A MyFitnessPal alternative that logs meals from a photo

Why people look for a MyFitnessPal alternative

MyFitnessPal is the best-known calorie counter for a reason. Its database is huge and it connects to a lot of devices. The trouble is the daily effort. Logging a home-cooked dinner means searching for each ingredient, choosing between a dozen user-made entries and guessing grams. Most people manage that for a couple of weeks.

Then there's price. Since October 2022 the barcode scanner is a Premium feature, and so are Meal Scan and voice logging. Premium costs $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year, and Premium+ with meal plans is $24.99 a month.

How logging works in myCalCoach

You open the chat in Telegram and send whatever is quickest. A photo of your lunch. A voice note on the way home: "had a burrito bowl with chicken and guac". Or a line of text. The bot names what it sees, estimates calories, protein, carbs and fat, logs it and replies with what's left for the day.

If a guess is off, you say so like you would to a friend: "the rice was a small portion" or "add a tablespoon of olive oil". It fixes the entry. Weight works the same way, you just type "81.4". Workouts too: "45 min run" or "60 min boxing".

When you want to see progress, ask. "How did this week go?" gets you a short answer, and "show my weight chart" sends the chart into the chat. Each evening there's a short summary of the day.

When MyFitnessPal is the better choice

We'd rather you pick the right tool. Stay with MyFitnessPal if:

• You want to pay nothing and don't mind logging by hand.
• You eat mostly packaged food and want exact numbers from a barcode.
• You need meal plans and grocery lists, which Premium+ offers.
• Years of history in MyFitnessPal matter to you. myCalCoach can't import them.

myCalCoach fits better if you've given up on calorie counting before because it took too long, if you cook or eat out a lot, or if you simply live in Telegram already.

How accurate is a photo compared with a database?

Neither is exact. A database entry is only as good as the portion you enter, and user-made entries in big databases vary a lot. A photo estimate can miss hidden fat. A 2025 systematic review of 13 studies found that AI photo methods often track measured intake reasonably well, but also that most studies had a moderate risk of bias. So treat any single number as a guess.

What decides results is whether you keep logging. Being roughly right every day beats being precise for two weeks and then stopping.

Switching takes about a minute

1. Open myCalCoach in Telegram with the button below.
2. Answer a few questions: weight, height, age, goal.
3. Send a photo of your next meal.

Want your numbers first? The calorie deficit calculator and the macro calculator are free and need no sign up.

Common questions