Apps to help you keep track of what you are eating

 MyFitnessPal

Price: $20 per month or $80 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.6

Android rating: 4.1

MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular calorie counters right now.

It tracks your weight and calculates a recommended daily calorie intake. It also has a well-designed food diary and an exercise log.

The home page provides a clear picture of how many calories you’ve consumed during the day. In addition, it shows your remaining recommended intake and how many calories you’ve burned by exercising.

If you’re using a fitness tracking device, MyFitnessPal can likely sync with it to include its data in the exercise log.

The app tracks your progress toward your goals and offers chat forums with fellow users. The forums include:

conversations

recipes

tips

personal success stories

MyFitnessPal’s nutrition database is extensive, containing more than 11 million foods. You can also download recipes from the internet or create custom foods and dishes.

The app even saves your favorite meals for convenient logging.

Additionally, MyFitnessPal’s barcode scanner allows you to enter the nutritional information of some packaged foods instantly.

Each day is presented as a pie chart, showing your breakdown of carbs, protein, and fat. You can also write a note for each day, recording how things went or how you were feeling.

MyFitnessPal does offer a free version. However, some features are available only in the premium version, such as:

meal prep and recipes

macronutrient counters

guided fitness

Best free features

Lose It!

Price: $40 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.8

Android rating: 4.5

Lose It! is another health tracker that includes an easy-to-use food diary and an exercise log. You can also connect a pedometer or another fitness device.

Lose It! provides a personalized recommendation for calorie intake based on your:

weight

height

age

goals

It then tracks your calories on the home page.

The app features a comprehensive food database and an icon representing each food entry. The food diary is simple and user-friendly. Adding new foods is not complicated.

Additionally, Lose It! has a barcode scanner for packaged foods, and it saves your common foods for quick entry later on.

Lose It! keeps a daily and weekly total of your intake and presents your weight changes on a graph. It also offers you access to an active chat community.

The tab called “Challenges” allows you to participate in dietary challenges or make your own.

With a premium membership, you can:

set more goals

log additional information

get some extra features

Best fully free

FatSecret

Price: free

iPhone rating: 4.8

Android rating: 4.6

FatSecret is a free calorie counter that includes:

a food diary

a nutrition database

healthy recipes

an exercise log

a weight chart

a journal

A barcode scanner helps you track packaged foods.

The home page displays your total calorie intake and the breakdown of carbs, protein, and fat, both for the day and for each meal.

FatSecret also offers a monthly summary view, which displays total calories consumed each day and averages for each month. This feature may be convenient for tracking your overall progress.

This calorie counter is very user-friendly. The app also has a chat community where users can swap success stories and get tips, recipes, and more.

FatSecret offers a feature called “Challenges,” which allows users to create or participate in dietary challenges in a closed group of people.

The website is full of information and tips, as well as articles on a variety of topics.

Best for specific diets

Cronometer

Price: $50 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.7

Android rating: 4.5

Cronometer lets you easily keep track of your:

diet

exercise

weight

It offers exact serving sizes and a useful exercise database. If you’re pregnant or lactating, you can select a customized profile based on higher calorie needs.

You can also tell Cronometer if you’re following a specific diet such as:

paleo

low carb

low fat vegetarian

This changes the macronutrient recommendations.

The food diary is very simple and user-friendly. Below it, you’ll find the total calories consumed for that day alongside a bar chart showing the breakdown of carbs, fat, and protein.

Cronometer is particularly useful for tracking micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals.

The app offers a Gold upgrade, which has:

no ads

advanced analysis

some extra features

Best for weight loss

Noom

Price: $209 per year, although price may vary depending on the length of the suggested weight loss plan

iPhone rating: 4.7

Android rating: 4.2

Noom is not only a calorie counter but also an app designed to help you lose weight and sustain weight loss using psychological approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy.

The app asks for specific information, such as your:

age

height

weight

gender

lifestyle

It uses this information to create a calorie budget — an estimate of the number of calories you should consume each day. It then uses your calorie budget to help you reach a calorie deficit.

Noom encourages you to track the number of calories you consume each day and to check your weight at least once a day.

It also helps you create diet plans without limiting or restricting certain food items. Instead, the app focuses on calories and nutrients as a way to promote weight loss.

Noom’s price varies depending on the length of the suggested plan. No free version is available, but it does offer a free trial.

Best for building healthy habits

Lifesum

Price: $30 for 3 months, $50 for 6 months, or $100 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.7

Android rating: 4.3

Lifesum is a calorie counter app that focuses on teaching you how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Aside from tracking your calories and macros, Lifesum provides a food and meal rating system that explains whether a food is nutritious and whether your meal is healthy or unbalanced.

However, no food is off-limits, and the app uses constructive language that does not categorize foods as “good” or “bad.”

In addition, Lifesum tracks:

water intake

body measurements

exercise

It adjusts your daily calorie goal based on calories burned during physical activity.

Lifesum is very easy to use. Its home page shows total calorie and macro intake and a breakdown of foods and calories per meal, which you can log manually or with a barcode scanner. You can also create food entries, meals, and recipes.

Upgrading to premium unlocks more features, such as:

a more detailed nutrient breakdown

recipes

insights

educational content to help you learn how to make healthier food choices

It also gives you access to meal plans suitable for various diets, including:

paleo

keto

intermittent fasting

vegan

Scandinavian

Mediterranean

Best for diet quality

MyNetDiary

Price: $60 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.8

Android rating: 4.7

MyNetDiary is an intuitive and comprehensive calorie tracker that provides advice and feedback to motivate you on your health journey.

Logging your food is quick and easy. You can do it manually or by using a voice log or a barcode scanner. The food log includes a picture-based portion guide to help you measure food quantities more accurately.

It also has a food scoring system that grades foods by imitating how a nutrition expert would score their healthfulness based on the nutrition label or profile and serving size. This feature is meant to help you compare foods to choose the best option and improve your diet quality.

MyNetDiary lets you fully customize your daily calorie and macro targets and can be used to support:

weight loss

weight maintenance

special diets, including the dietary needs of people who are pregnant or lactating

The app provides:

daily nutrient and meal analysis

macro charts

access to numerous recipes, including options for vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free diets

MyNetDiary even allows you to import recipes and calculate their nutrition information.

The premium version also tracks micronutrients and grants you access to:

meal planners

diet plans

blood pressure and cholesterol tracking

a diabetes-focused dashboard that tracks blood sugar and medication

Best for simplicity

Calory

Price: $15 per year; basic version available for free

iPhone rating: 4.6

Android rating: 4.2

If you’re looking for the simplest calorie tracker app, then Calory may be just the one for you.

With Calory, you can log either calories or foods, but it tracks only your calorie intake.

The home page displays a bar chart with the percentage of calories consumed and remaining calories for the day, which the app calculates when you set your goals. However, you can also manually customize your calorie target.

The history tab shows a breakdown of the foods and calories consumed per meal, along with weekly, monthly, and yearly charts of your total calorie intake and weight changes.

Calory’s food database is linked to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food databaseTrusted Source. Logging your food is relatively easy, although the database may be tricky to use.

Additionally, the app saves your most recent food logs and provides a list of common foods to make future entries easier.

Upgrading to premium unlocks macro and water tracking, a barcode scanner, recipes, and access to a premium food database.

A word of caution