Food scanner apps · UK · 2026
Fourteen apps, checked on 1 November 2026. If you want to know what the additives on a pack do, that's ours, NutraSafe. For one score at the shelf, Yuka. For free with nothing to buy, the NHS Food Scanner or Open Food Facts.
Free to download, and the free version gives you the number of additives when you scan. Pro is £6.99 a month.
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Best AppGK getting skinny
The short answer
Every scanner reads the same barcode. What comes back is different. Pick the line that sounds like you.
Know what's in the pack, and keep a diary
NutraSafe (ours)
It tells you what the additives are and what they do, and keeps your calories, vitamins and reactions in one diary.
One score at the shelf
Yuka
A number out of 100 and the additives, free.
Free, with nothing to buy
NHS Food Scanner
Sugar, salt and fat as traffic lights. Open Food Facts if you want the full ingredient record.
A free ultra-processed check
The Food App
Unlimited free scans for UPF, allergens and E numbers.
Calories on UK own-label
Nutracheck
Over 600,000 UK foods with photos, and calories plus seven nutrients off the label.
A hard line on seed oils
Ivy or Bear
Both are subscriptions. Bear's listing names no source for its ratings.
What's free
Free to download and free to use aren't the same thing. Here's where the fourteen sit, from nothing to pay to trial only.
Free tier, no time limit
With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day and get the ingredients, the calories, the macros and the number of additives, and it checks the ingredients we hold for the Big 14 allergens. There are no adverts. Pro is £6.99 a month and tells you what the additives are and what they do, and new subscribers get a week free.
Free scans, paid extras
Yuka gives the score and the additives free; Premium, from £10 a year, adds search and offline mode. The Food App scans without limit for UPF, allergens and E numbers; Plus is £3.99 a month.
Free, nothing to buy
Paid for by the government, volunteers or a research institute, so nothing's held back. What you give up is scope: traffic lights, swaps or a raw record.
Calorie counters first
MyFitnessPal scans barcodes on its free plan in the UK, with adverts. Lose It! keeps photo and voice logging for Premium. Nutracheck gives 7 days free, then Lite with a daily cap on the diary.
Trial, then you pay
A free trial, then a subscription to keep scanning. Underneath and Scrannr give 3 days. Ivy's site says it becomes £29.99 a year.
Free tier not stated
Their UK listings show paid plans and say nothing about what's free. Work on the basis that you'll pay.
Our own free and Pro split, line by line, is on the pricing page.
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 | What the additives do, with a diary for calories, vitamins and reactions | Ingredients and the number of additives on a scan, Big 14 check, 25 logs a day | £6.99 a month or £40.99 a year | iPhone, iPad and Android |
| NHS Food Scanner | Sugar, salt and fat as traffic lights, for families | All free | Nothing to pay | iOS and Android |
| Yuka | One 0 to 100 score at the shelf | Scan, score, additive list | Premium, £10 a year | iOS and Android |
| Open Food Facts | Open product records, built by volunteers | All free | Nothing to pay | iOS, Android and web |
| The Food App | Ultra-processed food and allergens | Unlimited scans: UPF, allergens, E numbers, Nutri-Score | Plus £3.99 a month or £29.99 a year | iOS and Android |
| FoodSwitch | Swaps with less salt, sugar or saturated fat | All free | Nothing to pay | iOS and Android |
| Nutracheck | UK calorie counting on own-label foods | 7-day trial, then Lite with daily limits | £6.99 a month or £29.99 a year | iOS and Android |
| MyFitnessPal | Calories and macros, a very large database | Logging and barcode scanning, with adverts | £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year | iOS, Android and web |
| Lose It! | Calorie budget with photo logging | Calorie tracking, with adverts | Premium listed from £9.99 to £75.99, lifetime £59.99 | iOS and Android |
| Ivy | Processed food, seed oils and additives | Trial only | £29.99 a year, per its own site | iOS and Android |
| Bear | Seed oils, additives and "toxins" | Not stated | Monthly £9.99; yearly plans £12.99 to £49.99 | iOS and Android |
| Underneath | One 0 to 100 score, with the reasons listed | 3-day trial only | £8.99 a month or £44.99 a year | iOS and Android |
| Processed | Ultra-processed or not, by NOVA group | Not stated | Premium monthly £7.99 on the UK store | iOS and Android |
| Scrannr | A 0 to 100 score with additive flags, on Open Food Facts data | 3-day trial only | £7.99 a month or £24.99 a year, per its site | iOS and Android |
Where an app's site and its store listing disagree, we've said so in its section below.
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.
01 · Ours
It tells you what the additives on a UK pack do, and the scan goes into your diary.
It's UK-focused, with photos on most products. With the free version you can scan a barcode and get the ingredient list, the calories, the macros and the number of additives, and it checks the ingredients we hold for the Big 14 allergens. That much is free, with no time limit.
Pro is £6.99 a month. It tells you what the additives are, what they do once you've eaten them and who published the evidence. With Pro you also get the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals, fasting and a full workout app built in.
If we haven't got the pack, the scanner says so. You photograph the front, the ingredients and the nutrition panel, and the app reads them into your diary there and then. That's free too.
Chain by chain: Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons.
02
The government's free scanner: sugar, salt and fat as traffic lights, and a swap for next time.
Scan a barcode and it shows whether the product is high, medium or low in sugar, salt and fat. It draws them as sugar cubes, fat lumps and salt sachets: a cube is 4g of sugar, a lump 1g of fat, a sachet 0.5g of salt. Better options get a Good Choice badge, and it keeps every product you've scanned.
It's from the Department of Health and Social Care, and the NHS says the nutrient data comes from Brandbank and FoodSwitch.
03
One score out of 100, the additives, and a better option when a product scores badly.
Built for choosing between two packets. The listing says 4 million food products and no adverts. Scanning and the score are free.
Premium is £10 a year and adds search, an offline mode, unlimited history and food preferences such as palm oil or gluten alerts.
Side by side in NutraSafe vs Yuka.
04
The volunteer-built database behind several apps on this page, with its own scanner.
Scan a pack and you get the record people have built for it: ingredients, additives, Nutri-Score from A to E, the NOVA processing group from 1 to 4 and a Green-Score for environmental impact. You can set allergen alerts. Anyone can add or correct a product.
The UK site counted 198,627 products on 1 November. Scrannr's listing says all its data comes from here.
05
A Norwegian-made ultra-processed food scanner with free, unlimited scans.
It tells you whether a product is ultra-processed, using the NOVA groups, and whether it has an allergen you've told it to avoid. It also explains the E numbers and shows Nutri-Score. Scanning is free and unlimited.
Plus, at £3.99 a month or £29.99 a year after a 7-day trial, adds search, browsing by category and swap suggestions. Since 28 October it scans cosmetics as well. Its UK page says the database holds tens of thousands of British products.
What NOVA does and doesn't tell you is in our UPF scanner guide.
06
From The George Institute with Action on Salt and Action on Sugar: scan, then see similar packs with less salt, sugar or fat.
Scan a barcode for colour-coded labels or a Health Star Rating, then a list of healthier products from the same category. SaltSwitch narrows that to lower-salt options. FoodSwitch also supplies data to the NHS Food Scanner.
Its Google Play listing, updated on 30 October, describes a redesigned app with ingredient and allergen information. The iPhone version was last updated in June.
07
The long-running UK calorie counter, built around UK packs.
Built for losing weight on UK food. Its price page says over 600,000 foods with photos, and its App Store listing names Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl, M&S and Waitrose, plus chains like Greggs and Pret. It tracks calories and seven label nutrients: carbs, sugar, protein, fat, saturated fat, salt and fibre.
Every new user gets 7 days free. After that you pay, or stay on Lite with a daily cap on the diary.
Where the two overlap: NutraSafe vs Nutracheck.
08
A calorie counter with 20.5 million foods to log.
The listing says you can log over 20.5 million foods, restaurant dishes included.
In the UK the barcode scanner is on the free plan, with adverts. Premium, at £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year with a 7-day trial, adds meal scan, voice logging and no adverts.
Side by side in NutraSafe vs MyFitnessPal.
09
Calorie counter from FitNow, Inc., with photo and voice logging.
Set a calorie budget and a target date, then log. The listing puts photo logging, voice logging and fasting under Premium.
The UK store shows Premium at several prices between £9.99 and £75.99, plus a £59.99 lifetime option, and doesn't say which is monthly and which yearly. Check in the app before you pay.
Compared in NutraSafe vs Lose It.
10
A processed-food scanner that grades seed oils, additives and contaminants. Subscription first.
Scan for a score out of 100 that weighs additives, refined oils and sugars, plus what the listing calls pesticides, microplastics and heavy metals. You can set allergens and diets such as vegan or keto, and low scores come with cleaner options from the same aisle.
Its site says you try it free, then it becomes £29.99 a year. It doesn't count calories.
Prices and the free alternatives: Is the Ivy food app free?, and the two big names head to head in Ivy vs Yuka.
11
A "holistic" scanner from March 2026, aimed at seed oils, additives and what it calls toxins.
Scan a pack for seed oils, ultra-processed ingredients and what the listing calls synthetic chemicals and hidden toxins, then get a "holistic" rating and a cleaner alternative. It's written for low-tox and whole-food shoppers.
The UK store lists one monthly plan at £9.99 and yearly plans from £12.99 to £49.99. It doesn't name a free tier or where its data comes from.
All of Bear's listed prices, next to ours: NutraSafe vs Bear.
12
A London-made scanner from August 2026: one score out of 100, with each penalty itemised.
The score is built from how processed the food is, its additives and its nutrition, and each penalty is listed on its own line. Tap an ingredient to see what it is. If the barcode isn't found, you can photograph the panel instead.
New accounts get a 3-day trial and the listing says there's no free tier after it. The UK store shows £1.99 a week, £8.99 a month and £44.99 a year, with a £26.99 yearly offer.
13
An ultra-processed food scanner that sorts food into the four NOVA groups.
It labels food ultra-processed, processed, minimally processed or whole, using NOVA, and Premium keeps a daily log of your scans. There's also a mode for pet food.
The UK store lists Premium monthly at £7.99. Neither the listing nor its site says what's free. The last update on either store was in November 2025.
14
A UK-made scanner from June 2026: a score out of 100 and additive flags, built on Open Food Facts.
A health score out of 100, the ingredients with additives flagged, the nutrition panel, allergen alerts and a better option. Scan history stays on your phone.
Its site says there's no free tier, just a 3-day trial, then £7.99 a month or £24.99 a year. The UK store also lists a £29.99 plan. The listing says all its product data comes from Open Food Facts.
Not on the list. Bobby Approved and Fig aren't on the UK App Store. Plenty of other scanners are on it; these are the fourteen we checked.
One scan on ours
A 330ml can of Coca-Cola Original Taste, scanned on NutraSafe. Every word comes from the pack or the published evidence.
The number of additives is free. What they are, what they do and the evidence are on Pro, which is £6.99 a month. If the number is all you want, the free version doesn't run out.
Before you pick one
The barcode goes off to a database and a record comes back. Everything after that is a choice the app made.
01 · The ingredient list
Ours shows the list on every scan, free, and so do Open Food Facts, Scrannr and Underneath. The NHS app and Nutracheck read the nutrition panel instead. If you've ever wondered what "acidity regulator" means, you need the list.
02 · Additives by name
Six colours, E102, E104, E110, E122, E124 and E129, have to carry a warning about children's activity and attention on a UK label. An app that only counts additives can't tell you one of them is in the sweets. Ours does on Pro, and so do Yuka, Open Food Facts and The Food App.
03 · Your allergens
UK labels must emphasise 14 allergens. Ours checks the ingredient data we hold against all 14, free. Open Food Facts, The Food App, Ivy and Scrannr check the ones you set. None can see a "may contain" that's missing from the record, so read the pack.
04 · After the scan
A scanner answers "what's in this?". A diary answers "what have I eaten this week?". MyFitnessPal, Nutracheck and Lose It! do the second for calories, and Processed logs how processed your scans were. Ours does it for calories, vitamins, minerals, additives and how you felt.
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, and where the two disagree, we say so.
We haven't run a controlled accuracy trial on fourteen apps. 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.
New to scanning? How to use a food scanner app walks through a first scan, and the food barcode scanner page covers what ours reads from a UK label.
Questions
Taken from what people search before they land here.
It depends what you want from a scan. For knowing what the additives on a pack do, and keeping the scan in a diary, ours, NutraSafe. We make it, so weigh that. For one score at the shelf, Yuka. For free traffic lights on sugar, salt and fat, the NHS Food Scanner. For a free ultra-processed check, The Food App. For calorie counting on UK own-label, Nutracheck.
Yes, several. The NHS Food Scanner, Open Food Facts and FoodSwitch have nothing to buy at all. Yuka and The Food App scan for free and charge for extras. Ours is free to download. With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day and get the ingredients, the calories, the macros and the number of additives, and it checks the ingredients we hold for the Big 14 allergens. It doesn't run out. Pro tells you what the additives are and what they do, and it's £6.99 a month.
For its one job, yes. It shows whether a product is high, medium or low in sugar, salt and fat, drawn as sugar cubes, fat lumps and salt sachets, and suggests a swap. It's free. The NHS describes it for sugar, salt and fat only; ingredients, additives and allergens aren't mentioned.
Yes. The NHS Food Scanner, Yuka, Open Food Facts, The Food App, FoodSwitch, Ivy, Bear, Underneath, Processed and Scrannr are all on Google Play, as are the calorie counters. NutraSafe is too, on iOS 17 or later and Android 8.0 or later.
Ours marks the pack on the scan and then adds it up: the Insights tab shows what share of the month's calories were ultra-processed. Open Food Facts shows the NOVA group on each product, The Food App marks it for free, Processed sorts food into the four NOVA groups, and Ivy and Underneath fold processing into their scores.
Scanning and the score are free, with no adverts. Premium is £10 a year and adds search, offline mode, unlimited history and food preferences.
Its UK listing shows paid plans only: £9.99 a month, or yearly plans from £12.99 to £49.99. It doesn't mention a free tier or say where its ratings come from.
A UK app from Underneath Ltd in London, first out in August 2026. It gives one score out of 100 with each penalty listed, and you can photograph the panel if the barcode isn't found. It has a 3-day trial and no free tier after that; the UK store lists £8.99 a month or £44.99 a year.
Yes, within limits. Ours checks the ingredient data we hold against all 14 UK allergens on the free tier. Open Food Facts, The Food App, Ivy and Scrannr check against the ones you set. None of them can see a "may contain" warning that's on the pack but missing from the record, so the pack in your hand is the final word.
On ours, you photograph the front of the pack, the ingredients and the nutrition panel, and the app reads them into your diary there and then, on the free tier. Underneath reads a photo of the panel too. On Open Food Facts you can add the product for everyone. On the calorie counters you type it in.
No. Every app here, ours included, works from a record of the pack, and records go out of date when recipes change. A scanner makes the label quicker to read. The packaging is still the final word.
Sources
Read on 1 November 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. Pro tells you what the additives are and what they do, and you also 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
