FreshDirect VS Plated Comparison

UPDATED Apr. 2024
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If your body is craving something healthy and tasty, but there is no room for cooking in your overcrowded schedule, it is time to give meal delivery services a shot. Check out our FreshDirect VS Plated comparison and find out which one to trust with taking care of your diet. Enjoy amazing meals, hassle-free!

FreshDirect
More Options Than You Ever Imagined
VS
Plated
Cooking with superior ingredients

Highlights

FreshDirect
FreshDirect is a huge marketplace filled with fresh food items, ranging from meals and meal kits to groceries, baked goods, and treats of all sorts, all natural and reasonably priced.
  • Price Range: $
  • Average Price Per Meal: $10.13
  • Shipping Cost: $5.99 *
  • Delivery Area: 5 states
*the costs vary from $5.99 to $15.99 depending on location
Plated
Plated offers incredible ordering flexibility, competitive pricing, and one of the richest menus in the meal kit market, with recipes for a vast range of tastes, diets, and cooking skill levels.
  • Price Range: $$
  • Average Price Per Meal: $9.95
  • Shipping Cost: $0 *
  • Delivery Area: 48 states
*except on weekly plans under $60

Compare Features

FreshDirect
Best For
Best for individuals looking for a one-stop shop for all their dietary needs
Menu/Meal Plans
Fresh Direct provides its customers with several ordering options, including meal kits, ready-made meals, and various food items.
Recipes/Meal Options
With Fresh Direct, you have thousands of food items, hundreds of dishes, and around 30 meal kits at your disposal.
Meal & Recipe Variety
FreshDirect offers omnivore, vegetarian, organic, low-calorie low-carb, low-fat, and gluten-free meals and meal kits. Its ready-made dishes include breakfasts, entrées, sides, appetizers, and soups, as well as a variety of sauces, marinades, salsas, dips, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, wraps, marinated meats, kabobs, and even sushi. You can also purchase groceries, pastry, and beverages.
Food Quality
Although FreshDirect offers a vast variety of different products, what they all have in common is that they are fresh and generally made of high-quality, natural, and organic ingredients.
Nutritional Value & Portion Size
As FreshDirect offers over 3,000 food items and hundreds of meals, nutritional value and portion size vary significantly. However, since the company uses natural and organic ingredients, the products are generally healthy and rich in nutrients.
Subscription Flexibility
If you wish to modify or cancel your order with FreshDirect, you can do it at any time, but you must notify the company before the cutoff date, which depends on your location.
Refunds
If you are not happy with your order from FreshDirect, contact the company straight away and you will either get a replacement or refund.
Plated
Best For
Best for semi-experienced home cooks who value variety and want to eat healthily
Menu/Meal Plans
Plated features one menu that changes on a weekly basis.
Recipes/Meal Options
Plated offers 30 new recipes each week, including dinner, brunch, side dish, appetizer, and dessert ideas.
Meal & Recipe Variety
Every week, the Plated menu features fresh meal ideas suitable for omnivore, vegetarian, gluten-free, low-calorie, and low-carb diets. The recipes are inspired by popular world cuisines, such as French, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, and traditional American cuisine. Most items are quick-prep recipes with hands-on time ranging from 10 to 30 minutes.
Food Quality
Plated does not only offer sustainably sourced meat & seafood and the freshest seasonal produce from the best local farms but also supplies home cooks with rare artisanal spices that give rich flavor and tantalizing aroma to every dish.
Nutritional Value & Portion Size
Plated carefully calculates its portion sizes to satisfy the needs of an average adult, with no leftovers. By thoughtfully combining high-quality ingredients into satisfying meals, the Plated culinary team ensures all meals are rich in nutrients and well-balanced, with plenty of items under 600 calories.
Subscription Flexibility
With Plated, you can change your box's recipes or servings at any time. You can also skip, pause or cancel your order whenever you want. Keep in mind that all changes to your subscription must be made by noon six days before your delivery is due.
Refunds
If you are not satisfied with your delivery or something is missing from your box, you can contact Plated and they may issue a credit to your account.

Suitable For

FreshDirect
Meals For Families
Meals For Kids
Meals For Seniors
Meals For One
Plated
Meals For Families
Meals For Kids
Meals For Seniors
Meals For One

Compare Meal Options

FreshDirect
Vegetarian Meals
Vegan Meals
Paleo Meals
Keto Meals
Low-Carb Meals
Low-Fat Meals
Meals For Diabetics
Gluten-Free Meals
Organic Meals
Weight Loss Meals
Plated
Vegetarian Meals
Vegan Meals
Paleo Meals
Keto Meals
Low-Carb Meals
Low-Fat Meals
Meals For Diabetics
Gluten-Free Meals
Organic Meals
Weight Loss Meals

Compare Sample Meals

FreshDirect
Plated

Compare Extras

FreshDirect
A La Carte Menu
Gift Cards
Marketplace
Plated
A La Carte Menu
Gift Cards
Marketplace

Compare Ratings

FreshDirect
FINAL RATING
8.0/10
Meal Options
Variety
Nutritional Value
Portion Size
Flexibility
Price
Plated
FINAL RATING
8.8/10
Meal Options
Variety
Nutritional Value
Portion Size
Flexibility
Price

Compare Customer Reviews

FreshDirect
  • Submitted By Henry Giles on 07/22/2017
    I’m a lazy guy, so this kind of store is exactly what I need. Groceries – they’ve got ‘em, meals – so many options, beer – hell yeah.
  • Submitted By Laura Forbes on 05/05/2017
    Sure, it’s convenient, but it’s not as good as it’s hyped up to be.
  • Submitted By Hannah Rogers 3.5 on 03/14/2017
    The food’s awesome, but it’s too pricy if you ask me.
Plated
  • Submitted By D Simon on 09/04/2019
    I've tried several meal delivery services, and so far Plated is my favorite. The reason? The recipes are far more interesting than Blue Apron, Martha Stewart, EveryPlate, and HomeChef (the other services I've tried). Ingredients are good quality, I've had only a handful of occasions where ingredients were not included, and customer service credited me in each instance without delay. I'm quite satisfied with this company.
  • Submitted By Alicia Allaire on 08/30/2019
    After cooking 1458 recipes, I've cancelled Plated. The Service began with great quality ingredients. Occasionally there would be a leaking vinegar, or sauce. We would provide feedback and often there would be improvements made in packaging. But, for the most part, everything was great! In the past 6 months the quality has deteriorated severely. The produce has been horrible. The spinach in my shipment last week was ROTTEN in 2 days from receipt. This week it was already starting to spoil when I opened the box. Previously we noticed that after providing feedback they would make GOOD changes. Now they're just making cheaper decisions and providing less quality every shipment. We have moved on and cancelled our subscription. Plated, get it together! There is too much competition out there these days to cut SO many corners.
  • Submitted By Robin K Holmes on 04/27/2019
    I just wanted to comment on the reason why I cancelled my weekly subscription box from Plated. I was a brand new customer, very excited to try their products, so I opened an account and set up a weekly delivery and made meal plans for several future weeks. I was so excited to receive my first order...and then it didn't come. I contacted customer service and they apologized and refunded me. I was told that everything was straightened out and I would definitely receive a box the very next week. A few days later I received an email from Plated saying "Yay! we're going to ship your order!" So I shopped light at the grocery store, confident that Plated would send me a box...and then it didn't come. Again. (I had nothing planned for dinner for the next 3 days and had to go out and buy more groceries after working a 12-hr shift.) I contacted customer service and received a refund to my bank account. But really? Two weeks in a row? No delivery, no explantion? Did they even want my business? Why would they not make certain that the order was shipped given the failure of the previous week? It was a very disappointing experience, and I would not recommend their service to anyone else. Plated gave me another refund, and when I told the customer service rep that I felt I should cancel my service if they could not deliver food I was told "We understand, sorry to see you go." No offer of a coupon or any type of customer recovery, just sorry to see me go. Don't bother to order from them, they can't seem to guarantee delivery.
  • Submitted By Maria Foster on 01/16/2019
    7 meals in and we love love love Plated! Everything arrived super fresh which is way more than we expected in this age of online frauds and dishonesty. One important thing though, NEVER EXPERIMENT with the recipes! We did it once and it was a disaster. The recipes are laser precise and you have to follow them to a T for good results.

Winner

Plated is a meal kit delivery service that offers very flexible subscription plans, as well as high-quality foods. Each week, it comes up with a new seasonal menu, including 20 new recipes and 2 desserts, easily meeting the needs of its customers. Read our thorough analysis of the Plated meal kit service and dozens of user-written Plated reviews.

* All the prices on this website are subject to change without notice. While we put a great deal of effort into making sure that all the prices are accurate, one or more products may have outdated prices. Please visit the specific product’s official website for exact prices.
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