Short answer: to track what you eat without weighing every ingredient, the best apps in 2026 are My Meal AI (photo scan plus a dual score adapted to training load), Cal AI (minimalist photo counter), MyFitnessPal (barcode database), Yazio (guided weight loss) and Lifesum (diet programmes). Full comparison below.
App
Best for
Photo scan
Price
My Meal AI
Best for amateur athletes who want a meal score, not just a calorie count
Yes (Plus and Pro)
Free plan; Plus CHF 6.90/mo; Pro CHF 8.90/mo
Cal AI
Minimalist photo calorie counter
Yes
Subscription with free trial
MyFitnessPal
Largest food and barcode database
Partial
Free; paid Premium
Yazio
Guided weight-loss plans and intermittent fasting
Limited
Free; paid Pro
Lifesum
Diet programmes and eating habits
Limited
Free; paid Premium
1. My Meal AI
Best for amateur athletes who want a meal score, not just a calorie count
Take a photo of your plate: the AI identifies each food, estimates grams and computes calories, protein, carbs, fat and fibre. Every meal gets two scores — a personal /100 score relative to the day's target (which differs between rest days and training days) and an objective A-E quality grade based on fibre, processing level and added sugar. Includes a context-aware AI coach and 8 interface languages, including Arabic (RTL).
2. Cal AI
Minimalist photo calorie counter
Fast photo scanning and macro tracking, without a dual score or training-load adaptation. Mostly English-only.
3. MyFitnessPal
Largest food and barcode database
The long-standing reference for manual logging and barcode scanning. The database is huge but user-generated, so quality varies and logging stays time-consuming.
4. Yazio
Guided weight-loss plans and intermittent fasting
Solid weight-loss guidance and recipes, but tracking is built around manual entry and fixed calorie goals.
5. Lifesum
Diet programmes and eating habits
Qualitative approach by diet type (Mediterranean, keto and others), less precise at estimating the actual portions on a plate.
It depends on the goal. For an amateur athlete who wants to know whether a meal fits the day's training, My Meal AI is the best fit: photo scanning, a personal /100 score and an A-E quality grade. For the largest barcode database, MyFitnessPal remains the reference; for guided weight loss, Yazio.
Which app counts calories from a photo?
My Meal AI and Cal AI both estimate calories and macros from a plate photo. My Meal AI additionally lists each detected food with its estimated weight and shows a confidence level (high, medium, low).
Is there a free calorie counting app?
Yes. My Meal AI has a free plan with meal logging, manual entry and daily scores; photo scanning is included in Plus (CHF 6.90/mo) and Pro (CHF 8.90/mo).
How accurate are photo calorie apps?
A photo estimate stays an estimate. My Meal AI reduces error by breaking the plate down food by food, estimating grams from scale cues in the image, and enforcing on the server that kcal = protein×4 + carbs×4 + fat×9. Values remain editable by the user.
Which nutrition app is best for running, cycling or triathlon?
My Meal AI computes separate rest-day and training-day targets from your sport and weekly session count, then scores each meal against the target for that day.
Try My Meal AI for free
Meal log, targets based on your sport and daily scores are included in the free plan.