OpenFoodJournal vs Based Macro Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OpenFoodJournal
This app uses AI to scan food labels and estimate nutrition from photos. Track daily macros and micronutrients, organize meals, and save frequently eaten foods. Your data is private, stored locally and synced via iCloud, with no ads or accounts required.
- AI nutrition label scanning
- Photo-based meal calorie estimation
- Daily macro and micronutrient tracking
- Customizable food bank and composite foods
- Container weight tracking
- iCloud device syncing
- Apple Health integration
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OpenFoodJournal is a free, open-source nutrition tracker that uses AI to scan food labels and estimate nutrition from food photos — no account required, no subscriptions, no ads. SCAN ANYTHING Point your camera at a nutrition label and get macro and micronutrient data you can review before saving. Or photograph your meal from multiple angles and let AI estimate calories, protein, carbs, fat, and common micronutrients. YOUR KEY, YOUR DATA OpenFoodJournal uses a Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) approach. You provide your own Google Gemini API key — your food photos go directly from your device to Google's API. No middleman server, no account, no ads, no tracking. TRACK YOUR MACROS • Daily calorie, protein, carbs, and fat tracking with visual progress rings • 30 micronutrients tracked automatically (fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, and more) • Organize meals by breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks • Weekly calendar strip for quick day-to-day navigation FOOD BANK Save foods you eat regularly and log them with one tap. Supports custom serving sizes, unit conversions (cups to grams, pieces to servings), brand organization, archive cleanup, and optional AI-generated food icons. BUILD REUSABLE FOODS Create composite foods from copied ingredient snapshots, so future edits do not change past journal entries. Build restaurant-style nutrition calculators for customizable meals and save those builds to your journal. AI SEARCH Search for nutrition data from the Food Bank. Gemini can use Google Search grounding to find data for packaged foods and restaurant items, then opens an editable review form before anything is saved. CONTAINER TRACKING Track foods by weight — enter a start weight when you open a container, then log the final weight when you're done. The app calculates exactly how much you consumed. SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Your data syncs automatically via iCloud — no account creation, no email, no password. Just sign in to iCloud on your devices and everything stays in sync. APPLE HEALTH Optionally write nutrition data to Apple Health. OpenFoodJournal uses deterministic HealthKit identifiers so edits replace OpenFoodJournal-owned samples instead of duplicating them, and includes repair tools for older synced entries. HISTORY & CHARTS Review your nutrition history with interactive charts. See trends in your calorie and macro intake over time. EXPORT AND BACK UP Export spreadsheet CSVs for analysis, save full JSON backups for restore-grade imports, and export the last 30 days of Gemini diagnostics when troubleshooting scan or AI Search behavior. PRIVACY FIRST • No accounts or sign-ups • No analytics or tracking • No ads • No server — your data lives on your device and in your personal iCloud • Open source — verify everything at github.com/kvn8888/OpenFoodJournal GETTING STARTED 1. Get a Gemini API key at aistudio.google.com 2. Paste it into the app during onboarding 3. Start scanning and tracking OpenFoodJournal is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Built with SwiftUI, SwiftData, and CloudKit.
Based Macro Tracker
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Based Macro Tracker - Macro tracking, simplified - The whole idea behind this is for you to be able to add your own personalized food that you eat frequently. You know yourself, you know your habits, and you usually know the foods you like to eat - whether you're cutting or bulking, the hard part is tracking it, but not anymore! If you're into health and don't eat-out all the time, you'll find this extremely useful. Log with speed • Add your own custom foods • Quick-add foods from your library, favorites, and recent items • Meal templates and smart suggestions so dinner isn’t a blank page • Portion tools with automatic unit conversion (g / oz / lb) - macros automatically calculated by portion sizing Know your numbers • Daily calorie and macro targets with clear remaining progress • Stats and charts for weight, calories, and macros over 7 / 30 / 90 days • Bulk or cut goal modes that match how you train Scan and look up food • AI photo and nutrition-label scanning to pull macros from the real world • Barcode lookup via Open Food Facts • USDA FoodData Central search for public nutrition facts • Personal food library plus community/public foods Grocery that stays in sync • Shared grocery lists with live updates across people in your household • Aisle grouping, buy-again history, and batch add from meals Ai assistance - it's there when you need it, and out of the way when you don't. Take photos of the labels of foods for easy macro food additions Privacy-first: meal and weight data stays tied to your account. We don’t sell your food log.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Based Macro Tracker at every 3 days against OpenFoodJournal's every 6 weeks. Based Macro Tracker also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
OpenFoodJournal ships an update every 6 weeks, Based Macro Tracker every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | OpenFoodJournal | Based Macro Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kevin Chen | Kolio Kolev |
In-app purchases
OpenFoodJournal
No in-app purchases
Based Macro Tracker
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is OpenFoodJournal free?
Is Based Macro Tracker free?
Do OpenFoodJournal or Based Macro Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, OpenFoodJournal or Based Macro Tracker?
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