The Best Diet and Nutrition Apps to Help You Towards Your Health Goals

Best Overall: WW

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Why We Chose It: There’s no doubt about it: When it comes to reputation, WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) has proven time and time again that its method works. We chose WW as the best overall diet app based on the trustworthiness of the brand, and because it's Oprah-approved. 

What We Like:

• Community support
• Science-backed behavior change techniques
• Meal planner

What We Don’t Like:

• Very focused on calorie counting

If you’re determined to shed weight and implement a more balanced lifestyle, the WW app might be the perfect fit for you. Once you sign up to become a member of WW, you will gain access to the WW app—a vital tool in helping you lose weight, track your fitness, and much more.

Unlike some other weight loss programs, WW is based on a “PersonalPoints” system. The PersonalPoint plan is designed to fit you and you alone. Customized to hit your individual weight-loss goals and designed with your own PersonalPoints budget plus a ZeroPoint food list that allows you to eat foods that you like. Rather than counting macronutrients or total calories for the day, WW bases its PersonalPoint system on complex nutrition and distills it down to one easy number. Based on your goals, the WW program will suggest a specific amount of PersonalPoints should be consuming each day to help you lose weight. This WW program also gives you a chance to add to your Points budget by eating veggies, drinking water, and exercising. The PersonalPoints program offers different memberships including one-on-one coaching, wellness sessions, in-person meeting, and the one-stop app. 

There are multiple features within the app that will help you work towards achieving your weight loss goals. Of course, there are the basics, including tracking food intake, water, activity, and sleep. You can also read expert content that’s personalized to the goal you set in your Weekly Check-In, and access your check-in cards daily, which are designed to help you build healthy habits, one day at a time. The app also features meditation sessions from Headspace, as well as fitness content from obé. 

Another very useful feature is the “What’s in your fridge?” page. All you have to do is enter the ingredients that you already have in your fridge, include the number of PersonalPoints you want to spend, note any foods that you want to exclude, and the app will come up with a delicious recipe for you to create. If you like to plan more in advance, the WW app also offers the Meal Planner feature, which allows you to choose from one of its 5-day menus.

WW offers three plans to choose from. The first is the Digital plan, which costs around $6 per week and is a self-guided experience that offers an individualized food plan, 24/7 live coaching, and more, all in the WW app. The second plan is the Unlimited Workshops + Digital, which costs roughly $11 per week and includes virtual or in-person Workshops with your WW Coach and your group for ultimate convenience and weight-loss success.

Finally, the third plan is the 1-on-1 Coaching + Digital, which costs approximately $15 per week and includes your own, private WW Coach who helps build your customized weight loss plan as a team.

Choose to sign up for a 1-month, 3-month, or 6-month membership (costs savings for longer-term memberships) for any of these plans, but note that there is a starter fee of $20 and an early termination fee of $42.95 if you cancel.

Best Free: MyFitnessPal

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Why We Chose It: It really just doesn’t get simpler than MyFitnessPal. If you’re looking for a free dieting app that can help you reach your weight loss goals and encourage you to pay more attention to what you’re eating day-to-day, MyFitnessPal is the perfect one for you. We chose this app because of its simplicity, ease of use, and affordability (it’s free!). 

What We Like:

• Free
• Simple to use
• Easy barcode feature to record packaged foods 

What We Don’t Like:

• No guided program
• No one-on-one coaching
• Calorie-count might not be very accurate

If you’ve ever counted calories before, you’re probably familiar with the MyFitnessPal app. Unlike other apps, which feature one-on-one coaching or guided programs, MyFitnessPal is a simple calorie-counting service that helps you track the calories you’re consuming daily, as well as your weight, water intake, and any fitness sessions. 

MyFitnessPal offers a searchable food database of more than 300,000,000 items—from both homemade meals to pre-packaged products. Additionally, you can create your own personal food database and add any foods or recipes that you make from home, allowing you to easily record that food type or recipe again in the future. 

While the food database is very vast, it’s sometimes hard to find the calorie-count for a specific recipe you’re making. For example, if you’re making a chicken tortilla soup, you can either find a chicken tortilla soup recipe that’s already been recorded in the app (and hope that the calorie-count for that recipe is the same as the one you are creating), or you can input each ingredient amount for your soup into the app, which can get very time-consuming. Thankfully, the app also features a barcode scanner, so that if you’re eating your fave Trader Joe’s dumplings, you can easily scan the barcode and find the food to record in your daily diary. 

While the app does offer discussion forums where you can chat with others and share your own tips and encouragement, it’s certainly not as involved as other diet apps. On the plus side, the app is able to support whichever diet you might be following, whether that be the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, or another popular fad diet. 

MyFitnessPal is free, but the app does offer a Premium plan if you are looking for more features within the app (like customizable carbs, protein and fat goals, and guided fitness and nutrition plans). The Premium plan offers two subscription models: an annual subscription costs around $80 per year, and a monthly one costs about $20 per month.

Best for Non-Calorie Counters: Wellory

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Why We Chose It: If you're looking to have a healthier relationship with food, sans calorie-counting, Wellory is it. We chose Wellory for its one-on-one personalization, as well as its holistic approach to eating healthier. 

What We Like:

• No calorie-counting
• One-on-one counseling with a nutritionist
• Initial “Get to Know You” video consultation

What We Don’t Like:

• Might not be the right app for those who already have a healthy relationship with food
• No specific measure of calories or macronutrients

Fed up with the crazy yo-yo dieting culture, Wellory founder Emily Hochman created the program to help folks build a healthier relationship with food, one photo at a time.

Unlike other apps that have you tracking calories or macros, Wellory focuses on helping you create a long-lasting, healthy relationship with food with help from a nutritionist. The science-based and credential-backed app educates users on their food choices while providing personalized support to meet their health goals. 

Rather than inputting each type of food (and amount) for each meal you consume throughout the day, Wellory has users take photos of each of their meals. After you sign up for the app, you will be matched with a licensed nutritionist, where you’ll partake in a 30 minute “Get to Know You” video consultation to evaluate your goals.

Your nutritionist will offer ongoing, concierge-level support, and a plan based on your specific health goals, concerns, food preferences, and communication style. You will then share photos of each of your meals with your nutritionist, where they will offer advice and suggestions based on your goals. 

Because Wellory offers one-on-one coaching and access to a digital community of vetted licensed nutritionists, certified health coaches, and registered dietitians, the program is a bit on the pricier side at around $60 per month ($45 if you pre-pay for a year).

Best for Community Support: NOOM

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Why We Chose It: Noom is another anti-diet app that aims to help you change your relationship with food for the long-term. We chose Noom because not only does it pair you with a coach to help guide you through your health journey, but the app also places you into a group of other Noomers who are trying to make healthier food choices, too.

What We Like:

• One-on-one coaching
• Support in your small group
• Focused on long-term success
• No strict meal plan

What We Don’t Like:

• On the pricier side

Noom is a psychology-based program that empowers you to make healthier choices by better understanding yourself, your brain, and the science of choice. This service is all about making behavioral changes to your diet and offers a one-on-one coach to help guide you through the process.  

The Noom approach focuses on behavior changes so that you can achieve long-term, sustainable results using evidence-based psychological techniques. Unlike some other apps that strictly count calories or offer a rigid meal plan, Noom allows you to track the foods you’re eating based on colored labels: green, yellow, and red. The app also includes short bursts of healthy habits to incorporate into your life and to rate your motivation, where you will be quizzed afterward. 

Not only do they offer personalized coaching, but the app will also group you into a small group of like-minded folks who are also trying to achieve the same goals. This allows you to get motivated (and motivate others) together. 

The downside of Noom is definitely the price—the program costs around $60 per month after a 14-day free trial and lower introductory rate.