FOSS calorie trackers, self-hosting recipes, and consumer-app privacy. Calorie tracking without the SaaS.https://selfhostednutrition.org/en-usCC BY-SA 4.0https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/foss-roundup-april-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/foss-roundup-april-2026/Q1 2026 quarterly update on FOSS nutrition trackers. OpenNutriTracker shipped iOS, Waistline's WebDAV sync got an offline-replay fix, two small projects emerged, two slid into stale territory.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTfoss-roundupquarterlyq1-2026april-2026https://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/would-i-pay-for-platelens-honest-answer/https://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/would-i-pay-for-platelens-honest-answer/An honest essay-length answer to the question I get asked most often: would I pay for PlateLens? I spent a week with it. The accuracy is real, the privacy posture is better than most commercial peers, and I still won't subscribe. Here's the long answer.Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTplatelensessaypersonalreviewsubscriptionhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/database-coverage-foss-trackers-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/database-coverage-foss-trackers-2026/We pulled five aisles of products at a US chain grocery and tested coverage across OFF-only, OFF+USDA, and pure-USDA FOSS calorie trackers. Where the gaps are, why they are there, and what a contributor can do about it.Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTfossdatabaseopen-food-factsusdacoveragehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/proxmox-vs-bare-metal-foodvore/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/proxmox-vs-bare-metal-foodvore/Benchmarks of OFF mirror queries, Postgres restores, and Caddy throughput across Proxmox VMs, Proxmox LXCs, and bare-metal Debian. LXCs win the price-performance game by a comfortable margin.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTproxmoxlxcvmself-hostingbenchmarkhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/building-tracker-app-from-scratch/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/building-tracker-app-from-scratch/An architecture overview for someone building their own self-hosted calorie tracker. Database choice, sync model, search index, mobile client trade-offs, and the things you should not over-engineer at the start.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureapiself-hostedbuild-your-ownhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/commercial-vs-foss-2026-state-of-the-art/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/commercial-vs-foss-2026-state-of-the-art/Where commercial calorie trackers still beat FOSS in 2026, where FOSS has caught up, and where it has overtaken. Photo recognition is the one durable closed-source advantage. Database depth, charting, and export favour FOSS.Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTcomparisoncommercialfossstate-of-the-artplatelenshttps://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/under-100-stars-foss-finds/https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/under-100-stars-foss-finds/Five small (under 100 GitHub stars) FOSS nutrition projects that aren't on the lists but are worth knowing about. CLI tools, scripts, niche apps, and one self-hosted recipe-cost calculator.Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTfoss-roundupgithubsmallnichehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/dockerized-nginx-tls-certbot/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/dockerized-nginx-tls-certbot/An nginx + certbot Docker stack with auto-renew, OCSP stapling, modern TLS settings, and a sane upstream config for OpenNutriTracker companion services and OFF mirrors.Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTnginxcertbottlsself-hostingdockerhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/privacy-comparison-commercial-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/privacy-comparison-commercial-2026/A comparison matrix of privacy posture across six commercial calorie trackers in 2026: MFP, Cronometer, Lose It!, MacroFactor, Noom, and PlateLens. Observed traffic, stated policy, GDPR/CCPA responsiveness.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTprivacycomparisoncommercialad-networkstelemetryhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/barcode-scanner-comparison-foss/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/barcode-scanner-comparison-foss/Hands-on barcode scanner test across FOSS calorie trackers. Test set of 50 packaged foods under four lighting conditions. Some scanners are accurate, some are slow, some need internet.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTbarcodefossandroidscannercomparisonhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/tailscale-access-from-mobile/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/tailscale-access-from-mobile/Tailscale gets you point-to-point WireGuard between your phone and your homelab in five minutes. We compare it to plain WireGuard, set up MagicDNS, and make Caddy issue real LAN certs.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTtailscalewireguardvpnmobileself-hostinghttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/nutritionix-api-when-to-use/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/nutritionix-api-when-to-use/Nutritionix is the largest commercial nutrition API. It costs money. We compare its restaurant-menu coverage, natural-language parser, and 'Track' API against free USDA + OFF alternatives, and identify the narrow cases where it earns its price.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTnutritionixapicommercialcomparisonhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/cronometer-paid-vs-foss-alternatives/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/cronometer-paid-vs-foss-alternatives/Cronometer is the strongest closed-source nutrition app for micronutrient tracking. We compare its surface against Waistline + Open Food Facts + USDA bulk and find a solid 80% match for free.Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTcomparisoncronometerfossmicronutrientsusdahttps://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/last-commit-six-months-foss-trackers/https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/last-commit-six-months-foss-trackers/We pulled the commit cadence on 14 GitHub-hosted FOSS nutrition trackers. Seven have commits in the last six months. Four are at 6–24 months. Three are abandoned. The pattern of which projects survive is clearer than you'd think.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTfoss-roundupgithubmaintenanceabandonedalivehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/backups-and-restore-nutrition-data/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/backups-and-restore-nutrition-data/Why your calorie diary deserves a real backup, what to back up, where to put it, and how to test that the restore works. Borgmatic + restic + a one-page Ansible playbook.Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTbackupsborgresticself-hostingansiblehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/foss-tracker-feature-matrix-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/foss-tracker-feature-matrix-2026/A side-by-side feature matrix of ten FOSS calorie and nutrition trackers — barcode, OFF, USDA, sync, export, license, last commit, platforms. Updated quarterly.Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTfosscomparisonfeature-matrixopen-sourcehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-bulk-csv-downloads-postgres/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-bulk-csv-downloads-postgres/How to download the USDA FDC bulk CSV files and load them into a local Postgres for offline, unlimited-rate-limit nutrition lookups. Schema, COPY commands, indexes, and a sample query for sub-millisecond barcode resolution.Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTusdapostgresbulkfooddata-centralself-hostinghttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/personal-vps-vs-homelab/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/personal-vps-vs-homelab/If you don't want a Pi at home, a $4/mo Hetzner CX22 will run the whole nutrition stack with room to spare. We work through the trade-offs against a Pi 5 and a used SFF Lenovo.Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTvpshetznerhomelabself-hostingcomparisonhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/lose-it-snap-it-cloud-photos/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/lose-it-snap-it-cloud-photos/A traffic capture and EULA review of Lose It!'s Snap It feature. Photos go to a third-party classifier; the EULA permits broad retention; the privacy practices are not transparent.Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTlose-itsnap-itphotoscloudprivacyhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/opennutritracker-vs-waistline-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/comparisons/opennutritracker-vs-waistline-2026/Head-to-head of OpenNutriTracker and Waistline using a 30-item weighed bench. ONT wins on first-run UX and OFF integration, Waistline wins on database depth and export. Both are honest. Neither has photo recognition.Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTfossandroidcomparisonopen-food-factsbarcodehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/f-droid-nutrition-apps-checklist/https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/f-droid-nutrition-apps-checklist/A practical checklist for vetting any F-Droid calorie or nutrition tracker before installing. Source health, permissions, network behaviour, data export, and the maintainer signals that predict whether it'll still be alive in two years.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTf-droidchecklistevaluationfosshttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/raspberry-pi-nutrition-stack/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/raspberry-pi-nutrition-stack/A complete stack for a Pi 5 running k3s: an OFF mirror, a Postgres-backed USDA cache, and a Caddy ingress. Boot-to-services takes about four minutes. Boot-from-cold-after-a-power-cut takes about six.Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTraspberry-pik3skubernetesself-hostingpi5https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/foss-nutrition-trackers-2025-roundup/https://selfhostednutrition.org/foss-roundup/foss-nutrition-trackers-2025-roundup/End-of-year roundup of FOSS nutrition trackers. Ten apps, real-world testing on Android and where applicable iOS. The state of the art at the end of 2025.Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTfoss-roundupannualandroidf-droidreviewhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/python-script-50-line-calorie-tracker/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/python-script-50-line-calorie-tracker/A working command-line calorie tracker in 50 lines of Python that uses the USDA FDC API for food data and SQLite for local storage. Search, log, daily total. The starting point for anyone building their own tracker.Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTpythonusdatutorialsqlitecalorie-trackerhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/caddy-reverse-proxy-foodvore/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/caddy-reverse-proxy-foodvore/Foodvore runs an embedded HTTP server when launched in companion mode. We put a Caddy reverse proxy in front of it for HTTPS, basic auth, and a stable LAN URL.Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTcaddyfoodvoreself-hostingtlslanhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/selfhost-opennutritracker-docker/https://selfhostednutrition.org/self-hosting/selfhost-opennutritracker-docker/How to run a local Open Food Facts mirror and a backup-target service for OpenNutriTracker on a small Docker host. Compose file, reverse proxy notes, restore drill.Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTdockeropennutritrackerself-hostingopen-food-factscomposehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/threat-model-personal-nutrition-data/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/threat-model-personal-nutrition-data/A practical threat model for personal calorie tracking data. Insurance discrimination, weight-stigma profiling, employer wellness programs, and the data-broker ecosystem. Most readers should care more than they do, less than the maximalist case suggests.Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTthreat-modelprivacyinsurancedata-brokerswellnesshttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/open-food-facts-api-tutorial/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/open-food-facts-api-tutorial/A practical tutorial on the Open Food Facts API. Barcode lookups, search, the v2 endpoint shape, and how to contribute new products. Plus rate-limit etiquette and the cases where you should use the bulk dataset instead.Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTopen-food-factsoffapitutorialbarcodehttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-foundation-vs-survey-vs-branded/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-foundation-vs-survey-vs-branded/FoodData Central is five datasets behind one API. Each has a different shape, a different update cadence, and a different right answer to give you. We map them to the queries you actually want to run.Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTusdafooddata-centralfoundation-foodsbranded-foodsfnddshttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/dark-patterns-in-calorie-tracker-paywalls/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/dark-patterns-in-calorie-tracker-paywalls/Pattern analysis of how the four leading commercial calorie trackers introduce paywalls behind features that were free at sign-up. Habit-anchor exploitation, sunk-cost framing, and the specific UI patterns to recognise.Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTdark-patternspaywallsuxmyfitnesspalnoomlose-ithttps://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/the-app-i-built-for-myself-instead/https://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/the-app-i-built-for-myself-instead/I tried OpenNutriTracker and Waistline and they were good enough but not exactly what I wanted for one specific use case (logging workout meals). So I wrote a 50-line Python tracker. Two years later I still use it daily.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonalessaypythondiyhomelabhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-fdc-api-getting-started/https://selfhostednutrition.org/api/usda-fdc-api-getting-started/A practical introduction to the USDA FoodData Central API. How to get an API key, what each endpoint returns, the rate limits, and a working curl + Python example for searching the database.Mon, 04 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTusdaapifooddata-centraltutorialhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/gdpr-rights-on-nutrition-apps/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/gdpr-rights-on-nutrition-apps/Step-by-step on filing GDPR access, portability, and erasure requests against nutrition apps. Templates, real timelines, escalation paths to your DPA when an operator drags its feet.Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTgdprccpadata-subject-rightsprivacytemplateshttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/noom-and-the-3rd-party-sharing-fineprint/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/noom-and-the-3rd-party-sharing-fineprint/An audit of Noom's actual outbound traffic and stated data-sharing practices. The 'we don't sell your data' line is technically true and substantively misleading. Real outbound destinations include the usual ad-network suspects.Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoomprivacybehavioural-adsaudithttps://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/why-cronometer-was-not-the-answer/https://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/why-cronometer-was-not-the-answer/A second-attempt essay: after leaving MyFitnessPal I tried Cronometer for four months. It is the most conscientious commercial calorie tracker. It still wasn't what I wanted. Why I went all the way to FOSS instead.Tue, 15 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTcronometeressaypersonalsubscriptionhttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/cronometer-data-policy-walkthrough/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/cronometer-data-policy-walkthrough/A clause-by-clause walkthrough of Cronometer's privacy policy as of early 2025. Better practices than MFP's overall but with three specific clauses that are worth understanding before you commit your nutrition data to them.Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTcronometerprivacypolicydata-sharingaudithttps://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/why-i-left-myfitnesspal-after-eight-years/https://selfhostednutrition.org/why-i-left/why-i-left-myfitnesspal-after-eight-years/A first-person essay on leaving MyFitnessPal after eight years of daily use. The 2024 paywall, the Francisco Partners deal, the moment trust broke, and the homelab stack that replaced it.Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTmyfitnesspalessaypersonalpaywallfrancisco-partnershttps://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/myfitnesspal-privacy-audit-2024-2026/https://selfhostednutrition.org/privacy/myfitnesspal-privacy-audit-2024-2026/Outbound traffic, third-party SDKs, retention, and dark-pattern audit of MyFitnessPal across 2024–2026. The changes since the Francisco Partners acquisition are real but smaller than headlines suggest. The pre-existing posture was already worse than most users assumed.Sat, 05 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMTmyfitnesspalprivacyauditfrancisco-partnerstelemetry