Cronometer review: what is free, what Gold adds, and who it suits

Is Cronometer free? Yes. Its Basic plan costs nothing, and it isn’t a trial.

You get the full food database, up to 95 nutrients and the barcode scanner. You also get every app and device connection except the ChatGPT plugin, with ads.

Gold is the paid plan. As of November 10, 2026, the Cronometer Gold price is $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year in the US. It adds photo and voice logging, charts over any time frame, a fasting timer and an AI assistant called Crono Coach.

Cronometer suits you if you want to see vitamins and minerals, not just calories. If you mainly want to log fast, Gold is the part you’d be paying for.

Key takeaways

• Cronometer’s free Basic plan includes the full database of over 1 million lab-analyzed or verified foods, up to 95 nutrients, custom targets and an unlimited barcode scanner. It shows ads.
• As of November 10, 2026, Gold costs $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year in the US. A year on the monthly plan comes to $131.88, more than twice the yearly price.
• Gold adds photo and voice logging, charts over any time frame, a fasting timer, a macro scheduler, Crono Coach and no ads. Neither Cronometer’s Gold page nor its App Store listing mentions a free trial.
• In two of three studies we read, Cronometer’s numbers came close to a research reference. In a third, which tested apps from Türkiye’s App Store, it was among the furthest off.
• It’s worth it if nutrient detail matters to you. If logging is the part you keep dropping, test the free plan for a couple of weeks before you pay.

Cronometer pros and cons

How this review was put together

This Cronometer review is built from the company’s own pages and published research. We didn’t sign up or test the app, so there are no “we tried it” claims here.

On November 10, 2026, we read Cronometer’s own pages: its home page, Gold page, free plan page, database page, terms of service and its photo logging article. We also read its US App Store listing and Google Play listing.

Studies were read through NCBI’s PubMed database. Prices outside the US may differ.

What is Cronometer?

Cronometer is a food tracker built for nutrient detail. You log what you eat, and it shows calories and macros plus up to 95 nutrients and compounds, including vitamins and minerals. It runs on the web, iOS and Android.

Its database is what Cronometer leads with. Cronometer’s database page says its data comes from “lab-analyzed data, not crowd-sourced guesses”. It names more than ten sources, including the Nutrition Coordinating Center database (NCCDB), USDA’s Standard Reference and the Canadian Nutrient File.

Submitted branded foods go through a verification process, per the same page. We compare this database with MyFitnessPal’s in Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal.

Is Cronometer free? What Basic includes

Yes, and the free plan is unusually complete. Cronometer’s free plan page says “we’ll never force you to upgrade”. As of November 10, 2026, Basic includes:

• Calories and up to 95 nutrients, with custom macro and micronutrient targets.
• The full database of over 1 million lab-analyzed or verified foods.
• Unlimited barcode scanning, which the free plan page calls out by name.
• Every app and device connection except the ChatGPT plugin. Its home page names Apple Health, Health Connect, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, Whoop and Dexcom among others.

Two limits matter. Free reports, charts and insights cover a 7-day window, so you can’t see a month of iron intake at a glance. And Basic shows ads: both the App Store and Google Play list the app as containing advertising, and Gold is sold as ad-free.

For many people, Basic is enough. If you’ll type or scan your meals and you mostly want accurate numbers, you may never need Gold.

How much does Cronometer Gold cost?

Here’s the Cronometer Gold price, and the pricing for Basic, from its Gold page and App Store listing as of November 10, 2026 (US):

The yearly plan is the better deal if you stay; Cronometer labels it “Save 54%”.

Is there a Cronometer free trial?

Not one that’s advertised: the Gold page and the App Store listing both show prices with no trial. Basic lets you try the core tracker for free, though not the Gold features.

Can you cancel Cronometer Gold and get a refund?

You can cancel anytime. If you paid through Apple or Google, you cancel in that store’s account settings. Per both store listings, the plan renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends.

Cronometer’s terms of service (dated February 12, 2025) cover what happens next. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period, and you keep Gold until then. The terms say there are “no refunds for termination or cancellation”, though Cronometer may review that “on a case by case basis”.

The terms also give a right to withdraw in writing within seven days of first subscribing, for a full refund, but only if you haven’t used the paid service.

So decide on Basic first. Pay for Gold once you know which Gold feature you’d use every day.

What does Gold add?

Gold’s comparison table lists more than a dozen extras. The ones most likely to change your day, as of November 10, 2026:

• Photo Log. Take a photo and it identifies “the key ingredients and servings”. You then review and adjust before saving.
• Voice Log. Speak to the app, or to Siri, and it matches the foods.
• More Insights: “nutrition data and charts over any time frame”, per the Gold page, plus custom charts and nutrition scores.
• Macro Scheduler, for different targets on different days of the week.
• Crono Coach, “AI powered coaching” in the Gold page’s words, which turns your own data, goals and settings into short guidance.
• A fasting timer, recipe importer, the ChatGPT plugin and no ads.

How does Cronometer’s photo logging work?

Cronometer’s photo logging article (September 2025) is frank about its limits: it says the feature “can’t guess everything perfectly”. It matches foods to the NCCDB and Cronometer’s own database (CFCD), not to branded products, so for a packaged food it suggests the barcode scanner.

It also suggests easy-to-miss extras, such as butter on toast or cooking oil, and you review every entry before it’s saved. That’s sensible, because oils and sauces are the usual blind spot for any photo tracker, as our guide to how AI calorie counters work explains.

How accurate is Cronometer? What research found

A PubMed search for “Cronometer” on November 10, 2026 returned five results. Three compared the app’s numbers with a reference, and they don’t all agree.

A US test of one 3-day record. A 2023 study in JMIR Formative Research (PMID 37327038) entered the same 3-day food record into five apps. A registered dietitian entered it into a research database (NDSR) as the reference.

Cronometer was the only one of the five with no significant difference from the reference on calories or macros. It was one record, entered by one researcher, which the authors flagged as a possible source of error.

A Canadian test of 43 food records. A 2025 study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (PMID 41133373) used 3-day records from 43 middle-aged endurance athletes. We read the full text. In 2020, two researchers each entered every record into the free versions of Cronometer and MyFitnessPal. The reference was ESHA Food Processor, using the 2015 Canadian Nutrient File.

Cronometer showed good to excellent agreement between the two researchers, and good validity for every nutrient except fiber and vitamins A and D. MyFitnessPal showed poor validity for several, including calories.

One detail to weigh: in Cronometer, the researchers picked Canadian Nutrient File entries where they could, the same database the reference used.

A Turkish test of 13 apps. A 2026 study in Nutrition and Health (PMID 42429442) compared apps from Türkiye’s App Store with standardized 3-day food records. Most apps overestimated energy. Its abstract names Cronometer among the five with the greatest discrepancies, while MyNetDiary and FatSecret came closest.

We could read only the abstract, which notes the limits of standardized menus.

What this adds up to: the two studies we read in full, both North American, found Cronometer close to the reference. The study from Türkiye, read only as an abstract, did not, and its abstract doesn’t say why. Neither of the two studies we read in full tested photo logging, and the abstract doesn’t say.

Is Cronometer Gold worth it?

The free plan is worth it for almost anyone curious about nutrients. Gold is worth it if you’ll use one of its extras every day, most likely photo logging, voice logging or charts over a longer time frame. On the yearly plan, that’s $59.99.

It’s a good fit if:

• You want to see vitamins and minerals, such as iron or fiber, not only calories.
• You care who checked the database entries, and want a capable free plan.

It’s a weaker fit if:

• You only want calories and protein. Most of the detail becomes noise.
• You want targets that adjust to your weight trend. That’s MacroFactor’s approach; see Cronometer vs MacroFactor and our MacroFactor review.
• Typing and searching is why you stop logging. Even with photos, you review each entry. Our guide to tracking macros without weighing everything has ways to make that lighter.

Cronometer isn’t right for everyone

Cronometer’s terms say it isn’t for children under 13, and anyone under the age of majority needs a parent or guardian’s permission.

Tracking food isn’t right for everyone either. If counting brings on stress or restriction, or you have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before you start any tracker.

Where does Getfiit fit?

We make Getfiit, so weigh this section with that in mind. It’s an AI nutrition and fitness coach that lives in WhatsApp, so there’s no new app to install.

You send a photo, a voice note or a sentence, and it replies with calories, protein, carbs and fat. It sets daily targets from your goal and profile and checks in at a time you pick.

Here’s an illustration of a log, not a measured result:

lunch12:38

A green salad with walnuts. Was there a dressing or oil on it?12:39

a little olive oil, maybe a teaspoon12:40

Logged with a teaspoon of olive oil. Your calories, protein, carbs and fat for today are updated.12:41

It doesn’t track 95 nutrients or scan barcodes. If micronutrient depth is what you want, Cronometer is built for that, and we’d point you there. Getfiit is built for logging that lasts.

As of November 10, 2026, Getfiit costs $19.99 a month after a 3-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime. See how it works.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cronometer completely free?

Basic is free with no time limit and includes the full database, up to 95 nutrients and the barcode scanner. It shows ads, its charts cover a 7-day window, and there’s no advertised trial of Gold.

Is Cronometer Gold worth it?

It is if you’ll use a Gold feature every day, such as photo logging, voice logging or longer charts. If you mostly type or scan foods and want nutrient detail, the free Basic plan covers that.

How much is Cronometer Gold per month?

As of November 10, 2026, it’s $10.99 a month on the monthly plan in the US, or $59.99 a year, which Cronometer shows as $4.99 a month.

Is Cronometer better than MyFitnessPal?

For nutrient detail and a checked database, Cronometer is built for it, and it came closer to the reference than MyFitnessPal in the two studies above that report both apps. Our Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal comparison covers both sides.

Your next step

Start on Basic for two weeks and log as you normally eat. If you keep it up and want photo logging or longer charts, Gold’s yearly plan is good value.

If logging felt like the hard part, that’s worth fixing before you pay for any tracker. Browse our other tracker comparisons.