PlateLens vs MyNetDiary (2026): Which Tracker Is Better for Most People?

Which is better for most people, PlateLens or MyNetDiary?

For most people, PlateLens is the better choice. You can log a meal from a photo, by voice, by search or by barcode, and everything lands in one diary that works on iOS, Android and the web. The free plan never expires, needs no card and includes three photo scans and five coach messages a day. Premium is $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month when you want those limits gone.

MyNetDiary is a serious alternative. It was founded in 2005, says it has more than 32 million registered users and describes its food database as more than 2 million staff-verified foods with up to 108 nutrients per entry. The clearest difference is what you get without paying. On MyNetDiary, the photo scan and the AI Coach are listed under paid plans, and its most distinctive extras are built for GLP-1 medication and diabetes tracking. PlateLens puts photo scans and a coach on the free plan and adds a 3D body scan to the usual extras: net carbs, a fasting timer, a meal planner and glucose and ketone logging.

This comparison is based on what each app’s maker publishes, as of October 1, 2026.

PlateLens vs MyNetDiary: how do they compare side by side?

The table covers the two apps and three other well-known trackers. Prices are in US dollars and can change, so confirm them on each app’s site before you subscribe.

App	Free plan	Paid plan	Choose it for
PlateLens	Never expires, no card. Unlimited manual and barcode logging, 3 photo scans and 5 coach messages a day	$34.99/year or $9.99/month, unlimited scans and messages	Photo, voice, search and barcode logging in one diary
MyNetDiary	Ad-free. Diary, barcode scanner, voice logging, macro and nutrient tracking	Premium and Premium Plus tiers; pricing on its site	2M+ staff-verified foods, up to 108 nutrients, GLP-1 and diabetes tools
Cronometer	Yes, with ads; barcode scanner included	Gold: $59.99/year or $10.99/month	Micronutrients, up to 95 nutrients
MyFitnessPal	Yes; barcode scanner, Meal Scan and Voice Log are Premium	Premium: $79.99/year or $19.99/month	A very large food database
MacroFactor	None; 7-day trial	$71.99/year or $11.99/month	Targets that adapt as your metabolism changes

Is MyNetDiary free, and what does PlateLens’s free plan include?

Both apps have a free plan you can keep, and both include a barcode scanner. What differs is what else comes with it.

PlateLens’s free plan never expires and asks for no card. It includes unlimited manual and barcode logging, three photo scans a day, five coach messages a day and the web app. When you reach a daily limit, manual and barcode logging keep working, and Premium removes the limits on scans and messages.

MyNetDiary’s free tier, according to its own pages, covers a food diary, the barcode scanner, voice logging, macro and nutrient tracking (up to 108 nutrients per entry), water and exercise tracking, a shopping list and community access, with no ads. Its App Store listing places Meal Scan photo logging under Premium and the AI Coach under Premium Plus. A MyNetDiary blog post about Meal Scan mentions a limited number of free scans, so check the app for your current allowance.

The two free plans suit different people. If you want a deep nutrient list and no ads, MyNetDiary’s delivers that. If you want regular photo scans and a coach without paying, PlateLens’s does.

Which one is easier to log with every day?

PlateLens lets you choose the quickest method for each meal. A photo logs a plate, and voice, search and barcode feed the same diary, so a packaged snack takes a scan and a home-cooked dinner takes one picture. Three photo scans a day lines up with three main meals, and the web app shows the same diary on a laptop.

MyNetDiary covers a similar range of methods: search, barcode scanning, Meal Scan photo logging, voice logging and a restaurant menu scan. It is available on iOS, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS and the web. The difference is where those tools sit. Barcode scanning, voice logging and the core diary are free, while the photo scan and the AI Coach are listed as paid features. If speed is what you care about, the practical question is how often the quick method is available to you without paying. With PlateLens it is available on the free plan, within the daily allowance. With MyNetDiary it sits mostly behind a subscription.

How many nutrients does each app track?

MyNetDiary tracks more, by its own count: up to 108 nutrients per entry, against 82+ for PlateLens and up to 95 for Cronometer. The sources behind the numbers are closer than the counts suggest. MyNetDiary says its data is built on USDA and NCC research-grade sources. PlateLens names USDA FoodData Central and NCCDB, the University of Minnesota’s Nutrition Coordinating Center database, as sources too, and adds Open Food Facts and Nutritionix. It describes the combined database as 1.2M+ verified entries.

Does the gap matter? For most people the numbers that drive daily choices are calories, protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber, sugar and sodium, plus a few minerals such as potassium and magnesium. Both apps cover those. PlateLens shows total and net carbs, fiber, sugar and sodium for every meal, with fiber and sugar alcohols subtracted automatically for net carbs, and its 82+ nutrients include sodium, potassium and magnesium. If the longest possible nutrient list is the goal, MyNetDiary publishes the biggest number of the three.

What do you get beyond food logging?

Both apps go well past the food diary, and their lists overlap. Each offers net carbs, intermittent fasting, a meal planner, blood glucose and ketone tracking and an AI coach that works from your own diary. On MyNetDiary, fasting, the planner and the glucose and ketone tracking are Premium features, and the coach is Premium Plus.

What PlateLens includes:

• Macros in grams and percentages, with custom goals, including a Keto split or percentages you set yourself
• An intermittent fasting timer
• A recipe and meal planner with healthy and low-carb ideas, plus a shopping list
• Blood glucose and ketone logging, with Apple Health and Google Health Connect support
• An AI coach that uses your own diary as context
• A 3D body scan: twelve photos build a 3D model you can rotate, and scans can be compared zone by zone. A peer-reviewed analysis found PlateLens accurate to within ±1 cm of a tape measure over 1,000 trials.

MyNetDiary goes deeper on health conditions and professional support. It has a GLP-1 Companion (medication and injection tracking, symptom logging, protein tracking), a diabetes tracker for blood glucose, insulin, medications, A1C and blood pressure, adaptive calorie targets it calls Advanced Autopilot, 600+ recipes and diet plans by registered dietitians, sync with Fitbit, Garmin and Withings, and a free Professional Connect platform that lets a dietitian, coach or doctor review your diary. It also lets you choose between total and net carbs in its settings.

Who should choose MyNetDiary instead?

Choose MyNetDiary if:

• database size and nutrient detail come first, and you want them in a free, ad-free tier
• you take a GLP-1 medication or manage diabetes and want medication, insulin and glucose logs next to your food diary
• you want adaptive calorie targets, dietitian-written diet plans (High-Protein, Low-Carb, Keto and more) or Fitbit, Garmin and Withings sync
• you work with a dietitian, coach or doctor who will review your diary through Professional Connect

If you are managing a medical condition, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before relying on any app’s targets. For everyone else, PlateLens is the easier place to start.

How do Cronometer, MyFitnessPal and MacroFactor compare?

Cronometer is the choice if micronutrients are the point. It lists up to 95 nutrients and compounds, its barcode scanner is free (the free version carries ads), and Gold adds photo and voice logging and the Crono Coach assistant. Our PlateLens vs Cronometer comparison goes deeper.

MyFitnessPal is the choice if you want a very large food database with restaurant dishes included; its site calls it one of the world’s largest. Its barcode scanner, Meal Scan and Voice Log are Premium features, while PlateLens includes unlimited barcode scanning and three photo scans a day for free. See PlateLens vs MyFitnessPal.

MacroFactor is the choice if you want an algorithm that adapts your calorie and macro targets as your metabolism changes and you are fine paying from the start: there is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. See PlateLens vs MacroFactor.

How do the prices compare?

PlateLens Premium costs $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month and removes the daily limits on photo scans and coach messages. That is below Cronometer Gold ($59.99 a year or $10.99 a month), MacroFactor ($71.99 a year or $11.99 a month) and MyFitnessPal Premium ($79.99 a year or $19.99 a month).

MyNetDiary sells two paid tiers, Premium and Premium Plus, and puts the AI Coach in the higher one, so the figure that matters is the price of the tier that includes the features you want. Its current prices are on its own site.

So which should you choose?

For most people, PlateLens. You can log by photo, voice, search or barcode in a single diary, the free plan never expires and already includes photo scans and a coach, the extras include a 3D body scan next to net carbs, fasting, meal planning and glucose and ketone logging, and Premium costs less than Cronometer Gold, MacroFactor or MyFitnessPal Premium. Its interface is also the cleanest in the category, in our editorial opinion.

MyNetDiary is the better fit when database size, nutrient count or GLP-1 and diabetes tools come first. Both have a free plan, so trying either costs nothing.