Yuka prices · checked 22 September 2026
Is the Yuka app free? What it costs, its limits, and a UK alternative.
Yes, mostly. Scanning a barcode, seeing Yuka's 0 to 100 score, the ingredient breakdown and a healthier alternative is free, with no ads. Premium adds a search bar, an offline mode and diet alerts. It costs £10, £15 or £20 a year, your choice, and Yuka says the features are exactly the same at all three.
Yuka works in the UK. Britain is its third-biggest market, with around five million users according to the BBC in July 2026, and the UK App Store rates it 4.8 from 27,665 ratings.
Written 22 September 2026 · Aaron Keen, founder, NutraSafe · Figures from Yuka's help centre, its UK App Store listing and BBC News
How much does Yuka cost in the UK?
£10 a year is the lowest price. Yuka's help centre says the annual Premium subscription "starts at £10 (UK)". The UK App Store lists three prices, £10, £15 and £20, and its own description quotes £15. Yuka is clear that the features are exactly the same at all three: the higher prices exist for people who want to give the app more support.
There is no monthly plan. Premium renews once a year through Apple or Google, and Yuka also lets you subscribe directly on its website. It is funded by those subscriptions, and it says it takes no money from brands for its ratings or recommendations.
How Yuka scores a food
Yuka publishes its method, which is the honest way to judge whether its score suits you. Three things go in, in fixed shares, and one rule can override the rest.
60% of the score
Nutritional quality
Worked out with Nutri-Score: sugar, sodium, saturated fat, calories, protein, fibre, and fruit and vegetable content. This is why cheese, nuts and olive oil can score low on a short ingredient list.
30% of the score
Additives
Each additive is rated risk-free, limited, moderate or high risk, drawing on EFSA, IARC and independent studies. If any additive is high risk, the product cannot score above 49 out of 100.
10% of the score
Organic
A bonus for products with an official organic label. It checks the certificate, not the food, so two otherwise identical products can be ten points apart.
Does Yuka work in the UK?
Yes. Yuka is on the App Store and Google Play in Great Britain, in English. The BBC reported in July 2026 that it has 85 million users in 12 countries, and that the UK is its third-biggest market with around five million, behind the US and France.
Its database holds 3.6 million food products and 2.3 million cosmetics, shared across every country it runs in, and the BBC put new additions at about 1,200 a day. Entries come from users and from manufacturers. Yuka transcribes ingredient lists through an external service and a team checks entries that look inconsistent.
The British catch is own-label. A shared database fills up fastest with products sold in many countries. A Morrisons own-label cottage pie is sold in one country by one chain, so it is only there if a UK shopper or Morrisons has added it. That is not a fault of Yuka's, it is how shared databases fill up. The test that settles it for your shop: scan five own-label things already in your cupboard and see what comes back.
What Yuka says it can't do
Yuka publishes a page on its own limitations, which is to its credit. In short: its ratings are its opinions, not a public health authority's; it takes a precautionary approach, so it flags some additives regulators allow; its data depends on what contributors entered, and a product can change recipe before the entry catches up; and anyone with an allergy should read the pack, even with diet alerts switched on.
There is a wider point too. Christian Reynolds, a food policy researcher at City St George's, University of London, told the BBC that research on food labels finds few people have the time or inclination to engage with food choices beyond routine. A scan helps the shopper who stops to use it.
In the app
The Call-out button
Scan a product with an additive Yuka rates as high risk and it can offer a pre-written email or social post asking the brand to remove it. Yuka's help centre says this covers 103 additives and 5,000 of the most-scanned brands, as of October 2025.
What it has changed
Recipes, in France
The French supermarket chain Intermarché told the BBC it has reformulated more than 3,000 recipes since 2017 and taken out 160 additives, and it links those changes to Yuka scores.
Yuka vs NutraSafe, on the facts that are public
| Yuka | NutraSafe | |
|---|---|---|
| Download | Free | Free |
| Paid | £10, £15 or £20 a year, same features | £3.99 a month or £34.99 a year |
| Product score | 0 to 100: 60% nutrition, 30% additives, 10% organic | 0 to 100 from the nutrition panel, the declared additives and how processed it is, with the reasons listed. Can be switched off |
| Additives | Each one rated on a four-level risk scale, free | Count free; each one named, with what published science links it to, on Pro |
| Food diary | None | Calories and macros, 25 logs a day free |
| Vitamins and minerals | Per product only | 13 vitamins and 12 minerals totalled against UK NRVs, on Pro |
| Healthier swaps | Yes | No; we show what is in the pack and leave the choice with you |
| Cosmetics | Yes, 2.3 million products | No, food only |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android | iPhone |
| UK App Store rating | 4.8 from 27,665 | 4.5 from 36 |
Yuka has 27,665 UK ratings and we have 36. Around five million people in Britain use it. If a long track record is what makes you trust an app, that counts in its favour.
Is there a better app than Yuka?
It depends on the job. These are different tools, and the honest answer is not always ours.
Pick Yuka if
You want a verdict at the shelf
You are choosing between two packets and want one number and a swap now. You scan shampoo and moisturiser as well as food. You are on Android. You do not want to keep a diary.
Pick NutraSafe if
You want the week, not just the scan
You want the additives on a UK pack named and explained, calories and macros logged, and vitamins and minerals adding up against UK NRVs, with workouts, fasting and food reactions in the same diary. You are on an iPhone.
Twelve UK food scanners, Yuka included, with what each gives away free, are compared in our best food scanner apps UK roundup. Two newer ones get their own pages: what Bear costs and is the Ivy food app free. For those two against Yuka, see Ivy vs Yuka.
What people ask about Yuka
Is the Yuka app free?
Yes, the scanner is free with no ads. Scanning a barcode, the 0 to 100 score, the ingredient and additive breakdown and a healthier alternative cost nothing and are not time-limited. Premium, from £10 a year, adds a search bar, offline mode and diet alerts.
How much does Yuka cost?
Premium starts at £10 a year in the UK. The App Store also lists £15 and £20; Yuka says the features are exactly the same at all three and the higher prices are for people who want to support it. There is no monthly plan.
Do you have to pay for Yuka?
No. The free version scans and scores products with no time limit and no ads. You only pay if you want to search without scanning, scan without a signal, or get alerts for a diet such as vegan or gluten-free.
Does Yuka work in the UK?
Yes. It is on the App Store and Google Play in Great Britain, and the BBC reported in July 2026 that the UK is its third-biggest market with around five million users. Its database of 3.6 million foods is shared across all its countries, so UK supermarket own-label coverage depends on what users have added.
Is Yuka accurate?
Yuka is open about its method: 60% nutrition using Nutri-Score, 30% additives and 10% an organic bonus, with any high-risk additive capping a product at 49. Its own limitations page says its ratings are opinions rather than a health authority's, that it takes a precautionary approach, and that data can lag behind a recipe change. So the score is consistent with its method; whether you agree with the method is the real question.
Is there a better app than Yuka?
For a quick verdict at the shelf, on Android, or for cosmetics, Yuka does the job well. If you want a food diary where the additives on UK packs are named and explained and your calories, vitamins and minerals add up across the day, that is what we built NutraSafe for. We compare twelve UK scanners in our best food scanner apps UK roundup.
Does Yuka need an internet connection?
The free version does. Yuka's help centre says you need a connection to scan, which is not always the case in supermarkets. Premium includes an offline mode.
Does Yuka count calories or track vitamins?
No. Yuka scores one product at a time and has no food diary, so nothing adds up across your day. We track calories and macros free, and 13 vitamins and 12 minerals against UK NRVs on Pro.
Is Yuka on Android?
Yes, on Google Play as well as the iPhone App Store. NutraSafe is iPhone only at the moment.
Does NutraSafe give a score like Yuka?
Yes, a score from 0 to 100 in five bands, from Excellent at 75 and above to Bad below 25. It is built from the nutrition panel, the additives declared on the pack and how processed the food is, and tapping it lists the reasons. A whole food with no ingredients list gets no score, and you can switch scores off in Settings.
Is NutraSafe free?
Free to download. The free tier covers up to 25 food logs a day, barcode scanning with the food's score and a count of the additives on the pack, and reaction logging while you build a baseline, with no ads. Pro is £3.99 a month or £34.99 a year, names each additive and what it does, and adds vitamins and minerals, the AI Coach, AI meal scan, workouts and fasting.
See what is on the pack in your hand
Scan a UK barcode and NutraSafe counts the additives the label declares, by code or by name. Pro names each one and says in plain English what the published evidence links it to. Then the food goes into your diary.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store →Free download · 25 logs a day free · NutraSafe Pro £3.99/month or £34.99/year · iOS
Last reviewed: 22 September 2026 · Sources: Yuka's help centre (pricing, Premium features, scoring method, database, data checks, limitations and Call-out articles), Yuka's UK App Store listing and the iTunes lookup API, all read 22 September 2026; BBC News, "Food tracking: Does using an app make you healthier?", 14 July 2026.