UK calorie trackers, compared
Nutracheck vs MyFitnessPal: the two things that actually differ.
Price and database. Nutracheck runs about £30 a year; MyFitnessPal Premium in the UK is £64.99 a year or £15.99 a month. Nutracheck's listing claims 500,000-plus UK items and names the supermarkets; MyFitnessPal's claims 5 million foods worldwide and names none.
Both have a free tier, and both scan barcodes free in the UK. Most of the rest is preference. Every figure here was read off the GB App Store on 20 September 2026, and you can check any of them yourself.
Written 20 September 2026 · Aaron Keen, founder, NutraSafe
The price gap is about two to one
| App | Cheapest listed year | Dearest listed year | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutracheck | £23.99 | £34.99 | £5.99 |
| MyFitnessPal | £64.99 | £64.99 | £15.99 |
Both listings carry several plans at different prices, which is normal. Nutracheck's GB listing showed six annual plans between £23.99 and £34.99, and monthly plans at £5.99 and £6.99. MyFitnessPal's showed £15.99 a month and £64.99 a year as its live UK Premium prices.
You will see £7.99 and £39.99 on MyFitnessPal's listing too. Those are older price points that are still attached to the app record; they are not what a new UK subscriber is charged today. A fair number of comparison articles quote them, and one currently ranking for this search quotes “£9.99 monthly”, which is not a UK MyFitnessPal price at all.
Five million foods, or half a million British ones
This is the real decision, and it is not the one the numbers suggest at first glance. MyFitnessPal's own description says 5 million foods, including restaurant dishes. Nutracheck's says a UK food database of 500,000-plus items, and goes on to name Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Waitrose, HelloFresh, Gousto, Greggs and Wetherspoons.
Ten times the entries is only ten times as useful if the entries you need are in there and are right. A large open database accumulates duplicates of the same product with different numbers on them, because many of its records are added by users. A curated national one is smaller by design. Which shape suits you depends entirely on whether you mostly log British packaged food or mostly log restaurant meals and foreign brands.
Both of those claims are the apps talking about themselves. Neither is an independent count, and we have not audited either database.
Side by side, on the public facts
| Nutracheck | MyFitnessPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | £5.99 (listing also shows £6.99 and £3.99) | £15.99 |
| Yearly | £23.99 to £34.99 across six listed plans | £64.99 |
| Free tier | 7-day trial, then Lite with daily diary limits | Free tier, and UK barcode scanning is on it |
| Food database | 500,000+ UK items, by its own listing | 5 million foods worldwide, by its own listing |
| UK retailers named | Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Waitrose, Greggs, Wetherspoons | None named on the listing |
| GB rating | 4.8 from 264,753 | 4.7 from 470,352 |
| On the store since | July 2011 | December 2009 |
| Ingredient lists | No | No |
Two corrections to things widely repeated about this pairing. Nutracheck does have a free tier after the trial: its listing says you can stay on the free Lite version with daily diary limits. And MyFitnessPal's barcode scanner is free in the UK. It went behind Premium in the United States in 2022, which is where the confusion comes from.
What neither of them is built to answer
Both are calorie and macro trackers, and both are good at it. Their food records carry a nutrition panel: calories, protein, carbs, fat, sometimes a handful more. What they do not carry is the ingredients line, so neither can tell you which additives are in the pack you just scanned or what the published evidence says about them.
That is the question we built NutraSafe around. Scan a UK barcode and we read the declared ingredients, match each one against 516 E numbers and 417 named non-E ingredients such as glucose-fructose syrup and modified maize starch, and say in plain English what each is and what is published about it, with sources. We also count calories and macros, and track 13 vitamins and 12 minerals against UK NRVs, so it can be the only diary you keep.
We are the smaller and newer app of the three here by a wide margin, and we are iPhone only. If a long review history is what you want, Nutracheck has 264,753 ratings and fifteen years on the store. If you want all twelve UK scanners laid out instead of two, that comparison is here, and the calorie counters are compared separately, and five MyFitnessPal alternatives are compared on price. Our own pages on each app cover pricing in more depth: Nutracheck and MyFitnessPal.
What people ask about these two
Is Nutracheck better than MyFitnessPal in the UK?
For UK packaged food, Nutracheck's database is the more targeted one: its App Store listing says 500,000-plus UK items and names Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Waitrose, Greggs and Wetherspoons. MyFitnessPal's listing says 5 million foods worldwide. A bigger global database is not automatically better at a British barcode, and a smaller curated one is not automatically worse.
Which is cheaper, Nutracheck or MyFitnessPal?
Nutracheck, by some distance. Its GB listing showed monthly plans at £5.99 and £6.99 and annual plans from £23.99 to £34.99 on 20 September 2026. MyFitnessPal Premium in the UK is £15.99 a month or £64.99 a year. That is roughly £30 a year against roughly £65.
Can you use Nutracheck for free?
Yes, with limits. All new users get a 7-day free trial, and its own listing says that after that you can “stay on the free Lite version (with daily diary limits)”. Several comparison articles say Nutracheck cannot be used free after the trial. That is not what the listing says.
Does MyFitnessPal still have a free barcode scanner in the UK?
Yes. Barcode scanning moved behind Premium in the United States in 2022, which is why so many forum threads say it is paid, but it is on the free tier in the UK. Worth checking on your own account rather than trusting an article, since this is the fact that changes most often.
How big is each food database?
By their own App Store descriptions: MyFitnessPal says 5 million foods including restaurant dishes; Nutracheck says a UK database of 500,000-plus items. Both are the apps' own claims, not independent counts.
Which has better ratings?
Nutracheck, on the GB App Store: 4.8 from 264,753 ratings against MyFitnessPal's 4.7 from 470,352, read on 20 September 2026. MyFitnessPal has been on the store since December 2009 and Nutracheck since July 2011.
Do either of them tell you about additives?
Neither is built for that. Both are calorie and macro trackers, and their food entries carry nutrition panels rather than ingredient lists. If naming the additives on a UK pack is what you are after, that is a different kind of app.
Or read the ingredients, not just the calories
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 it. Calories and macros 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 MyFitnessPal (id 341232718) and Calorie Counter + / Nutracheck (id 444924121), and the iTunes lookup API, all read 20 September 2026. Prices and ratings change; check the listing before you subscribe.