Comparison

Calorie Helper vs Arista Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Calorie Helper

Features
Read full description

Have you ever struggled to figure out how many calories you will eat by just reading the nutrition labels? There is a lot of information on them, but it doesn't do you much good if the numbers don't mean anything. That's where Calorie Helper comes in. Serving sizes never match up with reality so the calories you are eating aren't represented properly. This app fixes that by allowing you to enter the calorie information from any food and then tell it how much you ate. It will then return the actual calories that you ate. It's as simple as that. You can adjust by how many pieces you ate, what percentage of the package you ate, or how many servings you ate. Then you let it know how many calories the food had. That can be entered as calories per serving, or per package. As you enter the numbers, the app will gray out the numbers that it doesn't need. So, while it looks like a lot of information to enter, most times you only need 2 or 3 fields to get an answer. Anytime I attempted to diet I found myself with a calculator trying to figure out these numbers. Now there is an app to do it for you!

About

Arista Reader

Scan ingredient labels directly from your camera or photos without needing an internet connection. Customize your lists to check ingredients against your preferences, with support for English and Spanish.

Highlights
  • On-device text recognition for labels
  • Offline scanning and analysis
  • Customizable Avoid and Look for lists
  • English and Spanish language support
  • Preset ingredient collections
  • Unlimited scans and saved scans
Features
Read full description

Read the ingredient label itself. No barcode or internet needed to scan. Arista Reader uses on-device text recognition to read the actual words on packaging. Point your iPhone or iPad camera at a label, or choose a photo. Check ingredient names and available aliases against your personal Avoid and Look for list. YOUR PREFERENCES, ONE SCAN Start with a preset, see its ingredients and refine your list. Browse food, allergen, dietary, personal-care and household collections. Every selected ingredient is checked together. OFFLINE FROM THE START The ingredient catalogue is included with the app. Recognition and matching run on your device, without an online product-database lookup. Internet access is used for catalogue updates, optional account sync and purchases. ENGLISH AND SPANISH Use the app in English or Spanish, with regional ingredient names for Spain and Mexico. Matching includes available aliases in both languages. Results depend on label clarity and catalogue coverage. FREE EVERY DAY โ€ข Unlimited camera and photo scans โ€ข One local profile โ€ข One preset plus 10 additional catalogue ingredients โ€ข Refine your preset and change selections anytime โ€ข Unlimited local saved scans with label images โ€ข Ingredient aliases and translations included ARISTA PRO Check all your preferences together with unrestricted ingredient selection. Create multiple local profiles and custom ingredients or aliases. Optional Apple, Google or email sign-in syncs profiles and custom ingredients; saved scans and images stay on your device. Choose monthly or yearly billing for the same Pro features. Eligible new subscribers can start with a 14-day free trial, followed by the selected paid subscription. Apple shows your local price, eligibility and renewal terms before purchase. Manage or cancel in Apple Account subscription settings, or restore an active subscription from Arista Pro. After Pro or a trial ends, your lists and saves remain stored. Choose a selection within the free allowance to continue scanning. Existing pre-change selections retain their coverage. Privacy: https://arista-reader.com/privacy-policy.html Terms: https://arista-reader.com/terms-and-conditions.html Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Calorie Helper4 screens
Arista Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Arista Reader at Free against Calorie Helper's $0.99. Arista Reader also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 34 months). Calorie Helper's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Arista Reader is free to download; Calorie Helper costs $0.99 up front. Arista Reader sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Calorie Helper asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calorie Helper ships an update every 34 months, Arista Reader every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 3 level
Calorie Helper versus Arista Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalorie HelperArista Reader
Price$0.99Free โ€” better
Update frequencyEvery 34 monthsEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
Monetizationโ€”Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB39 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDucky Planet LLCAlpha-Kinetic Systems

In-app purchases

None

Calorie Helper

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Arista Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Arista Pro Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Arista Pro Yearly14 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Calorie Helper free?
Calorie Helper costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Arista Reader free?
Arista Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Calorie Helper or Arista Reader have ads?
Neither Calorie Helper nor Arista Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calorie Helper or Arista Reader?
Calorie Helper ships an update every 34 months, and Arista Reader every 5 days. Most recently, Calorie Helper was updated on November 2, 2026 and Arista Reader on November 7, 2026.

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