Calorie Tape vs Lose It!
Lose It! is a weight-loss app. It sets a daily calorie budget from your goal, tracks weight and exercise, and adds barcode scanning, nutrient targets and photo logging with Premium, at $79.99 a year. Calorie Tape is a food and nutrient log without a plan: no account, no weigh-ins, every feature free, and a log that stays on your iPhone.
Where Calorie Tape leads
- Free barcode scannerLose It! keeps scanning in Premium.
- No adsLose It! Basic shows full-screen and banner ads.
- Every feature freeNo subscription for scanning or nutrient targets. Lose It! Premium is $79.99 a year.
- No accountNothing to sign up for; your log stays on your iPhone.
Which one fits you
Choose Calorie Tape if
- You want to know what’s in your food more than you want a weight-loss schedule.
- You want barcode scanning without a subscription.
- You’d rather not make an account or see ads.
- You want every nutrient a food reports, and which foods each one came from.
Choose Lose It! if
- You want a calorie budget and weight-loss schedule worked out for you.
- You want weight, exercise, water or fasting in the same app.
- You stay on track with friends, groups and logging streaks.
- You use Android or the web.
At a glance
| Calorie Tape | Lose It! | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: Free. Every feature. | Lose It!Basic is free. Premium is $79.99 a year; Lifetime is $299.99. |
| Ads | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: None | Lose It!Full-screen ads between screens and banner ads in the food log, on Basic. A one-time Eliminate Ads purchase removes them. |
| Features that need a subscription | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: None. Every feature is free. | Lose It!Premium: barcode scanning, nutrient, water and sleep targets, fitness-tracker syncing, logging meals ahead, and photo and voice logging |
| Account | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: None | Lose It!Required (free) |
| Where your log is kept | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: Only on your iPhone | Lose It!In your account, on servers in the US |
| Data used to track you | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: None. The app collects no data. | Lose It!Contact info, identifiers and usage data, per its App Privacy label |
| Works offline | Calorie TapeSearch, scanning, label reading and logging all work offline | Lose It!Offline search is one of its logging features |
| Barcode scanning | Calorie TapeCalorie Tape leads: Free, and works offline | Lose It!Premium |
| Nutrients | Calorie TapeEvery nutrient a food reports, and which foods each one came from | Lose It!Calories free; nutrient targets and advanced tracking with Premium |
| Foods | Calorie TapeMore than a million, from USDA and Open Food Facts, stored on your iPhone | Lose It!Lose It! leads: More than 50 million |
| Recipes | Calorie TapeNo | Lose It!Lose It! leads: Yes, for every user |
| Weight and exercise | Calorie TapeNo | Lose It!Lose It! leads: Yes; syncing with fitness trackers needs Premium |
| Devices | Calorie TapeiPhone, with iOS 27 or later | Lose It!Lose It! leads: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and the web |
Lose It!’s details are from its App Store listing (US), website, help center and privacy policy, checked September 29, 2026.
A plan, or a log
Lose It! starts with a goal. Tell it your weight and your target, and it works out a daily calorie budget and a schedule to get there, then tracks your weigh-ins alongside food and exercise. Premium adds nutrient, water and sleep targets.
Calorie Tape doesn’t plan anything. You set daily targets yourself: energy and, if you like, protein, carbs and fat, in grams or as a percentage of energy. It doesn’t track weight. Instead, it shows what you ate in full: every nutrient a food reports, the day against your targets, and which foods each nutrient came from.
Barcode scanning and foods
In Lose It!, the barcode scanner is part of Premium. Its database is far larger than Calorie Tape’s, with more than 50 million foods, and it can fill in a new food from a nutrition label.
Calorie Tape’s scanner is free. It matches barcodes against more than a million USDA and Open Food Facts foods stored on your iPhone, so scanning works with no signal. When a product is missing, photograph its Nutrition Facts label and the app fills in a new food for you to check.
Privacy
Lose It! needs an account. Its privacy policy says its servers are in the United States and that it uses interest-based advertising, and its App Privacy label lists contact info, identifiers and usage data as data that may be used to track you.
Calorie Tape has no account, no server and no ads. Your log stays in the app on your iPhone and in the iPhone’s own backups.
Price
Lose It! Basic is free. Premium costs $79.99 a year in the US, and a one-time Lifetime upgrade costs $299.99; Lose It! says its in-app prices vary with promotions. Basic shows full-screen ads between screens and banner ads in the food log. A one-time Eliminate Ads purchase removes those, though upgrade prompts and affiliate offers stay.
Every Calorie Tape feature is free, and there are no ads.
What Lose It! has that Calorie Tape doesn’t
- A calorie budget and weight-loss schedule built from your goal.
- Weight, exercise, water, fasting, sleep and more.
- Recipes, for every user.
- Friends, groups and logging streaks.
- Barcode scanning, photo logging and voice logging, with Premium.
- GLP-1 medication logging.
- Apps for Android and the web.
Switching from Lose It!
Calorie Tape can’t import a Lose It! log, so you’d start fresh. It has no weight tracking or recipes, so keep your weigh-ins somewhere else if they matter to you. Set your energy target once; it stays where you put it.
Questions
Is Lose It! free?
Lose It! Basic is free and includes a calorie budget and food logging. Barcode scanning, nutrient targets and photo and voice logging need Premium, which costs $79.99 a year in the US. A one-time Lifetime upgrade costs $299.99.
Does Calorie Tape help you lose weight?
It shows what you eat against targets you set, but it doesn’t plan weight loss or track your weight. If you want a calorie budget worked out from your goal and a record of weigh-ins, Lose It! does that. Calorie Tape is for seeing every nutrient in what you eat.
Is there a Lose It! alternative without an account?
Calorie Tape needs no account and keeps your log on your iPhone. It searches more than a million foods offline and scans barcodes for free. It’s coming soon to the App Store in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Get Calorie Tape
For iPhone, in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
More comparisons
- Lose It! alternativesFree scanners, no ads, nutrient detail
- MyFitnessPal vs Lose It!Two weight-loss trackers, both with Premium scanning
- Lose It! vs CronometerA weight-loss plan, or nutrient detail
- Calorie Tape vs CronometerUp to 95 nutrients with an account, or a private log
- Calorie Tape vs MyFitnessPalA huge database and Premium tools, or a free scanner and no account
- Calorie Tape vs MacroFactorA paid coach that adjusts your macros, or a free log
- Calorie Tape vs fatsecretTwo free barcode scanners, one with an account
- All comparisonsSix apps side by side
Sources
All checked September 29, 2026. Prices are US prices. Apps change; if something here is out of date, email hellochillcreatures@gmail.com and we’ll fix it.
- Lose It! – Calorie Counter, App Store (US): App Privacy label, Premium features, devices, calorie budget, GLP-1 logging.
- Lose It! Support, Membership Tiers & Pricing: Basic, Premium and Lifetime (updated September 9, 2026).
- Lose It! Support, Ad-Free Version of Lose It!: the ads on Basic, and the one-time purchase that removes them (updated July 15, 2026).
- Lose It! Support, What is Lose It! Premium?: in-app prices vary with promotions; 7-day trial (updated August 4, 2026).
- Lose It! Support, Using Recipes in Lose It!: recipes for every user, in the app and on the website.
- Lose It!, How It Works: weight-loss plan, food count, offline search, community.
- Lose It!: barcode scanning and nutrition label auto-fill.
- Lose It! Support, How to Log Food: logging on the website.
- Lose It! Privacy Policy: servers in the US, interest-based advertising.
- Lose It! on Google Play: the Android app.
- Calorie Tape Privacy Policy and Food Data.
Lose It! is a trademark of its owner, used here only to name the app. Calorie Tape and Chill Creatures aren’t affiliated with or endorsed by FitNow, Inc.