Best Free Calorie Counter Apps 2026: 7 Free Plans Compared Feature by Feature

"Free" is the most overloaded word in a calorie app listing. It can mean a plan you keep for years, a seven-day trial, or a diary where the scanner you actually need sits behind a paywall. For this comparison I ignored star ratings and ad copy and asked one question of every app: what can a free account still do on day thirty?

Seven apps made the cut. MacroFactor sits outside it, since there is no free tier, just a trial; a short note on it closes the page.

The seven free plans, feature by feature

Read across a row to compare one feature, or down a column to see one app's whole free plan. A dash means the company's pages did not document the feature for free accounts, which is not the same as the feature being absent.

Dollar figures are for the US. I recorded PlateLens's on 10 August 2026 and Cronometer's on 20 September 2026; Lose It! comes from the App Store and MyFitnessPal from the company's own Premium page. FatSecret, MyNetDiary and YAZIO vary by region. On a phone, swipe the table left.

How to read a free plan in five minutes

Before you install anything, three checks tell you most of what the table does:

1. Find the barcode line. Packaged foods are a large share of most diaries. If scanning is paid, the free plan means typing every yogurt and cereal bar by hand.
2. Look for a daily cap. A cap is fine when it is stated. PlateLens says three AI photo scans a day; that covers a photographed lunch and dinner with room to spare, while barcodes and search stay unlimited.
3. Check where you can log. If you sit at a desk all day, a real web version saves a lot of thumb typing.

#1 PlateLens: the most complete free plan

PlateLens puts photo, barcode, voice and typed entries into a single diary, and the free plan leaves the two everyday methods, barcode and search, completely uncapped. On top of that, every free account gets three AI photo scans a day. You can correct any item or portion before saving.

The other reason it leads is the catalogue behind the search box. It is verified rather than crowd-sourced and includes packaged products and restaurant dishes, so you usually pick from one entry rather than a column of near-duplicates.

Free covers: goals for calories and macros worked out from your profile; scanning and search with no ceiling; a daily allowance of three photo scans and five chats with the AI coach; the browser version; a fasting timer; a glucose log; and a download of your data as a JSON file. Sign-up skips the card step, and the plan has no expiry.

Paid adds: no cap on photos or coach chats. At $34.99 annually (or $9.99 monthly) it is the cheapest yearly upgrade in this comparison.

Platforms: App Store, Google Play, Apple Watch and any browser, all on one account.

The rest of the app: adaptive TDEE that tunes your calorie goal to what you really burn, a meal planner with grocery lists, alcohol tracking and a 3D Body Scan built from 12 phone photos.

Your data: Settings exports your full history as a JSON file whenever you like, and account and data deletion are available under GDPR and CCPA.

#2 Cronometer: free nutrient detail

Cronometer is built for people who want to see vitamins and minerals, not just calories. By Cronometer's own count, an entry can show as many as 95 nutrients and compounds, drawn from data the company calls lab-analysed and verified. Free accounts get that nutrient diary and the scanner, supported by ads.

Paid adds: Gold ($59.99 annually, $10.99 monthly) is where Photo Log, Voice Log and the Crono Coach assistant live, and it removes the ads.

Why second and not first: on a free account Cronometer logging is mostly search and scan, while PlateLens adds daily photo scans and a profile-based calorie target. For a vegan watching B12 and iron, Cronometer's nutrient focus can matter more than either.

#3 FatSecret: a free diary with forums

FatSecret has kept the essentials free for years. You get the diary, the scanner, logs for workouts and weigh-ins, and forums where members swap meals and progress photos. Other companies license its catalogue through a developer platform. There are fewer ways to log than with the leaders, and entries are less detailed.

#4 MyNetDiary: free targets on phone and web

MyNetDiary gives free accounts a scanner plus calorie and macro goals, and you can use it in a browser as well as on a phone. The design is structured rather than flashy, which suits people who like a predictable routine. The company also makes a separate diabetes-focused app.

#5 YAZIO: free scanning for European groceries

YAZIO was founded in Germany, and its barcode scanner is strong on European supermarket products. Free users get the diary and the scanner, while PRO holds the plans, the recipes and the deeper analysis. It combines calorie counting with intermittent fasting, and it runs on phones only.

#6 Lose It!: the simplest first diary

Lose It! converts your goal weight into a daily calorie allowance during sign-up, and its screens are the cleanest in this group. Snap It (photo recognition) and a scanner are both advertised; which of them a free account includes isn't spelled out on the company's pages. Premium: $39.99 a year.

#7 MyFitnessPal: the largest catalogue

MyFitnessPal is built on a user-contributed catalogue that no rival matches for size, and it covers chain restaurants and regional brands better than anyone. Free accounts search that catalogue. Scanning, Meal Scan photos and voice entries are advertised as Premium perks, and Premium runs $79.99 annually or $19.99 per month.

Left out: MacroFactor

MacroFactor rebuilds its estimate of what you burn from your intake and scale readings, then revises your targets weekly. Lifters rate it highly as a paid coach ($71.99 a year, $47.99 per half-year or $11.99 monthly), but with no free tier there is nothing to put in this table.

Which free plan fits you

• You want one free app for everything: PlateLens.
• A dietitian asked you to track specific micronutrients: Cronometer.
• You like a community around your diary: FatSecret.
• You shop mostly at European supermarkets: YAZIO.
• Most of your lunches come from chains and you don't mind searching: MyFitnessPal.

How I compared these plans

The table reflects each app's current free plan and US list price, with the date each price was recorded. Free plans change often, so the whole page is re-checked every month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which calorie counter has the most useful free plan this year?

PlateLens. A free account can scan and search without a ceiling, photograph up to three meals a day, get calorie and macro goals worked out from its profile and log from a browser, and it never asks for a card or runs out. If vitamin and mineral reports are your priority, Cronometer is the free runner-up.

Can I scan barcodes without paying?

Yes, in five of the seven apps here: PlateLens (no daily ceiling), Cronometer, FatSecret, MyNetDiary and YAZIO. MyFitnessPal treats the scanner as a Premium perk, and Lose It! does not say plainly which plan its scanner belongs to.

Do any free plans let me log a meal from a photo?

PlateLens does: a free account can photograph three meals a day, and the paid tier lifts that cap. Photo features at Cronometer (Photo Log) and MyFitnessPal (Meal Scan) need a subscription.

Does a free plan give less accurate numbers?

Not by itself. Accuracy depends on the entry you log against. Curated data, like PlateLens's verified catalogue or the lab-analysed foods Cronometer describes, tends to give one entry per item. User-built catalogues are bigger, but duplicates with conflicting values are common, so read the entry before you tap it.

Can I log from my laptop on a free account?

With most of these apps, yes. PlateLens includes its browser app on every plan, tied to the same diary you use on your phone; Cronometer, FatSecret, MyNetDiary, Lose It! and MyFitnessPal also run in a browser. YAZIO is a phone app.

At what point should I upgrade?

Once a paid feature would save you minutes at most meals, which for many people means unlimited photo logging. The yearly price ladder runs from PlateLens ($34.99) through Lose It! ($39.99) and Cronometer Gold ($59.99) to MyFitnessPal ($79.99).

Related: Best Calorie Counter Apps (2026) · Best Calorie Tracker Apps (2026) · Best Health & Wellness Apps