MyNetDiary review, how far the free version goes

The company and the devices it supports

MyNetDiary is a calorie-tracking app from MyNetDiary Inc., the App Store seller, also named in its own site footer. The company dates its App Store presence to August 2008.

Its free app works on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and the web, with Wear OS support too. You can begin logging without opening an account.

MyNetDiary also offers the separate Diabetes Tracker by MyNetDiary app as a free download.

A barcode, a label and a plate use different tools

The free tools cover familiar search and scanner tasks. The paid plans add AI meal entry, but AI features share a monthly allowance. Paying does not give unlimited AI use.

Decide which extras you would use

The free-plan comparison and plan FAQ describe these inclusions. Premium Plus includes Premium, and Premium retains the free tools.

Lifetime Premium supplies the same features as Premium for one payment. It excludes the generative AI features of Premium Plus. That distinction matters if you are buying it for whole-meal voice entry.

Custom macro targets are described as free on the free-plan page and iPhone page. The home page FAQ and Premium Plus article place them among paid features.

Meal Scan appears under Premium on the plan table, FAQ, iPhone page and Android page. The home page FAQ instead names it as a Premium Plus addition.

The Android AI Food Log by Description FAQ calls it a Premium Plus feature in the title. The same answer says an active Premium subscription is required after the free attempts. Check the offer inside the app before paying for a single feature.

The listed prices need a second look

Checked October 5, 2026, the site lists these US dollar prices and dates its price verification to September 2026.

The FAQ cost answers list only Premium and give website prices of $9 monthly and $60 yearly. Those rounded website amounts differ from the price table above.

The US App Store purchase list shows Premium items at $8.99, $59.99, $39.99 and $29.99, plus Premium Plus at $14.99. It does not show $99.99 or $179.99. The $39.99 and $29.99 entries do not establish a plan length.

Google Play lists $5.00 to $179.99 per item. The FAQ offers a 7-day free Premium trial on iOS and says Premium works across iOS, Android and the web.

Staff review happens before a food reaches the diary

MyNetDiary names USDA and NCC as database sources. Its FAQ instead names USDA Standard Reference and literature sources. These descriptions differ in detail, and its pages name sources for the database as a whole, not for each entry.

The company says trained nutrition staff review branded and restaurant foods before users can log them. It also says a quality assurance team double-checks every change. The database explanation and FAQ describe no badge or check mark on entries. The documented assurance is the review before publication.

With PhotoFoods, staff research a photographed label and enter the product with attribution and servings, followed by a QA review. The FAQ promises processing within 24 hours and says seven or eight hours is typical.

Foods you type remain private to you and anyone you share them with unless they go through photo validation. PhotoFoods is enabled by default when you create a new custom food, so check that setting when you want to keep a submission private.

The older user-contributed catalog foods were retired in July 2020 and remain labeled retired in old diary records. MyNetDiary says more than 50 apps and services license its database.

Its published counts are inconsistent. Food totals range from 1.7 million in the Meal Scan answer to 2,165,000 on the Premium page. Barcode totals are 899,000 in the FAQ or 1,325,000 on the database page.

For daily work, the FAQ says about 300 foods are added and verified, while the home page says 2,500 to 3,500 foods are reviewed and updated. Those descriptions also name different activities, so they do not establish a single review rate.

If you want to trace each logged number to a named source, read our guide to source information in calorie trackers.

Four studies asked different questions

A PubMed search for MyNetDiary on October 5, 2026 returned five records, and four measured something about MyNetDiary by name.

Bayram and Ozturkcan tested food records in 2026

The 2026 study assessed apps from the Turkish App Store and tested energy and macro estimates for 13 apps against standardized three-day food records. MyNetDiary and FatSecret gave the estimates closest to the reference records.

The abstract gives no MyNetDiary-specific accuracy number. Standardized menus limit how much the result says about everyday meals. The app version tested is not stated.

Sharma evaluated app suitability in 2022

The 2022 evaluation for diverse, low-income patient populations placed MyNetDiary among the top 2 diabetes-management apps under its evaluation method. The abstract does not publish its scores. This was an app evaluation for that population, not a test of food-logging accuracy.

Fu rated task usability in 2020

In the 2020 usability study, four clinicians evaluated four diabetes apps. MyNetDiary scored 41 on the System Usability Scale and received a grade of F. The finding concerns diabetes tasks only, and the abstract does not state the tested app version. It does not measure the accuracy of food entries.

Rodder compared nutrient estimates in 2018

The 2018 student curriculum study also compared MyNetDiary nutrient estimates with USDA SuperTracker using Spearman correlation. The correlations were statistically significant, with all P values below 0.001.

The abstract gives neither the correlation coefficients nor the number of foods or records compared. Correlation means values vary together, which does not establish agreement on the amounts. Student teaching was the main study aim, and this is evidence about the 2018 app.

In the published records we found, no study independent of the company measured the app's effect on users' weight or health.

Store scores are a separate kind of feedback

These store figures were checked October 5, 2026.

Google Play also shows 5M+ downloads. MyNetDiary's Android page has an older figure of 112,000+ ratings. A store average mixes many app versions and cannot tell you how accurately a food was logged.

Why we would try the free diary

• Barcode scans are free, so looking up packaged foods does not require a subscription.
• The free version has no ads and lets you start without an account. That makes it easier to try the diary before committing to it.
• Staff review branded and restaurant entries, while unsubmitted custom foods stay private to you and anyone you share them with.
• Free entries can include up to 108 nutrients. You can inspect nutrient detail before choosing a paid plan.
• The 2026 Turkish food-record study placed MyNetDiary among the closest apps to the reference. That is encouraging within the menus tested.
• Premium access carries across iOS, Android and the web. A platform change does not mean buying Premium again.

Where we would be more cautious

• Plate-photo Meal Scan requires a subscription, and whole-meal AI Voice Logging requires Premium Plus.
• AI tools share a monthly cap, which matters if they are your main reason to subscribe.
• Lifetime Premium excludes the generative AI features of Premium Plus.
• The free-plan page and home page disagree on macro targets and Meal Scan's plan. The FAQ also differs from the Premium page on database size and the home page on daily review counts.
• Its database page and FAQ describe no label that shows which entry was checked or when.
• The 2020 clinician usability assessment gave MyNetDiary an F for diabetes tasks. This older, limited result belongs alongside favorable app evaluations.
• Its home page and FAQ name sources for the database as a whole, not for each entry.

Start with the way you prefer to enter food

We would recommend trying MyNetDiary if you mainly search foods or scan barcodes and want nutrient detail without ads. Its free diary gives you enough to judge whether that routine suits you. Staff review before publication is a useful reason to consider its database.

We would look at other options if your main requirement is free plate photos or conversational whole-meal voice entry. If you plan to pay for one specific tool, the home page and plan table disagreements make checking the actual in-app offer necessary.

Look beyond this app by the feature you need

Deciding between familiar names? Read MyNetDiary beside MyFitnessPal. For a wider shortlist, use our guide to other food trackers. For detailed nutrient tracking, see our Cronometer review.

TrueCal is another option with free manual calorie logging and Pro access for typed descriptions, voice, photos, barcodes and macros. Pro costs $29.99 a year or $9.99 a month, and each item can show a source such as a USDA record. Eligible customers can try Pro free for 14 days only in the iPhone or Android app, with the App Store or Google Play running the trial.

Quick answers on plans and checked foods