Blue Apron vs. HelloFresh: Which Meal Kit Is Right for You?

Maybe you've been eyeing meal kits for a while, hoping to cut down on time spent in the kitchen and grocery store, but haven't taken the leap because the number of options on the market can be downright intimidating. Or perhaps you've never even chopped an onion, but you're ready to trim your takeout budget and learn your way around the kitchen. 

Both are great reasons to dive into the world of meal kits. They come with pre-portioned ingredients delivered directly to your door, and the recipes are designed to be both creative and easy to make. With the right service, meal kits can save you time, hassle and even money. 

A great place to start in your meal kit search is with Blue Apron and HelloFresh, two of the most popular options on the market today. But after a recent relaunch, there's one big difference between them: Blue Apron no longer requires a subscription. You can now order meals à la carte, giving you more flexibility.

Best Meal Delivery Services for 2025: We Tested More Than 30 See at Cnet

In our previous testing at CNET, Blue Apron scored a 9 out of 10, giving it a slight edge over HelloFresh's 8.6. However, that doesn't mean Blue Apron is the best choice for everyone. After all, there are several factors to consider including dietary restrictions, pricing, the number of meals per week, and friendly meal options. 

We've compared both services to help you decide which one is best for you. From ease of ordering and canceling to recipe variety and consistency, here's everything you need to know about these two standout meal kits. 

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How they work: Blue Apron's big advantage 

Both services have similar ordering platforms, allowing you to browse menus for the current and upcoming weeks. They both also offer more than 100 options per week, including pre-made meals, ready-to-bake meals and meal kits. However, Blue Apron's recent update now allows customers to order meals without a subscription. This is significant, especially considering CNET's recent survey, which found that nearly half of all adults (46%) stated the subscription commitment was a top concern for them regarding meal kits. 

Blue Apron's new update allows you to order meals à la carte rather than signing up for a subscription. The brand also introduced Blue Apron Plus, a $9.99 monthly subscription that gives you free shipping on every order, access to Tastemade Plus (a members-only media company that offers recipes, TV shows and more) and additional perks. 

If you plan to use Blue Apron more than once a month, the subscription will pay for itself because shipping on each box is $9.99. And if you love the subscription model of meal kits, you can still sign up for Blue Apron's autoship & save option, which offers 5% off every order. 

Winner: Blue Apron

Best for people on a budget

On both platforms, I added six servings to my carts to see how they were priced side by side without adding any promo codes. 

For a more in-depth breakdown on pricing per serving, here's how each service shakes out.

Shipping is $10.99 per box.

Shipping is $9.99 per box unless you subscribe to Blue Apron Plus and the 5% auto-ship discount is built into the pricing above.

However, if you do not sign up for autoship and instead choose Blue Apron's meals á la carte, there are still numerous good deals available. For example, a baby kale and goat cheese salad is $7.49 per serving, while miso-glazed salmon is $12.89 per serving.

Winner: HelloFresh unless you plan to order only a few meals or kits per month with Blue Apron's á la carte option. 

Ease of pausing, skipping meals and cancelling your subscription

I've used both Blue Apron and HelloFresh numerous times over the years and one of the best parts is that pausing or even canceling your subscription is extremely easy. All you have to do is go under account/profile settings and choose cancel plan/delete account. There are no hoops to jump through or hidden fees, and while you do get plenty of promotional emails after cancelling, those are easy to unsubscribe from. 

If you don't want to fully cancel your subscription, you can choose to pause it for a set amount of time or skip a week or two, which is a great option for when you're on vacation during a busy summer.

Winner: It's a tie

Best for steak and seafood options 

Although both have steak and seafood recipes, Blue Apron typically has a wider selection. At the end of this month, HelloFresh's menu offered three steak options and four salmon options, while Blue Apron had six steak options and five salmon options.

Blue Apron's website also has an animal welfare page where you can read about how they source their meat.

"All of our beef, poultry, and pork comes from animals not treated with added hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics, and we prioritize the purchase of Certified Humane Raised and Handled® pasture raised eggs," it states in part.  

HelloFresh has a less robust answer regarding meat quality, which can be found in the help section. 

"Our suppliers adhere to USDA Inspection Guidelines and are supplemented by globally recognized third-party food safety audit programs," the site states. "We personally take an on-site visit to every meat vendor we work with to ensure the operation is food safe."

Winner: Blue Apron

Best for families 

Because you can choose up to 36 servings a week (that's like feeding a family of six for six days in a row!), HelloFresh is a great option for families of all sizes. The meals are simple, usually taking around 30 minutes to cook, but still tasty, so you won't need to spend hours in the kitchen each night preparing dinner.

With both services, the more servings you buy, the cheaper they get, and making them cost effective. But at $10.99 a serving for the majority of its boxes, HelloFresh is hard to beat when it comes to feeding a hungry household.    

Winner: HelloFresh

Most eco-friendly

In a recent survey, CNET found that the average US adult wastes $1,500 a year on food that isn't cooked or eaten. Meal kits aim to combat this by providing pre-portioned ingredients tailored to each specific recipe and serving size. That's why many -- myself included -- sign up for meal kits to lessen food waste. 

At the same time, though, we don't want to increase plastic and packaging waste by using meal kits. At CNET, we took a look at which meal kit generated the least amount of plastic waste, and at the time, Blue Apron came out on top. In fact, 50% of its packaging was fully recyclable, compared with only 9% of HelloFresh's packaging.

Winner: Blue Apron

Best for new cooks

Now I'll admit, this one could be seen as subjective. Some new cooks may not be intimidated by more elevated meals, but when I first started dabbling in the kitchen, I was. That's why HelloFresh was a great starting meal kit for me. The meals aren't hard to execute, but they still look -- and taste -- like you put a decent amount of effort into them. They're also easy to re-create without the meal kit and helped give me new ideas for my weekly dinner rotation, even when my subscription was on pause. 

On the other hand, Blue Apron opened me up to new meals and proteins that I hadn't cooked, let alone even purchased at a restaurant. The new menu options also seem more creative and in-depth, but still achievable with slightly more effort.

Winner: HelloFresh 

Discounts for first-time customers 

When you browse the menus on each site, HelloFresh is the first one to have an intro discount pop-up, and the company is frequently offering new variations of its intro discount. 

Currently, they are offering 10 free meals and a free steak to new customers. For new and returning customers, the company is offering 50% off your first box and a free breakfast item in each box while your subscription is active. New customers will have to choose one of the discounts as they cannot be combined. 

For medical providers, active military and veterans, HelloFresh offers 50% off and free shipping on the first box, 10% off the following eight boxes and a free add-on item for life while your subscription is active under its Hero Discount Program. There is also a special offer for students, who can get 55% off and free shipping on their first box, along with 15% off for 52 weeks. You can stay up-to-date on its active discount codes here. 

Blue Apron is currently offering 20% off your first two orders (no subscription needed) when you enter the code WELCOME20, and offers 25% off the first box for medical providers, first responders, military, seniors (55+), students, teachers, alumni and government workers.

Both brands offer plenty of discounts to pull in new customers, but HelloFresh's discounts appear to be a bit more substantial. 

Winner: HelloFresh 

Final thoughts 

With Blue Apron's relaunch, the service is now open to those who had been hesitant to try meal kits due to the subscription commitment. This alone may make it more widely appealing. But your choice depends on what factors are most important to you. 

Do you want a meal kit to help you learn how to cook? One that arrives on a consistent schedule at the lowest price for families? Or do you have picky eaters and need more menu and customization options? If so, go with HelloFresh, which also offers many meals for various dietary restrictions.  

If you're a slightly more experienced cook looking for creative recipes -- either in an auto-ship format or on a less frequent basis -- and you want the most premium protein options and an eco-friendly meal kit, Blue Apron is the way to go. 

Ultimately, both meal kit services are highly rated for good reason. They're consistent in quality, and I've personally never had an issue with shipments or customer service. For me, that beats going to the grocery store any day.