The Best Calorie Counting Apps for 2027

Nobody quits calorie counting because of the maths. They quit at the meal that is awkward to log: the stir-fry with nine ingredients, the sandwich from a café with no label, the handful of crisps eaten standing up. So our 2027 list is organised around an ordinary day and what each app asks of you at every meal. The app that asks least, without cutting corners on the numbers, is PlateLens.

Starting from scratch? The method itself is covered in our counting how-to.

Breakfast: the packaged meal

Breakfast is often the easy one: a yogurt, a box of cereal, a bar with a barcode. Every app here can read packaging, but not every app does it for free. PlateLens scans as often as you like without paying, as do Cronometer (alongside ads), FatSecret and MyNetDiary. MyFitnessPal keeps barcode scanning in Premium. Whichever you choose, save your usual breakfast as a meal so tomorrow it takes one tap.

Lunch: the meal someone else made

Bought lunches are where counts get vague. If it comes from a big chain, catalogue size matters, and MyFitnessPal’s member-built database covers more chain menus than any other, though you will need to choose between duplicate entries. PlateLens’s food catalogue includes restaurant dishes too, and for the café salad no database knows, a photo gets you a sensible estimate you can edit.

Dinner: the home-cooked plate

This is the meal that breaks most diaries, because it has several ingredients and no label. Photo logging is the answer, and PlateLens does it well: photograph the plate, check the foods and portions it suggests, adjust anything that looks off, save. Lose It! offers photo recognition through Snap It. At Cronometer and MyFitnessPal, photo logging (Photo Log and Meal Scan) is part of the paid tier, so free users search ingredient by ingredient.

Snacks and drinks: the ones that slip away

Grazing, the milky coffee, a glass of wine: small entries are the easiest to forget. Speaking them into the app as they happen is the fastest fix, and PlateLens accepts spoken entries; Cronometer and MyFitnessPal reserve voice for paying users. Logging the cooking oil belongs here too, at roughly 120 calories a tablespoon.

The 2027 ranking

1. PlateLens. Whatever the meal, PlateLens has a fast way in, and the speed doesn’t cost you detail: upwards of 80 nutrient values per item, automatic net carbs, starting calorie and macro goals set from your profile, and adaptive TDEE nudging the calorie goal as your weight trend develops. Over the longer haul you get a fasting clock, glucose readings logged beside meals, alcohol tracking, a planner that converts recipes into a grocery list and a 3D Body Scan estimating waist, hip and chest sizes from roughly twelve pictures. Phone (iPhone or Android), wrist (Apple Watch) and browser all open the same account, and a JSON export holds your whole history. On the free tier, which never lapses and asks for no card, scanning and typing are unlimited, three meals a day can be photo-logged and the coach takes five questions daily. Premium ($34.99 yearly or $9.99 monthly, as listed 10 August 2026) lifts those daily caps.

2. MacroFactor. For lifters who would rather be coached than count. Each week it reviews intake and weight, estimates expenditure and resets calorie and macro targets. Subscription only ($71.99 yearly, $47.99 per half-year, $11.99 monthly) and phone only; expect a few weeks before its estimates steady.

3. FatSecret. The free stalwart: diary, scanner, exercise and weight logs at no cost, plus lively forums. Fewer modern logging tools and less nutrient detail per food.

4. MyNetDiary. Orderly and calm: it sets calorie and macro goals at no cost and scans barcodes, on phone or web, and its developer also makes a dedicated diabetes app.

5. Cronometer. The specialist in vitamins and minerals, listing as many as 95 nutrients and compounds per item, its makers say. The free tier carries adverts; Gold costs $59.99 yearly or $10.99 monthly (noted 20 September 2026) and adds photo and voice logging plus Crono Coach.

6. Lose It! One plain daily budget and an encouraging design, with Snap It and a scanner. Fewer nutrients per item, and many insights sit in Premium, which the App Store lists at $39.99 yearly.

7. MyFitnessPal. The biggest crowd-built catalogue and the broadest chain coverage, offset by duplicate entries. Premium costs $79.99 a year or $19.99 a month.

What a year costs

Lowest first, using published US prices: PlateLens at $34.99, then Lose It! at $39.99, Cronometer Gold at $59.99, MacroFactor at $71.99 and MyFitnessPal at $79.99 per year. Each figure is dated above, and we look again every month.

The bottom line

Make PlateLens your calorie counter for 2027 if you want every meal of the day to be quick to log. Choose MacroFactor for paid coaching, FatSecret or MyNetDiary for a free diary, Cronometer for micronutrients, Lose It! for the plainest screen and MyFitnessPal for chain-heavy weeks.