The free tier has no conditions attached: no ads, no account required to start, no expiration, and no scanner paywall. Prices below are current US pricing, verified September 2026. None of the other major free trackers we compared offers all four, and the app keeps working offline, so a dead spot in coverage does not interrupt logging.
Free tier
The Free Nutrition Tracking App That Doesn't Hold Back
MyNetDiary differs from most free calorie apps in three practical areas: fast logging, verified foods, and a free tier with full nutrient depth and zero ads. Here is what that looks like in a free nutrition tracking app.
Everything or just calorie counting: you choose during setup.
Recognized by
- Forbes Health ranked MyNetDiary #1 in Best Weight Loss Apps of 2025
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine highest behavioral-strategies score of 30 apps
- U.S. News & World Report named MyNetDiary best for overall tracking
- The New York Times called MyNetDiary simpler, quicker, and better-looking than the competition
- Today’s Dietitian noted “a staff of RDs experienced in weight management, diabetes, cardiovascular health”
32 million people trust MyNetDiary
At a Glance
- MyNetDiary's free tier includes the barcode scanner, voice logging, 13 charts, reports across your full history, and a shopping list, with no ads and no account required to start.
- You can track up to 108 nutrients per food entry free on both iOS and Android, with detailed tracking of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients.
- Every food comes from a staff-verified database of more than 2 million foods: research-grade reference data from the USDA and the NCC as the foundation, with every branded and restaurant entry reviewed by MyNetDiary’s nutrition research staff before it reaches you.
- In our January 2026 testing, MyNetDiary needed fewer actions to log the same 127 food entries than any other calorie tracker we measured.
- Free analysis runs deep: nutrient targets, nutrient ratios, Food Score, and a customizable dashboard are all included at no cost.
MyNetDiary delivers highly accurate nutrition tracking built on the same research-grade databases used in clinical nutrition research, and it keeps the essentials free: calorie counting, the food database, the barcode scanner, macro tracking, micronutrient detail, charts, and reports, all ad-free. Every comparison method and database source below is linked.
What Do You Get Free With MyNetDiary?
A free nutrition tracking app with this much in it can look like a lot, so you decide how much of it you see. Onboarding asks what you need. Answer calorie counting only, with no diets, tips, or coaching, and it becomes a lean calorie tracker: food diary, free barcode scanner, verified database, and the fastest logging in our testing. The Dashboard is fully configurable, and tools and features can be turned on or off at any time.
MyNetDiary offers accurate nutrition tracking for free: the staff-verified food database, the barcode scanner, voice logging, nutrient targets, charts, and reports are all included, and the table below lists everything by category.
| Category | Included free |
|---|---|
| Food logging | Full database access, unlimited barcode scanner, voice logging, custom foods and recipes, future logging, offline logging |
| Calories and macros | Calorie budget (2023 EER equations), macro tracking and planning by grams or calorie percentages, custom macro targets |
| Nutrients | Full nutrient depth with targets and ratios for vitamins and minerals |
| Analysis | 13 charts, reports over any date range, Food Score, customizable dashboard |
| Health trackers | Weight, heart rate, resting heart rate, water, steps, sleep, day events, progress photos, exercise |
| Integrations | Apple Health, Health Connect, Samsung Health, plus Apple Watch and Wear OS apps, and home and lock screen widgets |
| Community and sharing | Public and private groups, recipe sharing, success stories, friends, food sharing with family, shopping list |
| Guidance | Coaching tips, meal reminders, articles by Registered Dietitians, Professional Connect for sharing your diary with your dietitian or coach, free for them too |
| Experience | No ads, no account required to start, dark mode, dynamic fonts, iPad-optimized design |
MyNetDiary is also used by dietitians and coaches through Professional Connect, which lets practitioners connect with clients at no cost to either side and follow their food tracking between visits.
How Deep Does Free Nutrition Tracking Go?
Deeper than any other major nutrition tracker app we have compared (as of August 2026): up to 108 nutrients per food entry, free, on both iOS and Android. The full set extends well past calories and macros to vitamins, minerals, omega fatty acids, and amino acids.
The metric that matters here is nutrient completeness, the number of nutrient fields actually populated per food entry. MyNetDiary supports up to 108 nutrient fields. How many are populated for a given food depends on its source data, and foods linked to research-grade composition data carry the fullest profiles. Two nutrition apps can both list "vitamin D" as trackable, but if most foods in one database carry empty fields, your daily totals understate what you ate. Depth only counts when the database behind it is filled in, so verification and nutrient coverage have to be judged together.
That depth answers questions a calorie count cannot: whether iron, potassium, fiber, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, or B vitamins are consistently running low even while your calories look fine and the macronutrient breakdown is on target. The gap widens during weight loss, when smaller portions leave less room to cover every nutrient. And the depth does not sit behind a paywall. Free users see the same nutrient fields as Premium users; upgrading adds features, not nutrient data.
Where Does the Nutrition Data Come From?
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MyNetDiary's searchable food database contains more than 2 million staff-verified foods built on the USDA and NCC research-grade food databases, with 2,500-3,500 foods reviewed and updated daily so new products and label changes arrive quickly. The result is verified nutritional data you can rely on.
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The alternative model is crowdsourcing: any user can submit an entry, most entries are never professionally reviewed, and the same food ends up listed a dozen times with a dozen different calorie counts. Our database accuracy guide walks through the validation research and the failure modes.
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USDA data is public at USDA FoodData Central. The NCC database from the Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota is a licensed research database that underpins nutrient analysis in published dietary research.
Independent testing backs the sourcing. In a 2026 validation study in Nutrition and Health, which entered the same dietitian-designed three-day menus into 13 nutrition apps, MyNetDiary’s energy estimate came within 5 kcal of the reference, an absolute error of 0.2%. Of the 13 apps tested, only MyNetDiary and FatSecret came that close, while the largest overestimate exceeded 700 kcal per day.
Is MyNetDiary Really Free, or Are There Catches?
Privacy is a commitment, not a side effect of the business model: MyNetDiary does not sell your personal data to anyone, on any tier, and never has. Advertising is a separate question, and the answer is also no. The free tier carries no ads, so no third-party ad network sits inside the app collecting what you log. And because no account is needed to start, you can begin tracking without handing over an email address.
Some of the biggest trackers have moved barcode scanning behind a subscription. MyNetDiary's scanner stays free, reading from the verified database, so a scan returns verified calories, macros, and the available nutrient detail for that food.
What Nutrition Analysis Is Included Free?
The free tier includes 13 charts, reports over any date range you choose, nutrient targets, nutrient ratios, Food Score, and a customizable dashboard.
If your real question is "I am eating fewer calories, but am I eating well?", the free reports answer it: run a report over any period, from a week to your whole history, and see which vitamins and minerals consistently come up short against your targets. There is no seven-day window to work around. Your history stays yours to analyze at no cost. That is the full analysis suite, in a free nutrition tracker.
Free reports in MyNetDiary compare intake against nutrient targets for any period, from a week to your full history.
One exception: nutrient contributor analysis, the view that shows which foods supplied a given nutrient, sits in Premium. Everything else described in this section is free.
How Fast Is Logging?
In our January 2026 test, we logged the same 127 food entries over one week in seven popular calorie tracking apps and counted every tap, keystroke, and confirmation. MyNetDiary needed 711 actions; every other tracker required 23% to 46% more for the same meals, with MyNetDiary as the base. Named counts and the full method are in our food logging speed test.
| App | Actions to log 127 entries |
|---|---|
| MyNetDiary | 711 |
| Lose It! | 872 |
| MacroFactor | 877 |
| Noom | 896 |
| Yazio | 997 |
| Cronometer | 1,003 |
| MyFitnessPal | 1,035 |
Actions to log the same 127 entries · fewer is better · full methodology and dataset in the linked test
Proven in a Peer-Reviewed Study
Users who tracked food 6 to 7 days per week lost 11.33% of their body weight on average over 6 months. For a 220-lb person, that’s about 25 lb, or about 1 lb per week. Even 2 to 3 days a week averaged a 7.35% loss.*
*Peer-reviewed study of 5,132 MyNetDiary users, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2026 (read the study). Observational; individual results vary.
How Do Current Users Rate It?
Lifetime star ratings hide decline; recent reviews do not. The monthly Diet App Scorecard analyzes recent US App Store written reviews with a published methodology. MyNetDiary has been consistently among the top-rated apps in every edition, scoring between 4.40 and 4.56, and returned to #1 in July 2026 at 4.46 while MyFitnessPal sat at 2.18; different apps led in May and June.
Who Is MyNetDiary Free Best For?
MyNetDiary Free is particularly well suited to people who want a free nutrition tracking app to log food, calories, macros, and micronutrients without paying, watching ads, or creating an account. That includes beginners setting their first calorie goals, experienced trackers who want nutrient depth without a subscription, and anyone whose current app moved its scanner or its data behind a paywall.
| App | Database source | Verification | Database size | Nutrients tracked | Ads in free tier | Account required to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyNetDiary | USDA + NCC | Staff review team, daily updates | 2 million+ | Up to 108 | No ads | No |
| Cronometer | 10+ curated sources including USDA + NCC | Curation team; user submissions reviewed | 1.2M | 95 | Ads | Yes |
| MyFitnessPal | Company-added and user-added entries | Company-reviewed foods plus public user submissions | 20M+ | 21 | Ads | Yes |
| Lose It! | Company and user entries | User submissions; verification model per Lose It! documentation | 60M+ | 28 (Premium) | Ads | Yes |
Sources and methodology. Database sizes, verification models, nutrient counts, free-tier ads, and account requirements were checked against each company’s official website or support documentation in September 2026 (Cronometer support center, Data Sources; MyFitnessPal Help, food data and plan comparison; Lose It! help center). Apps change often, so figures are dated rather than permanent.
Where another app fits better: if you want direct connections to a wide range of wearables and multi-variable charting on verified data, Cronometer is the strongest alternative, and our full comparison walks through the details. If raw catalog size matters more to you than verification, MyFitnessPal and Lose It! list far more entries, mostly user-submitted. For a wider look across the category, see our best free calorie tracking apps roundup.
What Do Premium and Premium Plus Add?
Features, not nutrient depth. Premium adds Meal Scan photo logging, structured diet plans and recipes, intermittent fasting and calorie cycling, health and medication tracking, GLP-1 Companion, Fitbit, Garmin, and Withings sync, and Advanced Autopilot, an adaptive algorithm similar to MacroFactor’s: instead of a formula frozen at signup, it estimates your actual energy expenditure (TDEE) from your logged food and your weight trend, then updates calorie and macro targets as that estimate changes. Premium Plus adds AI Coach, AI Suggest Meals, AI Voice Logging, and AI Restaurant Menu Scan.
The table is the full inventory. During onboarding you choose the depth or the simplicity you want, and if your needs change later, you can pick and choose.
| Feature | Free | Premium | Premium Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food diary with search, favorites, recent meals, and copy-from-day | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Exercise and water tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free barcode scanner | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Food label scanner (Android) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voice logging | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Macro and protein tracking and planning, by grams or calorie percentages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full nutrient depth (up to 108) with custom targets, vitamins and minerals included | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weight loss charts and reports, no caps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited data history | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fully configurable Dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Apple Watch and Wear OS apps, home and lock screen widgets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Apple Health, Health Connect, and Samsung Health sync | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom foods and recipes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shopping list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coaching tips and meal reminders | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Community and food sharing with family | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Professional Connect: work with your dietitian or coach | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Works offline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Exercise calorie add-back: 0% or 50% free, any value in Premium | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Meal Scan photo logging | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GLP-1 Companion | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Autologging: set regular meals once, they log automatically | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Intermittent fasting | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calorie and macro cycling | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced Autopilot: adaptive TDEE-based calorie and macro targets | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 4 methods to estimate energy needs: EER, RMR, BMR by body fat, Mifflin-St. Jeor | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Health tracking: body measurements, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, A1C, ketones | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Medication tracking | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Up to 50 custom trackers and biometrics | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fitbit, Garmin, and Withings sync | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trend Analysis (iOS) and Timelines (Android) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Meal Planner | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recipe import | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 600+ recipes and diet plans by Registered Dietitians | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI Coach: daily guidance and answers anytime | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI Suggest Meals | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI Voice Logging: spoken meal descriptions become structured diary entries | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI Restaurant Menu Scan | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Premium Plus adds AI Coach, AI Suggest Meals, AI Restaurant Menu Scan, and AI Voice Logging. Premium is $8.99 per month or $59.99 per year, Premium Plus is $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year, and a $179.99 lifetime option is available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MyNetDiary really free?
Yes. The free tier includes the full food database, unlimited barcode scanning, voice logging, macro and micronutrient tracking, 13 charts, reports over any date range, a water tracker, a shopping list, and community features. There are no ads, no account is required to start, and the free tier never expires.
Can I track vitamins and minerals for free with MyNetDiary?
Yes. MyNetDiary provides detailed tracking of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients free on both iOS and Android, covering up to 108 nutrients per food entry, including omega fatty acids and amino acids. The free tier goes beyond just calories and macros.
Do I need to create an account to use MyNetDiary?
No. You can download MyNetDiary and start logging food without creating an account. A free account is optional and adds sync across your devices and the web app, but it is not required to begin tracking.
Does the free version of MyNetDiary have ads?
No. MyNetDiary's free tier is completely ad-free. Nothing interrupts your logging, and because there is no in-app advertising, no third-party ad networks receive your in-app activity. MyNetDiary does not sell your data.
Do MyNetDiary and Cronometer use the same nutrition data?
They maintain separate food databases built on the same research-grade sources as Cronometer's, USDA and NCC. From there they diverge: MyNetDiary adds its staff-verified catalog of branded and restaurant foods and tracks up to 108 per entry; Cronometer adds other curated sources and its own reviewed community entries.
What does staff-verified mean for a food database?
It means trained nutrition staff review every branded and restaurant entry for accuracy before it reaches users, cross-checking label data against reference sources, while USDA and NCC reference data forms the layer that needs no re-checking. Crowdsourced databases let anyone submit an entry without professional review, which is how duplicates, outdated labels, and wrong serving sizes accumulate.
Which free app tracks the most nutrients?
Among the major nutrition trackers we have compared (as of August 2026), MyNetDiary tracks the most: up to 108 nutrients per food entry, and the full set is free. Nutrient completeness varies widely between apps, and many popular trackers cover only 20 to 30 nutrient fields even in paid tiers.
Does tracking food actually work for weight loss?
Yes. In a peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research study of 5,132 MyNetDiary users who logged food regularly and weighed in monthly, tracking food 6 to 7 days a week was associated with an average loss of 11.33% of body weight over 6 months, and each additional tracking day per week was associated with 35% higher odds of losing at least 5%, the clinically significant threshold. Observational data: association, not causation, and individual results vary.
What's the best free nutrition tracking app?
For people who want free barcode scanning, detailed vitamin and mineral tracking, no ads, and no account requirement, MyNetDiary is one of the strongest choices for a free nutrition tracking app: its free tier supports up to 108 nutrient fields along with calories and macros, includes voice logging, and logged the same meals in fewer actions than any other major tracker in our January 2026 test.
Is MyNetDiary too complicated if I only want to count calories?
No. During onboarding, tell the app you only want to count calories, with no diets, tips, or coaching, and it becomes a lean calorie tracker: food diary, free barcode scanner, verified database, and the fastest logging in our testing. The Dashboard is fully configurable, and any tool or feature can be turned on or off later.
The catalog is trusted well beyond this app: more than 50 other diet apps and services license it, including Noom and Lifesum, which licensed earlier versions of it, and MyNetDiary is used in academic and clinical research. How the verification works is documented on our verified food database page.
Start Tracking Free
Comparison figures on this page were verified in August 2026 from each app’s published materials, and logging speed figures come from our January 2026 test with a published methodology. All product names, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners.
