Free MyFitnessPal alternatives with no subscription (2026)

§ 01 · First, work out what you actually lost

“Free alternative” means four different things depending on which wall you walked into:

The barcode scanner. The most common one. You want an app that still scans for free.

The price. You are fine with the app, you are not fine with the renewal. You want a usable permanent free tier.

The ads. Free MyFitnessPal is ad-supported. You want quiet.

The account.You would rather your eating history not sit on a company's server behind a login. This is the narrowest group and has the fewest options.

§ 02 · FatSecret — closest to old free MyFitnessPal

If what you want is the app MyFitnessPal used to be, this is the nearest thing. Barcode scanning, a large database, macro tracking, recipes, and weight tracking, all free. It is ad-supported and it does require an account, so it solves the paywall problem and not the privacy one.

Pick it if: you want the scanner back and do not care about ads or accounts.

§ 03 · Cronometer — the rigorous one

Cronometer's free tier tracks dozens of micronutrients against a curated, lab-verified database, and barcode scanning is included. If you are tracking for a medical reason, or you actually care whether you hit your magnesium, nothing else on this list is close.

It is denser than MyFitnessPal and takes longer to learn. It also needs an account and syncs to their servers.

Pick it if: micronutrient accuracy matters more than logging speed. We say the same thing on our own BiteDeck vs. Cronometer page — it wins on nutrient depth.

§ 04 · MyNetDiary — free, and no ads

Barcode scanning and full macro tracking in the free tier, without the ad load. Cross-platform, account required. A reasonable middle option if FatSecret's ads bother you.

§ 05 · Lose It — if you want the social part

Closest in feel to MyFitnessPal's friendliness, with community challenges MyFitnessPal never really matched. The free tier is ad-supported and photo logging is paid.

Pick it if: accountability from other people is what keeps you logging. See BiteDeck vs. Lose It.

§ 06 · Foodnoms — the other local-first iPhone app

Worth naming plainly: Foodnoms is BiteDeck's closest competitor and shares the same foundation — iPhone-only, data on the device, no account required. It is a well-built app by people who care about the same things we do.

The differences are in restaurant coverage, fasting, and forecasting rather than philosophy. Our comparison lays them out.

§ 07 · BiteDeck — if the account is the problem

Ours, so weigh it accordingly. BiteDeck exists for the fourth group above: people who do not want a login or a server copy of what they eat. There is no account, no sign-up, and no BiteDeck server — your log lives in on-device storage and exports to CSV or PDF whenever you want.

Free, permanently: barcode scanning, nutrition-label OCR, 151,700 foods, 282 restaurant chains, fasting timers, weight and body-fat tracking, an on-device forecast, Apple Health sync, widgets, and export. The paid tier ($14.99/mo, $69.99/yr) covers only the four AI features — photo scan, Coach, Plate Check, and voice logging. Counting calories never costs anything.

Do not pick it if: you need Android, a web app, or sync across devices. No server is exactly what makes those impossible — it is the same trade seen from both sides. More on how that works.

§ 08 · What to skip if price is the issue

Noom comes up constantly in these lists, and it is worth being clear: it is subscription-only with no permanent free tier. It is a behaviour-change program with a food log attached, and it is priced like a program. If you are here because a renewal annoyed you, it is not the answer. See BiteDeck vs. Noom for the full breakdown.

§ 09 · The short version

Scanner back, free: FatSecret. Nutrient depth: Cronometer. No ads, free: MyNetDiary. Community: Lose It. No account, iPhone: BiteDeck or Foodnoms.

Pricing and feature gating change constantly across all of these. Verify current terms on each app's own site before committing — including ours.

§ 10 · FAQ

• What is the best free alternative to MyFitnessPal?

  It depends what you lost. If you want the closest match to old free MyFitnessPal, FatSecret keeps barcode scanning and a full database free. If you care about micronutrients, Cronometer’s free tier is the most rigorous. If you want no account and nothing stored on a server, BiteDeck is built for that specifically. There is no single winner — the useful question is which limitation you hit.

• Which calorie apps still scan barcodes for free?

  FatSecret, Cronometer, MyNetDiary, and BiteDeck all include barcode scanning in their free tiers as of 2026. MyFitnessPal moved its scanner behind Premium in 2022, which is the single most common reason people go looking for an alternative.

• Is there a calorie tracker with no subscription at all?

  Almost every tracker now has a paid tier — the honest question is whether the free tier is usable on its own, permanently. FatSecret, Cronometer, MyNetDiary, and BiteDeck all let you track calories indefinitely without paying. Noom does not; it is subscription-only with a trial.

• Do I have to make an account to track calories?

  For most apps, yes — the account is what makes their server sync work. The exceptions are local-first iPhone apps like BiteDeck and Foodnoms, which store your log on the device instead. The trade is direct: no account and no server also means no cross-device sync and no web app.