UK food scanner apps
Ivy vs Yuka: one is free to keep using, and they score different things.
Yuka's free version scans and scores, and its optional Premium is £10 a year. Ivy is free to try, then £29.99 a year, and its site and store listings describe no free tier after the trial. If cost is the deciding factor, that is the whole comparison.
If it is not, the real difference is what each score means. 60% of a Yuka food score is nutrition, by Yuka's own published method. Ivy's score weighs how processed a product is, with seed oils, added sugar and contaminants in it.
By Aaron Keen, founder of NutraSafe, a rival app · Every Ivy and Yuka fact here is from their own sites, help pages and UK store listings, read on 3 November 2026
What each one costs to keep using
What Yuka costs
Scanning and the score out of 100 are free, with no adverts. Premium is £10 a year. The UK App Store also shows £15 and £20, but Yuka's help pages say the features are exactly the same, so those are a way to give Yuka more. Premium adds a search bar, offline scanning (the free version needs a signal to scan), unlimited history and diet alerts.
What Ivy costs
Free to download and free to try. After the trial, Ivy's own site says, it becomes a yearly subscription of £29.99, which it puts at £2.50 a month, and its terms describe Pro as an annual subscription. Neither its site nor its store listings give the trial's length or describe a free tier after it. Its Google Play listing names a monthly and a yearly plan.
Why the same pack can get two different verdicts
This is the part that decides which app suits you.
How Yuka scores a pack
Yuka publishes its weighting: 60% nutritional quality, 30% additives, 10% an organic bonus. The nutritional 60% is calculated on the Nutri-Score basis, which counts sugar, salt, saturated fat and calories against protein, fibre and fruit and vegetable content. Yuka also caps a product at 49 out of 100 if it contains an additive it rates high-risk.
How Ivy scores a pack
Ivy weights the other side. Its score out of 100 weighs how processed a product is: its site names additives, refined oils and sugars, and contaminants such as pesticides, microplastics and heavy metals, and says the score also counts seed oil content, added sugar and how far a product is from its natural state. Every flag is explained. You can set a diet (vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, keto or pork-free) and the allergens you avoid, and a scan tells you whether a product matches.
What both scores are
Each score is the app's own model, not a regulator's. Yuka's help pages say its ratings are opinions and that it does not claim to be a public health authority. Ivy's terms call its data “of an indicative and general nature” and do not guarantee its accuracy. Ivy says its algorithm was put together by an NHS consultant. Both say no brand can pay to change a score, and neither shows adverts.
Side by side, on the public facts
| Ivy | Yuka | |
|---|---|---|
| Download | Free | Free |
| Scanning without paying | A free trial, length not stated, then Pro | Free |
| Paid tier | Ivy's site puts it at £29.99 a year | Premium, £10 a year |
| What it scores | How processed a product is, with contaminants | 60% nutrition, 30% additives, 10% organic |
| Diet and allergens | Diets and allergens you set | Diet alerts on Premium, from vegan to sulphite-free |
| Cosmetics | Not on its site or listings | Yes |
| Products, by its own figures | Over 3 million | 3.6 million food, 2.3 million cosmetic |
| Phones | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
| Adverts | None | None |
| On the App Store since | August 2024 | January 2017 |
Which one to pick
Pick Yuka if you want one free app for food and cosmetics
Its free version scans and scores, it has been on the App Store since 2017, and it scores personal care products as well as food. Premium is optional, at £10 a year.
Pick Ivy if processing, seed oils and contaminants are what you care about
Its score is built around them, and it checks the diet and allergens you set on every scan. Ivy's site puts it at £29.99 a year after the trial, so decide inside it.
What NutraSafe does with the same barcode
We read the declared ingredients off a UK pack and match each one, whether the label writes E223 or sodium metabisulphite, along with named ingredients such as glucose-fructose syrup, modified maize starch and palm oil. Each entry says what the substance is, why it is in the product, and what the published evidence says, with its sources listed. Most UK packs spell additives out by name rather than by code, which is why matching both forms matters.
With the free version you can log up to 25 foods a day and get the calories, the macros and the number of additives, and it checks the ingredients we hold for the Big 14 allergens. With Pro you get the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals and a full workout app built in, and it tells you what each additive is and does. Pro is £6.99 a month.
We are much newer and much smaller than either app here. For the wider field, we compare 14 UK food scanners with what each gives away free, and each of these two has a page of its own: Ivy and Yuka. Newer arrivals are covered too, including Bear.
What people ask about Ivy and Yuka
Is Ivy free?
Free to try. Ivy's own site says that after the trial it becomes a yearly subscription of £29.99, which it puts at £2.50 a month. Neither its site nor its store listings give the trial's length or describe a free tier after it.
Is Yuka free?
Yes. Scanning and the score out of 100 are free, with no adverts. Premium is £10 a year. The store also shows £15 and £20, which get the same features and are there for people who want to give Yuka more. It adds a search bar, offline scanning, unlimited history and diet alerts.
Is Ivy better than Yuka?
They answer different questions. Yuka scores a food on nutrition first: by its own published method, 60% of the score is nutritional quality, 30% additives and 10% an organic bonus. Ivy's score weighs how processed a product is, with seed oils, added sugar, additives and contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals in it. If you want a nutrition verdict, Yuka. If processing is what you care about, Ivy.
Why do Ivy and Yuka give the same product different scores?
Because they measure different things. 60% of a Yuka food score is Nutri-Score, which counts sugar, salt, saturated fat and calories against protein, fibre and fruit and vegetables. Ivy's score weighs how processed a product is.
Is there a free app like Ivy?
Yuka has a free version that scans and scores, though its score puts nutrition first rather than processing. NutraSafe is free to download too: the free version gives you the number of additives when you scan and logs up to 25 foods a day.
Is the Yuka app trustworthy?
Yuka says no brand or manufacturer can influence its ratings, it carries no adverts, and it is paid for by Premium members. Its help pages also say its ratings are opinions, that it does not claim to be a public health authority, and that it cannot guarantee absolute accuracy, because its data comes from contributors and manufacturers.
Which has the bigger database?
Yuka, by its own figures: its help centre gives 3.6 million food products and 2.3 million cosmetics, shared across every country it covers. Ivy's site says over 3 million products. Neither is an independent count. If Ivy doesn't know a product, you can photograph the ingredients label; Yuka lets you add the product's photos and ingredients.
Do Ivy and Yuka work in the UK?
Yes, both are on the UK App Store and Google Play. Ivy says it covers every major supermarket in the UK and Ireland, plus the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Yuka lists Great Britain among its 15 countries. The free version of Yuka needs a signal to scan; Premium works offline.
Does either one scan cosmetics?
Yuka does: it scores personal care products on their ingredients, and its help centre counts 2.3 million of them. Ivy's site and listings describe food only.
Or get the ingredients line explained
With the free version of NutraSafe you can log your food and get the calories, the macros and the number of additives. Pro tells you what each additive is and what the published evidence says about it.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store →It's free to download. With Pro you get the AI Coach, suspected triggers from your reactions, vitamins and minerals, and a full workout app built in.
NutraSafe Pro · £6.99/month · iOS
Last reviewed: 4 November 2026 · Sources, all read 3 November 2026: ivyfoodapp.com and its terms of service; Yuka's help centre (cost, Premium features, scoring, database, independence and limitations) and yuka.io; the UK App Store listings for Ivy: Processed Food Scanner (id 6642701963) and Yuka (id 1092799236); the Google Play listings for both. Prices change; check the screen before you subscribe.