A calorie counter is a long relationship. If you start one in January, the free plan you pick will hold twelve months of meals, weigh-ins and habits. So for 2027 we asked a narrower question than “which app is free?” We asked which free plans make promises you can hold them to for a whole year.
The four promises of a free plan
- No card. If an app wants a payment method before you log breakfast, the free plan is a doorway to a charge.
- No clock. A free plan with an end date is a trial. Trials are fine, but they belong in a different list.
- No scanner paywall. Barcodes are how most people log packaged food. A free plan without a scanner turns every yogurt into a typing job.
- Your data leaves with you. A year of logs is worth something. If you cannot take it with you, switching costs you that year.
Here is how the seven apps line up against those promises, using what each company documents for free accounts:
| App | No card | No clock | Free barcode | Export documented | Free Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlateLens | Yes | Yes, never expires | Yes, unlimited | Yes, JSON | ✅ Actually Free |
| Cronometer | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | ✅ Actually Free |
| FatSecret | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | ✅ Actually Free |
| MyNetDiary | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | ✅ Actually Free |
| YAZIO | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | 🟡 Freemium |
| Lose It! | Yes | Yes | Not stated clearly | — | 🟡 Freemium |
| MyFitnessPal | Yes | Yes | Premium | — | 🟡 Freemium |
A dash means the feature is not listed for free accounts.
Why PlateLens is the free plan to start 2027 with
PlateLens keeps all four promises: no card at sign-up, no end date, an unlimited barcode scanner and a JSON export of your full history from Settings. On a list graded on freeness, that puts it first.
What makes it the one to live on, though, is how much of an ordinary day costs nothing. Scanning and search are never rationed, and they draw on over 1.2 million verified foods, upward of 820,000 barcoded products and more than 45,000 restaurant dishes. Three photo scans a day take care of the meals that are slow to type. Goals for calories and macros are worked out from your profile, and the browser version opens the same diary for a desk-side review of the month. A fasting clock and a glucose log come along too. The same account works on Apple Watch, and the wider app adds adaptive TDEE, alcohol tracking and a 3D Body Scan that reads your measurements from 12 phone photos.
Should you want more, the upgrade costs $34.99 annually or $9.99 monthly and simply removes the photo and coach caps; your free-plan history carries straight over.
Why PlateLens and not Cronometer at the top
Both are actually free, both scan barcodes for free and both run in a browser, so the choice comes down to three checkable differences. PlateLens includes three AI photo scans a day on its free plan, while Cronometer keeps Photo Log for Gold. PlateLens shows no countdown, card prompt or paywall on its scanner, and it documents a JSON export of your full history plus account and data deletion under GDPR and CCPA. And if you ever upgrade, PlateLens Premium costs $34.99 a year against $59.99 for Cronometer Gold. Cronometer remains the better pick for one job, a deep vitamin and mineral report.
The other three that are actually free
Cronometer suits people who care about nutrients as much as calories. The diary and the scanner cost nothing, with ads, and the company’s count goes up to 95 nutrients and compounds per food. Gold drops the ads and brings photo and voice logging plus Crono Coach.
FatSecret is the veteran: scanning, workout and weigh-in records, a browser version and a talkative community, all free.
MyNetDiary lets free users scan and set calorie and macro goals in a calm, orderly layout that works online as well as on a phone.
The freemium three, and where each draws the line
- YAZIO draws it at plans and recipes. The diary and scanner are free; PRO holds the rest.
- Lose It! draws it at insights and planning tools. The calorie budget is free. Check inside the app whether your plan includes the scanner and Snap It, because the company’s pages do not say plainly.
- MyFitnessPal draws it at the scanner. Its Premium page lists barcode scanning with Meal Scan and voice logging. The free catalogue is the biggest in the category.
Not graded
MacroFactor sells coaching after a trial, so there is no free tier to put a badge on. Plenty of lifters pay its $71.99 a year happily for targets that move every week with their intake and weight. Noom is a paid behaviour-change program rather than a free calorie counter.
How we check
Looks don’t count, and the Free Verdict is a band, never a number. Dollar prices carry the date we noted them; each app is looked at again every month, and the review date above moves when anything changes.