Best Diet App: Free Plans and What the Paid Ones Cost

A diet app hands you a way of eating to follow, and the right one depends on what you want handed to you. For a free plan from a health service, it is the NHS Weight Loss Plan, which is built for the UK. For lessons and coaching, it is Noom or WeightWatchers, and the real difference between those two is how you leave. For keto it is Carb Manager, for fasting Zero’s free timer, and for meals planned for you Eat This Much.

We read each maker’s website and its Google Play and App Store listings. Prices are the US ones. Every app in the table is on both stores, and each name links to its Google Play page. The listings print weight-loss figures of their own, and we have left them out. Nothing here is medical advice.

If you came for a diet tracker, meaning a diary that counts what you ate, that is a different kind of app. Our guide to food tracking apps covers those.

Diet apps compared

Free plans from official bodies

NHS Weight Loss Plan

The NHS Better Health site describes a free 12-week plan: you set a goal and a daily calorie target and track what you eat. The listing adds a BMI calculator, a guide for each week and a food diary. Google Play shows no ads label and no in-app purchases, so there is no trial and nothing to renew.

The limit is where it works. On iPhone it is in the UK App Store only: the listing does not exist in the US, Nigerian or Indian stores. It is on Google Play, but we could not confirm that it installs outside the UK.

The USDA’s MyPlate app has gone

Start Simple with MyPlate, the US Department of Agriculture’s app for setting daily goals by food group, is no longer on Google Play or the App Store. The Internet Archive’s copies of MyPlate.gov show its page emptied and the site pointing to RealFood.gov, home of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. RealFood.gov mentions no app.

The free official tool left in the US is a web page. NIDDK’s Body Weight Planner, from the National Institutes of Health, works out a calorie and activity plan for reaching a goal weight by a date you choose. NIDDK says it is for adults of 18 or over, not for pregnant or breastfeeding women, and is not medical advice.

Paid programmes with coaching

NIDDK says a weight-loss programme is “more than a book or app that promises to help you lose weight”, and that programmes delivered wholly online are still being researched, their long-term results included. Its list of questions to ask starts with the total cost from beginning to end.

Noom

Noom’s listing describes daily lessons on psychology and behaviour, food logging, community groups and optional one-to-one coaching. Its terms say the coaches are not licensed medical professionals.

Noom’s support site prints the prices: $70 for one month, $159 for three, $179 for six and $209 for twelve. Three months at the monthly rate come to $210, a dollar more than the whole year. Every plan renews automatically, and the terms say a free trial, where one is offered, becomes a paid plan unless cancelled in time.

To leave, you cancel in the app, in Noom’s web Subscription Portal or, if you subscribed through your phone, in its app store. A refund may be available within 14 days of the first charge.

WeightWatchers

WeightWatchers runs on Points. Its website says the system turns a food’s nutrition information into one number and gives you a daily budget, and the listing adds live sessions led by coaches.

Its site was advertising the Core plan from $10 a month, as a limited-time offer on a 12-month commitment. That is $120 for the year, followed by a renewal for another 12 months at a regular price the page does not print. The US App Store sells a monthly plan at $19.99 to $24.99.

WeightWatchers’ US terms say the fee is not refundable once a commitment period has started, and that if you cancel you still owe the monthly fee until it ends. You cancel on the site, in the app or through customer service. The same terms bar anyone who is under 18, pregnant or has an active eating disorder diagnosis.

Noom vs WeightWatchers

Noom’s year is $209, printed in advance, and you can stop it renewing at any point. The WeightWatchers offer year is cheaper at $120, but it is owed month by month to the end of the term. Take Noom if you are not sure you will stay.

Both companies also sell access to prescription weight-loss medicine through the same app, as Noom Med and Med+, and each listing says access depends on eligibility. That is a decision for your own doctor, and we do not cover it.

Apps for one way of eating

Keto and low carb: Carb Manager

Carb Manager counts net carbs alongside calories and macros. Its website prices a Basic account at $0.00 for logging food, exercise and weight. Premium is $8.49 a month or $39.99 a year and holds the premium recipes, the fasting tools, blood glucose and ketone tracking and the advanced reports. The year is the cheaper choice from the fifth month. Subscriptions renew automatically, and no free trial is mentioned.

The listing also pitches the app at people managing diabetes. Carb Manager’s own site says its content is no substitute for professional medical advice.

Intermittent fasting: Zero

Zero is a fasting timer. Its App Store listing says the timers, streaks, weekly trends and articles are free. Zero Plus adds photo meal logging, water tracking and custom fasts for $69.99 a year. A free trial is offered, and the subscription renews automatically.

Zero’s listing says it is not a medical device and tells you to consult a doctor first. Its terms rule out anyone under 18 and anyone pregnant or nursing. NIH’s MedlinePlus Magazine says intermittent fasting is not safe for everyone, naming diabetes, kidney disease and heart conditions, and that more research in humans is needed.

Meal plans, Mediterranean included: Eat This Much

Eat This Much builds a meal plan to a calorie target you set, and lists keto, vegan, paleo, Mediterranean and vegetarian among its diets. The free account generates one day’s plan at a time. Premium plans a week and writes the grocery list, for $14.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Four monthly payments come to $59.96, three cents short of the year. Premium starts with a free trial, and the App Store listing says payment is taken when the trial ends.

Mealime, the other name that comes up for meal planning, is closing: its website says the app is being discontinued.

Apps that score food by scanning it

Yuka reads a barcode and gives the product a score out of 100. Its help centre gives the formula: 60% nutritional quality by the Nutri-Score method, 30% additives and 10% a bonus for organic products. Scanning is free and the app carries no advertising. Membership adds offline scanning, a search bar and alerts for things such as gluten, for a yearly price you choose: $10, $15 or $20 in the US. It renews automatically unless you cancel.

The score is Yuka’s own formula and has no official standing. Yuka’s terms say the app gives no medical recommendations, does not replace a dietitian or a doctor, and may not be appropriate for anyone who has had an eating disorder.

Fooducate, from our old list, now comes from Maple Media. It grades each scanned food from A to D and is free with ads. Pro removes them, and the US App Store shows Pro purchases from $1.99 to $89.99.

Two scanners sell nothing. Open Food Facts, a non-profit database built by volunteers, shows a product’s Nutri-Score grade and its NOVA processing group. In the UK, the NHS Food Scanner shows traffic-light ratings for sugar, salt and fat. Like the NHS plan, it is in the UK App Store only.

What the health bodies say about pace

The CDC says people who lose weight gradually, at about 1 to 2 pounds a week, are more likely to keep it off, and the NHS gives the same range. NIDDK’s warning signs of a programme to avoid include promises of large losses in days, very small print and before-and-after photos.

When a diet app is the wrong tool

For some people the first step is a person, and the app can wait.

• You have a medical condition, follow a special diet for your health, or have or have had an eating disorder. NHS Better Health says to talk to a GP or another healthcare professional before making any changes.
• You are pregnant. NIDDK’s advice is not to try to lose weight during pregnancy.
• You are under 18, or choosing for someone who is. NIDDK tells parents not to put a child on a weight-loss plan without the help of a health care professional. Noom, WeightWatchers and Zero all say in their terms that they are for adults.

If you think you may have an eating disorder, the NHS says to see a GP as soon as you can. It also gives the helpline of the eating disorder charity Beat, 0808 801 0677. Beat’s own page has separate numbers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the US, ANAD runs a free helpline on 1-888-375-7767, and the National Alliance for Eating Disorders runs a free one staffed by licensed therapists on 1-866-662-1235. For anyone in crisis, the National Institute of Mental Health gives the 988 lifeline, by call or text. Anywhere else, start with your own doctor.

Which one to pick

• You are in the UK and want a free plan: the NHS Weight Loss Plan.
• You want a free start anywhere else: NIDDK’s Body Weight Planner for a calorie target, then Eat This Much’s free account for a day of meals to match it.
• You want lessons and a coach: Noom at $209 for the year, because the price is printed and you can stop the renewal. WeightWatchers only once you have read the 12-month terms.
• You eat keto or low carb: Carb Manager’s free account first, then $39.99 a year if you want what Premium adds.
• You fast: Zero’s free timer does the timing. Read the NIH page above first.
• You want a second opinion in the supermarket: Yuka’s free scanner, or Open Food Facts.

If the plan has you exercising and you want your pulse on the phone, see our guide to heart rate monitor apps for Android.

What happened to the old list

The 2020 version of this article named seven apps, and six are still on both stores. Carb Manager and Fooducate are covered above. Lifesum and Lose It! are calorie counters, and MyMacros+, now My Macros+ from My Macros LLC, is a macro diary: all three belong with the food tracking apps. Paleo (io), from Impossible X LLC, still costs $0.99: you type in a food and it tells you whether the food is paleo.

PlateJoy is the one that has gone. It no longer turns up in a search of either store, and its website did not open for us.

Quick answers

What is the best free diet app?

In the UK, the NHS Weight Loss Plan. Elsewhere we found no official equivalent on the stores, so the choice is a free tier: Eat This Much for a day’s meal plan, Carb Manager for low-carb logging, Zero for a fasting timer.

What is the best diet app for diabetics?

That is a question for your doctor or dietitian. NHS Better Health says anyone with a medical condition should talk to a GP before making changes.

How do I cancel a diet app subscription?

Cancel where you paid: your Google Play or App Store subscriptions page if you subscribed inside the app, or your account on the company’s website if you paid there. Noom’s support site spells out the trap: uninstalling the app does not cancel the subscription.