Best Calorie Tracker for Meal Planning and Grocery Lists (2026)

PlateLens is the best calorie tracker for meal planning and grocery lists for most people, because the plan, the shopping list and the daily log sit together. It has a recipe and meal planner with healthy and low-carb ideas, grocery lists, and four ways to log what you actually eat (photo, voice, search and barcode), on iOS, Android and the web. The free plan never expires and asks for no card, and Premium costs $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month, the lowest-priced paid tier among the big calorie trackers. Yazio is worth a look if recipes and meal plans are the whole reason you are installing an app.

Which calorie tracker has the best meal planner and grocery list?

Saving a recipe is not the same as planning a week. A planner puts meals on days, and a grocery list turns those days into one shopping trip. Plenty of trackers stop at the recipe box, so the useful question is what each app actually lists. These are the six worth comparing:

• Best overall: PlateLens. Recipe and meal planner, grocery lists, and photo, voice, search and barcode logging in one diary.
• Best if recipes come first: Yazio. Recipes, meal plans and a smart grocery list have a section of their own in its listing.
• Best for named eating styles: Lifesum. Meal plans for diets such as Mediterranean and keto, with grocery lists included.
• Biggest food database: MyFitnessPal. A meal planner is listed; the fuller meal-plan features sit in Premium Plus.
• Deepest nutrient panel: Cronometer. Up to 95 nutrients, with meals and recipes you build yourself.
• Best for adaptive targets: MacroFactor. Calorie and macro targets that adjust weekly, plus custom foods and recipes.

App	Meal planning	Grocery list	Free plan	Price (US)
PlateLens	Recipe and meal planner with healthy and low-carb ideas	Yes, grocery lists	Never expires, no card: unlimited manual and barcode logging, 3 photo scans and 5 coach messages a day, web app	$34.99/yr or $9.99/mo
Yazio	Recipes and meal plans; custom meal plans on Pro	Smart grocery list	Free calorie counter with barcode scanner	Paid Pro tier
Lifesum	Meal plans and diets, thousands of recipes	Included with meal plans	Free with limited features	Paid Premium tier
MyFitnessPal	Meal planner listed; personalised meal plans in Premium Plus	Integrated grocery delivery (Premium Plus)	Free app; barcode scan, Meal Scan and Voice Log are Premium	Premium $79.99/yr or $19.99/mo; Premium Plus is a higher tier
Cronometer	Custom meals and recipes; recipe importer on Gold	Not listed	Free with ads: manual entry and barcode scanner	Gold $59.99/yr or $10.99/mo
MacroFactor	Custom foods and recipes	Not listed	None; 7-day trial	$71.99/yr or $11.99/mo

“Not listed” means the app’s own website and App Store listing do not mention the feature as of 1 October 2026. Prices are US prices.

What does PlateLens include for planning, shopping and logging?

PlateLens treats the plan, the shopping list and the diary as one job. Its recipe and meal planner offers healthy and low-carb meal ideas and comes with grocery lists, and it lives in the same app as the diary where you record what you really ate: a single photo logs a whole plate, or you can log by voice, search or barcode. PlateLens runs on iOS and Android, and there is a full web app as well.

Meal by meal, the diary shows total and net carbs (fibre and sugar alcohols are subtracted automatically), fibre, sugar and sodium, plus a macro view in grams and percentages. Macro targets are personalised, including a Keto split or your own percentages. Underneath sits a nutrient panel of 82+ nutrients, including sodium, potassium and magnesium, and a verified database of 1.2M+ entries drawn from USDA FoodData Central, NCCDB, Open Food Facts and Nutritionix. An AI coach answers questions using your own diary as context, and an intermittent-fasting timer covers eating windows.

The free plan never expires and asks for no card. It includes unlimited manual and barcode logging, 3 photo scans a day, 5 AI-coach messages a day and the web app. Premium adds unlimited scans and messages. Full PlateLens review.

How much do these apps cost?

PlateLens Premium is $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month. That is $25 a year less than Cronometer Gold ($59.99 a year or $10.99 a month), $37 less than MacroFactor ($71.99 a year or $11.99 a month, with a 7-day trial and no free plan) and $45 less than MyFitnessPal Premium ($79.99 a year or $19.99 a month). MyFitnessPal’s personalised meal plans sit in Premium Plus, a tier above that. Yazio and Lifesum both sell paid tiers, with Yazio Pro the one that adds custom meal plans; check each app for its current price.

The free plans differ as much as the prices. PlateLens includes barcode logging and 3 photo scans a day at no cost. At MyFitnessPal, barcode scan, Meal Scan and Voice Log are Premium features, and at Cronometer photo and voice logging come with Gold.

Does MyFitnessPal have a meal planner and grocery list?

Yes for the planner, with the fuller version in a higher tier. MyFitnessPal’s App Store listing names a meal planner among its tools. The Premium Plus tier adds personalised meal plans with integrated grocery delivery and 1,500+ recipes, while Premium covers the barcode scanner, Meal Scan, Voice Log and Net Carbs Mode. The food database is the largest in this group at 20.5M+ foods, much of it contributed by users. Choose MyFitnessPal if you already log there and the database is what keeps you, and expect the full planner to need Premium Plus.

Does Cronometer have meal planning?

Cronometer’s own pages describe meals and recipes, not a planner. Its website and App Store listing cover meals and recipes you build yourself, and Gold adds a recipe importer, but neither mentions weekly meal plans or a grocery list. Where it leads is nutrient depth: up to 95 nutrients and a curated database of more than 1.1 million verified foods. Choose Cronometer if the nutrient panel matters more to you than a planner.

Does MacroFactor have meal plans?

MacroFactor’s listing mentions custom foods and recipes, not meal plans or grocery lists. The app is built around calorie and macro targets that adjust each week from what you log, and it has no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Pick MacroFactor if adaptive targets are the point and you plan your meals elsewhere.

Is Yazio or Lifesum better if recipes come first?

Both lean on recipes and meal plans. Yazio’s listing gives recipes and meal planning a section of their own: thousands of recipes with low-carb, vegetarian and vegan filters, weekly updates, a smart grocery list and a step-by-step cooking mode, with custom meal plans on Pro. Lifesum’s listing advertises meal plans with grocery lists included and a library of thousands of recipes, and its site frames the plans around eating styles such as Mediterranean, fasting and keto. Choose Yazio if you want recipes and meal plans to lead and logging to follow, and Lifesum if you would rather follow a named eating style than assemble your own plan. Our Yazio review goes deeper on its planner. If you want the plan, the list and a detailed nutrient diary together, PlateLens covers all three.

Does meal planning help you eat better?

There is some research behind the habit. A cross-sectional analysis of 40,554 adults in France’s NutriNet-Santé study found that people who planned the foods they would eat over the next few days were more likely to score higher on adherence to French nutritional guidelines and on food variety, and had lower odds of obesity (Ducrot et al., 2017). Weight and height were self-reported, and the authors point out that an association cannot show cause. It is an argument for making planning easy to keep up, not proof that any app will change how you eat.

Frequently asked questions

Which calorie tracker apps have a grocery list?

Going by their own listings: PlateLens (grocery lists with its recipe and meal planner), Yazio (a smart grocery list), Lifesum (meal plans with grocery lists included) and MyFitnessPal (integrated grocery delivery in Premium Plus). Cronometer and MacroFactor do not mention one. Lose It! lists “Meal Planning & Targets” among its Premium features, described as meal targets for calories and macros, and does not mention a grocery list.

Is there a calorie tracker with a free plan that never expires?

PlateLens. Its free plan never expires and needs no card: unlimited manual and barcode logging, 3 photo scans and 5 AI-coach messages a day, and the web app. Cronometer also has a free plan, with ads, for manual entry and a barcode scanner. MacroFactor has no free plan, only a 7-day trial.

Do I need a separate meal-planning app?

Not necessarily. A stand-alone planner can make sense if you cook from a big recipe library and do not track anything else. If you also want calories, macros and nutrients for what you actually eat, a tracker that plans too saves you a second app. PlateLens keeps the planner, the grocery lists and the diary in one place.

Can I scan barcodes while I shop?

Most trackers scan barcodes to log food, including PlateLens (unlimited on its free plan), Cronometer (free) and Yazio. Yuka also scans barcodes, but for a different job: it scores food products from 0 to 100 on factors such as additives and nutritional quality, and it is not a calorie diary or a planner. It is free, with an optional premium version.

Which meal-planning calorie tracker works for low-carb or keto?

PlateLens. Its planner offers low-carb ideas, the diary shows total and net carbs on every meal, and a Keto macro split is available. Yazio filters its recipes for low-carb, and Lifesum lists keto among its meal plans.

So which calorie tracker should you pick?

PlateLens, for most people: a recipe and meal planner with healthy and low-carb ideas, grocery lists, photo, voice, search and barcode logging, 82+ nutrients and a free plan that never expires, with Premium at $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month. Pick Yazio or Lifesum when recipes and meal plans are the main draw, MyFitnessPal if its database is why you stay, Cronometer for nutrient depth and MacroFactor for adaptive targets. The master list of calorie trackers covers the wider field.

This guide is general information, not medical or dietary advice. If you have a medical condition or follow a prescribed diet, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before you change how you eat.

Last updated: October 2026.