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Chop it vs ChatGPT: What Each Does Better

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4 min
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By
Alex Fahey

Pictured: Pumpkin & Coconut Curry

Short answer

ChatGPT is better at ideas, like inventing a dinner from what's in the fridge or rewriting one to be cheaper or dairy-free. Chop it is better at keeping things: the week, one merged shopping list, your pantry and recipes from any source. They aren't rivals. Chop it uses OpenAI's models and runs inside ChatGPT, free.

Contents

I built Chop it, so this page sticks to what each one can and can't do, and says where ChatGPT is better. For how to plan a week in ChatGPT, see our guide to getting a full week out of it with no app at all.

What each can do

CapabilityChatGPT aloneChop it
Invent a recipe from a requestYes, best in classYes, with Make me a recipe (1 credit)
Adapt a recipe to constraintsYes, best in classThrough Chop it in ChatGPT, then save the result
Plan a week of dinnersYou prompt each round yourselfSpeedy shopping, free, with free swaps
UK phrasing, metric, UK methodsOn request, and it driftsAlways
Recipe outputProse in a chat windowRecipe card with quantities, method and macros
Remember your week on ThursdayNo, it lives in a scrolled chatYes, the week is a persistent plan
One merged shopping list across recipesOn request, hit and missYes, structured merge with totals
Know what's in your cupboardsNoYes, including photographed shops
Keep recipes from cookbooks, websites and socialNoYes, photo, link and social import
Find a recipe you cooked in MarchSearch a chat historySearch a structured library
Check out at a supermarketNoNo. It links to six supermarkets' searches, or, in the mobile app, sends the list to Whisk; you check out with the shop
CostFree tier is enoughFree to start; Pro £2.99 a month or £24.99 a year, currently discounted to £19.99 for the first year
PlatformsEverywhereiPhone, Android and inside ChatGPT

Where ChatGPT alone wins

Ideas and adaptation, without qualification. Ask for a dinner from whatever's left in the fridge, or the same dish cheaper, dairy-free or in one pan, and it answers on the spot. If ideas on demand are all you need, ChatGPT alone is the right answer and the free tier covers it.

It's also on every device, including the desktop. Chop it’s cooking experience is on iPhone and Android; its connected conversation works inside ChatGPT.

Where Chop it wins

Anything that has to be kept, or held to a standard across a week.

The week. Speedy shopping picks dinners from our library of over 1,300 recipes, swaps are free, and the week stays a plan you open on Thursday. Weekly balance shows how it sits for protein, fibre and plants. You can ask ChatGPT to think about variety, but you have to ask every time.

The recipe card. A chat answer is prose. A Chop it recipe is a structured card with real quantities, a method you can cook from and macros. That structure is what makes the merged shopping list work, checked against your pantry so you don't buy rice you already own.

UK recipes. Coriander, not cilantro. Aubergine, not eggplant. Metric quantities and a grill that means a grill. ChatGPT does this when asked and drifts in a long conversation. Chop it holds every recipe to it.

Your own recipes. The library also takes recipes from cookbooks, websites and social video, which is most of a real household's cooking and something ChatGPT doesn't attempt to keep.

Using them together

Plan in ChatGPT the way you already do, with Chop it running inside it. The conversation stays the same, and the results become things you keep: a week, a list, recipe cards.

In Chop it in ChatGPTAccount needed?
Search recipes, open one, draft a week, choose the dinnersNo
Save recipes, This Week, Saved Weeks, your library and pantry, the shopping list, imports (up to five attempts per session)Yes. Tap Connect Chop it and sign in with your Chop it account
Check out, show prices or credits, make imagesNot available. When you're ready to shop, it opens Chop it's review page with links to search each supermarket

Chop it’s import tools share the first 10 completed imports per account each week free, then cost 1 credit each with your agreement. ChatGPT’s own limits still apply.

In the app, Speedy shopping is free, and jobs like Make me a recipe cost a credit. Every account gets 3 free credits a week.

For a tour of the app itself, every part of Chop it is explained here. For how it compares with other planning apps, the full UK app comparison covers ten of them with verified prices.

See what you can ask Chop it in ChatGPT: copy a request for your recipes, Saved Weeks, pantry or weekly shop.

Quick answers

  • Do I need both?
    If you already plan meals in ChatGPT and retype the results somewhere, Chop it in ChatGPT removes that step, and it’s free. If you only ever want one-off dinner ideas, ChatGPT alone is enough.
  • Does what I save in ChatGPT show up in the app?
    Yes, once you tap Connect Chop it and sign in. Recipes, weeks, your pantry and shopping lists saved in ChatGPT go to the same account you use on iPhone and Android.
  • Is Chop it in ChatGPT the same as the old Weekly Food Shop Planner GPT?
    It replaces it. Chop it in ChatGPT is free, shows up in ChatGPT’s apps as Chop it, and uses the same account as the app.
  • Does Chop it use ChatGPT’s models?
    Its AI jobs, such as Make me a recipe and reading a recipe from a photo, run on OpenAI’s models. Plan my week picks from our own library rather than inventing dinners.

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