calvinTwo are confirmed by the vendors themselves: Cronometer includes its barcode scanner in the free Basic tier, and Calvin, made by the author of this page, keeps scanning and food search free with no scan cap. MyFitnessPal moved its scanner behind Premium on October 1, 2022, and MacroFactor has no free tier.
Prices and tiers verified 9 August 2026
Disclosure: I make Calvin, one of the five apps compared here. That is a reason to check my claims rather than take them on trust, so every figure below is dated and linked to the vendor's own page. Where a competitor's position is genuinely unclear, this page says so instead of guessing.
Which calorie trackers still let you scan barcodes for free?
Two are confirmed, as of August 2026: Cronometer includes its barcode scanner in the free Basic tier, and Calvin keeps scanning and food-database search free with no scan limit. MyFitnessPal has required Premium since 2022 and MacroFactor has no free tier. Lose It is widely reported free, though not by Lose It.
| App | Barcode scanning, free? | Free tier exists? | Account required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cronometer | Yes — in the free Basic tier | Yes | Yes |
| Calvin | Yes — no scan limit | Yes | No |
| MyFitnessPal | No — Premium since 1 Oct 2022 | Yes | Yes |
| Lose It! | Reported free — unconfirmed | Yes | Yes |
| MacroFactor | No free tier to scan from | No — trial only | Yes |
MyFitnessPal's own support documentation is the clearest statement of the change: as of 1 October 2022 the scanner requires a Premium subscription, and its Premium comparison page still lists barcode scanning as a paid benefit. Cronometer, by contrast, lists the barcode scanner among the Basic features on its Gold comparison page.
On Lose It: reports through 2026 describe its barcode scanner as free on every platform, with Snap It — its AI photo logging — as the Premium feature. Earlier reports said the opposite, that the scanner was moving into Premium for new sign-ups while older free accounts kept it. I cannot confirm either from Lose It's own documentation, and the apps publishing both claims are mostly competitors. Treat it as unconfirmed and check inside the app before relying on it.
What does each calorie tracker cost in 2026?
Paid tiers run from $39.99 to $99.99 a year. MyFitnessPal Premium is $79.99 annually and Premium+ $99.99; Cronometer Gold is $59.99 a year or $10.99 monthly; MacroFactor is roughly $71.99 a year with no free tier; Calvin Plus is $49.99 a year.
| App | Monthly | Annual | What the money buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyFitnessPal Premium | $19.99 | $79.99 | Barcode scanning, macros by gram, no ads |
| MyFitnessPal Premium+ | $24.99 | $99.99 | The above, plus a meal planner and recipes |
| Cronometer Gold | $10.99 | $59.99 | Photo and voice logging, recipe importer, longer reports |
| MacroFactor | $11.99 | $71.99 | The whole app — there is no free tier |
| Lose It! Premium | $9.99 | $39.99 | Planning and reporting features |
| Calvin Plus | $9.99 | $49.99 | AI meal-photo scanning, deeper insights |
Cronometer's and MyFitnessPal's figures come from their own pricing pages, linked above. MacroFactor's and Lose It's are the consistent figures reported across third-party reviews in mid-2026 rather than vendor confirmations, so treat those two rows as approximate. Every price here is US dollars and excludes App Store regional variation.
Why did barcode scanning end up behind a paywall?
Scanning is the feature people use most, which makes it the most effective thing to meter. MyFitnessPal moved its scanner to Premium on October 1, 2022, after years of offering it free. The underlying barcode data is largely public — USDA and Open Food Facts — so the paywall prices convenience, not the database.
That last point is the part worth knowing. The two biggest sources of packaged-food nutrition data are open: the USDA's FoodData Central branded-food dataset, and Open Food Facts, which publishes under the Open Database License. An app charging for barcode scanning is charging for the lookup experience, not for access to numbers that anyone can obtain.
This is also why "free" varies so much between apps. A tracker's free tier reflects a pricing decision, not a technical limit.
Which free calorie tracker should you choose?
Pick Cronometer if micronutrients matter — it tracks 84 of them free. Pick Calvin if you want barcode scanning, full macros and an adaptive target without an account, on iPhone. Pick MacroFactor if you will pay $71.99 a year for coaching. MyFitnessPal's free tier no longer scans.
- You want the deepest free nutrition data. Cronometer. 84 nutrients on the free tier is unmatched, and the barcode scanner is included.
- You want to log fast and not sign up for anything. Calvin. No account, scanning and search free, and the log stays on the phone. iPhone and Apple Watch only.
- You want algorithmic coaching and will pay for it. MacroFactor. There is no free tier, so the question is only whether the coaching is worth the subscription.
- You already have years of MyFitnessPal history. Staying is reasonable — but the free tier will not scan, so budget for Premium or plan to export.
Common questions
Is MyFitnessPal's barcode scanner still free?
No. MyFitnessPal moved the barcode scanner behind a Premium subscription on October 1, 2022, and its own help documentation still describes a Premium subscription as a requirement. Free accounts can search the database and log manually, but scanning a package is a paid feature.
Which calorie tracker has the best free tier?
It depends on what you track. Cronometer's free tier is the strongest for micronutrients, covering 84 of them. Calvin's free tier is the strongest for fast logging on iPhone, keeping barcode scanning, food search, full macros and the adaptive target unmetered and account-free.
Can you count calories without paying anything?
Yes. Manual logging with full macros is free in every major tracker, and both Cronometer and Calvin also scan barcodes free. The paid tiers mostly sell convenience — photo scanning, coaching, deeper reports — rather than access to the underlying nutrition data, which is largely public.
Where does the nutrition data in these apps come from?
Mostly from public sources plus each app's own crowd-sourced entries. The USDA FoodData Central branded database and Open Food Facts are the two big open sets, and Open Food Facts is licensed under the Open Database License. Calvin uses USDA Branded first, with Open Food Facts as fallback.
Sources
- Cronometer Gold — Basic versus Gold feature table and pricing. Checked 9 August 2026.
- MyFitnessPal Premium — Premium and Premium+ pricing and feature lists. Checked 9 August 2026.
- USDA FoodData Central — the branded-food dataset behind most barcode lookups.
- Open Food Facts — open packaged-food database, Open Database License.
Calvin keeps scanning free
Barcode scanning, food search and full macros, with no account and no scan limit. Your log stays on your phone.
Leer en español Calvin is made by Kevin Estrada. This page compares Calvin with apps I do not make; prices change, and the date above is when each was last checked.