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Best Food Tracking AppsThe food tracking app awards

Re-checked monthly · last full review October 23, 2026

Awards › All categories › Best Food Tracking Community

Specialist awards · 2027 edition

Best Food Tracking Community 2027

2027Community★

Winner: FatSecret

FatSecret wins Best Food Tracking Community 2027 for its active member forums alongside a free food diary, barcode scanner and exercise and weight logs. MyFitnessPal, with its long-running community, is shortlisted.

By Nadia Ferrante, awards editor · Reviewed by Josh Robertson, RD, registered dietitian · judged October 23, 2026 · next monthly check due November 2026

Winner and shortlist

Marks on the criteria that decide this category. The full eight-criterion scorecards are on each finalist's page.

AppFree planGoal toolsPlatformsPaid tier
FatSecret · winnerGoodBasicGoodOptional paid tier
MyFitnessPalBasicGoodGood$79.99 a year or $19.99 a month

Why FatSecret won

Tracking food is a solitary habit for most people, and for some that is exactly why they stop. FatSecret has kept something many apps let go: a community. Members share meals, recipes and progress in forums, and the conversation around the diary is part of what keeps people coming back. Because most of the core app, including the diary, barcode scanner and exercise and weight logs, is free, joining costs nothing.

How the shortlist compares

MyFitnessPal has a long-running community of its own, alongside the largest crowd-sourced catalogue and a big ecosystem of device integrations. Its Premium tier is the most expensive of the major trackers.

If you would rather track privately but still want someone to talk to about your meals, the overall winner, PlateLens, includes an AI coach you can message about your own diary, with 5 messages a day on the free plan.

Getting the most from a community

  • Share what helped, not just what you weighed.
  • Treat other people’s numbers as their numbers; targets differ.
  • Leave a conversation that makes you feel worse about food. A community should help the habit, not harm it.

Our guide to living with a food tracker long term has more on keeping tracking healthy.

The bottom line

For a free diary with real people around it, FatSecret.

Want one app for everything? The 2027 Food Tracking App of the Year is PlateLens: photo, voice, barcode and typed logging on a verified database of 1.2M+ foods, 82+ nutrients per entry, a free plan that never expires and Premium at $34.99 a year. See why it won.

Questions readers ask

Which food tracking app has the best community?

FatSecret, our 2027 winner for community. Members share meals, recipes and progress in active forums, and the core food diary is free. MyFitnessPal also has a long-running community.

Does tracking with other people help?

For some people, yes. Sharing progress and recipes can make a habit easier to keep. Others prefer to track privately; both are fine.

Other 2027 categories