared them head-to-head in each of the following categories:

• Cost: Which service offers the lowest price per serving?
• Specialty diets: Which service provides more options for special diets, dietary needs, and food allergies?
• Add-ons: Which service has a larger variety of add-on items?
• Packaging: Which service has more eco-friendly, convenient packaging?
• Preparation ease: Which service features meals that are easier to prepare?
• Supporting materials: Which service has better-supporting materials, like recipe cards?
• Taste: Which service offers a wider variety of recipes and features better-tasting meals?
• Customer service: Which service has better customer service and is easier to cancel?

Here’s how Dinnerly and HelloFresh compare.

Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh: Cost

Both Dinnerly and HelloFresh are reasonably priced. They are two of the least expensive meal kit services available, and they offer customizable plans. 

Keep in mind that the larger plans are cheaper per serving than the smaller plans.

HelloFresh’s prices begin at $7.49 per serving, and shipping costs $9.99 per box. Here’s a breakdown of their pricing for each meal plan:

On the other hand, Dinnerly’s prices start at just $4.69 per serving. Shipping costs $8.99 per order. This table details the cost of various HelloFresh meal plans: 

Although HelloFresh and Dinnerly are more affordable than many other meal kit services, Dinnerly’s prices are significantly lower than HelloFresh. It offers the lowest price per serving regardless of plan size.

One thing to note is that HelloFresh owns EveryPlate, an affordable meal kit service with prices rivaling Dinnerly’s cost per serving. It may be worth checking out if you’re looking for an inexpensive alternative to HelloFresh.

Read our EveryPlate vs. Dinnerly review to learn how the two services compare.

Winner: Dinnerly

HelloFresh vs. Dinnerly: Specialty Diets

HelloFresh and Dinnerly offer minimal options for specialty diets or dietary restrictions. 

While they both provide healthy recipes and plant-based meals, neither service is appropriate for people with food allergies due to the risk of cross-contamination. Plus, both services use gluten-containing ingredients.

However, HelloFresh offers some low-calorie, low-carb, high-protein, vegetarian, and Mediterranean menu options each week.

Likewise, Dinnerly offers some keto, low-carb, low-calorie, and dairy-free meal choices on their weekly menu. It even offers some options for vegetarians.

Both services also offer some options for pescatarians.

Some better options for special dietary needs, like paleo or vegan, are Green Chef or Purple Carrot.

Winner: Tie

Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh: Add-ons

Add-ons are grocery and food items that you can order in addition to your meal kits. 

Although Dinnerly doesn’t offer separate add-on items, you can order desserts, breakfasts, seasonal entrees and sides, or extra proteins as one of your meals. These cost the same price as a meal kit.

On the other hand, HelloFresh has meal kits that are suitable for lunch or dinner and some seasonal offerings.

Additionally, both services offer premium meals with a higher per-serving price.

Winner: Dinnerly

HelloFresh vs. Dinnerly: Packaging

Both HelloFresh and Dinnerly offer eco-friendly packaging. Most of the components are recyclable or reusable.

However, because of its low price, Dinnerly has simple, no-frills packaging. All of the fresh ingredients for your meals are packaged loosely together in a single box.

Inside a Dinnerly box

On the other hand, HelloFresh separates ingredients by recipe. The pre-portioned ingredients for each recipe are all contained together in a paper bag labeled with the recipe name. 

This makes it easy to start meal prep since you just have to pull the correct bag out of your fridge to have all of your ingredients handy.

Inside a HelloFresh box

For this reason, HelloFresh is the winner for packaging.

Winner: HelloFresh

Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh: Preparation Ease

Both Dinnerly and HelloFresh offer easy-to-make meals that take roughly 15-30 minutes of prep time.

However, I found that Dinnerly’s meals were generally simpler, required fewer steps, and had fewer components than HelloFresh’s meals.

Still, both services are a great fit for novice chefs. They offer several weekly options for simple dishes with easy-to-follow instructions and minimal meal prep required.

Winner: Dinnerly

HelloFresh vs. Dinnerly: Supporting Materials

To keep their prices low, Dinnerly doesn’t provide recipe cards. Instead, you access your recipes on the Dinnerly app or website. 

This is a little more cumbersome than glancing at a recipe card while cooking, but it’s manageable.

Dinnerly’s recipe instructions are on their website or app

HelloFresh offers detailed, full-color recipe cards with photos accompanying each step. This makes them the better choice for supporting materials.

HelloFresh recipe card

Winner: HelloFresh

Dinnerly vs. HelloFresh: Taste

Overall, Dinnerly and HelloFresh meals tasted excellent and had generous portion size offerings. They were well-received by my whole family, including my young kids. 

My family loved these Low-Cal Pulled Pork Banh Mi Tacos from Dinnerly, and they were incredibly easy to make.

Low-Cal Pulled Pork Banh Mi Tacos (Dinnerly)

We also all enjoyed the meals from HelloFresh, especially the Salmon in a Creamy Lemon Chive Sauce with Roasted Potato Wedges & Lemony Zucchini.

Salmon in a Creamy Lemon Chive Sauce with Roasted Potato Wedges & Lemony Zucchini (HelloFresh)

Both services also offer a huge assortment of weekly meal options. HelloFresh has around 60 options each week, while Dinnerly has roughly 80.

These meals run the gamut from international flavors to kid-friendly options to comfort food like American dishes and homestyle meals. There’s something for almost every household.

Some recent HelloFresh menu options include:

• Sweet Corn and Green Pepper Chowder with Old Bay Toast
• Bulgogi Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Carrots and Lemony Rice
• Spiced Beef Burrito Bowls with Guacamole and Mango Bell Pepper Salsa

Some of Dinnerly’s recent meals include:

• Garlic-Soy Pork Noodles
• Low-Cal Spice-Rubbed Swai
• Roasted Chickpea Gyro

Still, HelloFresh just barely edges out Dinnerly for us because HelloFresh offers more meals that are appealing to my family. In addition, I learned several recipes from HelloFresh that have become part of our regular meal rotation.

Read our Dinnerly review to learn more.

Read our HelloFresh review to learn more.

Winner: HelloFresh

HelloFresh vs. Dinnerly: Customer Service

I had a good experience with both HelloFresh and Dinnerly. There was no need for me to directly contact customer service when I was trying either meal kit.

I also found it easy to edit my meal selections and cancel my subscription with each service. You can do this directly through each service’s website or app.

Winner: Tie

What’s the Difference Between Dinnerly and HelloFresh?

HelloFresh vs. Dinnerly is a close race. In fact, we think it’s a draw. Both have pros and cons, and either one might be a better fit for different households. 

Here’s which meal kit company won each category:

Dinnerly is an excellent choice if you’re working with a limited budget or prefer slightly simpler meals.

However, HelloFresh is a great option if your budget is a bit more flexible or you prefer a more streamlined experience with organized shipments accompanied by recipe cards.

Both services offer a wide variety of recipes each week, including kid-friendly meals. They also have some delicious meals that those with more refined palates will appreciate.

Whichever one you choose, you can rest assured that both Dinnerly and HelloFresh are great meal kit delivery services.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for an affordable meal kit, Dinnerly and HelloFresh are good meal delivery subscription services that are worth considering.

Dinnerly is less expensive, but HelloFresh offers a more convenient experience overall. They can help you save money compared to dining out regularly but are more expensive than meal planning and grocery shopping on your own.

Choose the service that best fits your needs to take advantage of time savings and avoid eating out. 

What do you look for when selecting a meal delivery service?