Nutrola vs Lose It vs Yazio Free Tier Comparison 2026

Is a free calorie tracker really free when ads interrupt every meal log? Lose It and Yazio both offer free tiers that look attractive on paper, but the daily experience of using them tells a different story. We put all three apps side by side — Nutrola at €2.50/month, Lose It's free plan, and Yazio's free plan — to show exactly what each one delivers in 2026.

The short version: €2.50 per month gets you more functionality than both free tiers combined. Here is the full breakdown.

What Is Each App in 2026?

Nutrola

Nutrola is an AI-powered calorie and nutrition tracker available on iOS and Android. It combines photo AI recognition, voice logging, barcode scanning, and recipe import into a single interface backed by a 1.8 million+ entry nutritionist-verified food database. Every tier is ad-free. The standard plan costs €2.50 per month.

Lose It Free Tier

Lose It is a well-established calorie tracking app that has been around since 2008. The free tier provides basic calorie tracking, a calorie budget based on your weight loss goal, and the Snap It photo recognition feature. It shows ads throughout the experience and restricts features like meal planning, macronutrient goals, and exercise tracking to the premium tier at $39.99/year.

Yazio Free Tier

Yazio is a German-origin calorie tracking app that emphasizes simplicity. The free tier is one of the most limited among mainstream trackers — it provides basic calorie logging and a food database, but locks macro tracking goals, meal plans, nutrient details beyond calories, and intermittent fasting features behind its Pro plan at $29.99/year. Ads appear throughout the free version.

How Do They Compare? Feature-by-Feature Table

Feature	Nutrola (€2.50/mo)	Lose It Free	Yazio Free
Calorie tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes
Macro goals (protein/carbs/fat)	Yes, fully customizable	No (premium only)	No (premium only)
Micronutrient tracking	Yes, 100+ nutrients	No (premium only)	No (premium only)
AI photo food recognition	Yes	Yes (Snap It)	No
Voice food logging	Yes	No	No
Barcode scanner	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recipe import from URL	Yes	No	No (premium only)
Food database size	1.8M+ verified entries	~1.2M (mix verified/user)	~1M (mix verified/user)
Database verification	Nutritionist-verified	Partially verified	Partially verified
Custom food entry	Yes	Yes	Yes
Water tracking	Yes	Yes (basic)	Yes (basic)
Weight tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes
Exercise logging	Yes	Limited	Limited
Meal planning	Yes	No (premium only)	No (premium only)
Intermittent fasting timer	No	No (premium only)	No (premium only)
Ad-free experience	Yes, all tiers	No	No
Wearable integration	Apple Health, Google Fit	Apple Health, Google Fit	Apple Health, Google Fit
Platform availability	iOS + Android	iOS + Android	iOS + Android

That is 18 features compared. Nutrola delivers a "yes" on 15 of them. Lose It free delivers 9. Yazio free delivers 7.

What You DON'T Get on Each Free Tier

This table is arguably more important than the feature list. Here is what each plan withholds.

Missing Feature	Nutrola (€2.50/mo)	Lose It Free	Yazio Free
Macro goals	Included	Locked	Locked
Micronutrient details	Included	Locked	Locked
Meal planning	Included	Locked	Locked
Recipe import	Included	Locked	Locked
AI voice logging	Included	Not available	Not available
Ad-free experience	Included	Locked ($39.99/yr)	Locked ($29.99/yr)
Advanced reports	Included	Locked	Locked
Nutrient breakdown charts	Included	Locked	Locked

The pattern is clear. Both free tiers use feature gating to push users toward premium subscriptions that cost significantly more than Nutrola's €2.50/month.

The Ad Experience: How Often Do Ads Appear?

We tracked ad frequency across a typical day of logging four meals and two snacks on each platform.

Ad Metric	Nutrola	Lose It Free	Yazio Free
Banner ads per session	0	2-4	3-5
Full-screen interstitial ads per day	0	3-6	4-8
Video ads per day	0	1-3	2-4
Ads triggered by food logging	0	Yes, after most logs	Yes, after most logs
Total ad interruptions per day	0	8-15	10-18
Time lost to ads per day (estimated)	0 seconds	45-90 seconds	60-120 seconds

Over a month, that adds up to 22 to 45 minutes of your life spent watching ads on Lose It free, and 30 to 60 minutes on Yazio free. Nutrola shows zero ads on any plan, including its €2.50/month tier.

Database Accuracy: Where Does Your Data Come From?

The accuracy of your calorie count depends entirely on the database behind it. Here is how the three databases compare.

Database Quality Metric	Nutrola	Lose It	Yazio
Total entries	1.8M+	~1.2M	~1M
Verification method	Nutritionist-verified	Mix of verified and user-submitted	Mix of verified and user-submitted
User-submitted entries	Curated and verified before inclusion	Yes, unverified entries visible	Yes, unverified entries visible
Duplicate entries for same food	Minimal (deduplicated)	Common (multiple user entries)	Common
Regional food coverage	Global	Primarily US/UK	Primarily Europe
Restaurant menu items	Yes, verified	Yes, mix of verified and user	Limited
Branded product accuracy	High (barcode-verified)	Moderate	Moderate

Crowdsourced databases create a specific problem: when you search for "chicken breast 100g," you might find five different entries with calorie counts ranging from 120 to 195 calories. The user has no way to know which one is correct. Nutrola's nutritionist-verified database eliminates this guesswork.

Logging Speed: How Fast Can You Track a Meal?

We timed the process of logging a typical lunch (grilled chicken salad with dressing) on each app.

Step	Nutrola	Lose It Free	Yazio Free
Open app to logging screen	1 second	2 seconds	2 seconds
Identify food (AI photo or search)	3 seconds (photo AI)	5 seconds (Snap It)	8 seconds (manual search)
Confirm/adjust portion	2 seconds	3 seconds	4 seconds
Log all components	8 seconds total (voice)	25 seconds (search each)	35 seconds (search each)
Ad interruption	0 seconds	5-15 seconds	5-15 seconds
Total time	~8-14 seconds	~35-45 seconds	~49-64 seconds

Nutrola's voice logging feature is the standout here. Saying "grilled chicken breast 150 grams, mixed greens one cup, Caesar dressing two tablespoons" logs the entire meal in one step. Neither Lose It free nor Yazio free offers voice input.

Which App Has the Best AI Food Recognition?

Only Nutrola and Lose It offer photo-based food recognition in their compared tiers. Yazio reserves this feature for premium.

AI Recognition Metric	Nutrola	Lose It (Snap It)	Yazio Free
Photo recognition available	Yes	Yes	No
Mean accuracy (simple meals)	93-96%	85-90%	N/A
Mean accuracy (complex meals)	82-88%	70-78%	N/A
Correction mechanism	Database-backed adjustment	Manual adjustment	N/A
Voice logging alternative	Yes	No	No
Multi-item recognition	Yes	Limited	N/A

Nutrola's advantage is not just the initial AI accuracy. It is the correction workflow. When the AI identifies "grilled chicken," Nutrola matches it against verified database entries so the user can confirm the exact portion and preparation method. Lose It's Snap It feature provides an estimate but makes corrections harder because the user is adjusting an AI guess rather than selecting from verified data.

Pricing Reality: What Does Each App Actually Cost?

Plan	Nutrola	Lose It	Yazio
Free tier	Not available	Available (limited, with ads)	Available (very limited, with ads)
Entry paid tier	€2.50/month	$39.99/year ($3.33/mo)	$29.99/year ($2.50/mo)
What paid tier adds	Everything included at base price	Removes ads, adds macros, meal plans, nutrients	Removes ads, adds macros, fasting, meal plans
Full premium	€2.50/month (same tier)	$39.99/year	$29.99/year
Ads on paid tier	No	No	No

Here is the math that matters. To get an ad-free experience with macro tracking on Lose It, you pay $39.99/year. To get the same on Yazio, you pay $29.99/year. Nutrola gives you all of that plus AI photo recognition, voice logging, recipe import, and a verified database for €2.50/month (€30/year). The annual cost is comparable, but you get dramatically more features.

Who Should Use Each App?

Choose Lose It Free If:

You want the simplest possible calorie counter and do not care about macros, micronutrients, or ad interruptions. Lose It's interface is clean and the Snap It feature adds basic photo recognition. It is a decent starting point if you are exploring calorie tracking for the first time and want zero financial commitment.

Choose Yazio Free If:

You want a European-focused food database and are comfortable with calorie-only tracking (no macro goals). Yazio's free tier is genuinely limited, but if all you need is a daily calorie count, it works. Be prepared for frequent ads.

Choose Nutrola If:

You want a complete nutrition tracking experience without compromises. For €2.50 per month — less than a single coffee — you get AI photo recognition, voice logging, barcode scanning, recipe import, 1.8M+ verified foods, macro and micronutrient tracking, and zero ads. It is not free, but it costs less than a single month of most streaming services and delivers more than either free tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Yazio's free tier good enough for weight loss?

Yazio's free tier tracks calories, which is the most fundamental metric for weight loss. However, the inability to set macro goals means you cannot optimize for protein intake, which is critical for preserving muscle during a calorie deficit. The frequent ad interruptions also reduce adherence over time. For serious weight loss tracking, you need either Yazio Pro or a more complete tracker like Nutrola.

Does Lose It's Snap It feature work well?

Snap It is functional for simple, single-item foods — a banana, an apple, a plain piece of chicken. Accuracy drops significantly with plated meals, mixed dishes, or restaurant food. It is best used as a starting point that you then manually correct. Nutrola's photo AI handles complex meals more accurately because it cross-references results against its verified database.

Can I track macros on Lose It or Yazio for free?

No. Both apps lock macronutrient goal-setting behind their premium subscriptions. You can see basic macro information on Lose It free, but you cannot set custom targets. Yazio free does not show macro breakdowns at all. Nutrola includes full macro tracking with customizable goals at €2.50/month.

Is €2.50/month worth it compared to using a free tracker?

Consider what you are getting: AI photo recognition, voice logging, barcode scanning, recipe import, 1.8M+ verified foods, full macro and micronutrient tracking, and zero ads. Both Lose It and Yazio charge $30-40/year for their premium tiers, which still do not include voice logging or a fully verified database. Nutrola at €30/year delivers more features than either premium tier.

Which app has the most accurate food database?

Nutrola's 1.8 million+ entry database is nutritionist-verified, meaning every entry has been reviewed for accuracy. Lose It and Yazio both use a mix of verified and user-submitted entries, which introduces inconsistencies — particularly for restaurant foods, regional dishes, and branded products. For tracking accuracy, the database behind the app matters more than the app itself.

The Bottom Line

Free calorie trackers are not really free. You pay with your time (ads), your accuracy (unverified databases), and your results (missing features like macro tracking). Lose It free and Yazio free both serve a purpose as entry-level trackers, but they withhold the features that actually drive results.

Nutrola at €2.50 per month eliminates every limitation that makes free tiers frustrating. No ads, no feature gates, no unverified data. For less than the price of a single coffee per month, you get a tracker that does more than both free tiers combined — and more than their paid tiers, too.