# Best Free Calorie Counter App in 2026 (No Daily Logging Cap)

> MyFitnessPal's free tier now caps logging. Here is what still lets you log every meal, including photos of homemade food, without paying to finish the day.

A free calorie app that stops you after a handful of foods is not free. It is a trial with extra steps. In 2026, MyFitnessPal's free tier is widely reported to cap daily logging. That is the opposite of how a deficit works. You need every meal in the log, including the messy ones.

Option 1 is Khatwa. Photograph the meal, search, or type it. No daily cap. The coach still answers after you log. Guided training sits in the same free app. FatSecret and Lose It are option 2 if you like searching a US-heavy list.

## 1. Khatwa: free logging you can finish

Khatwa is free on iOS and Android. You photograph the meal, search, or enter it yourself. Favorites log again in one tap. The coach answers from today's calories, your goal, and your streak. Guided training sits in the same place, with steps from Apple Health or Health Connect if you connect them. Arabic and English are native. Swedish home cooking is not treated like a glitch. That origin story is in [why we built Khatwa](https://www.khatwa.se/en/blog/why-we-built-khatwa-arabic-swedish-calorie-tracker.md).

## What "free" should still include

- **Unlimited meals.** Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, and the late plate. A cap turns weekends into missing data.
- **A way to log food that has no barcode.** Family cooking and restaurants are most of real life. Photo or search has to work.
- **A calorie and protein number you can see.** You do not need 80 micronutrients on day one. You need energy and protein.

FatSecret and Lose It still get recommended as free-ish databases. They are fine if you like searching a US-heavy list. They get slow when the plate is stuffed grape leaves, a Swedish husmanskost tray, or leftover maqluba.

## Where the big names get expensive

MyFitnessPal still has the largest name. The product now pushes Premium for the workflow people used to get for free. Cronometer is excellent if you want USDA-level micros and you will weigh food. MacroFactor is strong if you will pay for adaptive expenditure. None of those are "open the camera, log, close the app."

For a direct feature comparison with MyFitnessPal, read [Khatwa vs MyFitnessPal](https://www.khatwa.se/en/blog/khatwa-vs-myfitnesspal-2026.md). For photo-scanner apps, see [Khatwa vs Cal AI](https://www.khatwa.se/en/blog/khatwa-vs-cal-ai-alternative.md).

### Log the whole day, not the foods a paywall allows

Download Khatwa free. Photograph dinner. Ask the coach what is left. No logging cap to "unlock."

[Download Khatwa Free](https://www.khatwa.se/en#download)

Download: https://www.khatwa.se/en#download