The cheapest calorie tracking apps in 2026: free tiers and paid plans compared

What is the cheapest calorie tracking app?

The cheapest calorie tracking app is a free one, and several free tiers are genuinely usable. Among paid plans with a published annual price, Carb Manager Premium ($39.99, built around keto and low-carb eating) and BiteTracker ($42, a general calorie and macro tracker) are the lowest. BiteTracker includes every feature, including meal planning with Instacart ordering, in that one plan, and costs $21 for the first year for people aged 24 and under.

We make BiteTracker, so we have an interest here. All other prices come from each company's own website, help center or US App Store listing, checked on October 1, 2026. Several apps change prices inside the app or show different offers to different people, so treat these as list prices and check before you pay.

Free calorie tracking apps: what you actually get

Free tiers differ more than their prices suggest. The biggest differences are barcode scanning, ads and whether you can use them in a web browser.

• MyNetDiary: no ads, free barcode scanning, basic voice input, a shopping list and a web version. Photo logging and the meal planner are Premium.
• Cronometer: free barcode scanning, up to 95 nutrients and a web version, with ads, and charts limited to the last seven days.
• FatSecret: free barcode scanning and a database it says is entirely human-verified. Photo logging, voice logging, copying food to another day and the meal planner are Premium.
• Carb Manager: unlimited free barcode scanning and a web app. Photo and voice logging, custom meals and meal plans are Premium.
• Lifesum: free barcode scanning and quick tracking, but creating your own meals and recipes, AI tracking and meal plans are Premium, and there is no web diary.
• MyFitnessPal: free logging by search, saved meals and recipe import, with ads. Barcode scanning has needed Premium since 2022.
• Lose It!: a free calorie budget and food database, with ads. It is moving barcode scanning into Premium.
• BiteTracker, MacroFactor and Cal AI have no free tier beyond a trial.

Paid calorie tracking apps ranked by annual price

Standard US annual prices, lowest first, with the monthly price where the company publishes one:

• Carb Manager Premium: $39.99 a year, or $8.49 a month. Focused on keto and net carbs.
• BiteTracker: $42 a year, or $8.99 a month. One plan with every feature.
• Cronometer Gold: $59.99 a year, or $10.99 a month.
• MyNetDiary Premium: $59.99 a year ($60 on its website), or $8.99 a month. Premium Plus, with its newest AI features, costs more.
• MacroFactor: $71.99 a year, $47.99 for six months, or $11.99 a month.
• MyFitnessPal Premium: $79.99 a year, or $19.99 a month. Premium+, which adds meal planning, is $99.99 a year.
• Lose It! Premium: $79.99 a year, though it says most users are offered discounts in the app.
• Priced in the app, varying by offer: FatSecret Premium (annual plans listed at $38.99 and $59.99 in the US App Store), Yazio Pro (12-month plans listed at $23.90 and $47.90), Lifesum Premium (one-year plans listed from $49.99 to $119.99) and Cal AI (prices not published).

The cheapest plan for each feature you might want

Price only matters for the features you will use. Here is the lowest published annual price for each of the features people most often pay for:

• Barcode scanning: free in MyNetDiary, Cronometer, FatSecret, Carb Manager and Lifesum.
• AI photo logging: Carb Manager Premium at $39.99, then BiteTracker at $42. In Cronometer, MyNetDiary, MyFitnessPal and Lose It! it costs $59.99 to $79.99 a year.
• Meal planning: Carb Manager Premium at $39.99, with keto-focused plans, then BiteTracker at $42, with a meal calendar for any way of eating. MyFitnessPal needs Premium+ at $99.99.
• Ordering groceries from your meal plan: BiteTracker at $42, through Instacart, and MyFitnessPal Premium+ at $99.99. These were the only two we found.
• A web version as well as the apps: BiteTracker, Cronometer, MyNetDiary, FatSecret, Carb Manager, MyFitnessPal and Lose It!. MacroFactor, Yazio and Lifesum are app-only.

Annual or monthly: how much the monthly plan costs you

Monthly plans cost far more over a year. Twelve months on a monthly plan compared with paying annually:

• BiteTracker: $107.88 monthly against $42 annually.
• Carb Manager: $101.88 against $39.99.
• Cronometer Gold: $131.88 against $59.99.
• MacroFactor: $143.88 against $71.99.
• MyFitnessPal Premium: $239.88 against $79.99.
• A quick rule: if you expect to track for more than about five months, the annual plan is cheaper. For BiteTracker the break-even is under five months of monthly payments.

Discounts that lower the price further

BiteTracker has two discounts, and they do not stack. People aged 24 and under get 50 percent off the first year, on monthly or annual plans, which makes an annual plan $21. Seasonal promotions and some account offers take 20 percent off, making an annual plan $33.60. Checkout shows how long the discount lasts and the price the plan renews at.

Elsewhere, discounts are less predictable. Lose It! says most users receive discounted offers in the app, and FatSecret, Yazio and Lifesum list several price points in the App Store that look like promotions. MacroFactor sells a six-month plan as a middle option. Whatever you choose, check whether a discount applies only to the first term and what the plan renews at.

Hidden costs: trials, renewals and lifetime plans

Most paid trackers start with a free trial that turns into a subscription unless you cancel. MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, MacroFactor and MyNetDiary on iOS offer seven days, Cal AI three, and BiteTracker offers a trial before you subscribe. Set a reminder a day before it ends.

Lifetime plans can look cheap but take years to pay off. Lose It! Lifetime is $299.99 for most users, which is the price of almost four years of Premium. The other easy-to-miss cost is paying for two apps at once after switching, so cancel the old subscription when the new one starts.

Is a free calorie tracker good enough?

For many people, yes. Searching a database, saving the meals you repeat and copying them from day to day covers most of what tracking needs, and several free tiers do that well. Our guide to simple food logging shows how far the basics go.

Paying makes sense when it saves you time every day or replaces something else you would buy. Photo and text logging cut minutes off mixed meals, and a meal plan that becomes your shopping order replaces a separate meal-planning tool. If the plan also helps you cook more and order less takeout, it can pay for itself in groceries, especially with cheap high-protein meals.

The cheapest way to get everything in one app

If you want AI logging, barcode scanning, a meal calendar, a recipe book with macros and grocery ordering together, BiteTracker is the lowest-priced plan we found that includes all of them: $42 a year, $33.60 with a 20 percent offer, or $21 for the first year if you are 24 or under. It runs on iPhone, Android and the web, and the weekly report compares your weight trend with your log and suggests an updated target.

Start with the trial, log a few ordinary days, and compare it with the free tier of whichever app you are using now. Our roundup of the best calorie tracking apps covers what each one does best.