When it comes to weight loss, understanding how to track calories is crucial. But getting started can feel overwhelming. If youâve been researching weight loss apps, you might have come across Noom. Noom claims to help users lose weight by tracking caloric intake and helping them understand their food choices. But thereâs a catch. Noom isnât for everyone. Many users find the appâs interface confusing, and some donât like the way it emphasizes psychological aspects of food and eating. Youâre in the right place if youâre looking for a Noom alternative. So, how are calories measured with the best app?
In this article, weâll explore options for Noom to help you find the best fit for your lifestyle and preferences.
Why Explore Alternatives to Noom?

Itâs no secret that Noom is not cheap. One of the biggest complaints about Noom is that you canât get a free trial â sure, you can get 14 days for $1, but then they have your payment information, and $1 is NOT free.
Then, after 14 days, a hefty subscription fee kicks in. Many other nutrition apps have free trials or tiers that can be used indefinitely and provide most of the same benefits as Noom.
Noomâs Food Database Is Lacking
Many dieters also find Noomâs food database frustrating. While it tracks both calories and âcolorâ (which is how Noom categorizes food based on nutritional value), many users complain that the food database is terrible, with incorrect calorie counts for many food items. The Android app is also not very intuitive, missing simple features like a recipe builder.
The Appâs Quirky Motivational Style Gets Old Fast
Another common complaint revolves around the coaching, with many users feeling like the coaching isnât personalized enough. Many users say personal interaction with the coach decreases significantly after the trial period ends and you start paying.
Many dieters also find the appâs humorous motivational style cheesy and annoying after a while. Although it may initially sound cute, it gets repetitive and old quickly.
Noom Isnât the Only Weight Loss App Out There
If youâre starting to think that Noom is a glorified and overpriced calorie tracker, youâre not alone. Fortunately, as mentioned above, many apps like Noom can help you lose weight, maintain a healthy diet, and keep in shape.
19 Best Noom Alternatives for Personalized Weight Loss Success
1. Goldi AI: The Future of Calorie Tracking
Goldi AI transforms calorie tracking with cutting-edge AI technology. Just snap a photo of your meal, and weâll do the rest.
Our app combines your phoneâs depth sensor with advanced AI models to:
- Analyze food volume
- Identify ingredients
- Instantly calculate calories, protein, carbs, and fat content.
With 90% accuracy on visible foods and multiple tracking options like:
- Barcode scanning
- Food label recognition
- Manual descriptions for complex items like smoothies
Weâve made nutrition tracking effortless. Whether youâre scanning a full meal or a quick snack, Goldi AI
- Provides nutritional information in under 15 seconds
- Eliminates the need for tedious manual logging.
Our AI learns from your feedback to improve accuracy. It includes personalized insights and smart reminders to keep you on track. Goldi AI makes achieving your fitness goals simpler than ever. Track your calories with your camera using Goldi AIâs calorie tracker today!
2. MacroFactor: An Empowering Approach to Nutrition Tracking

MacroFactor describes itself as âoffering an empowering, sustainable approach to nutrition tracking without stress, shaming, or rigidity.â This nutrition app functions like a nutrition coach by providing updated calorie and macronutrient targets based on goals and results.
The Importance of Data Transparency in Nutrition Apps
While MacroFactor doesnât have educational modules on behavioral psychology like Noom does, in my mind, it more than makes up for this by automatically suggesting new macronutrient targets based on your rate of progress (or lack thereof).
It takes an in-depth understanding of human metabolism to suggest smart, sustainable macronutrient targets, usually, youâd need to work with a nutrition coach for this, making this feature highly valuable. I didnât like that Noom didnât clearly show calorie and macronutrient information for foods logged.
Key Features
The app provides updated custom calorie and macro targets based on your rate of progress compared to your intake instead of using basic formulas that fail to consider whether you are making the progress you want. This creates a more realistic target for achieving your goals more quickly and sustainably.
The food database contains only verified entries, so you can be sure that your intake is accurate; inaccurate intake is one of the top culprits when users fail to achieve their goals. The app has four different options for logging food, making this part of the process as quick and easy as possible:
- You can do a manual entry
- Use a barcode scanner
- Create recipes
- Use the âAI describeâ to use voice dictation
The more quickly you can log your food, the more likely you are to do it, and the more you log your food, the easier it will be to achieve your goals.
Highlights
- Calorie targets adapt based on your results
- Large verified food database
- Focus on consistency over perfection
Drawbacks
- No free version, but it has a free trial
3. Lifesum: A User-Friendly App with Excellent Features

Lifesum is a calorie and macro-tracking app with an extensive food database, a fantastic database of delicious recipes, and the ability to select a custom meal plan. It is specifically designed for people who want to lose weight.
Key Features
The recipe database is a great way to help people new to healthy eating learn healthy meal ideas. The variety and inspiration are great for long-term users, too. This avoids feelings of boredom and restriction that can cause people to fall off other diet plans.
The app allows users to set their own custom calorie and macronutrient targets, which is great for experienced users and/or people working with a coach who just need an app to track their intake against the coachâs recommendations.
The food rating system goes beyond simply providing a stop-light color code (e.g., green = good) and explains why certain foods are good to include more often and others should be included less often. This gives users the knowledge to help them make good food choices independently without relying on an app in the long term.
Highlights
- The food rating system provides education about different foods
- Calorie and macronutrient intake can be customized
- Recipes and meal plans take the guesswork out of what to eat
Drawback
- Inaccurate recommendations for calories/macronutrients for active and/or muscular individuals (estimates are too low)
- Using BMI as a measure of health (outdated)
4. MyNetDiary: A User-Friendly Calorie Tracker

MyNetDiary is a very user-friendly calorie-tracking app. It provides meal plans and macronutrient recommendations for various approaches (e.g., keto, paleo, etc.), and the premium version includes personalized nutrition advice from a virtual coach.
Instead of a color-coding system for food like Noom, MyNetDiary gives a food grade based on ratings from nutrition experts. This helps users focus on nutrient-dense choices to optimize their health, not just low calories for weight loss.
Key Features
The âmeal remindersâ feature allows users to receive notifications when they need to eat their meals/snacks. This can be helpful for people who need to establish a consistent eating routine to avoid getting too hungry and overeating or failing to eat often enough to achieve a calorie surplus if their goal is weight gain.
Beyond Calories: How Nutrition Apps Promote Quality Food Choices
The food grading system in MyNetDiary is similar to Noomâs color-coding system. Still, it goes a step above because the grade is based on food ratings from nutrition experts (which considers micronutrients as well) and not just calorie density, which is a key factor in Noomâs system.
This is a great way to get users to focus on including higher-quality foods to optimize their health and not just on calories. The recipes in the database have the macros already calculated. They can be input directly into the diary, saving time logging and giving users delicious, healthy recipes to follow with everyday ingredients. Not needing to figure out what and how much to eat to hit macro targets reduces the stress and work for a new user.
Highlights
- Over one million verified foods in its database
- Ability to log water intake, exercise, and steps in addition to food, along with circumference measurements, progress photos, and weight
- Food letter grades assigned
Drawbacks
- Macronutrient totals are only available in a total daily report and not by meal
- Many features are only available in the premium paid version
5. Lose It!: A Simple, Straightforward Calorie Tracker

Lose It! is a calorie-counting app focused on helping users lose weight. The appâs premium version allows for:
- Macronutrient tracking
- Tracking selected nutrients (like cholesterol or sodium)
- Logging daily exercise
For users who want to track their cholesterol and/or sodium intake, itâs well worth paying for the premium version to monitor these micronutrients. Noom doesnât track micronutrients, so there is no way to know if youâre over or under your targets for vitamins and minerals.
Key Features
The extensive intake form goes beyond standard height, weight, and activity questions. It gets users to reflect on their goals and what theyâve learned from past successes and obstacles, setting them up for a higher chance of success with their current goals.
To maximize their wellness, the app can export daily and weekly nutrition summaries and food logs, which users can then analyze and/or send to a:
- Nutrition coach
- Dietician
- Doctor
- Other health professional
The social network directly in the app allows users to communicate with each other for:
- Support
- Advice
- Encouragement
Highlights
- User-friendly interface
- Large food database
- Calorie and macro targets can be customized (in the premium version)
Drawbacks
- The appâs free version does not track macronutrient intake, only calories, which isnât optimal for body composition and performance.
- Macro targets donât necessarily add up to calorie targets, meaning you could hit your macro target and still be over or under your calorie target and, therefore, not lose/maintain/gain weight according to your goals.
6. My Diet Coach: A Straightforward Calorie Tracker

My Diet Coach is a calorie and macro tracking app with no extra bells and whistles (no extra features). It is best suited for individuals who already know what an appropriate calorie and macronutrient intake should be for their goals and what combinations of foods they will need to eat to hit those targets healthily.
MyNetDiary is an excellent short-term option for users who want a quick âresetâ to track their macros for a week or two. Beyond a few weeks, the $4.75 US/week (after a one-week free trial) would cost more than Noomâs annual membership if used for a year.
Key Features
Like MyNetDiary, My Diet Coach also has an option to notify me of meal reminders. This can help users get in the groove of eating healthful meals and snacks consistently, making it easier to adhere to their targets and achieve their goals.
The food logging and food database are easy to use, and everyday food items are easy to find (specialty items or brands might not be in the general database, but these can be added as custom food items).
Highlights
- Customizable calorie and macronutrient targets.
- A clear visual display of macro and calorie targets makes it easy to see the grams and calories consumed and the grams and calories remaining.
- Ability to add additional meals.
Drawbacks
- No workouts, recipes, meal plans, or additional content.
- Calculated calorie recommendations are too aggressive for sustainable weight loss, and âupdatesâ to calorie targets seem too frequent and nonsensical.
- There is no option to log measurements or photos (only body weight).
7. Fooducate: A Calorie Tracker with a Food Education Component

Foodcuate is a calorie tracker with a food database that records calories eaten and helps you hit your targets to achieve your goals (weight loss, weight maintenance, or weight gain). This app is fundamental and straightforward, making it a good choice for users who would be overwhelmed with too many features and data or just want basic info to count calories and nothing more.
I have a few clients who are annoyed and put off by the lessons and food color system in Noom, so Fooducate is a better choice. Plus, they can easily export their food diary to me or another health care professional.
Key Features
The daily food grade helps educate users about higher-quality foods (similar to MyNetDiary) so that they are not sacrificing their health by focusing only on calories and potentially eating only small amounts of poor-quality foods (which can lead to micronutrient deficiencies).
The food diary can be exported (one-day or seven-day logs) to a:
- Nutrition coach
- Dietician
- Doctor
- Other health care professional
This is an excellent option for users who need professional oversight of their diet, mainly to help manage health conditions like high blood pressure or cholesterol.
Highlights
- Straightforward calorie-tracking app
- Provides a food grade and a breakdown of calories from solids vs. liquids
- A food diary can be exported
Drawbacks
- Minimal emphasis/information on macronutrients (only available in the premium version)
- Abysmal macronutrient ratios Calorie targets are not automatically adjusted over time
- No recipe database
8. BetterMe: A Holistic Health App

BetterMe is a mobile app for nutrition and health coaching and personal training all in one. It strives to help you develop a healthy and positive relationship with food and fitness. The app provides workouts, meal plans, and daily learning modules to improve your mindset and relationship with food and dieting.
The exercise videos and demonstrations put this app a notch above Noom if you want a one-stop shop for nutrition and fitness.
Key Features
The daily chapters with lessons on positive self-talk and mindset are valuable for making positive changes with fitness and nutrition, improving the likelihood of achieving your goals. The workouts cater to various needs and include easy-to-follow videos, making it easier to stick to completing them than doing them on your own, which leads to better results.
The additional health challenges in the app allow you to personalize your experience and work on areas that are most important to you, such as sleep or meditation. This gives you custom support and helps you where you need it most.
Highlights
- Learning modules to improve your relationship with food are included
- Workouts with tutorial videos are included
- Meal plans can be specified to your dietary preferences
Drawbacks
- Calorie- and macro-tracking capability is inaccurate and not user-friendly
- Workout videos and chat functions often crash
9. MyFitnessPal: The Popular Calorie Counter

MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular health and weight management apps, so weâd be remiss not to mention it. While a premium subscription is available, itâs completely optional, and the free version has many excellent features.
In addition to tracking your daily calories and nutrients, you can also find:
- Recipe inspiration
- Stay active with workout routines
- Customize goals
How MyFitnessPal Balances Goal Setting with Healthy Weight Management
There are also a few free plans you can enable to help you get off to a good start, like the Simple Start Challenge or the Building Healthy Habits plan. Another unique feature of MyFitnessPal is its end-of-the-day summary. After you complete your daily food log, it reports that you will be X weight by X time based on your dayâs food intake.
This can be helpful information in gauging the feasibility of your goals. As a safety measure, the app will only let you lose a maximum of two pounds per week and will give warning messages if you are losing weight too fast or not consuming enough calories.
Similarities
Noom and MyFitnessPal provide tools for tracking food consumption and exercise, which are essential for sustainable weight loss.
Differences
MyFitnessPal focuses primarily on calorie counting and tracking macros, while Noom emphasizes behavior and psychology changes for long-term success.
Main Benefits
MyFitnessPal is a weight loss program suitable for users who are knowledgeable about macro tracking and self-motivated. The app offers a free food tracker and a premium version for enhanced nutrition tracking.
10. Healthi: A Noom Alternative for Dieters

Healthi, formerly iTrackBites, is the perfect Noom-like app for tracking food intake without getting too caught up in exact calorie amounts. It will help you improve your diet and not just cut daily calories.
Every food gets a unique score on Healthi â some foods are counted as zero âbites,â while others are counted as two or three. Your plan will include a daily and weekly allowance for these bites. If you exercise, you can earn additional bites. By consuming more lower-bite foods, you can eat more overall while sticking to your plan. You can eat as many zero-bite foods as youâd like.
Similarities
Both Noom and Healthi offer personalized plans based on user inputs and provide a platform for tracking food intake.
Differences
Healthi relies on specific plans, such as low-carb diets, and helps users stay accountable to those plans, while Noom focuses on behavior change through daily lessons.
Main Benefits
Healthi is an excellent option for users who prefer following specific popular diets and need a tool to track their adherence. It is best suited for self-motivated individuals who can adjust their food intake or diets based on their observed results. Healthi offers both free and PRO versions for an annual fee.
The free version allows you to access some recipes, but youâll have to upgrade to the Pro version to see them and use Healthiâs meal plans. The free version also has a handy health check feature that lets you track your intake of:
- Water
- Fruits and vegetables
- Dairy
- Lean protein
- Oil
- Whole grains
- Multivitamins
11. Cronometer: A Noom Alternative Focused on Nutrition

Like Noom, Cronometer teaches you to eat more healthily rather than just track your calories. Thatâs not to say the app canât track calorie intake and calories burned; it can. Cronometer has the standard catalog of health management tools, such as:
- A water tracker
- Food journal
- Barcode scanner
- Fitness app integration and more
Optimizing Micronutrient Intake with Chronometer Detailed Tracking
In addition to these tools, Cronometer can help you track vitamins and minerals, showing you exactly how much each food contains. You can also create your recipes within the app, which lets you see the calories and nutrients of each food and all of them together as a portioned meal.
This could help you realize how healthier a meal might be by omitting or swapping out the fat source. Or, if you notice the meal is deficient in specific vitamins or minerals, you might be inspired to throw in a few extra veggies.
12. WW (Weight Watchers): A Longstanding Noom Alternative

WW, commonly known by its former name, Weight Watchers, is the best app similar to Noom. Founded in 1963 as a provider of dietary subscription programs, Weight Watchers is a lot older than Noom, and it pioneered many popular diet plans and ideas. The WW app now brings all the features of Weight Watchers straight to your phone.
You may find Weight Watchers more flexible than Noom. Instead of counting calories outright, Weight Watchers uses its proprietary SmartPoints system, which assigns point values to different foods. This system goes beyond simple calories and focuses on the quality of the foods you eat. So, for example, youâll be able to eat more fruits and vegetables than sugary foods while keeping within my point limit. Some foods in the SmartPoints system donât have any points at all.
How ZeroPoint Foods Influence Eating Habits in Weight Watchers
These are called ZeroPoint foods; you can eat as many of them as youâd like. The exact foods included in the list can vary. In general, ZeroPoint foods tend to include items like fruits and vegetables. The thinking here is that eating apples is hard to get fat.
WW also wants you to stay full instead of hungry and miserable all the time. Weight Watchers has now introduced myWW+, which has three different levels. Depending on your level, you may have only around 100 or as many as 300 ZeroPoint Foods in your plan, and your Points budget can vary too.
The Role of Community and Coaching in Weight Watchersâ Succes
WW also doesnât emphasize daily or weekly weigh-ins as Noom does. Weight Watchers is also the best Noom alternative if you need more interaction with your coach.
You can take my weight loss journey beyond the digital and meet coaches and others in person at WW Studios and nationwide meetings. WW has built up this network of studios over the many decades it has been operating.
13. Nutracheck: A Noom Alternative Based in the UK

Nutracheck is a calorie counter and dietary app. With over 300,000 items in the database, uploading calories is as easy as searching for the food you eat and selecting it from the results. You can also scan barcodes or enter calories manually.
The recipe counter is a valuable tool. By entering the ingredients you will be using to make my recipe, I can see the total calorie and fat content for each serving and the recipe total. While Noom allows you to weigh in, Nutracheck takes weigh-ins to a new level. Like a virtual health club, you can weigh in with other members in real-time. Itâs a fun activity.
Nutracheckâs Unique Approach to Weigh-Ins and Nutrient Tracking
Choose an avatar for the virtual weigh-in, join the queue, stand on your scale, and weigh in when your turn comes around (be mindful of your mental health). The exercise database has 1,000 exercises.
Nutracheck also helps you track six key nutrients:
- Protein
- Carbs
- Sugar
- Fat
- Saturated fat
- Salt
While Nutracheck is based in the UK and has a support team there, it has also launched a US version for the US app stores and has a US website.
14. MyPlate (Livestrong): A Free Calorie Counting App

MyPlate, by LiveStrong, is a calorie-counting app with free meal plans and healthy food recommendations. Signing up is easy, as you can use your Google or Facebook account. Start by choosing from one of the available diet styles:
- Gluten-free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Omnivore
Track your calories manually or scan barcodes to have your data uploaded automatically. In addition to seeing net calories for the day or week, you can view in-depth daily nutrition charts that can help you optimize your diet. Unlike Noom, MyPlate is free to use, though you can upgrade to the Gold plan to enjoy additional perks, such as:
- Macro breakdowns by meal
- Daily macro breakdowns
- A clean eating guide
15. FatSecret: A Free Calorie Counter App with Great Features

FatSecret is a free app you can use in place of Noom. Tracking calories is effortless, as you can scan barcodes or snap pictures of your foods. The app uses innovative technology to identify the food items in the pictures you take and log their calories. You can maintain a photo diary of the foods you have eaten and a dietary calendar displaying your calorie intake over time.
The exercise calendar will also help you record the calories you burn while working out. With a supportive community and a helpful phone widget, FatSecret is one of the best ways to stay on track and attain my fitness goals. You can even share my diet, exercise, and weight loss progress with my dietitian or healthcare professional using FatSecret Professional. While FatSecret is free, the premium plan will give you access to unique meal plans for different diet styles:
- Keto
- Mediterranean
- Intermittent fasting, etc.
- Meal planning in advance and more
16. Nutritionix: A Noom Alternative for Restaurant Foods

Nutritionix is another first-class alternative to Noom if youâre unsatisfied with Noomâs database, especially if you eat out often. With over 180,000 restaurant items on the Nutritionix database and hundreds of thousands of grocery and everyday items, you can go shopping or eat out regularly and still track your calories.
Comprehensive Food Databases and Data Accessibility in Nutrition Apps
According to Nutritionix, 95% of typical grocery items in the United States are included, and over 750 US restaurant chain menus are in the database. If you donât see an item, simply scan the barcode, snap some pictures, and submit it to the team for reviewâit will be added within a few days.
One useful Nutritionix feature is exporting your data in a spreadsheet. Unlike Noom, Nutritionix is free to use, though you can upgrade to the premium version to share my stats with your dietitian or trainer.
17. YAZIO: A Free Noom Alternative with Intermittent Fasting Features

Another free Noom alternative is YAZIO, which has over 1,500 tailor-made recipes. YAZIO is also more optimized than Noom for intermittent fasters, with a free fasting tracker that supports different intermittent fasting schedules. Both hourly and daily intermittent fasting schedules are supported. Some popular hourly fasting schedules include 12:12 and 16:8, while some popular weekly schedules include 5:2 and 6:1.
How YAZIO Supports Intermittent Fasting and Personalized Meal Planning
The OMAD planâOne Meal A Dayâis also supported. There are over 20 fasting meal plans, and the food database covers 95% of foods in the United States, according to YAZIO. Four million foods are in the database, making the YAZIO database slightly larger than Noomâs.
Each product in the YAZIO database comes with a rating, and itâs easy to build recipes and meal plans. The app also helps you track your water intake, and best of all, you can get started for free without registering.
18. HealthifyMe: A Noom Alternative with Coaching Features

Another app you can use to get expert coach guidance and weight loss help is HealthifyMe. Itâs excellent for goals like weight loss, muscle gain, and improving your eating habits overall. Unlike Noom, HealthifyMe lets you get started with a free consultation with a certified diet coach. You can chat with the coach on the app or via WhatsApp, giving you more communication flexibility. If you sign up for one-on-one coaching, you can choose periods of three months, six months, or one year. If you donât want to talk with a health coach, donât worry.
AI Coaching and Virtual Workouts: How HealthifyMe Stands Out
HealthifyMe has something called Ria, an AI-powered health coach. Using machine learning, Ria has accumulated enough data from over 500 million food logs and 20 million messages to help you advance in your weight loss journey. Ria can be your coach for 3-12 months.
HealthifyMe also goes beyond live coaching and introduces live workout classes performed over the internet. If working out with other people helps you stay motivated, but you donât have time to leave home, you can join these virtual classesâitâs just an option you wonât get from Noom. Of course, HealthifyMe has the standard calorie counting, water counting, and meal plan features you can expect from a calorie counter app.
19. FitMateCoach: A Noom Alternative With a Focus on Coaching

Fitamate is a leading weight loss app that provides weight loss support coaches that give you 1:1 coaching via its app. Similarities FitMateCoach and Noom offer tools and resources that help you look at lifestyle and behaviors affecting your weight loss journey.
Both are not focused on calorie counting but offer a more holistic approach to weight loss. Fitmate and Noom provide personalized weight loss plans, tools, and resources, such as recipes and actionable tips to help users achieve their goals.
Daily Coaching vs. Behavior Lessons: Choosing the Right Support for Weight Loss
Differences FitMateCoach offers daily interaction with a 1:1 coach via a conversational app for better accountability, motivation, and support. Noom focuses more on daily behavior change and psychology lessons without a coach. They provide a weekly behavior coaching session for an extra $150 per month plus a one-time $19 fee for joining the behavior coaching program on top of the regular subscription.
Main Benefits
FitMateCoach is excellent if you need the additional support and accountability that comes with daily interaction with a coach. This is particularly effective if you struggle with self-motivation and could use that extra cheerleader and accountability partner.
Track Your Calories within Less Than 15 Seconds with Our Calorie Tracker App
Goldi AI is an innovative app that transforms how we track nutrition and calories. Using advanced artificial intelligence technology, Goldi AI can analyze a photo of your food and instantly provide accurate food content details on:
- Calories
- Protein
- Carbs
- Fat
Goldi AI combines your phoneâs depth sensor with powerful AI models to analyze food volume, identify ingredients, and present nutritional information in seconds. Goldi AI makes nutrition tracking effortless with the following:
- 90 percent accuracy on visible foods
- Multiple tracking methods like:
- Barcode scanning
- Food label recognition
- The ability to learn from your feedback
If youâve ever spent time logging calories manually, you know how tedious it can be. With Goldi AI, the days of manually logging calories in dull, complicated apps are gone. Simply take a picture of your food and let Goldi AI do the rest.
What features does Goldi AI offer?
Goldi AI offers many features to help users accurately track their nutrition. First, the app provides quick, accurate estimates of calories and other macronutrients to help users reach their fitness goals. Users can scan:
- Full meals
- Quick snacks
- Complex foods like smoothies
Goldi AI also generates personalized insights based on usersâ tracking history. These insights help users understand their eating habits and make healthier choices. For example, if you regularly scan foods high in sugar, Goldi AI might recommend alternatives to help you reach your goals. The app also sends smart reminders to encourage consistent tracking.