Calo AI reviews, and how the Calo calorie counter compares to MyFoodBuddy

Calo vs MyFoodBuddy, feature by feature

Calo and MyFoodBuddy are both AI calorie trackers. Calo is a full-featured diary with a camera button in the middle and meal plans on the side. MyFoodBuddy is a chat. Rows marked “Not listed publicly” are things Calo does not state on its own pages, and where only reviewers mention a feature, the table says so.

The two rows that matter most are photo logging, which Calo has and MyFoodBuddy does not, and meal plans, which Calo includes with recipes for each macro style. MyFoodBuddy’s answer is speed of logging and editing by chat, not planning what to eat.

How Calo works day to day

Calo has been on the App Store since April 2023. Here is the routine as its listing and website describe it.

1. Set your goal and macro style. Calo calculates your calorie budget with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and your activity level, then recommends protein, carbs and fat for the style you pick, such as balanced, low-carb, keto, vegan or paleo.
2. Log a meal. Tap the camera to photograph the plate, type what you ate, or scan a barcode. App Store reviewers say you can also speak the meal.
3. Review the diary. My Diary shows calories remaining, consumed and burned, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack sections and your macros.
4. Sync activity. Workouts and calories burned come in from Apple Health or Fitbit.
5. Plan meals. A Meal Plan tab builds plans and recipes around your macro choice. One reviewer says the daily meal suggestions can be printed.

How MyFoodBuddy works day to day

MyFoodBuddy has no diary sections to fill in. You tell Fiona, an AI coach, what you ate.

1. Say what you ate. Type or speak “two eggs, toast with butter and a coffee with oat milk.”
2. Check the cards. Fiona splits the sentence into foods and amounts and shows calories, protein, carbs and fat for each one before anything is saved.
3. Tap Log it. If you state a number yourself, your number wins.
4. Fix it by chatting. Bigger portion, forgot the dressing? Tell Fiona and she updates the entry. Ask what is left for the day or how your week went.
5. Sync Apple Health for weight, sleep, steps and workouts, and scan barcodes on packaged food.

Nutrition values come from USDA FoodData Central, Edamam and Open Food Facts, and MyFoodBuddy tracks fiber, sugar, sodium and 20+ vitamins and minerals. See the about page.

How much does Calo cost compared to MyFoodBuddy

Calo does not publish prices on its website. The US App Store lists ten “Calo Premium” purchases at $3.99, $9.99, $19.99, $29.99, $39.99, $47.99 and $59.99 (some more than once) and does not say which billing period each covers. App Store reviewers in 2026 consistently say a year cost them about $20. MyFoodBuddy is $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial.

What you would actually pay

If you are offered the roughly $20 yearly plan, Calo costs about half what MyFoodBuddy does for a year. Look at the price and billing period on the paywall before you start a trial, since the App Store lists Premium at up to $59.99.

Who makes Calo, and is it the Calo meal delivery company

Two different businesses use the name Calo, which confuses a lot of “Calo app reviews” searches.

• Calo AI Food Calorie Counter, the app on this page, is made by Next Vision Limited, whose terms list an address in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. The same developer makes the Picture Insect, Picture Fish, Picture Bird and Picture Mushroom identifier apps. The calorie app’s own site is caloapp.ai.
• Calo the meal company is a meal subscription business founded in Bahrain in 2019 that delivers prepared meals in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, and expanded to the UK in 2025. It is unrelated to the calorie counter app.

Two details from the Calo app’s terms are worth knowing. Users must be at least 18, and the App Store rates the app 18+. Disputes go to individual arbitration in New York.

How accurate is Calo photo logging

Calo has not published a measured error rate. Its terms say Next Vision “cannot ensure the accuracy, completeness and reliability” of the information in the app and that it is not a healthcare provider.

Reviews go both ways. One App Store reviewer called it extremely accurate and said they can type their own calories when a result looks off. Another said photo results were right only 2 times out of 14 in their first two days, and that Apple declined their refund request. These are individual experiences, not a test.

Calo was not in the NIH study of photo apps presented in July 2026. That study found the four photo features it tested underestimated calories by 250 to 345 a meal on average and fat by about 30 grams, which points at oil and sauces as the hard part for any camera. The full numbers are on Cal AI vs MyFoodBuddy. MyFoodBuddy was not tested either, and we do not claim it is more accurate. In MyFoodBuddy you name the oil or sauce in your sentence and each gets its own card to check.

Is the Calo app free

Calo is a free download with in-app purchases, all named “Calo Premium”. Calo’s own pages do not list what stays free without Premium. Reviewers mention a free trial before paying, and its subscription terms note that any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when you buy, and that plans renew unless turned off at least 24 hours before the period ends.

MyFoodBuddy is not free either. It has a 7-day free trial and no free tier, then one price with everything included and no ads.

Is Calo worth it, and what do Calo AI reviews say

When we checked on October 18, 2026, Calo had about 26,500 US App Store ratings averaging 4.7, and a 4.7 average from about 219,000 Google Play reviews.

The positive App Store reviews are specific. People like paying about $20 for a year, logging by photo, voice or barcode, adding their own calories when needed, syncing workouts from an Apple Watch, the macro styles (one reviewer mentions a GLP-1 option alongside low-carb and low-fat) and recipes that match them.

The negative reviews we read focus on photo results that missed, and on daily convenience. A Google Play reviewer said you could not copy a meal to the next day and that recent foods did not show up in search, so repeat meals had to be scanned again. The developer replied that meal copying was in development.

At about $20 a year, Calo is worth trying if you want photo logging plus meal plans on a budget. Check that repeat meals are easy enough for how you eat.

When Calo is the better pick

• You want the lowest yearly price and are offered the roughly $20 plan.
• You want photo logging alongside typing and barcodes.
• You follow a specific style like keto, vegan or paleo and want meal plans and recipes built around it.
• You use Android or an iPad, or want Fitbit sync.

When MyFoodBuddy is the better pick

• You want to log a whole meal from one sentence, typed or spoken, without opening diary sections.
• You want to fix entries by chatting and ask Fiona how your day or week is going.
• You want 20+ vitamins and minerals and to see where numbers come from, USDA FoodData Central, Edamam and Open Food Facts.
• You want one listed price, $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month, with a 7-day trial and no ads.
• You like friends, leaderboards and streaks for motivation.

Comparing other AI trackers? See Cal AI vs MyFoodBuddy, BitePal vs MyFoodBuddy and Foodvisor vs MyFoodBuddy.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and how we checked