Best Calorie Counter Apps in 2026: 8 Apps Compared

MyFitnessPal is the name most people know, and its homepage claims over 280 million people have joined. The App Store listing shows a 4.7 average from about 2.4 million ratings. The food database is its real advantage. Its site lists 20.5 million foods, including restaurant menu items, so you rarely end up creating an entry by hand.

The free plan covers nutrition, weight and exercise tracking. According to the Premium page, things like barcode and meal scan, voice log, macro goals set per day, ad-free logging and intermittent fasting are paid features. Premium costs $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year, and eligible new users can start a 7-day free trial.

The catch is that a large, user-contributed database means you still have to pick between similar entries. Choose it if you want maximum food coverage and plenty of integrations, and be ready to pay if you want scanning.

Cronometer is built for people who care about what is in the calories, not only the total. Its pricing page says the free Basic plan lets you log foods, exercise and biometrics, track up to 84 nutrients and compounds, set custom macro and micronutrient targets, sync with apps and devices, and use the barcode scanner. It also lists a database of more than 1 million lab-analyzed or verified foods.

Gold is listed at $59.99 per year (shown as $4.99 per month billed annually) or $10.99 per month. It adds up to 95 nutrients, Photo Log, Voice Log, a recipe importer, a fasting timer, an ad-free experience and unlimited historical data. The free plan limits reports and charts to a 7-day window.

We would send most people here first. The verified database is smaller than MyFitnessPal's, so an obscure regional product may be missing, but the entries you do find are cleaner.

MacroFactor takes a different route from a plain diary. Its App Store listing describes an algorithm that estimates your energy expenditure and updates your calorie and macro targets in weekly check-ins, based on what you log rather than on how perfectly you hit last week's numbers. The listing also mentions barcode scanning, custom foods and micronutrient breakdowns.

MacroFactor's help center lists the nutrition app at $11.99 per month, $47.99 per half year or $71.99 per year, with a bundle that includes MacroFactor Workouts at $89.99 per year. The App Store listing offers a 7-day trial of the paid app. There is no permanent free plan, and prices can vary with your country and taxes.

It suits people who weigh themselves regularly and want the app to do the arithmetic. If you only want a quick diary and do not care about targets that adapt, the subscription is harder to justify.

Lose It! is aimed squarely at weight loss, and the setup reflects it: you enter a goal and the app gives you a calorie budget. Its App Store description lists calorie tracking, a weight loss plan and community support as the free basics, with photo meal logging, AI voice logging and the barcode scanner under the Premium plan. Its website also mentions water tracking, macro goals and reports.

We could not confirm a single current Premium price from the company's website, and the App Store lists several Premium price points, so check the figure inside the app before you subscribe. The App Store shows a 4.8 rating from roughly 780,000 ratings.

Lose It! works well if your goal is simply to lose weight and you want a friendly, uncluttered diary. People who rely on barcode scanning every day should compare it against MyNetDiary, which keeps the scanner free.

MyNetDiary says it has more than 2 million staff-verified foods with up to 108 nutrients per entry, and that its team reviews 2,500 to 3,500 foods a day. Those are the company's own figures, but they point to a database that is actively maintained. The free version has no ads, per the site, and you can start without an account.

On the paid side, Premium adds advanced reports, diet plans, customizable macro targets and the Autopilot feature that adjusts your targets. Premium Plus adds Meal Scan, AI voice logging, restaurant menu scanning and a 24/7 AI Coach. The App Store lists several subscription price points, so confirm the price on your own device.

The App Store rating is 4.8 from about 170,000 ratings. Its site also says blood sugar tracking is free inside its GLP-1 Companion, which may interest people who log medication. It is a diary, not a treatment tool.

Yazio mixes calorie tracking with fasting and recipes. Its homepage lists AI photo tracking, manual entry, barcode scanning, fasting timers with 16:8, 5:2 and 6:1 plans, more than 3,000 recipes and automatic activity tracking through fitness trackers. The App Store description says the app works with no sign-up and has a food database of more than 4 million searchable items.

The free tier includes the basics, and the App Store notes advertising. Pro is the paid upgrade, and the App Store shows more than one Pro price, so check the price in the app. We could not verify a single list price.

It is a sensible pick if you like being given a plan rather than building one yourself. Its rating is 4.7 from about 51,000 App Store ratings, a smaller base than the big names.

FatSecret has been around for years and says on its site that millions of people use its app. The App Store description states the app is free, with a food diary, barcode scanner, image recognition of foods, an exercise diary, a weight tracker, reminders and a community for support. It also syncs with Apple Health and Fitbit.

The App Store also lists optional subscriptions at several price points, so some features may sit behind a paid tier. We could not open its pricing details to confirm what they cover, which is why we list the starting price as free rather than naming a plan.

Pick FatSecret if you value the social side of dieting. The App Store rating is 4.7 from about 15,000 ratings, which is a smaller sample than Lose It! or MyFitnessPal.

Cal AI skips the diary and asks you to take a picture. Its site says the phone's depth sensor helps estimate volume, then the AI breaks the meal into calories, protein, carbs and fat. You can also scan a barcode or describe the food. The company says the app is about 80 percent accurate and that good lighting helps, which is a fair warning that photo estimates can be off.

The App Store listing says food scanning results require a subscription, and the site offers a 3-day free trial billed through Apple or Google. The App Store shows several subscription price points, and we could not verify one current price. It also includes a note that it does not offer medical advice.

Cal AI is for people who find manual logging tedious. If you need precise numbers, pair it with a verified-database app such as Cronometer.