I’m the kind of person that likes to weigh all of my options when making decisions, so much so that I tend to get really bad decision fatigue.
It gets harder and harder for me to make choices as the day goes on because each one takes up so much brain power. That means that there are days that, by the time dinner time rolls around, I struggle to even decide what I’m in the mood for.
Meal subscription services can be really helpful with this. I decide in advance what meals I want for the week (or I let the subscription choose for me based on my preferences), and by the time mealtime rolls around, everything I need is waiting for me in my fridge, and I don’t have to make any decisions.
The one problem with meal services, however, is that there are just so many of them to choose from!
And while choosing between Factor vs. HelloFresh for your meal subscription isn’t a life or death decision, it’s certainly a bigger decision than “what do I want to eat tonight,” which means it takes some of that precious brain power.
Luckily, I spent a lot of time testing and comparing these subscriptions and then wrote everything down so that you can read it and save yourself some decision-making brain power.
I know I can’t choose for you, but I can give you all the information you need to make a quick and easy decision on which works best for your individual needs.
That way, you can focus on the next decision that comes along. And the next one. And so on.
Bottom Line Up Front
Although they’re both meal subscriptions, Factor and HelloFresh provide very different services. The one that works best for you will depend on your individual lifestyle and needs.
- Short on time and need quick, ready to heat meals? Go with Factor. Factor provides heat-and-eat meals that are great for those who want no prep or cleanup. All of the meals are packaged as individual servings, and they’re especially great if you follow a keto or high-protein diet.
- Interested in learning recipes with meal kits or cooking for a family? Go with HelloFresh. HelloFresh provides meal kits made up of ingredients and a recipe that you cook yourself. It’s a better option if you’re looking for customizable meals, meals that feed two to six people, or want to hone your cooking skills.
Just heat, eat, and enjoy. Factor makes eating healthy, EASY. Honestly, the hardest part about eating healthy are MEAL PLANNING and MEAL PREP. Factor removes both as an excuse and is interesting enough to stick with over the long term. Unlock a whopping 50% off your first box and enjoy an extra 20% off your next four boxes with code VENTURE50!
Main Differences Between Factor vs HelloFresh
The main differences between Factor vs HelloFresh are:
- Factor is a heat-and-eat meal subscription, whereas HelloFresh is a meal kit subscription (which means you’ll prepare and cook the meals yourself).
- HelloFresh meals can be customized when you order, whereas Factor meals can’t be.
- Factor provides keto, protein plus, calorie smart, vegan, and vegetarian meal plans, whereas HelloFresh provides family-friendly, “fit and wholesome,” pescatarian, veggie, and “quick and easy” plans. (Both services provide plans for omnivores/those without dietary restrictions.)
- Since HelloFresh is a meal kit, you can modify the meals as you cook by adding more or less of any ingredient or swapping out an ingredient (such as avocado oil for butter). You can’t do this with Factor meals since they arrive already prepared.
The major difference between HelloFresh and Factor is that ships fully prepared meals that just need to be heated and serve, whereas HelloFresh is a full meal kit with prep time and step by step instructions.
What is Factor?
Factor is a weekly meal delivery service that ships fresh (not frozen) meals that are ready to reheat and eat.
Their meals focus on nutrition and macros, and while they offer meals to suit most diets and lifestyles, they especially cater to high-protein, low-carb diets like the keto diet.
Factor Meals
Factor’s meals are made up of predominantly homestyle European and American comfort foods, with a few Asian or Southwestern-inspired dishes thrown in each week.
Many of their meals are low in complex carbs, swapping out low-glycemic index alternatives like red lentil or chickpea pasta and root vegetable mashes—think “meat and potatoes” style dishes, but often the “potatoes” are celery root mash or cauliflower “rice.” (I did, however, try a few meals made with Yukon gold potato mash.)
Factor’s meals are free of hormones, antibiotics, GMOs, and additives, but they do tend to be high in both sodium and fat (the latter of which isn’t considered a bad thing if you follow the keto diet).
Despite this, I didn’t find any of their dishes overly salty (though I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone watching their sodium intake.)
Everything is portioned into individual servings, and many of the meals consist of a main “entrée” component and a vegetable side. Overall, I found the veggie sides fine but somewhat lackluster.
Still, most of the entrées that I tried were very flavorful and satisfying—I especially loved the creamy dill shrimp pasta.
Just heat, eat, and enjoy. Factor makes eating healthy, EASY. Honestly, the hardest part about eating healthy are MEAL PLANNING and MEAL PREP. Factor removes both as an excuse and is interesting enough to stick with over the long term. Unlock a whopping 50% off your first box and enjoy an extra 20% off your next four boxes with code VENTURE50!
Factor Subscription
Like most meal subscriptions, Factor allows you to choose your meals for each week but will autofill your box for you if you don’t want to or forget to select your menu.
When you sign up for a subscription, you can set certain preferences (such as vegetarian or keto) to help guide the autofill selection process.
You can choose subscriptions of six, eight, ten, 12, 14, or 18 meals per week. Most meals start at around $10.99 per serving, though they’re priced on a sliding scale—the more meals you order each week, the cheaper each individual meal will be, so you may end up paying closer to $12 or $14 per meal.
When you sign up for a Factor subscription, you’ll get a free 20-minute consultation with a nutritionist. I think this is a pretty interesting service that Factor offers that definitely sets them apart from other meal subscriptions.
It also really helps to reiterate the point that Factor is first and foremost about nutrition, unlike services that are mainly focused on convenience. (Though Factor also happens to be very convenient!)
In addition to regular meals, there is a relatively large menu of add-ons offered each week that can be added to your subscription box.
Each week you can choose from a selection of breakfast items, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, cooked proteins (like roasted herb chicken or garlic butter shrimp), sides, desserts, and keto-friendly snacks.
I didn’t try any of the add-ons when I ordered a Factor box, but I could definitely see how they would make regular meal planning easier, especially on busy weeks or weeks when I might have company for dinner.
Managing your subscription, choosing your meals, pausing deliveries, and canceling your subscription are all straightforward and can be done online.
Factor Key Features
- Meals arrive packaged as complete, single-serving meals that are ready to be reheated and consumed.
- Factor’s meals arrive fresh, not frozen.
- Every subscription comes with a free 20-minute consultation with a nutritionist.
- In addition to regular Factor meals, they offer add-ons like breakfasts, cold-pressed juices, snacks, extra proteins, and keto shakes.
- Factor is especially great for those on a high-protein diet.
Pros
- One of the best things about heat-and-eat meals is that there’s no prep, and if you eat your dinner out of the container, there’s virtually no cleanup either!
- The individual portions make portion control very simple.
- Everything I tried from Factor was filling and satisfying. I wasn’t left hungry and didn’t feel deprived.
- This is an excellent option for fresh, homestyle meals that are quick and easy.
Cons
- Factor’s proteins and main entrées are delicious, but their vegetable sides often feel like an afterthought. They’re not bad, just a bit uninspired and bland.
- Their meals are fairly high in sodium and fat.
- Meals range from around $11 to $14 per serving (depending on how many you order per week). This could be out of budget for many people.
Just heat, eat, and enjoy. Factor makes eating healthy, EASY. Honestly, the hardest part about eating healthy are MEAL PLANNING and MEAL PREP. Factor removes both as an excuse and is interesting enough to stick with over the long term. Unlock a whopping 50% off your first box and enjoy an extra 20% off your next four boxes with code VENTURE50!
What is HelloFresh?
HelloFresh is a weekly meal kit subscription service. That means each week, they’ll send you a box of pre-portioned ingredients along with a recipe for you to follow.
You prepare the meal yourself, though they take the work out of brainstorming meals ideas, shopping, and even preparing some of the ingredients (it’s not uncommon to find premixed sauces and shredded cheese in a kit, though you’ll probably still be responsible for chopping your own vegetables).
HelloFresh Meals
HelloFresh’s meals are simple, balanced, and tasty. They offer a mix of American comfort foods and worldly cuisine, and most of their dishes are elevated with vibrant vegetables and flavorful sauces.
Their food is more upscale than many of their competitors without being fussy, and they offer a ton of options each week that are quick to cook up in 30 mins or less.
They have plenty of vegetarian, pescatarian, low-calorie, and low-carb meals to choose from each week, but beyond that, they don’t really sort their meals into categories based on dietary restrictions or lifestyles.
One feature that I really love about their menu is that many of the dishes can be customized—proteins and sides can be swapped for alternatives, such as chicken for steak on a salad or broccoli for potatoes as a side.
HelloFresh Subscription
When you sign up for a HelloFresh subscription, you’ll be asked if you want meals that serve two or four people. You can also choose to have anywhere from two to six meals shipped per week.
In addition, you’ll be asked to set your preferences to include meat and veggies, vegetarian-only meals, family-friendly meals, Fit and wholesome meals, quick and easy meals, and pescatarian meals.
Just like with Factor, setting these preferences will help determine what gets auto-filled into your box, but you can always choose from all of the available recipes each week.
Also, like Factor, HelloFresh offers a variety of add-ons each week. I like that they give you the option to include snacks, breakfasts, quick meals, sides, desserts, and even fresh produce and protein with your weekly order, but I wish they made it easier to browse these options in advance from their website.
The only way to access them seems to be to edit your existing subscription for the week.
Another thing that I love about HelloFresh is that by signing up for a subscription, you help support their commitment to sustainability.
Sustainability is a massive part of the HelloFresh ethos, and they uphold their promise by using as much recyclable packaging as possible, reducing their carbon footprint, and working with ethical and sustainable suppliers.
The company has even appointed a sustainability team dedicated to upholding these practices.
HelloFresh delivers weekly meal kits with delicious, prepped ingredients and easy-to-cook recipes directly to your door. Take the guesswork out of meal planning and cook delicious food for you or your whole family. Unlock 16 free meals and enjoy complimentary breakfast for life with code VENTURE16FB
HelloFresh Key Features
- Each week, there are around 30 to 50 different meals to choose from.
- Meals arrive as packaged kits of whole ingredients along with a recipe teaching you how to prepare the meal yourself.
- In addition to meal kits, they offer add-ons like breakfasts, sides, desserts, and extra proteins that can be added to your box each week.
- Meals are family-friendly, worldly, and flavorful.
Pros
- I love that many of HelloFresh’s meals are customizable.
- Their quality is excellent for the price.
- Each meal feels like a personal cooking lesson.
- The fact that you prepare and cook the meals yourself means that everything tastes as fresh as possible.
- I love that you can see six weeks’ worth of menus in advance. Most other meal kits only show three or four weeks’ menus at a time.
- I love the variety of meals and different cuisines they offer.
Cons
- A meal kit takes more time to prepare than a heat-and-eat meal.
- HelloFresh can be on the pricey side, especially compared to some of its competitors.
- I don’t like that their weekly add-ons aren’t listed online with their regular menu.
Other Alternatives to Consider
If neither Factor nor HelloFresh seems like the right meal subscription for you, you may want to consider one of these alternatives instead.
Sunbasket
Sunbasket is a meal delivery company that specializes in organic, quality ingredients. 99% of their produce is certified organic, and they source their meat and seafood from responsible, sustainable suppliers.
They offer both meal kits and ready-to-eat meals. They have plenty of meal options that are vegetarian, vegan, keto, gluten-free, paleo, and diabetes-friendly. You can read our full Sunbasket review here.
Trifecta
Just like Factor, Trifecta is a meal plan that’s geared toward nutrition and a specific diet. You can pick plans for keto, paleo, Whole-30, vegan, high-protein, and “classic clean.”
Unlike Factor, you won’t be able to choose or swap out meals each week—you set your preferences, and Trifecta chooses the meal for you. They also provide macro tracking and nutrition coaching to help you stick to your dietary goals.
It’s a great choice if you’re looking for customized meal coaching, but it’s more expensive than Factor and HelloFresh.
EveryPlate
EveryPlate is another meal kit service offered by the same company that owns HelloFresh and Factor.
It’s a more affordable, simpler meal kit than HelloFresh for those looking for quick, easy, inexpensive dinners.
In my opinion, the ingredients aren’t as high-quality as HelloFresh, but I suppose that makes sense, given the cost difference between the companies. (EveryPlate’s meals start at just $4.99 per serving, but like all of these services, you’ll only unlock that price point if you order the maximum amount of meals per week.) They don’t cater to as many dietary restrictions as Factor does.
Still, their meals are made up of similar homestyle dishes—most meals tend to be unfussy comfort foods, which makes this an excellent option for families. You can read our full EveryPlate review here.
FAQs
Question: Is Factor the same as HelloFresh?
Answer: HelloFresh is the parent company of Factor, but the two services offer different things. Factor delivers fresh heat-and-eat meals, whereas HelloFresh sends meal kits containing a recipe and its ingredients that you prepare at home.
Question: Do people lose weight on Factor?
Answer: Factor is not specifically a weight loss plan but could be incorporated into one.
Question: How long do Factor meals last in the fridge?
Answer: Each Factor meal has an “enjoy by” date printed on the package to ensure freshness, but they generally last around seven days in the fridge.
Factor vs Hello Fresh: Final Thoughts
Both Factor and HelloFresh will cut down on your mealtime decision fatigue and will likely minimize your meal planning and prep (not to mention reduce your need to grocery shop).
Beyond that, however, the two offer different services, and whichever one is right for you will largely depend on your individual needs and goals. If you don’t want to do any cooking, follow a high-protein diet, or are an individual and don’t want leftovers, I would go with Factor for your meal subscription.
If you want to do some of the prep work and cooking yourself or want a meal subscription that feeds the whole family, go with HelloFresh.
Just heat, eat, and enjoy. Factor makes eating healthy, EASY. Honestly, the hardest part about eating healthy are MEAL PLANNING and MEAL PREP. Factor removes both as an excuse and is interesting enough to stick with over the long term. Unlock a whopping 50% off your first box and enjoy an extra 20% off your next four boxes with code VENTURE50!
Factor Meals Compared to Others
- Factor vs Home Chef
- Factor vs Trifecta
- Factor vs CookUnity
- Factor vs Fresh N’ Lean
- Factor vs Green Chef
HelloFresh Compared to Others
Lauren is also a bona fide mixologist, bringing her professional bartending skills to the table as one of our resident drink testers. In Lauren's world, life is a celebration, and her home is the party hub.
- Best STEM Toy Subscription Boxes - February 27, 2024
- Paya Health Review: Is Paya Health Legit? - January 30, 2024
- REP Provisions Review and Unboxing - December 19, 2023