Calorie counter apps · UK · 2026
Nine apps, checked on 1 November 2026. For a full diary free with no adverts, MyNetDiary. Free from the NHS, the NHS Weight Loss Plan. For UK supermarket food, Nutracheck. For calories with vitamins, minerals and additives in one diary, ours, NutraSafe.
Free to download, with 25 food logs a day free and no adverts. Pro is £6.99 a month.
It's the only app that does thisUKJaneK
You Need This AppGmac2005
Best AppGK getting skinny
The short answer
They all count calories. Where they differ is the food in them, where the free tier stops and what else they count. Pick the line that sounds like you.
A full diary, free, with no adverts
MyNetDiary
Unlimited logging, the barcode scanner and voice logging on the free version.
Free, from the NHS
NHS Weight Loss Plan
A 12-week plan, a daily calorie target and a weekly weigh-in. Nothing to buy.
UK supermarket and high-street food
Nutracheck
Over 600,000 UK foods with photos. A 7-day trial, then you pay or drop to Lite.
Restaurant dishes as well as shop food
MyFitnessPal
Over 20.5 million foods, restaurant dishes included. The barcode scanner is free in the UK, with adverts.
Every vitamin and mineral
Cronometer
Up to 95 nutrients on the free tier, with adverts.
Calories, vitamins, minerals and additives in one diary
NutraSafe (ours)
It's UK-focused, with photos on most products. The free version gives you calories, macros and the number of additives, and Pro adds vitamins and minerals.
Fasting alongside
YAZIO
A free diary, and a fasting tracker for 16:8 and 5:2 in the same app.
A photo of the plate
Nutrola
Photo and voice logging first, on Premium. MyFitnessPal, MyNetDiary, Cronometer and ours have photo logging on their paid plans too.
What's free
All nine are free to download. Where the free tier stops is what differs, from nothing held back to a 7-day trial.
Free tier, no time limit
With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day, by barcode or search, and get the calories, the macros and the number of additives. There are no adverts. Pro adds the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals, and a full workout app built in. It's £6.99 a month, and new subscribers get a week free.
Free, nothing to buy
From the Department of Health and Social Care. A 12-week plan, a calorie target and a food diary, with nothing held back for a paid tier.
Free, no adverts
An unlimited diary, the barcode scanner, voice logging and 108 nutrients, with no adverts and no account needed. Premium adds Meal Scan and fasting.
Free, with adverts
Each keeps a free diary and barcode scanner going, and each lists taking the adverts away as part of its paid plan. In the UK, MyFitnessPal's scanner is on the free plan.
Free basics
Calorie tracking, a weight loss plan and community groups are free. Photo and voice logging, macros, vitamins and minerals are Premium on its listing.
Trial, or not set out
Nutracheck gives a free 7-day trial, then Lite with daily diary limits. Nutrola's listing marks photo and voice logging as Premium and doesn't say what's free.
Count the entries in one ordinary day before you pick a free tier: toast, butter and jam is three. If you cook from scratch, every ingredient is one. Our own free and Pro split, line by line, is on the pricing page, and our free calorie counter page covers the free tier on its own.
Side by side
Prices from each app's own site or its UK App Store listing, read on 1 November 2026. Prices move, so take them as the day we looked.
| App | Good for | Free | Paid | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NutraSafeOurs | UK food, with photos on most products | 25 logs a day with calories, macros and the number of additives, no adverts | £6.99 a month or £40.99 a year | iPhone, iPad and Android |
| MyFitnessPal | Over 20.5 million foods, restaurant dishes included | Logging and barcode scanning, with adverts | £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year | iOS and Android apps |
| Nutracheck | UK supermarket and high-street food, with photos | 7-day trial, then Lite with daily limits | £6.99 a month or £29.99 a year | iOS, Android and web |
| MyNetDiary | A full calorie diary free, with no adverts | Unlimited diary, barcode scanner, voice logging, no adverts | Premium from £3.99; Premium Plus £6.99 | iOS and Android apps |
| NHS Weight Loss Plan | A free 12-week plan to lose weight | All free | Nothing to pay | iOS and Android apps |
| Cronometer | Vitamins, minerals and the full nutrient panel | Diary, up to 95 nutrients, barcode scanner, with adverts | £9.99 a month or £59.99 a year | iOS, Android and web |
| YAZIO | Calorie counting with 16:8 or 5:2 fasting | Diary, barcode scanner | PRO from £35.90 for 12 months | iOS and Android apps |
| Lose It! | A calorie budget and a weight loss schedule | Calorie tracking, a weight loss plan, community | Premium £9.99 to £75.99; Lifetime £59.99 | iOS and Android apps |
| Nutrola | Logging a meal from a photo or your voice | Not set out on its listing | Premium £24.99; Unlimited Access £9.99 or £39.99; Lifetime from £199.99 | iOS and Android apps |
Where a listing shows a spread of prices without saying which is monthly and which is yearly, we give the spread. Several apps also support Android and web; NutraSafe is on iPhone, iPad and Android.
Screens from 4 October 2026
Tesco The Chicken Club, searched by name in six of the nine. The entries came back between 504kcal and 508kcal; Tesco's own site gives 506kcal a pack.
Every screen is shown in full, as it was on the phone. Tap one to read it at full size. We used free accounts in the five other apps and a Pro account in ours, searched by name rather than scanning the barcode, and a pack in the shop may have changed since an entry was made.
506kcalTesco's figure for the pack
The carbs differ more than the calories. Tesco lists 56.5g of carbohydrate and 4g of fibre, counted separately, as a UK label does. Nutracheck, Cronometer, YAZIO and ours came within 0.2g of that. The MyFitnessPal entry, added by a member, showed 61.8g, close to Tesco's carbohydrate and fibre added together. We haven't established why. Why calorie apps disagree on carbs. This is one product on one day, not a ranking of anyone's accuracy.
App by app
What each is for, what it does well and where it falls short. Ours is first because we built it, and it gets the same three headings as everyone else. The order isn't a ranking. For more detail, see NutraSafe vs Nutracheck, NutraSafe vs Cronometer or Nutracheck vs MyFitnessPal.
01 · Ours
A UK-focused calorie diary, with photos on most products.
It's UK-focused, with branded and own-label food from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op and Waitrose, and photos on most products so you can pick the right one. With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day and get the calories, the macros and the number of additives. There are no adverts, and the free version doesn't run out.
With Pro you get the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals, and a full workout app built in. It also tells you what the additives are and what they do, and adds fasting, the AI meal scan and no daily limit. Pro is £6.99 a month or £40.99 a year, and new subscribers get a week free.
If a barcode isn't in our database, you photograph the front, the ingredients and the nutrition panel, and the app reads them into your diary there and then.
02
A calorie counter with over 20.5 million foods to log.
Its listing claims over 20.5 million foods, restaurant dishes included, and it keeps meals, workouts and steps in one place. In the UK the barcode scanner is on the free plan.
Premium, £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year on its own site, adds meal scan from a photo, voice logging and logging without adverts. The UK App Store listing also shows £7.99 a month and £39.99 a year.
03
The UK calorie counter, built on UK food since 2005.
Over 600,000 UK foods with photos, by its own count: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl, M&S and Waitrose, HelloFresh and Gousto, and chains such as Greggs, Wetherspoon, Nando's, Costa and Pret. It tracks calories and seven nutrients: carbs, sugar, fibre, protein, fat, saturated fat and salt. On the App Store it's called Calorie Counter +.
New users get a free 7-day trial. After that you subscribe, or drop to Lite, which Nutracheck says has daily diary limits. Its prices page shows £6.99 a month, or £29.99 for 12 months on an offer that ends on 16 November.
04
A full calorie diary free, with no cap and no adverts.
Its UK listing puts an unlimited diary, the barcode scanner, voice logging, macros, 108 nutrients, water, exercise, custom foods and recipes in the free version, with no adverts and no account needed. It claims over 2 million foods including UK brands, built on the US research databases USDA and NCC, and says its team reviews 2,500 to 3,500 foods a day.
Premium adds Meal Scan from a photo, intermittent fasting, an adaptive calorie target and a meal planner, and Premium Plus adds an AI Coach. The UK listing shows Premium at prices from £3.99 to £23.99 without saying which is monthly and which is yearly, and Premium Plus at £6.99.
05
The NHS's free 12-week plan, with a calorie diary.
It's from the Department of Health and Social Care. You set a weight loss goal and get a daily calorie target, then log what you eat at each meal and weigh in once a week. Twelve weekly guides come with actions and tips. The NHS says more than 4 million people have downloaded it.
It's on Google Play too.
06
Nutrient detail first: up to 95 nutrients on the free tier, by its own pricing page.
Its listing claims more than 1.1 million verified foods, including analysed entries, and tracks calories, macros, fasting and vitamins and minerals against your own targets; its pricing page says up to 95 on the free tier. Barcode scanning is free.
Gold, £9.99 a month or £59.99 a year on the UK listing, adds photo and voice logging and takes the adverts away.
07
A calorie counter and a fasting tracker in one.
The free tier has the calorie diary and barcode scanner against over 4 million searchable items. The listing also describes a fasting tracker for plans such as 16:8 and 5:2, without saying whether it's free or PRO.
PRO adds custom meal plans and recipes and takes the adverts away. The UK listing leads with £35.90 for 12 months, and shows other PRO prices from £9.99 to £47.90.
08
A daily calorie budget and a date to reach your goal weight.
Fill in your profile and it works out a daily calorie budget and a schedule to your goal weight. The free basic features are calorie tracking, the plan and community groups.
Premium adds photo and voice logging, and tracking for macros, vitamins, minerals, sleep and more. The UK listing shows Premium at prices from £9.99 to £75.99 without labelling the periods, and Lifetime at £59.99.
09
A newer AI calorie tracker: photograph the plate or say what you ate.
Nutrola logs a meal from a photo or from what you say, then breaks it down into calories and macros, with fibre, sugar and sodium, fasting windows from 16:8 to 20:4 and a PDF export for your GP or dietitian. Its site says the food database is dietitian-verified and the app has no adverts.
Photo and voice logging are Premium, and the listing doesn't set out what's free. The UK listing shows Premium at £24.99, Unlimited Access at £9.99 and £39.99, Lifetime at £199.99 and £299.99, and packs of in-app gems from £1.99. It's been out since September 2025.
Looking for a food scanner instead? Yuka, the NHS Food Scanner and the other apps that read a barcode for what's in the pack, rather than keeping a calorie diary, are in our food scanner roundup.
Our app
Search or scan UK food, log it by meal, and see the calories, macros, vitamins and minerals add up as you go.
With the free version you can log 25 foods a day and get the calories and macros. Vitamins and minerals are on Pro, which is £6.99 a month or £40.99 a year.
Before you pick one
Calorie counting works on whatever the app has on record for the food. These are the four places that record differs most.
01 · Your own shop
Scan five things you buy every week, own-label especially, and check each entry against the pack in your hand. A database of 20 million foods is no use if your supermarket's own yoghurt isn't in it.
02 · The free tier
Some cap the diary, some show adverts, some keep the scanner or the photo logging for paid. Count the entries in one ordinary day of your own eating, then check it fits.
03 · Carbs, the UK way
A UK label counts fibre apart from carbohydrate. A US record usually folds it in, so an app built on US data can show carbs a few grams higher than your pack. It matters if you count carbs.
04 · Beyond calories
Cronometer and MyNetDiary count them free. Ours has them on Pro. Nutracheck sticks to seven label nutrients.
How we compared them
A company reviewing its own app against its rivals has a conflict of interest. We'd rather show the working than pretend otherwise.
Every price is from the app's own site or its UK store listing. What's free is what each maker says is free.
The sandwich screens are from 4 October 2026: one product, searched by name, on one day. We haven't found a published fair accuracy test across these apps, so be wary of any app calling itself the most accurate, ours included.
Each app gets what it's good at, where it falls short and who it suits. A league table would mean marking our own homework.
Questions
Taken from what people search before they land here.
It depends what you want from it. For a full diary free with no adverts, MyNetDiary. Free from the NHS, with a 12-week plan, the NHS Weight Loss Plan. For UK supermarket and high-street food with photos, Nutracheck. For restaurant dishes and a very large database, MyFitnessPal. For every vitamin and mineral, Cronometer. For calories with vitamins, minerals and additives in one UK diary, ours, NutraSafe. We make it, so weigh that.
The NHS Weight Loss Plan has nothing to buy at all. MyNetDiary's free version has an unlimited diary, the barcode scanner and voice logging with no adverts. MyFitnessPal, Cronometer and YAZIO keep a free diary going with adverts. Ours is free for up to 25 food logs a day, with the barcode scanner and no adverts, for as long as you like.
Yes. The NHS Weight Loss Plan app is free, from the Department of Health and Social Care. You set a goal and a daily calorie target, log what you eat at each meal and weigh in weekly, over a 12-week plan.
Yes, to download and to log with, and in the UK the barcode scanner is on the free plan too. You see adverts. Premium, £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year on its own site, adds meal scan from a photo, voice logging and logging without adverts.
If adverts are what bother you, MyNetDiary's free version has an unlimited diary, the barcode scanner and no adverts. If your shop is mostly UK supermarket own-label, log a normal week of it in two apps and check the entries against the packs. Ours keeps 25 logs a day free with no adverts.
It depends why you're leaving. For photo logging on another plan: MyFitnessPal Premium, MyNetDiary Premium or Cronometer Gold, all of which list it. For a free diary with no adverts: MyNetDiary. For UK food: Nutracheck. For a photo meal scan with vitamins, minerals and additives in the same diary: ours, NutraSafe, where the AI meal scan is part of Pro at £6.99 a month.
The NHS Weight Loss Plan has nothing to buy. MyNetDiary, MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, YAZIO and ours have free tiers you can keep using without subscribing. Lose It! and Nutrola also list a one-off Lifetime purchase, at £59.99 and from £199.99.
They're good at different things. Nutracheck is built on over 600,000 UK foods with photos, including high-street chains, and costs £6.99 a month or £29.99 a year on its current offer; its free Lite tier has daily limits. MyFitnessPal has the bigger database, much of it added by members, a free plan with the barcode scanner and adverts, and Premium at £15.99 a month. If you mostly buy UK own-label, the UK database matters more than the size.
MyFitnessPal, Nutracheck, MyNetDiary, Cronometer, YAZIO, Lose It!, Nutrola and the NHS Weight Loss Plan are all on Google Play.
Cronometer counts up to 95 nutrients free, by its own pricing page. MyNetDiary lists 108 nutrients on its free version. Ours tracks vitamins and minerals on Pro. Lose It! puts vitamins and minerals in Premium. Nutracheck counts calories and seven label nutrients.
We haven't found a published fair test across these apps, and our one-sandwich check isn't one. Every app works from a record of the pack, and records go out of date when recipes change. Check the entries for the food you eat most against the packs in your cupboard.
Sources
Read on 1 November 2026, apart from the sandwich screens, which are from 4 October 2026.
With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day and get the calories, the macros and the number of additives, with no adverts. With Pro you get the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals, and a full workout app built in. Pro is £6.99 a month or £40.99 a year.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store →Free download · Cancel Pro any time
