MyFitnessPal still has a free tier. What has changed is how much of the app lives inside Premium. The barcode scanner moved behind the paywall in 2022, and in May 2026 photo meal scanning, recipe import and per-meal macro breakdowns followed it. Premium is $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year on the App Store listing as of September 2026.
We built FreeCal because we think a calorie tracker should not keep taking things away. This post says what it does instead, what it costs, and where the other trackers land, so you can decide with the prices in front of you.
What FreeCal does differently
Every feature is in the free version. Food search, barcode scanning, photo scanning, weight trend, adaptive targets, Apple Health and CSV export are all included from the first launch. There is no trial, no locked tier and no account to create.
It is paid for by ads, and we say exactly where they are. A banner at the top of each tab, at most one full-screen ad a day, and a short video before a photo scan once you have used your first three. Nothing appears while you are logging, and no feature is ever held back because you have not paid.
Removing the ads costs less than half of Premium. No Ads is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, against MyFitnessPal Premium’s $19.99 and $79.99, or $99.99 once. It removes the ads and unlocks nothing else, because there is nothing else to unlock.
Your targets adjust to what you actually burn. Weigh in when you like, and FreeCal draws a trend through the readings. After two weeks of logging it works out your real expenditure from that trend and what you ate, and adjusts your calorie target against it. If you would rather set your own numbers, you can, and it never changes them. MyFitnessPal Premium does not do this; MacroFactor does, for $71.99 a year.
Your diary stays on your phone. No account, no sync server holding your food log. Searches and scans go through our server to look up nutrition and are not stored.
The honest limits: FreeCal tracks calories, protein, carbs and fat, not micronutrients; it is iPhone and US only for now; and it is new, so there are few reviews yet.
Download FreeCal on the App Store. iPhone, US, free.
Where the others land
US App Store prices, checked today.
| App | Free tier | Barcode scanner | Ads in the free tier | Paid tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FreeCal | Everything | Free | Yes | No Ads: $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr, $99.99 once |
| MyFitnessPal | Basic logging | Premium since 2022 | Yes | Premium: $19.99/mo, $79.99/yr |
| Cronometer | Most things, with micronutrients | Free | Yes | Gold: $10.99/mo, $59.99/yr |
| FatSecret | Most things | Free | Yes | Premium: about $14.99/mo, $59.99/yr |
| Lose It! | Basic logging | Premium only | Yes | Premium: from $39.99/yr |
| MacroFactor | None, 7-day trial | Included | No | $11.99/mo, $71.99/yr |
If you need vitamins and minerals, Cronometer’s free tier tracks them and FreeCal does not. If you want no ads and are happy to pay, MacroFactor is a good app; we wrote up its pricing separately. For everything else, the switch from MyFitnessPal costs an evening: export your history first, then start logging. Every app here lets you type a food in seconds.
Elsewhere: The SaaS Directory’s roundup of calorie trackers people recommend on Reddit and The AI Tools Directory’s look at AI calorie trackers both cover FreeCal alongside the apps above. FreeCal is also listed on The SaaS Directory and The AI Tools Directory.