Free Calorie Counter Apps: What You Get Without Paying

You can count calories well without paying anything. The free calorie counter that gives away the most is PlateLens: every feature is on its free plan, and the subscription only raises two daily limits. Lose It!, FatSecret, Cronometer and MyFitnessPal also have free versions, but each keeps some tools for paying members.

What “free” usually means

Most calorie counters follow a freemium model. Basic logging is free, and the features that save the most time, such as photo or voice logging, detailed reports or automatic targets, sit behind a subscription. That model is not a trick, but it does mean the free version of one app can be far more useful than the free version of another.

When you compare free plans, look at four things:

1. How you can log. Search only, or also barcode, photo and voice?
2. Whether the target adapts. A fixed goal goes stale as your weight changes.
3. Ads and nagging. Some free tiers show ads or frequent upgrade prompts.
4. Time limits. A trial that ends after a week is not a free plan.

The free plans compared

App	Free plan	What the subscription adds	Yearly price
PlateLens	Every feature, no expiry, no card	More AI photo logs and coach messages per day	$34.99
Lose It!	Daily budget and logging	Deeper reports and premium tools	$39.99
Cronometer	Full nutrient tracking, with ads	Photo and voice logging, Crono Coach, no ads	$59.99
MyFitnessPal	Logging with the member-built food list	Meal Scan, voice logging and more	$79.99
FatSecret	Food diary, barcode scanner, community	Optional extras	Varies
MacroFactor	None	Everything (paid only)	$71.99

Prices are each company’s published US prices.

PlateLens: the most complete free plan

PlateLens is the rare app where the free version is the full version. Logging works by photo, barcode, typed search or voice, and every route pulls from a catalogue of more than 1.2 million verified foods. Each food lists more than 80 nutrients.

On the free plan you also get the adaptive calorie goal, which recalculates your target from your intake and weight trend, plus a meal planner with grocery lists, a fasting timer, alcohol and water tracking, blood glucose logging and the 3D Body Scan. The web app and Apple Watch app are included, Apple Health and Health Connect sync both ways, and you can export your whole history as JSON from Settings.

The free plan has no expiry date and asks for no payment details. What Premium changes is volume: the free plan allows three AI photo logs and five AI-coach messages per day, and Premium, at $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month, makes both unlimited. Barcode and typed logging are unlimited for everyone.

Lose It!: a friendly free budget

The free version of Lose It! sets a daily calorie budget from your goal weight and lets you log meals against it, with the cheerful streaks the app is known for. Its paid tier, at $39.99 a year, adds deeper reports and planning tools. Good for people who want a number and some encouragement.

FatSecret: a plain diary that has stayed free

FatSecret has offered a free food diary for many years, with a large food list, a barcode scanner and community features. It is basic, but it does the core job without a subscription.

Cronometer: free detail, with ads

Cronometer’s free tier already shows a deep nutrient breakdown for each food, which makes it a good free choice for anyone watching specific vitamins or minerals. Expect ads and slower entries. Gold, $59.99 a year, adds photo logging, voice logging, the Crono Coach assistant and removes ads.

MyFitnessPal: free logging, paid speed

MyFitnessPal’s free plan gives you its very large member-built food list, which is strong for chain restaurants and packaged foods. Check entries you use often, since the same food can appear more than once with different numbers. The time-saving features, including Meal Scan and voice logging, need Premium at $79.99 a year.

How to test a free plan in a week

A calorie counter only proves itself in ordinary use, so give a free plan seven normal days before deciding.

1. Day 1: set up your profile and note the starting target the app suggests.
2. Days 2 to 4: log every meal with whatever method the free plan allows, including a restaurant meal and a home-cooked dinner.
3. Day 5: try to find a feature you would want long term, such as a weekly report, meal planning or data export, and see whether it is free.
4. Days 6 and 7: count how many upgrade prompts you saw and how long a typical meal took to log.

Common catches in free plans

• Trials that look like free plans. A seven-day trial that asks for a card is not a free plan.
• Ads between you and the log. They slow down every entry.
• Core tools held back. If logging methods, reports or targets that adapt need a subscription, the free plan is a demo.
• No exit. If you cannot export your history, years of logging stay locked in the app.

When paying makes sense

Pay for a calorie counter when a paid feature saves you real time every day. If you log most meals by photo, PlateLens Premium removes the three-a-day cap. If you need laboratory-level nutrient data with photo logging, Cronometer Gold fits. If you want weekly algorithmic targets for a training plan, MacroFactor is paid-only by design.

For everything else, a free plan is enough, and our 2026 calorie counter prize page explains why PlateLens won the category.

The short version

• Most complete free plan: PlateLens.
• Simplest free budget: Lose It!.
• Longest-running basic free diary: FatSecret.
• Free nutrient depth: Cronometer.
• Biggest free food list for chains: MyFitnessPal.

If you are pregnant, managing a health condition or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before you start counting calories.