Comparison
When the scanner went behind the paywall.
MyFitnessPal moved its barcode scanner into the paid tier on 1 October 2022, and it remains there. For a lot of people that single change is the reason they went looking. This page sets out what the 2026 tiers cost and what the alternatives actually are.
Who wrote this. CalorieCounter is our app, so treat this as an interested comparison and check the claims yourself. Everything said about another app below is dated and linked. CalorieCounter is not released yet, which is the most important thing on this page: you cannot use it today, and the apps it is compared with you can.
How much does MyFitnessPal cost in 2026?
There are 3 tiers. Free costs nothing and carries ads. Premium is $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Premium+ is $24.99 a month or $99.99 a year and adds a meal planner. The barcode scanner, custom macros and the ad-free experience all sit in the paid tiers.
| Tier | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 |
| Premium | $19.99 | $79.99 |
| Premium+ | $24.99 | $99.99 |
Checked 17 September 2026. MyFitnessPal says its own pricing varies by country and by plan length, so the figures above are the US ones and yours may differ. It has the largest food database in the category by a wide margin, and for many people that alone justifies the price. The question is whether you need it.
Why did MyFitnessPal put the barcode scanner behind a paywall?
They announced it in August 2022 and applied it from 1 October 2022, giving no reason beyond it being a premium feature. What is observable is the effect: the barcode scanner is the button most people press most often, and moving the most-used feature into the paid tier is a reliable way to convert free users. It is widely cited as the most common reason people upgrade.
It is a legitimate business decision and it clearly works. It is also the decision we deliberately did not copy. Barcode scanning in CalorieCounter is free and unlimited on every plan, because a code lookup costs almost nothing to run.
What are the real alternatives to MyFitnessPal?
FatSecret is the usual answer for a free tier that keeps barcode scanning, with light ads. Cronometer is the answer if micronutrients matter to you. Lose It sits in between. Cal AI, now owned by MyFitnessPal, is the photo-first option. CalorieCounter is ours and has not launched.
Tiers in this category move often and several apps use regional pricing, so anything written about a competitor’s free plan has a short shelf life. Check the App Store listing before you subscribe to anything, including on the strength of this page.
Is a bigger food database actually better?
For packaged food, largely yes, because a bigger catalog means fewer missing barcodes. For generic and restaurant food it matters less than people expect, because user-submitted entries vary in quality and a database with 20 million foods contains a great many near-duplicates of the same chicken breast.
CalorieCounter uses Open Food Facts for packaged products and USDA FoodData Central for generic foods, and shows you which source a row came from. That is a smaller catalog than MyFitnessPal’s and a more traceable one.
What do you lose by leaving MyFitnessPal?
Mostly the database and the history. The catalog is the largest in the category and restaurant coverage in particular is hard to match. You also lose years of logged data unless you export it first, which is the step people most often skip and most often regret.
Export before you cancel, not after, and mind the order: MyFitnessPal’s export tool belongs to Premium and Premium+, so a free account cannot use it. If you are paying today and plan to stop, pull your files while the period you already paid for is still running. The full export and cancel order is here.
Prices and tiers checked 17 September 2026. Other apps change their plans without notice and several use regional or in-app pricing, so confirm in the App Store before you subscribe.
FAQ
Is the MyFitnessPal barcode scanner free?
No. It has been part of the paid tier since 1 October 2022, announced that August. Premium is $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year as checked in September 2026.
What is the best free MyFitnessPal alternative?
FatSecret is the most commonly recommended for a free tier that includes barcode scanning and macro tracking, with light advertising. Verify the current tier in the App Store, because these change.
Does CalorieCounter charge for barcode scanning?
No, and it will not. Barcode scanning, food search, quick add, voice logging, full diary history and export are free permanently. The app is not released yet.
Sources
- MyFitnessPal, membership pricing tiers
- Droid Life, MyFitnessPal puts barcode scanner behind Premium paywall, 24 August 2022
- Open Food Facts, the open database behind packaged products
- USDA FoodData Central
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