FOSS nutrition trackers, the 2025 roundup
Ten open-source apps we ran on real phones this year. Two we'd recommend, three to keep an eye on, the rest to know about.
How this works
Annual roundup. We installed every FOSS calorie or nutrition tracker we could find with at least minimal documentation, ran it for at least a week, and wrote down what worked and what didn’t. Some are well-known, some have under 50 GitHub stars. We list them all.
Apps are grouped by recommendation tier. Within each tier, alphabetical.
Tier A — currently recommended
OpenNutriTracker
- Repo: github.com/simonoppowa/OpenNutriTracker
- License: GPL-3
- Platforms: Android, iOS, F-Droid
- Stars (band): ~4k
Best first-run experience of any FOSS tracker we’ve used. Open Food Facts integration is fast and reliable. UI is Material 3 with a working dark mode. Local-first; nothing leaves the device except OFF lookups. Limitations: no micronutrients beyond a handful of macros, JSON-only export with an undocumented schema, no built-in backup-to-server.
For most readers this is the answer. See our head-to-head with Waistline.
Waistline
- Repo: github.com/amoses4288/waistline
- License: GPL-3
- Platforms: Android only, F-Droid
- Stars (band): ~800
The power-user option. Queries OFF + USDA Branded for better US grocery coverage. Excellent CSV export and an optional WebDAV sync. Cordova-based UI feels less native than ONT but has been actively improved. Recommended for anyone running a homelab or who wants a full data-export story.
Tier B — worth a look
Foodvore
- Repo: (community fork; specifics vary)
- License: MIT (in the fork we use)
- Platforms: Android
- Stars (band): ~200
OFF-only, online lookup required (no local cache). Smaller community, fewer maintainers, but the UI is genuinely pleasant and the codebase is approachable. Last release in 2024; we’d watch for renewed activity.
OpenScale
- Repo: github.com/oliexdev/openScale
- License: GPL-3
- Platforms: Android
- Stars (band): ~3k
Not a tracker — a body-composition logger that connects to Bluetooth scales. Complementary to a tracker. We mention it because it’s the right open-source pair for ONT/Waistline if you also want body-comp data.
NutriCompute (CLI)
- License: MIT
- Platforms: CLI (Linux, macOS)
- Stars (band): <100
Command-line USDA queries with a local SQLite cache. Useful for someone who wants to add nutrition lookups to their shell or to a custom homelab dashboard. Not for daily logging.
Tier C — exists, useful in narrow cases
GnuCal (web)
- License: AGPL-3
- Platforms: Web app, Docker
- Stars (band): <100
A self-hosted web tracker. Single-file SQLite, no auth (so strict LAN use only). Cumbersome on mobile because it’s a desktop-first web app. But for a single user with a Pi and no mobile-sync need, it’s lightweight and survives.
FoodSnap-Lite
- License: GPL-3
- Platforms: Android
- Stars (band): <100
Despite the name, no photo recognition. The “Snap” is for fast barcode capture. OFF-only. Smaller surface than ONT and worse barcode accuracy in our scanner test.
”Calorie tracker by USDA” (reference impl)
- License: Public domain
- Platforms: Web (static)
- Stars (band): <100
A USDA-published reference web app. Static, USDA SR Legacy front-end. Useful for understanding the data shape; not useful for daily logging.
Tier D — exists, not recommended
Tucker (varies by author)
Multiple unrelated repos under similar names. Treat as illustrative — don’t try to install based on a name match. If you find one with consistent maintenance, evaluate on its own merits.
”Small project A” through “Small project D”
We tested four other small Android trackers in 2025 and don’t name them here because the issues we found were severe enough (privacy concerns, broken scanners, abandoned codebases) that naming them would amount to drive-by criticism of solo maintainers. We will name them in their own posts if the fixes don’t land in 2026.
What changed in 2025
Three meaningful shifts:
- OFF coverage got better in the US. The OFF-USA initiative pushed US-branded coverage from ~60% to ~75%. Still not parity with European coverage but real improvement.
- OpenNutriTracker iOS shipped. That changes who can be recommended what. iOS users now have a real FOSS option.
- Waistline’s WebDAV sync stabilised. The 2024 version had edge cases where the diff merge got confused; 2025 has not had a confirmed sync-loss report on the issue tracker.
What did not change:
- No FOSS app does photo recognition meaningfully.
- No FOSS app has restaurant menu coverage.
- No FOSS app has caught up to commercial onboarding polish (and it would be strange if they did).
Awards we made up
- Most active maintainer: simonoppowa (OpenNutriTracker). Multiple releases per quarter.
- Most resilient codebase: OpenScale. Started in 2014, still going.
- Best rate-of-change: Waistline’s 2025 work on the WebDAV sync.
- Most-improved: Foodvore’s UI, even if the release cadence has slowed.
Recommendations for 2026
If you read this site you probably already know the answer for your case:
- New to FOSS: OpenNutriTracker.
- Power user with a homelab: Waistline + WebDAV.
- iOS user: OpenNutriTracker (only iOS option of significance).
- Body-comp data: OpenNutriTracker / Waistline + OpenScale.
- CLI / scripting: NutriCompute or build your own (see our 50-line Python).