What vegans actually need in a tracker
Generic calorie tracker reviews don't address the plant-based use case. A tracker with a great burger database is useless to you if it's missing seitan, jackfruit, and every brand of oat milk you actually use.
Here's what matters specifically for vegan nutrition tracking:
Plant-based food coverage
Legumes, whole grains, meat alternatives, dairy substitutes — and branded products like Violife, Oatly, Beyond Meat.
Protein quality markers
Essential amino acid breakdown matters on a vegan diet. Leucine, lysine, and methionine are the common gaps.
Key micronutrient tracking
B12, iron, calcium, omega-3 (ALA), zinc, iodine, and vitamin D are the nutrients most vegans need to actively monitor.
User-submitted entries
Vegan staples change fast. A crowd-sourced database keeps up better than proprietary databases updated quarterly.
Macro flexibility
Plant-based macros skew different — higher carbs from beans and grains, varied fat from nuts and seeds. Custom goals matter.
Logging consistency tools
Building a tracking habit is the hardest part. Streaks, reminders, and fast logging cut abandonment rates significantly.
Protein targets for plant-based diets
The standard recommendation of 0.8g protein per kg bodyweight is based on studies using mixed-protein diets. For vegans relying on plant proteins (which have lower digestibility scores), many sports dietitians recommend a modest upward adjustment.
High-quality plant protein sources to prioritise:
- Tofu (firm) — 17g protein / 100g, complete amino acid profile
- Tempeh — 19g protein / 100g, fermented = improved digestibility
- Edamame — 11g protein / 100g, complete protein
- Seitan — 25g protein / 100g (high leucine), avoid if gluten-sensitive
- Lentils — 9g protein / 100g cooked, pair with rice for complete amino acids
- Black beans — 8.9g protein / 100g cooked
- Hemp seeds — 32g protein / 100g, complete amino profile, high in ALA omega-3
- Nutritional yeast — 50g protein / 100g, B12-fortified varieties exist
The practical challenge: you need a tracker that has these foods accurately logged, not just as generic "tofu" entries without differentiation between firm, silken, fried, or smoked variants.
Top 5 vegan calorie tracker apps 2026
NutriBalance
NutriBalance is built on Open Food Facts — an open-source, community-maintained database of over 7 million foods. The community is heavily active in cataloguing plant-based products, which means you'll find Oatly, Alpro, Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and most regional vegan brands without needing to manually enter them. The barcode scanner pulls directly from this database, so scanning a new vegan product usually finds a match.
NutriBalance is a paid app ($12.99 AUD/month after a 14-day trial that requires a credit card). The key differentiator is the streak system and gamification (leagues, missions, achievements), which is particularly useful for vegan newcomers building consistent tracking habits: a 30-day streak is surprisingly motivating when you're still calibrating your plant-based protein intake. Full macro tracking (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) is included in the paid tier. For genuinely free macro tracking, see Cronometer below.
- Open Food Facts: massive plant-based database
- Full macro tracking in paid tier — protein, carbs, fat
- Fast barcode scanner for vegan branded products
- Streak system and gamification for consistent habits
- Custom macro targets (adjust for higher protein goals)
- Home screen widget for daily tracking
- No ads on paid tier
- Paid tier required for core features ($12.99 AUD/month)
- Trial requires credit card, auto-converts to paid
- No dedicated amino acid breakdown view
- B12 and iodine not tracked (calories/macros focus)
- Community database — occasional duplicate entries
Cronometer
If you're serious about micronutrient tracking on a vegan diet — B12, iron, zinc, calcium, omega-3 breakdown — Cronometer is the best tool available. It uses USDA and NCCDB databases (verified, not user-submitted), which means the nutritional data for common plant foods is precise. The amino acid breakdown view is the clearest of any app reviewed here.
The limitation is the food database. USDA data covers whole foods well, but branded vegan products (flavoured oat milks, plant-based yogurts, meat alternatives) are sparse. You'll end up manually adding a lot of products.
- Best micronutrient tracking (B12, iron, zinc, calcium)
- Amino acid breakdown per food
- Verified USDA/NCCDB data — accurate for whole foods
- Oracle AI food recognition
- Branded vegan products sparse in database
- UI steep learning curve
- Gold tier needed for most useful features
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal's 14 million+ food database is unmatched for branded product coverage — including most major vegan brands. If you want to log Greggs vegan sausage rolls, Tesco Free From products, or obscure regional plant-based brands, MFP probably has them. The barcode scanner finds a match for nearly everything.
The problem for vegans: macro tracking (including protein breakdown) requires Premium. The free tier gives you calories only, which is actively useless for monitoring vegan protein intake. At £15.99/month, it's a hard sell when NutriBalance gives full macros for free.
- Largest branded vegan food database
- Restaurant vegan menu items well-covered
- Fast, accurate barcode scanner
- Macro tracking requires expensive Premium
- User-submitted entries contain errors
- No habit or streak features
Open Food Facts (standalone app)
The Open Food Facts app itself is worth mentioning for dedicated WFPB followers. It shows Nutri-Score, NOVA processing level, and full ingredient lists — excellent for staying within whole-food parameters. It's not a calorie tracker per se (it doesn't log meals or show daily totals), but as a food label checker it's invaluable. Used alongside NutriBalance (which pulls from the same database), you get the best of both worlds.
- 100% free, no account needed to scan
- NOVA processing scores for WFPB adherence
- Nutri-Score on all products
- Open source and privacy-first
- Not a meal tracker — no daily totals
- No macro goal tracking
- UI designed for product research, not daily logging
Lose It!
Lose It! has a decent food database and clean UI, and the free tier includes basic macro tracking. It works fine as a general calorie tracker for vegans, but it doesn't offer anything specifically useful for plant-based diets — no amino acid tracking, no processing scores, no standout vegan food coverage. The barcode scanner is slower than competitors.
- Clean interface, easy to learn
- Basic macros free in free tier
- Nothing vegan-specific
- Slower barcode scanner
- Smaller database than top options
Full comparison table
| Feature | NutriBalance | Cronometer | MyFitnessPal | Open Food Facts | Lose It! |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macros free | Yes | Limited | Paywall | No tracking | Basic |
| Vegan branded products | Strong (OFN) | Weak | Strongest | Strongest | Moderate |
| Amino acid tracking | No | Yes (best) | No | No | No |
| B12 / iron tracking | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| NOVA processing scores | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Barcode scanner | Fast | Yes | Best | Good | Slower |
| Streak / habit tools | Yes | No | No | No | Basic |
| Custom macro targets | Yes (free) | Limited free | Paywall | No | Basic |
| Price | Free | Free / $9.99/mo | £15.99/mo | Free | ~$40/yr |
Verdict: best stack for vegans
For macro + calorie tracking (genuinely free): Cronometer — Open Food Facts database, USDA verified data, full macros free, no paywall on core features.
For macro + calorie tracking with gamification (paid): NutriBalance — $12.99 AUD/month, streak habit system, leagues, missions. 14-day free trial available (card required).
For micronutrient tracking (B12, iron, amino acids): Cronometer — especially if you're new to veganism and want to verify your diet isn't deficient.
For food label checking: Open Food Facts standalone — NOVA processing scores are invaluable for whole-food plant-based diets.
Tips for tracking macros on a vegan diet
1. Set a protein target first, build the rest around it
Most vegan tracking fails not because of calorie miscounting — it's because protein gets deprioritised. Set your protein target first (1.4–1.6g/kg if active), then fill carbs and fat to meet your calorie goal. If you set calories first, protein often ends up underfunded.
2. Save your staple plant protein sources as custom meals
Tofu scramble, lentil soup, bean bowl, tempeh stir-fry — if you eat these more than twice a week, save them as full meals in your tracker. The logging time drops from 3 minutes to 10 seconds. This is the single biggest driver of long-term tracking consistency.
3. Use the "recent foods" shortcut relentlessly
Vegan diets often involve higher food repetition than omnivore diets — same breakfasts, same protein sources. Apps that surface your recent meals prominently (NutriBalance does this) reward consistent plant-based eaters with dramatically faster logging.
4. Log B12-fortified foods specifically
If you're tracking B12 (only Cronometer does this well), make sure you log the fortified variant of foods — fortified oat milk, fortified nutritional yeast, fortified cereals. The unfortified version has essentially zero B12. Most apps don't differentiate unless you scan the exact product barcode.
5. Don't ignore fats on a vegan diet
Saturated fat from dairy/meat is obviously gone on a vegan diet, but ALA (alpha-linolenic acid, the plant-form omega-3) from chia seeds, flaxseed, and hemp can be difficult to get without tracking. If you're not eating ground flax or chia daily, your omega-3 intake is probably low even if your overall fat macro is fine.
Start tracking your vegan macros — free
For a free option with full macro tracking, Cronometer is the best choice. For gamification with a paid subscription, NutriBalance ($12.99 AUD/month) has the Open Food Facts database and a streak system to keep you consistent.
Download on Android →FAQ
Yes — it's built on Open Food Facts, which has strong plant-based product coverage (vegan meat alternatives, dairy-free products, branded items like Oatly and Beyond Meat). The full macro tracking is free, which is the most important thing for monitoring vegan protein intake. It doesn't do B12 or amino acid tracking, but for calorie + macro purposes it's the best free option for plant-based diets.
Cronometer is the best free option for vegan macro tracking — full macro and micronutrient tracking with no paywall on core features, and USDA/NCCDB verified data. MyFitnessPal's free tier limits you to calories only — no protein breakdown — which makes it actively counterproductive for vegan nutrition. If you want gamification alongside macro tracking, NutriBalance offers a paid tier ($12.99 AUD/month) with streaks and leagues, after a 14-day trial.
Cronometer is the standout option for micronutrient tracking including B12, iron, zinc, and calcium. Its database uses USDA and NCCDB verified data, which is more accurate for whole foods than user-submitted databases. However, it's weaker on branded plant-based products. For comprehensive B12 monitoring, Cronometer is the best tool — but pair it with NutriBalance or MFP if you want better branded product coverage.
Yes. Set a custom calorie goal above your TDEE (typically +200–400 kcal/day) and prioritise protein targets at 1.6–1.8g/kg bodyweight. Cronometer supports custom macro and calorie goals in the free tier. NutriBalance also supports this in the paid tier ($12.99 AUD/month). The challenge is hitting protein targets on a vegan bulk — tempeh, seitan, and high-quality pea protein powder are typically the most efficient sources.
Most mainstream calorie trackers (Cronometer, NutriBalance, MFP) don't have a "vegan filter" per se — they're general nutrition trackers. Apps like HappyCow focus on finding vegan restaurants but aren't calorie trackers. For practical vegan macro tracking, use Cronometer free (Open Food Facts + USDA data), or NutriBalance paid ($12.99 AUD/month) for Open Food Facts data with gamification. Both work better than niche "vegan tracker" apps.
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