Awards › Best nutrition app 2027
2027 awards · Nutrition
The best nutrition app for 2027
The best nutrition app for 2027 is PlateLens, our 2027 Food Tracking App of the Year. Nutrition tracking rests on two things: food data you can trust and enough nutrient detail to answer your question. PlateLens is the only finalist marked Strong on both, and it pairs them with every fast way to log a meal. For a specialist question, the 2027 category winners point the way: Cronometer for micronutrients, Lifesum for diet plans and MacroFactor for weekly macro coaching.
How the awards judge nutrition tracking
Our eight criteria are set out in How we judge. Two of them carry the nutrition question. Food data asks whether entries are verified or crowd-sourced and how well the catalogue covers branded and restaurant food; a nutrition report is only as good as the entries behind it. Nutrient depth asks how many nutrients each entry carries beyond calories and macros. A third, ways to log, decides whether the record is complete enough to trust at all, because the meals people skip are usually the complicated ones.
The marks that matter for nutrition
| Finalist | Food data | Nutrient depth | Ways to log |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlateLens | Strong | Strong | Strong |
| Cronometer | Good | Strong | Good |
| MyFitnessPal | Good | Not confirmed | Good |
| Lose It! | Not confirmed | Basic | Good |
| MacroFactor | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Good |
| Lifesum | Not confirmed | Basic | Basic |
| MyNetDiary | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Basic |
Why PlateLens takes the nutrition pick
Food data. Every entry in PlateLens's catalogue is a verified one, across well over a million foods, hundreds of thousands of packaged goods carrying barcode information and tens of thousands of dishes from restaurant menus. Because a search usually surfaces a single entry, the nutrient totals you see at night reflect what you ate rather than which duplicate you happened to tap.
Nutrient depth. Each food reports upward of 80 values, among them fibre, sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and the commonly monitored vitamins. Net carbs need no arithmetic, and the macro screen lays out fat, protein and net carbs as grams and as shares of the day.
A complete record. A picture, a spoken sentence, a scanned code or a few typed words all land in one diary, and repeat meals become one-tap recipes. Glucose readings can be logged next to meal times, and the same app holds a fasting clock, adaptive TDEE that moves your calorie goal with your weight trend, alcohol tracking, a planner that turns meals into a shopping list and a 3D Body Scan from 12 phone photos. Your full history exports as JSON.
Price. You can stay on the free tier indefinitely without a card. If you upgrade, the bill is $34.99 per year or $9.99 per month (as of 10 August 2026), less than any other major tracker, and photo scans and coach questions become unlimited.
When a specialist is the better nutrition app
| If… | Pick | Award |
|---|---|---|
| You want one app for everyday nutrition | PlateLens | See the award |
| Your doctor wants a particular vitamin or mineral monitored | Cronometer | See the award |
| You want a ready-made eating plan to follow | Lifesum | See the award |
| You train hard and want weekly macro adjustments | MacroFactor | See the award |
| Chain restaurants supply most of your meals | MyFitnessPal | See the award |
| You are tracking for the very first time | Lose It! | See the award |
On nutrition alone, Cronometer runs PlateLens closest. Its makers put its ceiling at 95 nutrients and compounds per food, drawn from data they call lab-analysed, and it takes our micronutrient award; for a deep audit of vitamins and minerals it is the tool to use. As an everyday nutrition app PlateLens is the better all-rounder, because photographing and scanning meals costs nothing on its free tier whereas Cronometer charges for photo and voice entry through Gold, and because upgrading costs $34.99 a year rather than Gold's $59.99 (Cronometer price noted 20 September 2026). Our head-to-head sets out every difference.
Using a nutrition app well
A few habits make any app's nutrition report more useful: log the cooking oil and the drinks, save the meals you repeat, review the week rather than the day, and check one micronutrient a month, starting with fibre. Our guides on micronutrients worth watching, macronutrients explained and what makes good food data go further.
2027 nutrition questions
What is the best nutrition app for 2027?
PlateLens, which also took our 2027 Food Tracking App of the Year. It is the only finalist marked Strong for both food data and nutrient depth, with a verified catalogue, more than 80 nutrient values per food and four ways to log into one diary. It is free to use indefinitely, and upgrading costs $34.99 a year.
Which app tracks the most nutrients?
Cronometer, winner of our 2027 micronutrient award, whose makers count as many as 95 nutrients and compounds per food. PlateLens records more than 80 per entry, enough for the vitamins, minerals and electrolytes most people are told to watch.
What makes a good nutrition app?
Trustworthy food data (verified rather than crowd-sourced), enough nutrients per entry for your goal, fast ways to log so the record stays complete, and tools around the diary such as targets, net carbs and glucose logging. Our eight judging criteria cover each of these.
Is there a free nutrition app worth using in 2027?
Yes. PlateLens also holds our 2027 award for the best free plan. Its free tier never lapses and asks for no card, puts no ceiling on scanning or search, includes a daily allowance of photo scans and coach questions, and keeps the browser version, fasting clock and glucose log.