An honest comparison.

§ 01 · TL;DR

Pick Lifesum if you want to be told what to eat — a guided keto or high-protein plan, recipes to cook from, and feedback on how the week went. Its design is genuinely good at making that feel light rather than clinical.

Pick BiteDeck if you already know what to eat and want an accurate log without an account, a rating, or a server copy — plus deeper restaurant menus and real fasting support.

Short version: Lifesum coaches, BiteDeck records.

§ 02 · The comparison

Verify Lifesum's pricing, Premium gating, and plan catalogue directly on their site before relying on this table — values change.

§ 03 · Where Lifesum wins

Guided diet plans. Keto, high-protein, and others, delivered as a structured program rather than a macro target you set yourself. If you want the app to make the plan, Lifesum makes it.

Recipes. A real library, integrated with the log. BiteDeck has none and is not adding them.

Design and approachability. Lifesum has spent years making nutrition tracking feel friendly instead of clinical. BiteDeck is deliberately instrument-panel dense — some people find that focusing and others find it cold.

Android. BiteDeck is iPhone-only, which rules it out entirely if you are not on iOS.

§ 04 · Where BiteDeck wins

No account, no server. Open the app and start. Your log lives in SwiftData on your phone. Read how a tracker works with no account.

Restaurant menus that work. 282 chains, section-sorted, with scoped in-menu search and multi-add for build-your-own bowls — the difference between logging a Chipotle bowl in four taps and guessing at it.

Fasting with teeth. 16:8 through OMAD plus custom windows from 1 to 72 hours, milestone alerts, and streak protection so a 20-hour fast counts as a logged day.

Apple Health depth. 5 reads, 10 writes, and a separate toggle for every metric on top of the iOS permission. See Apple Health & HealthKit sync.

No scoring. Listed as a win, though reasonable people disagree. BiteDeck shows the numbers and stops. If a weekly grade motivates you, treat this as a loss instead — the on-device forecast is the closest thing to feedback it offers.

§ 05 · Pricing

Lifesum: free tier plus a Premium subscription that unlocks diet plans, recipes, and deeper analysis. Verify the current Premium price on their site.

BiteDeck: free tier and paid tier ($14.99/month or $69.99/year). No ads in either tier; the paid tier covers only the four AI features. Tracking, fasting, and export are free forever. See full pricing.

§ 06 · Privacy

Lifesum requires an account and stores your log on its servers under its own privacy terms, which is what makes cross-device access work.

BiteDeck has no servers and no account. Zero analytics, zero trackers, zero cookie banner on this site. Off-device traffic is limited to a few narrowly scoped AI flows routed through BiteDeck's proxy and never retained. See BiteDeck's privacy policy.

§ 07 · FAQ

• Is BiteDeck a good Lifesum alternative?

  On iPhone, yes, if what you want from Lifesum is the tracking rather than the guidance. Lifesum wraps its log in diet plans, recipes, and a food-rating system; BiteDeck strips all of that out and gives you numbers, no account, and nothing stored on a server. If the diet plans are why you use Lifesum, this is not a swap.

• Does BiteDeck rate my food like Lifesum does?

  No, deliberately. Lifesum scores meals and gives your week a rating. BiteDeck shows calories, macros, and micros without a judgement layer on top — partly a design view that scoring invites guilt more than behaviour change, and partly because a rating is a claim BiteDeck would rather not make about your dinner.

• Does BiteDeck have diet plans like keto or high-protein?

  Not as guided plans. BiteDeck lets you set macro targets directly, including preset diets during onboarding, but it does not walk you through a keto or high-protein program with recipes and weekly structure. Lifesum does that well and BiteDeck does not compete on it.

• Where does my data live in BiteDeck vs Lifesum?

  Lifesum requires an account and stores your log on its servers, which is what enables cross-device access. BiteDeck has no account and no server — your log lives in SwiftData on your iPhone and exports to CSV or PDF anytime, in the free tier.