Cal AI
MyFitnessPalCal AI and MyFitnessPal have the same owner. MyFitnessPal bought Cal AI in a deal that closed in December 2025, and announced it in March 2026. It runs Cal AI as a separate app, and its CEO told TechCrunch that the two serve different markets. Cal AI is built around the photo. MyFitnessPal is a free plan with ads, with Premium on top.
Free plans
Cal AI doesn’t have one. Its App Store listing says “food scanning analysis results require a subscription”, and its FAQ says the button to log food “opens the paywall screen”. You get a short 3-day trial first.
MyFitnessPal’s free plan logs food and exercise, saves your own foods and recipes, and sets calorie and macro goals by percentage. It shows ads. Its barcode scanner has needed Premium since October 2022, and so have Meal Scan and data export.
Subscriptions
MyFitnessPal publishes its prices. In the US, Premium costs $79.99 a year, or $19.99 a month. Premium+ costs $99.99 a year. Premium removes the ads and adds the barcode scanner, Meal Scan and voice logging. Premium+ adds the Meal Planner.
Cal AI tests its prices, and they change often. Superwall, the company behind Cal AI’s paywall, says Cal AI tests weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual and lifetime plans, along with their prices and trials. Its store listings show purchases from $2.99 to $29.99 on the App Store, and $9.99 to $59.99 on Google Play, without saying how long each one lasts. The App Store’s list changed twice between October 5 and October 16. The price you see may not be the price someone else sees, so there’s no fair way to say which app costs less.
Photo, barcode and voice logging
Photo logging is the reason Cal AI exists. You take a picture, and it estimates the calories, protein, carbs and fat. Its home page says your phone’s depth sensor “calculates food volume” before its AI breaks the meal down. The result shows the foods it found, with a Fix Results button for when it’s wrong. Cal AI also scans barcodes and nutrition labels, and lets you describe a meal in words. We found no mention of voice logging on its public pages.
MyFitnessPal’s Meal Scan and Voice Logging need Premium. Meal Scan suggests foods from its database, and you choose the right ones and set the servings. MyFitnessPal calls its suggestions “a starting point, not a final answer”.
So the two work from opposite ends. Cal AI hands you an estimate to correct. MyFitnessPal hands you a list to choose from.
Accuracy
Cal AI’s FAQ says it is “about 80% accurate”, and doesn’t say what that measures. Reporting the sale, TechCrunch put the split plainly—“Cal AI is for those preferring speed over accuracy. MFP is for those wanting the reverse.”
One outside test has looked at both. Researchers at the NIH took photos of 102 meals from a diet study, where every ingredient is weighed to a tenth of a gram, and ran them through MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, Cal AI and Appediet. All four apps undercounted by about 250 to 345 calories a meal on average, and by about 30 grams of fat. The release gives no result for each app, and the findings are preliminary until they’re peer reviewed.
Targets
Cal AI builds your plan from a quiz when you sign up—“Answer lifestyle questions to build your plan”, in its words. We found no page that says it changes your targets on its own after that.
MyFitnessPal sets your calorie goal from your profile and the weekly rate you choose. It offers to recalculate the goal each time you lose ten pounds. When you log exercise, it raises that day’s goal.
Food data
Since the sale, Cal AI’s food search uses MyFitnessPal’s database, TechCrunch reports. That database is a combination of foods added by MyFitnessPal and foods added by its users, over 20.5 million in all, and MyFitnessPal marks the foods it has reviewed with a check mark. Because users add foods, the same food can appear several times with different values. When you search or scan a barcode, check the entry you choose.
Watches and the web
Cal AI runs on iPhone, Apple Watch and Android, and has no web app. MyFitnessPal has an Apple Watch app for logging food and water, an app for Wear OS watches, and a website you can log on.
Switching between them
MyFitnessPal hasn’t integrated the two apps. Asked whether it can import your MyFitnessPal history, Cal AI’s FAQ says “Not yet”. MyFitnessPal’s help center describes no way to bring in a diary from another app. Either way, you start your food log again.
Exporting differs too. Cal AI exports a PDF summary report of your log. MyFitnessPal’s export needs Premium, and it holds only the totals for each meal, not the foods in it.
Where Fit Shapes fits
Both apps leave gaps. MyFitnessPal puts photo logging and the barcode scanner behind Premium, and Meal Scan has you choose foods from a list before the meal is logged. Cal AI gives you a short 3-day trial to find out whether its estimates work for you. Neither app can import your food log from another app, and neither makes it easy to take yours with you. Cal AI exports a PDF report, and MyFitnessPal’s export needs Premium and holds only meal totals.
Fit Shapes is built for speed and ease of use. It logs a meal from a photo instantly. Every subscription includes photo and voice logging, barcode scanning and Adaptive Targets. Each week, Fit Shapes proposes changes to your targets based on what you eat and weigh. It has no ads, does not sell your data, and costs less than half as much as MyFitnessPal Premium. It also imports your data from Cal AI and MyFitnessPal. So if you decide to switch, you can bring your history with you.
The catch is that Fit Shapes has no free plan. After the 14-day free trial, you pay for a subscription.
Questions
Is Cal AI better than MyFitnessPal?
Neither is better for everyone. Cal AI suits you if you want to log most meals from a photo and don’t need a free plan. MyFitnessPal suits you if you want a free plan, a web app, or to choose each food yourself.
Does MyFitnessPal own Cal AI?
Yes. MyFitnessPal bought Cal AI in a deal that closed in December 2025, and announced it on March 2, 2026. Cal AI stays a separate app.
Is Cal AI free?
No. Cal AI is free to download, but its photo results need a subscription, and logging food opens its paywall. It has a short 3-day trial.
How much does Cal AI cost?
Cal AI doesn’t publish a price list, and it keeps testing its prices. Its store listings show purchases from $2.99 to $29.99 on the App Store, and $9.99 to $59.99 on Google Play, without saying how long each one lasts. For comparison, MyFitnessPal Premium costs $79.99 a year or $19.99 a month.
Is Cal AI accurate?
Cal AI says it is “about 80% accurate”, without saying what that measures. In a preliminary NIH test of 102 weighed meals, Cal AI, MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and Appediet all undercounted calories, by about 250 to 345 a meal on average. The results weren’t given for each app.
Is Cal AI worth it?
It depends on how you log. If photos fit the way you eat, Cal AI includes photo logging and barcode scanning in its subscription. If you only need a calorie log, MyFitnessPal’s free plan costs nothing. Cal AI’s prices change often, so check what you’ll pay before the short trial ends.
Does Cal AI use MyFitnessPal’s food database?
Yes. TechCrunch reported in March 2026 that Cal AI’s food search now uses MyFitnessPal’s database. Its photo logging estimates the meal from the picture.
Was Cal AI removed from the App Store?
Briefly, in April 2026. Apple said the removal was “due to multiple violations of its rules”, including bypassing its in-app purchase flow. After a period of unavailability, the app returned to the App Store.
Is MyFitnessPal’s photo logging free?
No. Meal Scan needs Premium, and so does the barcode scanner. Cal AI includes both in its subscription, which has no free version.
Can Cal AI import my MyFitnessPal diary?
Not yet, its FAQ says, even though one company owns both apps. MyFitnessPal describes no import from other apps either.
Sources
- Cal AI, calai.app/faq, checked October 16, 2026
- Cal AI, calai.app/, checked October 16, 2026
- Cal AI, apps.apple.com/us/app/cal-ai-calorie-tracker/id6480417616, checked October 16, 2026
- Cal AI, play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.viraldevelopment.calai, checked October 16, 2026
- Cal AI, techcrunch.com/2026/03/02/myfitnesspal-has-acquired-cal-ai-the-viral-calorie-app-built-by-teens/, checked October 16, 2026
- Cal AI, calai.app/citations/, checked October 16, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402625100941-Supported-Devices, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/15457546881805-What-is-included-in-the-free-version, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, myfitnesspal.com/premium, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045761612-How-to-use-the-Meal-Scanner, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/30332897072269-How-to-log-food-with-your-voice, checked October 15, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032624771-How-to-use-the-Barcode-Scanner, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032271472-How-can-I-force-my-calorie-goals-to-update, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032273352-Export-your-nutrition-progress-and-exercise-data, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032271252-Where-does-MyFitnessPal-get-its-food-data, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/34889191368077-The-difference-between-Free-Premium-and-Premium, checked October 14, 2026