Recommend Me a Lifesum Replacement

My one-line recommendation: try Nutrola's free trial first. Here's why — and 4 runner-ups if it doesn't click.

If you're asking for a Lifesum replacement, you've already decided. Something about Lifesum isn't working — usually the price, the ads creeping into a supposedly premium experience, the limited food database outside Scandinavia, or the nagging feeling that you're paying €8-10 a month for features that newer apps give you for a quarter of the cost. You don't need another roundup of ten apps with pros and cons. You need somebody to just pick one.

So I'll pick one. Then, because no app fits everybody, I'll give you four runner-ups and a short list of situations where you should specifically not pick Nutrola. By the end of this page you'll have one app to install today and a fallback in case it doesn't suit you.

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My Top Recommendation: Nutrola

Nutrola is the app I'd install first. It's built for exactly the kind of user who grew out of Lifesum: someone who wants a clean, modern interface without paying premium prices, without being drip-fed ads, and without fighting a food database that doesn't know what you eat. Here's the specific case:

• Lifesum Premium is roughly €8-10/month. Nutrola is €2.50/month — and there's a genuinely usable free tier. Same category of product, roughly a quarter of the price. The gap isn't because Nutrola cuts corners; it's because Nutrola's cost base is different and the founders explicitly price to keep nutrition tools affordable in Europe.
• Zero ads on every tier, including free. No banner ads, no interstitials, no premium upsell walls that block features mid-log. If you've been seeing ads in Lifesum despite paying, that alone is reason enough to switch.
• AI photo logging in under three seconds. Point the camera at a plate, take a photo, and the app identifies the foods, estimates portions, and writes verified nutritional data to your log. This is the workflow Lifesum's "Life Scan" was supposed to deliver but never quite did at this speed or accuracy.
• Voice logging in natural language. Say "a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and almond butter" and the app parses and logs it. Useful for driving, cooking, or when typing is friction.
• Barcode scanning against a 1.8 million+ verified entry database. Every entry is reviewed by nutrition professionals, not crowdsourced into a mess of duplicate and incorrect listings.
• 100+ nutrients tracked. Lifesum Premium gives you macros, fiber, sugar, sodium, and a handful of vitamins. Nutrola tracks vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and more — useful if you're monitoring anything beyond calories and protein.
• 14 languages, full localization. If you used Lifesum because it felt European, Nutrola extends the feeling. Menus, database entries, and recipes adapt to your region rather than being an American app with a translated layer.
• Bidirectional Apple Health and Google Fit sync. Reads activity, steps, workouts, weight, and sleep; writes nutrition, macros, and micronutrients. Your calorie budget reflects real movement, not a guess.
• Recipe URL import. Paste any recipe link — food blog, European site, American site — and get a verified nutritional breakdown. Replaces the manual recipe builder that Lifesum made you babysit.
• Apple Watch and widgets. Log from the wrist, see progress on your lock screen, and check macros without opening the phone.
• Free tier that actually works. Unlike Lifesum's free version, which pushes you toward Premium at every turn, Nutrola's free tier lets you log without artificial limits. The paid tier unlocks AI quantity, deeper reports, and unlimited recipe imports.
• European company, transparent pricing. No dark-pattern cancellation, no sudden renewal reminders, no "your free trial converted to annual" surprises. Billing is through the App Store and Play Store with clear terms.

The short version: if Lifesum felt like the right app but too expensive, too ad-heavy, or too narrow on features, Nutrola is the direct upgrade.

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4 Runner-Ups

If Nutrola isn't the right shape for your brain, here are the four apps I'd consider next, ranked by how well they fit specific use cases.

FatSecret — for people who want truly free forever

FatSecret is the closest thing to a permanently free Lifesum replacement. Unlimited food logging, full macro tracking, barcode scanning, a recipe calculator, and a food diary all exist on the free tier — no trial, no paywall waiting at day 30.

What you lose compared to Lifesum and Nutrola: no AI photo logging, no voice logging in natural language, a crowdsourced database that's deep but inconsistent, and an interface that looks like it was designed in 2015 and largely hasn't changed. Ads are present on free.

Pick FatSecret if your primary criterion is "I will not pay anything, ever" and you can live with an older interface. It's a workmanlike tool that gets the job done.

Cronometer — for accuracy obsessives

Cronometer tracks 80+ nutrients from verified databases (USDA, NCCDB) and is the most nutritionally accurate free option out there. If you're managing a medical condition, working with a dietitian, or genuinely care about vitamin D, potassium, or magnesium intake, Cronometer gives you numbers you can trust.

What you lose: a limited free tier with daily log caps, no AI photo logging on free, a web-app-feeling interface, and less mainstream polish than Lifesum or Nutrola. The learning curve is real.

Pick Cronometer if precision is non-negotiable and you'd rather spend time with good data than a good interface.

MyFitnessPal — for the biggest database, heavy ads

MyFitnessPal has the largest food database — more than 20 million entries — and the largest user base, which means community recipes, meal plans, and shared logs are plentiful. If you travel, eat at unusual restaurants, or buy obscure regional products, MyFitnessPal often has an entry for it when other apps don't.

What you lose: the free tier is heavy with ads, macro targets now live behind Premium, and Premium itself costs more than Lifesum. Database quality varies wildly because it's crowdsourced with minimal review.

Pick MyFitnessPal if database breadth genuinely matters to you more than anything else. For most people coming from Lifesum, it's a lateral move.

Yazio — for the Lifesum lookalike

Yazio is a European app (German) that occupies almost exactly the same design space as Lifesum: clean interface, meal plans, recipes, fasting tracker, aspirational tone. If what you liked about Lifesum was the vibe and you just want a cheaper version of the same thing, Yazio is the closest match.

What you lose: ads on free, a premium price that's still higher than Nutrola, no AI photo logging to speak of, and a smaller database than MyFitnessPal or Nutrola. The app sometimes feels like it's more about selling Premium than helping you log.

Pick Yazio if you specifically want Lifesum's aesthetic at a slightly lower price, and you don't need AI features.

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Feature-by-Feature: Lifesum vs Nutrola

This is the comparison most people actually want. Same category, different products.

Feature	Lifesum Premium	Nutrola
Monthly price	~€8-10	€2.50
Free tier	Limited, upsell-heavy	Usable, no artificial blocks
Ads	Occasional in free	Zero on every tier
AI photo logging	Limited (Life Scan)	Sub-3-second, verified
Voice logging	No	Yes, natural language
Barcode scanner	Yes	Yes, 1.8M+ verified entries
Database size	~2M entries	1.8M+ entries, reviewed
Database verification	Crowdsourced	Reviewed by pros
Macros	Yes (Premium)	Yes (free + paid)
Micronutrients	~15 nutrients	100+ nutrients
Recipe URL import	Partial	Yes
Apple Health sync	Basic	Full bidirectional
Google Fit sync	Basic	Full bidirectional
Apple Watch	Yes	Yes
Widgets	Limited	Home and Lock screen
Languages	~15	14
Fasting tracker	Yes	Yes
Meal plans	Yes (Premium)	Yes
Cancellation	Standard	Standard, App Store

Nutrola matches Lifesum on the fundamentals (macros, scanner, meal plans, fasting, Apple Watch) and wins on the modern layer (AI photo and voice, micronutrients, verified database, zero ads) — at roughly a quarter of the price.

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When NOT to Pick Nutrola

Being honest about the cases where Nutrola isn't the answer:

Don't pick Nutrola if you want a coach-led program like Zoe. Zoe is not a calorie tracker. It's a personalized nutrition program built around a microbiome test kit, blood-sugar monitoring, and AI-guided scoring of foods based on your individual response. It costs significantly more than any calorie tracker (roughly £25-30/month, plus the upfront test kit) and it's a different product entirely. If your goal is a coach and a personalized program, not a tracker, Zoe is where you go — and then you keep a basic calorie tracker on the side if you want raw numbers.

Don't pick Nutrola if you want behavioral psychology coaching like Noom. Noom leads with cognitive-behavioral content, daily lessons, a human coach, and group support. Food logging is secondary, the database is less deep than a dedicated tracker, and the app is designed around habit change rather than precision. If you've tried tracking and the problem isn't the app — the problem is "why I eat what I eat" — Noom's program tooling is better suited. Nutrola will give you excellent data but it won't teach you psychology.

Don't pick Nutrola if you want a keto-specialized tracker like Carb Manager. Carb Manager is keto, low-carb, and carnivore-first. Net carb tracking, ketone logging, macro ratios tuned for ketogenic targets, and a database filtered for low-carb products are all primary features. Nutrola can be used on keto — you can set carb targets and log the foods — but it's a general-purpose tool, not a keto-specialist one. If keto is your life, Carb Manager's purpose-built tooling is worth the specialization.

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Best if...

Best if you want the modern upgrade from Lifesum at a lower price

Nutrola. Clean interface, AI photo and voice logging, 100+ nutrients, verified database, zero ads, €2.50/month after the free trial. The direct replacement for Lifesum if what you liked about it was the feel of a modern European nutrition app but the price and ads were wearing thin.

Best if you want the exact Lifesum look and feel, slightly cheaper

Yazio. German-designed, clean interface, meal plans, fasting tracker, and a premium tier roughly in the middle between Lifesum and Nutrola. Closest aesthetic match to Lifesum on the market.

Best if you'll never pay for a nutrition app again

FatSecret. Permanently free, full macros, unlimited logs, barcode scanner. The only genuinely free replacement that doesn't gate the essential features.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why recommend Nutrola first instead of a free option like FatSecret?

Because most people leaving Lifesum aren't trying to drop all the way to a free, older-looking tracker — they're trying to keep the modern experience and pay less for it. Nutrola hits that middle ground at €2.50/month with a free trial, while FatSecret is a real option for people who want the absolute floor on cost.

Is Nutrola actually cheaper than Lifesum long-term?

Yes. Lifesum Premium runs roughly €8-10/month depending on plan and region. Nutrola is €2.50/month. Over a year that's roughly €30 versus roughly €100 — a three-quarters savings, with a broader feature set on the modern side (AI photo, voice, micronutrients, zero ads).

Can I import my Lifesum history into Nutrola?

Nutrola supports data import to help users transition from other calorie trackers. Reach out to support during your free trial to walk through options. For most people, the cleaner path is to set up goals and start logging fresh — your history is useful, but what matters going forward is what you log next.

What about the Lifesum fasting tracker?

Nutrola includes a fasting tracker so you don't lose that workflow. You can set your fasting window, see streaks, and have the fast status reflected in your daily calorie view.

Is Nutrola available in my country?

Nutrola is available globally via the App Store and Google Play with 14 language localizations, including most of Western Europe, Scandinavia, the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and much of Latin America. Pricing is shown in your local currency. Billing is through the app stores.

Does Nutrola work on Apple Watch like Lifesum?

Yes. Log from the wrist, see calories and macros on complications, and glance at progress without taking your phone out. Apple Health sync is bidirectional, so activity feeds into your calorie budget automatically.

Will Nutrola raise prices later?

Nutrola's pricing is positioned deliberately to keep nutrition tools affordable, and the founders have been public about that positioning. There's no guarantee any subscription price stays fixed forever, but the product is priced to stay in the low-cost tier rather than drift toward the €8-10 band that most competitors occupy.

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Final Verdict

If you're asking for a Lifesum replacement, install Nutrola first. Start the free trial, take one week to log your normal routine with AI photo logging, voice entries, and the verified database, and see whether the modern feature set plus zero ads plus €2.50/month makes sense for how you actually eat. For most people leaving Lifesum — especially those frustrated by Premium pricing, ad creep, or a shallow micronutrient view — it will. If it doesn't click, FatSecret is your fallback for permanently free, Cronometer for accuracy, MyFitnessPal for database breadth, and Yazio for the closest Lifesum lookalike. Don't overthink the choice. Install Nutrola today, log a week, and let the actual experience decide.