Best free calorie tracker apps: what is actually free

The short answer

If you want the most free features, Cronometer's Basic plan is the strongest on paper: food logging, barcode scanning and custom macro and micronutrient targets all cost nothing. If you want the biggest food database and do not need barcode scanning, MyFitnessPal's free tier still logs food, weight and exercise. If logging speed is the problem, a voice or photo logger with a free daily allowance is worth trying.

Free tiers change often, and every company on this list, ours included, has moved features between free and paid in the past. The table below records what each company's own page said on the date shown. Check the app before you rely on any one feature.

What each app gives you free (checked 11 November 2026)

Free means different things in each app. The useful comparison is which everyday logging feature sits on which side of the paywall.

• Cronometer Basic ($0): food logging, barcode scanner, custom macro and micronutrient targets, recipe importer, fasting timer, device sync. Gold adds photo logging, voice logging, the AI coach and ad-free use, at $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year (cronometer.com/gold).
• MyFitnessPal free: nutrition, weight and exercise tracking. Barcode scan and meal scan, voice log, macro tracking with custom goals and ad-free logging are marked Premium, with a 7-day free trial for first-time upgraders (myfitnesspal.com/premium).
• Lose It! free: calorie tracking, a weight loss plan and the community. Its App Store description lists photo logging, AI voice logging, the barcode scanner, macro and micronutrient tracking and intermittent fasting under Premium.
• MacroFactor: no free version. Its FAQ says there isn't and will never be one. A 7-day trial, then $11.99 a month, $47.99 for six months or $71.99 a year (macrofactor.com).
• Cal AI: free to download, but its App Store description says food scanning analysis results require a subscription.
• Peasy (ours): every AI log free for the first 3 days, then 1 AI log (voice, text or photo) a day free, with barcode, search, nutrition-label, restaurant and saved-meal logging free and unlimited. Peasy Plus unlocks unlimited AI logging, with a 7-day trial; listed at $6.99 and $29.99 on the US App Store.

Why barcode scanning matters most for a free tier

For most people the feature that decides whether a free tracker is usable is barcode scanning, because packaged food is where typing a search and picking the right entry takes longest. On 11 November 2026 Cronometer and Peasy kept barcode scanning free; MyFitnessPal and Lose It! listed it as a paid feature.

If most of what you eat is home-cooked or from restaurants, barcode scanning matters less and the speed of logging a mixed meal matters more. That is where voice and photo logging help, and where free allowances are usually smallest.

Free tiers usually come with ads

Cronometer and MyFitnessPal both list ad-free use as a paid benefit, which means their free tiers show ads. MacroFactor says it never shows ads, but it has no free tier. Peasy does not show ads on its free tier.

Ads are a fair trade for a free tracker, but they add taps to every log. If you tried a free tracker before and stopped because logging felt slow, the ads may have been part of it.

How to choose in one week

Write down the three meals you eat most often, then log each one in two free apps on the same day. Keep the app where those three meals take the fewest taps and the numbers look sensible.

Calorie counts in any app are estimates, especially for restaurant and home-cooked food. The habit of logging consistently matters more than a perfect number, so the app you will still open in week three is the right one. If you have a medical condition or take medication that affects appetite, talk to your doctor about targets rather than relying on an app's default.

Can a free app be as good as a paid one?

For basic calorie counting, yes. Every app on this list can log food and total calories for free except MacroFactor and, for scanning, Cal AI. Paid tiers mostly add speed (photo, voice, barcode in some apps), detail (micronutrients, custom macro goals) and no ads.

Paying makes sense once you know which paid feature you would use daily. Start free, and upgrade only when a specific limit gets in the way.