Nutrisystem and Optavia are two best known names in diet delivery meal business. Both diets specialize in pre-packaged meals right to your home and provide easy to follow options for people who want to lose weight without cooking special meals, grocery shopping, or exercising. While there are many similarities, the diets also have plenty of differences.

We would like to look at both of them and help you decide if one or the other will work better for you and meet your needs. It’s important to think about your life, your priorities, and your personal goals when picking a diet plan like these two, so let’s take a look at them both, and their pros and cons.

What are the main differences between Nutrisystem and Optavia?

• Price

If budget is one of the main objectives to you, Nutrisystem is a better choice. While both diets offer very similar results, Nutrisystem is quite a bit cheaper than Optavia, plus it always has various discounts and coupons, currently 40% off. Based on price alone, Nutrisystem is a better way to go.

On average Nutrisystem costs $300-$400 per month and you are looking at about $400-$500 per month for Optavia. Optavia also requires one meal per day to be made on your own, so you have to add the Lean & Green meal cost to the total too. Nutrisystem encourages supplementing with fresh fruit and veggies too, so a little bit of shopping will still be needed. It is important to keep that in mind when calculating your monthly food and grocery budget.

• Coaching

If you are looking for personal one-on-one guidance, Optavia has you covered. Every customer has access to custom assistance from coaches with dieting tips, answers to your questions, and feedback about the results. Many people respond to weight loss programs a lot better when real support is available.

Nutrisystem also offers support, coaching online, restaurant guides, and grocery shopping lists, but not with all plans and not so personably as Optavia. Basic and Core plan members don’t get access to support from coaches, so if you need some professional guidance, Optavia will serve you better.

• Food taste

This is a tough one to answer, because both programs are considered best available when it comes to food quality and taste. We have tested both foods and are leaning towards Nutrisystem simply because they have more choices and also frozen entrees, versus Medifast (makers of Optavia) ready-to-eat options only. Nutrisystem also has ready-to-eat options, but with more expensive plans you do get a choice of frozen meals.

In short, both diets rely on per-packaged foods that can be very challenging to follow longer than a few months. Surviving on dry and frozen foods is also not for everyone, even though we do understand that people just don’t want to think about calories, nutrients, and cooking when dieting, so they like the convenience Nutrisystem and Optavia can bring.

Eventually though you will have to graduate from a diet and enter the real world of cooking again, which is the most challenging step of every diet.

Nutrisystem

We are leaning towards this diet because of its food variety and price. It’s effective, easy to follow, and not very expensive, so if you are looking for a quick fix, give it a try.

Nutrisystem has 4 plans and also plans for vegetarians and diabetics. Basic and Core plans are not very flexible, they provide ready-to-eat foods, and limited counseling. Uniquely Yours and Uniquely Yours Plus plans are highly customizable and include coaching. All 4 plans are for men and women separately with different caloric intake.

Once you pick a plan, you will get your monthly supply of food in a couple of days. Every plan includes a Fresh Start box, which is what you have to eat for the first week to jumpstart your weight loss journey and get your body ready to diet for a long time.

Most people lose 13 pounds and 7 inches in the first month and then continue weight loss with 1-2 pounds each week.

You can buy Nutrisystem on their website and some of the diet components at Walmart, QVC, eBay, and gift cards at Costco. Nutisystem offers various deals, promo codes, free snacks, and free shipping. Currently all new customers can get 50% off.

Optavia

If you are not sure if Nutrisystem is for you, take a look at what Optavia has to offer. First of all, this system provides one-on-one virtual, online, or even in-person coaching support.

Optavia also has a few different plans to choose from, some provide fully prepared meals for a month, while others incorporate many meals you can cook yourself. This might be a better option for you if you really don’t like frozen foods.

When it comes to weight lost, results with Optavia vary more and depend on what plan is chosen and how much of real cooking is incorporated. The best way to go about it is to ask questions when you have a meeting with a coach. He or she will have good ideas about the pounds you will be losing based on your individual plan.

You can order Optavia on their website only, where you will be assigned a coach who will help you choose the best plan. If coaching is not needed, you can order Medifast, which provides Optavia food without counseling.

In conclusion, we love both plans and both yield real results, for which they are known in meal delivery community. If we had to pick one, we would probably go with Nutrisystem because it’s a bit cheaper and has a very clear-cut plan to weight loss.