Calorie App Directory
An independent directory of calorie, macro, and nutrition tracker apps.

Editorial Policy

The short version

Why no affiliate links

Most calorie-tracker comparison sites monetize through affiliate links — they receive a percentage of each subscription that converts through their referral. This creates a structural incentive to recommend whichever app pays the highest commission, which is rarely the same as the app that's the best fit for any specific reader. We have chosen not to do this.

The cost of that choice is that we have to fund the site differently. Calorie App Directory operates on a small budget and runs at near zero overhead — the testing is done by reviewers using their own subscriptions, the methodology work is done in their own time, and the site infrastructure is minimal. We don't pretend this is a sustainable model at scale; it is the model we chose because we wanted to write reviews we'd trust.

How we pay for our subscriptions

The reviewers buy their own subscriptions to the apps under review, the same way any reader would. We do not request press accounts, comp subscriptions, or extended trial access. If we are offered free access, we decline.

If at any point we accept access in a way that would be a conflict of interest, we will disclose it explicitly in the relevant review.

How we handle vendor relationships

App developers occasionally email us with corrections, criticism, or pre-launch information. We respond. We do not allow vendors pre-publication review of reviews. We do not give vendors editorial control over what we say about their products. Corrections, where warranted, are made on the same basis we make any other correction — when a fact is wrong, we fix it and note the correction.

We do not accept gifts (free hardware, paid travel to events, branded merchandise of meaningful value, etc.) from app developers. Coffee at a meeting is fine; anything beyond is declined.

How we update reviews

Apps change. Pricing changes. Features ship and are paywalled. We re-test every app in the directory each calendar quarter and update the review when something material has changed. The review header shows the publish date and the most recent test date; the body names the specific app version we tested. If a review is more than three months out of date, we say so.

Major changes (a new pricing tier; a feature paywall; a database refresh; a UI overhaul) trigger an immediate re-test outside the normal quarterly cycle.

How we use AI

We use language models for editing assistance (cleaning up draft prose, checking spelling, suggesting clearer phrasings). We do not use language models to generate reviews from scratch. Every review reflects testing that was performed by a human reviewer on a human's subscription, with notes that a human took during the test period. The AI editing is a tool; the review is human work.

We do not test AI-generated meal photos or AI-fabricated foods against the apps. The photo set we use is real meals taken by real reviewers in real conditions.

Corrections

If we publish something that is wrong, we fix it. We mark the correction at the bottom of the article with the date and the nature of the change. We do not silently edit articles to remove embarrassing errors. The correction history is part of the review.

If you spot an error, email corrections@caloriappdirectory.com. We respond.

Reader privacy

We do not require accounts or sign-ups. We do not run on-page tracking beyond standard server logs (which capture URL, IP for traffic counting, referrer, user-agent, and timestamp; these are aggregated and not used to build profiles). We do not run third-party advertising networks. We use a privacy-respecting analytics provider; users may block analytics with any standard tracker-blocker.

How to verify our independence

We publish:

If you want to audit a specific claim in any review, email us. We share our test data with readers who ask. We do not publish the raw weighed-meal photos publicly because some of them include private kitchens or restaurants we don't want to involve.

Last updated

This editorial policy was last updated April 2026. Material changes are dated and the previous version is preserved in our git history (the site is open in this respect).