It’s a familiar refrain: “There’s an app for everything.” Monitoring your food intake, such as with a meal tracker app, can be an effective strategy for long-term weight loss and efficient weight management. These handy apps offer the ability to access calorie information through food databases or by scanning food labels with your camera.
You can easily log and track your daily calorie intake, and some of them even generate personalized diet plans based on your unique needs and health goals. Here’s a list of some of the best and free calorie counting apps available. However, determining the perfect fit for your requirements can be challenging but not impossible!
Our List of Top Calorie Counting Apps in 2023:
- MyFitnessPal: Personalized food and exercise journal for a clear view of your daily calories.
- Lose It: Watch your progress unfold on a weight-tracking graph while connecting with a supportive chat community.
- FatSecret: Count calories effortlessly, connect with peers, and unlock tips, recipes, and success stories.
- Cronometer: Accurate servings, workout info, and tailored pregnancy and lactation profiles.
- Noom: Cognitive behavior therapy for lasting weight loss using psychological techniques.
- Lifesum: Rate meals for nutritional insights and make informed choices with Lifesum.
- MyNetDiary: Embrace a healthier lifestyle with MyNetDiary.
- Calory: Simplifying calorie tracking for easy weight management.
- Fitbit: Tracking your daily activities anytime and anywhere.
Calorie Counting Apps Analyzed in Detail
MyFitnessPal
- Pricing: $9.99 per month (free version available)
- Top Features: Food journal, custom goal setting, daily water intake tracking, macronutrient and micronutrient targeting.
MyFitnessPal shines with its extensive food database covering various dishes and restaurants. It even lets you import online recipes for precise calorie tracking per serving. When you’re short on time, the “quickly add” feature comes in handy, ensuring your calorie count stays accurate. Also, the food journal on MyFitnessPal is a handy feature that allows you to log your everyday meals.
Why we picked it?
We picked the MyFitnessPal app as it simplifies the process of documenting your meals, saving you the time and effort of determining portion sizes and protein content. To add more to its credit, nutritionists regard MyFitnessPal as the reigning king of diet and fitness trackers, with over 200 million users and a vast database of 11 million meal options.
Pros
- Multiple meal measurement options
- Huge database of meal options
- The free version has enough features for most people
Cons
- Frequent ads on the free version
- Baseline calories are often underestimated
- Glitchy barcode scanner
Our verdict
In our view, MyFitnessPal is the best food tracking app that lets you plan your meals effortlessly without worrying about calculating portion sizes and protein content. Plus, it remembers your previous entries, saving you time even on pizza nights! Furthermore, it can calculate the calories of recipes from other websites.
2
Lose It
Lose It
- Pricing: $39.99 per year (free version available)
- Top Features: Personalized weight plan, sync health apps, smart camera, and device sync.
Lose It stands out with its user-friendly and intuitive food diary interface, making the process of adding new meals seamless. The inclusion of a barcode scanner for packaged items and the ability to save common foods for quick future entries further enhance the app’s convenience. To ensure consistent tracking, Lose It allows users to set reminders for logging meals and snacks, making it a comprehensive app for those seeking to maintain a balanced diet.
Why we picked it?
We have picked Lose It as its users have collectively shed more than 112 million pounds, highlighting its effectiveness and success. Lose It creates a calorie budget for you based on your height, weight, and age. Also, according to the company’s statement, it is the first weight management software to enable gender inclusion in profile settings.
Pros
- The free plan includes the Snap It feature
- Track food offline
- Clear interface
Cons
- Connection to most fitness trackers requires a premium subscription
- Initial setup is slower than others
Our verdict
Lose It includes several important features that provide you with more options than ever before when it comes to documenting your meals. You may explore its large food database, scan barcodes, or even use the unique Snap It feature. Snap It allows you to upload a snapshot of your dish, and the program will attempt to identify the ingredients for you.
3
FatSecret
FatSecret
- Pricing: $6.49 monthly (free version available)
- Top Features: Healthy recipes, exercise diary, and nutritional information for all foods, brands, and restaurants.
FatSecret is another widely used calorie tracking app that has been helping people manage their diets for years. You can find user-submitted foods, allowing you to authenticate the accuracy of the information. Moreover, it conveniently presents net carbs invaluable to those who adhere to a low-carb diet.
The app includes a “Challenges” feature that enables users to create or participate in dietary challenges within exclusive groups, encouraging individuals to achieve their health goals together. FatSecret’s website contains valuable information on health, foods, and recipes.
Why we picked it?
We picked the FatSecret food tracking app because of its unmatched dietary weight loss goals. Compared to other apps, it has a database of around 70,000 validated foods, making food logging simple and efficient. FatSecret has over 15 million users worldwide with positive user ratings (4.8 out of 5 on Apple’s App Store and 4.7 out of 5 on Google Play).
Pros
- Active community forum
- Regular challenges
- Includes a personal journal in addition to a food journal
Cons
- Frequent app crashes
- Difficulty in connecting with a few fitness bands
Our verdict
Overall, FatSecret functions as a calorie counter and meal journal for any diet, including image identification of food—making logging and tracking calories easier than ever. Additionally, it features a unique diet calendar, helping you understand when you consume and burn the most calories. All-in-all, FatSecret is one of the best calorie counting and weight loss apps available.
4
Cronometer
Cronometer
- Pricing: $5.99 per month (free version available)
- Top Features: Custom diet settings, sync with apps and devices, barcode scanner, customized micro and macro targets.
Cronometer is a calorie counting app that makes it easy to keep track of your daily food and water intake. It allows users to access various activities, such as syncing data from health devices to the app. The cronometer app tracks all micronutrients, providing a detailed breakdown of vitamins and minerals. The app also offers voiceover support to make the app accessible to many people.
Why we picked it?
In our view, Cronometer has one of the best features for tracking calories and macronutrients. It provides unparalleled accuracy and ease in managing your nutritional needs. With over 50 million users and a vast food database of healthy recipes, Cronometer is one of our top choices for calorie counting apps.
Pros
- User-friendly
- Syncs data from health devices to the app.
- Tracks all micro-nutrients like vitamins, minerals
Cons
- You can add home-cooked recipes only on the website, not the app
- No online user forum
- Free version has ads
Our verdict
Cronometer offers many user-friendly features, such as the ‘one tap’ feature, enabling users to track their food intake to encourage healthier habits. The in-app shortcuts make tracking quicker and easier, perfect for those who are deterred by documenting their daily intake. Additionally, the app also offers you a meal-planner option with a variety of diets and recipes to choose from. If you don’t wish to pay a premium, you can still use Cronometer for free, making it the best free calorie counter app.
5
Noom
Noom
- Pricing: $18.75 per month
- Top Features: Weekly challenges and educational information, tools to track your progress, virtual coaching team, and biometric tracking.
Noom is one of the most effective fitness-tracking apps. The app allows users to create a calorie budget using information—estimating the number of calories they should consume daily. The app majorly focuses on calories and nutrients to enhance weight loss, allowing you to create diet plans without limiting or restricting specific food items.
Why we picked it?
What makes the Noom app unique is that it is developed by behavioral psychologists. It provides users with a personalized experience that addresses mindful eating alongside an educational component. Noom boasts an impressive user base of 45 million. With its intuitive user interface, customized plans for weight loss goals, and helpful tracking options, Noom is the best weight loss app for anyone looking to track their calories effectively.
Pros
- It is easy to adjust your goals to fit your needs and preferences
- Promotes mindful eating and behavioral-based changes
- Provides support from a virtual coaching team
Cons
- It’s pricey
Our verdict
One of the things we appreciate about Noom is that it goes beyond just calorie tracking. It offers a customized experience focusing on mindful eating, setting it apart from other apps. It is very user-friendly and offers helpful tracking features. With its large user base, Noom appears to be a great choice for individuals looking to get started with healthier lifestyle choices.
6
Lifesum
Lifesum
- Pricing: $22.00 for 3 months (free version available)
- Top Features: Habit trackers, food and meal ratings, shortcuts, barcode scanners, and connects with partner apps.
Beyond the boundaries of a mere calorie counting app, Lifesum provides personalized nutrition and healthy eating habits. The app features a curated food and meal rating system to encourage healthier choices. With a clean user interface, it makes food logging easy. Lifesum’s meal planning feature makes it easy to stay on track with your dietary goals.
Why we picked it?
Lifesum is one of the best calorie counter apps because it promotes healthy eating habits and includes a nutrient-dense food database. It provides an overall user-friendly calorie tracking experience. With its intuitive design, helpful features, and personalized plans – Lifesum makes it easy to make smart choices about your nutrition.
Pros
- Thoughtful design curated to motivate healthier choices
- Convenient food logging
- Educational content
Cons
- Free recipes are only available on the premium version
- No online community
- Inaccuracy in food entries uploaded by users
Our verdict
With ease of use, connected platforms, and motivational components, Lifesum is one of our best-picked diet apps. You will not only enjoy a simple and quick way to count calories with Lifesum, but you will also learn how to eat healthier, plan meals, understand the nutrient quality of various foods, and more.
7
MyNetDairy
MyNetDairy
- Pricing: $6.50 per month (free version available)
- Top Features: Fastest tracking, 1,420,000 verified foods, and free features.
MyNetDiary is a free calorie tracker app that allows you to customize your daily calories and macro targets. The MyNetDiary app features meal tracking, weigh-ins, water, blood glucose reminders, and medication tracking. The app also provides access to an online community that connects users to MyNetDiary’s registered dietitians.
Why we picked it?
We picked MyNetDiary because it offers a comprehensive platform to keep track of one’s calorie intake and progress. It can be accessed from any device, including phones, tablets, and laptops. The app helps users stay on top of their calorie-counting goals with food tracking and nutritional advice. It also offers an extensive library of various diet recipes for meal planning and monitoring.
Pros
- Daily health coaching tips
- No ads in the free version and there is no need to sign up
- Customizable dashboard
Cons
- limited customization without a subscription
- Diet plans require a paid membership
Our verdict
We selected the MyNetDiary calorie and food counting app due to its flexibility in various preferences and eating styles, including vegan, vegetarian, and low-carb. It also has a meal plan for keto diets. Plus, an online discussion board allows users to connect with each other and learn from their experiences. With all of these features in place, MyNetDiary is a well-rounded app that can be used for successfully losing weight.
8
Calory
Calory
- Pricing: $14.99 per year (free version available)
- Top Features: Macro tracking, visualizing progress, journal view, and water tracking.
The Calory app offers customizable diet plans so you can choose the best one that suits you. With a user-friendly interface, Calory provides helpful nutrition labels for each food item so you can make the best dietary choices. Furthermore, Calory provides personalized meal and exercise plans curated to your individual needs.
Why we picked it?
Calory offers useful and practical features to assist you on your weight loss journey. With its calorie-logging reminder, you’ll never miss a beat in staying on track with your goals. It’s a seamless app designed to help you easily track and manage your calorie intake, making your weight loss journey more effective and successful.
Pros
- IInclude reminders to log your calories
- Food database linked to the basic USDA food database
- Saves your most recent food logs and provides a list of common foods
Cons
- Syncs with Apple Health only
- No community forum
- Tracks daily calories only; premium upgrade required to track macros
Our verdict
To us, Calory is one of the most effective apps for calorie-logging available. Its comprehensive feature suite makes calorie tracking an effortless task. With its helpful reminders and bar chart displaying both consumed and remaining calories, Calory is one of the detailed weight loss apps.
9
Fitbit
Fitbit
- Pricing: $9.99 per month (free version available)
- Top Features: Tracks heart rate, steps trackers, and logs fat intake.
The Fitbit app is known for tracking detailed data on heart rate, sleep quality, and more. It lets you manually list the foods and use the barcode scanner on packed items. Users can track steps through their smartphones. By examining the daily carbohydrates, proteins, and fats intake in the Fitbit app, you can gain insights into the impact of your dietary choices on your overall well-being.
Why we picked it?
Fitbit offers a convenient barcode scanner for speedy calorie estimates. According to us, one of the advantages of utilizing the Fitbit calorie tracking program is the ability to access your dashboard on your desktop. This feature proves useful when you desire a comprehensive analysis of your goal progress charts.
Pros
- The app can track sleep and heart rate
- Connects easily with Fitbit devices
Cons
- Requires a wearable fitness tracker for precise tracking
Our verdict
Fitbit is one of our top picks for overall well-being, putting convenience first. We like the fact that it encourages physical activity, measures sleep patterns, and checks food choices. Although a Fitbit smartwatch is not required to use the Fitbit app’s calorie tracker, it does provide the advantage of correctly monitoring calories burned during exercise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, calorie-counting apps have become immensely popular and are a great assistant for adopting healthier eating habits. Calorie-counting apps are convenient tools for tracking calorie intake and expenditure. They provide accurate nutrition information, strategies for portion control, and meal reminders.
With the help of a calorie-counting app, you can make better dietary choices and are more likely to reach your weight loss goals. So, if you want to reach your health and fitness goals, downloading these calorie-counting apps will serve you better!
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