UK food scanner apps
Ivy vs Yuka: one is free to keep using, and they score different things.
Yuka scans for nothing, with no time limit. Ivy gives you three days, then scanning needs a subscription. 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 scores processing and contaminants. That is why the same pack can come back green in one app and red in the other, and why neither of them is simply wrong.
Written 20 September 2026 · Aaron Keen, founder, NutraSafe · App Store figures read 20 September 2026
What each one costs to keep using
Yuka. Scanning and the 0 to 100 score are free with no time limit. Premium Member is listed at £10, £15 and £20, and Yuka's own help pages say the features are identical at all three prices, so it behaves as a pay-what-you-like annual subscription rather than three tiers of product.
Ivy. Free to download, then a three-day trial, after which you need Pro to scan at all. Its GB listing showed ten purchase options on 20 September 2026, every one of them named “Pro Access”, priced £4.99, £19.99 (twice), £29.99 (three times), £32.99 (twice) and £39.99 (twice). Nothing on the listing says which are monthly and which are annual, so read the screen you are shown before you tap.
Why the same pack gets two different verdicts
This is the part most comparisons skip, and it is the only part that changes which app suits you. 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.
So a food with a three-word ingredients list can still score badly in Yuka if it is calorie-dense. Olive oil, butter and nuts are the obvious cases. That is not a fault in the app; it is what happens when most of the score is a nutrition measure.
Ivy weights the other side. Its listing describes scanning for seed oils, additives, pesticides and heavy metals, and it lets you set a dietary preference (vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, keto or pork-free) so a scan tells you whether a product matches it. Processing and contaminants drive the verdict, and nutrition is not the headline.
Two honest limits on both. Their scores are each app's own model, not a regulator's, and both lean on open product data, so a UK own-label pack may come back with a thin ingredients list. That is worth testing on your own shopping before paying either of them.
Side by side, on the public facts
| Ivy | Yuka | |
|---|---|---|
| Download | Free | Free |
| Scanning without paying | Three-day trial, then Pro | Free, no time limit |
| Paid tier | Ten “Pro Access” options, £4.99 to £39.99 | Premium Member, £10 / £15 / £20 |
| What it scores | Processing and contaminants | 60% nutrition, 30% additives, 10% organic |
| Cosmetics | No | Yes, 2 million products |
| Products claimed | 3 million food | 6 million (4m food, 2m cosmetic) |
| GB rating | 4.7 from 23,072 | 4.8 from 27,647 |
| On the store since | August 2024 | January 2017 |
| Dietary filters | Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, keto, pork-free | Not on the listing |
Which one to pick
Pick Yuka if you want one app for food and cosmetics, or if you are not going to pay. It scans free indefinitely, it has been running since 2017, and 2 million of its 6 million products are personal care. Nothing else in this comparison scores a shampoo.
Pick Ivy if seed oils, pesticides and heavy metals are the thing you are actually worried about, and you want a dietary filter applied to every scan. You will be paying after three days, so decide inside the trial.
Pick neither if what you want is the ingredients line explained. Both give you a score and a verdict. Neither sets out to tell you what each additive on the pack is and what has actually been published about it, which is a different job and the one we chose.
What NutraSafe does with the same barcode
We read the declared ingredients off a UK pack and match them, whether the label writes E223 or sodium metabisulphite, against 516 E numbers and 417 named non-E 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.
The same diary counts calories and macros and tracks 13 vitamins and 12 minerals against UK NRVs. Free covers logging 25 foods a day, the barcode scan and its grade, allergen alerts on a scan, and the number of additives in a product; naming each additive and explaining it is Pro at £3.99 a month.
We are much newer and much smaller than either app here, and iPhone only. For the wider field, we compare 12 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 better than Yuka?
They answer different questions. Yuka scores a product on nutrition first: by its own published method, 60% of the score is nutritional quality, 30% additives and 10% an organic bonus. Ivy scores processing and contaminants: seed oils, additives, pesticides, heavy metals. If you want to know whether a food is nutritionally balanced, Yuka. If you want to know what is in it besides food, Ivy.
Is Ivy free?
Not for long. Ivy is free to download and gives a three-day trial, after which scanning needs Pro. Its GB App Store listing showed ten purchase options on 20 September 2026, all named “Pro Access”, from £4.99 to £39.99, with no monthly or yearly label to tell them apart. Check the price you are offered before you subscribe.
Is Yuka free?
Scanning and the score are free with no time limit. Premium Member is a separate paid tier listed at £10, £15 and £20, and Yuka's help pages state the features are the same at each price, so it works as a support-what-you-want subscription rather than three tiers.
Why do Ivy and Yuka give the same product different scores?
Because 60% of a Yuka food score is Nutri-Score, which counts calories, sugar, salt and saturated fat. A short, clean ingredients list that happens to be calorie-dense, olive oil or nuts for instance, can still score poorly. Ivy weights processing and contaminants instead. Neither is wrong; they are measuring different things.
Which has the bigger database?
Yuka, by its own claim: 6 million products, of which 4 million are food and 2 million cosmetics, against Ivy's stated 3 million food products. Yuka has been on the App Store since January 2017 and Ivy since August 2024. Both are the apps' own figures, not independent counts.
Do Ivy and Yuka work on UK products?
Both scan UK barcodes, and both draw heavily on open product data, so coverage on UK own-label is the thing to test before paying. Scan five things from your own cupboard in the free tier or the trial and see how many come back with a full ingredients list.
Does either one scan cosmetics?
Yuka does: 2 million of its 6 million products are personal care, and it scores them on ingredients alone. Ivy is food only.
Or get the ingredients line explained
Scan a UK barcode and NutraSafe names every additive the label declares, by code or by name, and says what the published evidence says about each one. Calories, macros, vitamins and minerals are in the same diary.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store →Free to download. Naming each additive on a pack and what it does is a Pro feature.
NutraSafe Pro · £3.99/month · iOS
Last reviewed: 20 September 2026 · Sources: the GB App Store listings for Ivy: Processed Food Scanner (id 6642701963) and Yuka (id 1092799236), read 20 September 2026; Yuka's own help pages for the 60/30/10 score weighting and the 49/100 additive cap. Prices and ratings change; check the listing before you subscribe.