By Samipan Bandyopadhyay, developer of Fitto AI
“Free” is an overused word in calorie tracking. Plenty of apps are free to download and then stop you at the moment you try to log a meal. So here is exactly what is free in Fitto AI, how it works, and where the free part ends.
The short version: logging your food is free, and it stays free after your AI scans run out. You pay only if you want AI to do the work for you.
Food search and typing a meal in yourself arrived in Fitto 1.1.7. They are out now on Android, and come to iPhone with the next App Store update. Free barcode scans and favourites already work on both.
What you can do with no credits
All of this works at a balance of 0, with no daily limit on logging:
- Search foods. Find a food, choose a portion and get its calories and macros.
- Build a meal. Add several foods and save them as one meal.
- Scan barcodes. Read a packaged food’s label data as often as you like.
- Type a meal in yourself. Enter a name and calories. Protein, carbs and fat are optional.
- Log favourites. Star a meal you eat often and log it again later.
- Edit your log. Change a portion, add something you missed or delete a meal.
- Follow your progress. Daily targets, history, weekly trends, weight tracking and streaks are all free.
Meals logged this way count towards your streak exactly like a photo scan. Fitto has no ads, and it doesn’t ask for a card.
How free logging works
- Tap + and choose Search foods.
- Type what you ate. Results appear as you type, and your recent foods are there when the box is empty.
- Tap a food, then choose a unit and quantity. A cup, a slice, a piece or grams, depending on the food. The calories and macros update as you change it.
- Add it, then search for the next food if the meal has more than one.
- Review the meal and log it.
If the food isn’t there, tap the option at the bottom of the results to type it in yourself. No database has everything, and a rough entry is better than a gap in your log.
Where the food data comes from
Search draws on USDA FoodData Central, the US Department of Agriculture’s public nutrition database, which covers everyday foods, ingredients and prepared dishes. Calories, protein, carbs and fat come from there, plus fibre and saturated fat when the source lists them. If a source doesn’t list a nutrient, Fitto leaves it blank rather than showing a false zero.
Fitto also includes 183 Indian dishes, from dal to biryani, because a US database covers them poorly. Those are calculated from the ingredients of a typical recipe and labelled as estimates, since every kitchen makes them differently.
Barcode scans read label data from Open Food Facts, a free database built by contributors. A product that isn’t listed there won’t be found, and Fitto then offers food search instead.
What costs credits, and why
Credits pay for features that send your meal to an AI model, because each of those requests has a real cost:
- Photo scans
- Voice logging
- AI text descriptions, where you describe a meal and the AI works it out
- Generated meal plans
- New sets of lighter meal ideas
Each of these uses 1 credit. New accounts get 5 free AI scans with no card. After that, credits come in one-time packs: 50 for $1.99, 150 for $2.99 or 500 for $5.99 on the US App Store. There is no subscription, so nothing renews. See pricing for the details.
Free search or AI scan?
| Food search | AI photo scan | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | 1 credit |
| How it works | You find each food and set the portion | You take a photo, then check the result |
| Best for | Simple meals, single foods, foods you eat often | Mixed plates and restaurant meals |
| Numbers come from | The food database | An AI estimate you can correct |
Many people will do well with both: search for breakfast, and spend a credit on the restaurant meal that would take ten searches.
How this compares with other calorie trackers
Free plans differ a lot, so check what each one covers. These details come from each app’s own listing or FAQ when we read them in September 2026, and they may have changed:
- MyFitnessPal: basic food logging is free. Barcode scan, meal scan and voice logging are Premium features.
- SnapCalorie: up to 3 AI logs a day for free, with a Premium subscription beyond that.
- Cal AI: the listing says food scanning results require a subscription.
Fitto’s difference is the barcode scanner and logging staying free, with no subscription behind the AI features. For side-by-side details, see the comparison pages.
The limits, honestly
Free logging takes more effort than a photo: you find each food and set each portion yourself. A few other things are worth knowing:
- Search covers generic foods, not brands. Use the barcode scanner for packaged products.
- You need an account and a connection. Food search runs on our servers, so it won’t work offline.
- Figures are estimates. Database values are averages and your portion is a judgement call. Tracking without a food scale covers how to keep those errors small.
- It isn’t medical advice. If you need precise intake for a health reason, work with a registered dietitian.
Fitto AI is a free download on iPhone and Android. Start by logging one meal, and see what’s free in Fitto AI for the full list.
Related reading
- Best AI Calorie Tracker Apps for Android (2026)
- Thanksgiving Dinner Calories: How to Count Your Plate
- How to Count Calories in Homemade Food and Recipes
More from Fitto
- Everything Fitto AI does: photo, voice, text and barcode logging
- Tracking calories for restaurant and takeout meals
- A calorie tracker without a subscription
- How Fitto compares with other calorie tracker apps