A Lose It alternative where you text what you ate

Lose It! vs MyFoodBuddy, feature by feature

Lose It! and MyFoodBuddy both count calories, protein, carbs and fat. Lose It! is a free calorie counter built around a daily budget, with logging tools that move to Premium. MyFoodBuddy is a paid iPhone app where you text or say what you ate and an AI coach named Fiona logs it.

Two rows matter most. Voice logging exists in both, but in Lose It! it is a Premium tool next to search, while in MyFoodBuddy describing the meal is the whole app and you can type it as well as say it. And adaptive goals go to Lose It!, which lowers or raises your budget as you log weight. MyFoodBuddy sets goals from your stats and you edit them yourself.

How Lose It! works day to day

Lose It! launched in 2008 and is made by FitNow. Here is the daily flow as its help center and App Store listing describe it.

1. Build a plan. Enter your profile and goal weight, pick a pace, and Lose It! sets a daily calorie budget.
2. Log each meal. Tap Add Food under a meal and search the database, or pick from My Foods, recent Meals and Recipes.
3. Use the faster tools. Scan It reads barcodes, Snap It suggests matches from a photo, and Say It or AI Voice logs a meal you say out loud. Snap It and AI Voice are Premium, and the barcode scanner is moving there too.
4. Log weight. As you record weight changes, the budget adjusts gradually, and it switches to a maintenance plan when you reach your goal.
5. Stay social. Add friends, join groups, build a logging streak and earn badges.
6. Add Premium extras. Nutrient goals, intermittent fasting, meal planning, device syncing with Fitbit, Garmin and Withings, and GLP-1 dose logging.

How MyFoodBuddy works day to day

MyFoodBuddy skips the search screen. You describe the meal and Fiona does the looking up.

1. Say what you ate. Type or speak a normal sentence, like “two eggs, toast with butter and a coffee with oat milk.”
2. Fiona logs it. She splits it into foods and amounts, looks each one up and shows a card with calories, protein, carbs and fat. Tap Log it.
3. Scan packaged food with the barcode scanner, included in the plan.
4. Fix anything by chatting. Tell Fiona the portion was bigger and she updates the entry.
5. Ask questions about what is left today or how your week went.
6. Keep the habit with streaks, friends and leaderboards, and Apple Health sync for weight, sleep, steps and workouts.

How much does Lose It! cost compared to MyFoodBuddy

Lose It! has a free Basic version, Premium at a listed $79.99 a year, and Lifetime at $299.99 once ($229.99 if you already have Premium). MyFoodBuddy has one plan at $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial.

What you would actually pay

If you want free, Lose It! wins, since MyFoodBuddy has no free tier. If you plan to stay for years, Lose It! Lifetime pays for itself against its own $79.99 list price in about four years. For a first year with the faster logging tools, MyFoodBuddy’s $39.99 is half Lose It!’s listed Premium price, though Lose It! may offer you a discount.

Is Lose It! still free, and is the barcode scanner Premium now

Lose It! Basic is still free. It gives you a personalized calorie budget, food search and logging, exercise logging, friends and groups. It shows banner and full-page ads, which a separate one-time purchase removes.

The barcode scanner is a different story. Lose It!’s help center says it is “in the process of moving the barcode scanner (Scan It) and nutrition label scanner to part of our Premium features,” and that some free members still have access during the change while others do not. The App Store listing already puts the barcode scanner under Premium features. Snap It photo logging and AI Voice are Premium too.

Lose It! AI Voice vs describing a meal in MyFoodBuddy

This is the closest overlap between the two apps, so it is worth being precise. Lose It!’s App Store listing describes AI Voice as “Say ‘I had 2 eggs, toast with butter and jam’ to log your meal.” That is a Premium feature, and like Snap It it works only when the phone is set to English.

MyFoodBuddy works the same way for every meal, with a few differences.

• Typing works too. You can type the sentence into the chat when you cannot talk out loud.
• Your numbers win. Say “300 calories of chicken nuggets” and 300 is what gets logged.
• Fixes are a message. Tell Fiona “the toast had more butter” and she updates the entry.
• You can ask follow-ups. Fiona answers questions about your food, goals and progress. Lose It! does not list an AI coach or chat on its public pages.

Lose It! has something MyFoodBuddy does not, which is photo logging. If you would rather point your camera at a plate than describe it, that counts for Lose It!.

Is Lose It! Premium worth it, and why does the price vary

Lose It!’s help center lists Premium at $79.99 a year, then adds that it “adjusts prices based on various factors like seasonal promotions and how often you use the app” and that “most users will receive discounted offers.” The US App Store shows Premium purchases at prices from $9.99 to $79.99 and Lifetime at $49.99 and $59.99, without labeling the billing periods. So the honest answer to “how much is Lose It! Premium” is $79.99 at list price, and often less in the app.

What Premium adds is concrete. Barcode, photo and voice logging, nutrient goals, intermittent fasting, meal planning, device sync with Fitbit, Garmin and Withings, and GLP-1 dose logging. If you want those, especially photo logging, fasting or GLP-1 tracking, Premium is how you get them, and MyFoodBuddy does not have the last three.

If what you mainly want is faster logging and no ads, MyFoodBuddy is a simpler buy at one price, $39.99 a year, with nothing held back for a higher tier.

Is Lose It! worth it, and what do reviews say

Lose It! is well liked. When we checked on October 18, 2026, the US App Store showed about 781,000 ratings averaging 4.8, and Apple has given it an Editors’ Choice badge, praising the barcode scanner, restaurant meals and social features.

A review by a strength coach at FeastGood praised the setup questions and the calorie target, which matched what the reviewer would prescribe. The same review found that the default macro targets did not add up to the calorie target and that protein defaults were low, and concluded Lose It! suits people who mainly count calories rather than macros.

The common complaints are the ads in the free version and features moving behind Premium, the barcode scanner most recently. Those are also the main reasons people search for a Lose It alternative.

When Lose It! is the better pick

• You want a free calorie counter and can live with ads.
• You want a calorie budget that adjusts automatically as your weight changes.
• You use Android or a web browser. MyFoodBuddy is iPhone only.
• You want photo logging, a fasting tracker, meal planning or GLP-1 tracking.
• You would rather pay once with Lifetime than subscribe.
• You like groups as well as friends for motivation.

When MyFoodBuddy is the better pick

• You want to log by typing or saying the meal, every time, not search for each food.
• You want the barcode scanner and voice logging at one clear price, $39.99 a year or $7.99 a month.
• You want no ads and nothing held back for a higher tier.
• You want to fix entries by chatting and ask an AI coach questions about your day.
• You care about 20+ vitamins and minerals alongside calories and macros.

Still comparing? See MyFoodBuddy vs MyFitnessPal, MyFoodBuddy vs MyNetDiary and MyFoodBuddy vs Cronometer, or browse every comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and how we checked