PlateDiary.
Menu
Get PlateDiary
  1. PlateDiary
  2. Compare
  3. Calorie trackers for eating out

Compare · Eating out

The best calorie tracker for eating out depends on the restaurant.

A burrito chain with posted numbers, a tiny laksa stall with a handwritten menu and a long dinner where eight plates go round the table are three different problems. Each has an app that handles it well. Here is which is which.

Get PlateDiary Read on

Free on iPhone and Android. No account, and it works with no signal.

In short

For chain restaurants with posted numbers, a database tracker like MyFitnessPal or Lose It! can match the menu item. For one plate at an independent spot, a photo app like Cal AI or SnapCalorie is quickest. For a shared table of several dishes, PlateDiary cuts every dish out of one photo and gives each a rough number.

Checked

Why it’s hard

Why restaurant meals break most calorie trackers.

Restaurant food is bigger and richer than the same dish at home. A 2013 Tufts study measured meals from independent and small-chain restaurants and found they averaged about 1,327 calories. Even where chains post numbers, a 2011 study found about one item in five was off by 100 calories or more.

Then there are the things no database knows: the chef’s hand with the oil, the bread basket, the shared starters, the second drink. Good apps for eating out don’t pretend to be exact — they make a sensible first guess easy to accept or fix.

Match the app to the meal

Five eating-out situations, and what handles each.

Which kind of calorie tracker suits each eating-out situation
What helpsApps that do it
A big chain (US chains with 20+ locations post calories)Matching the exact menu itemMyFitnessPal, Lose It!
One plate at an independent spotA quick photo estimateCal AI, SnapCalorie, Foodvisor
A shared table of several dishesEvery dish read separately; your share editablePlateDiary
A trip abroad, menu in another languageReading the food, not the menuAny photo app; PlateDiary also keeps the place
Detail after a big mealVitamins, minerals and the full pictureCronometer

Best for…

The picks for meals out.

  • Best for chain restaurants: MyFitnessPal. A database of more than 20 million foods means a big chain’s menu item is often there; Meal Scan and Barcode Scan sit in Premium. Lose It! does the same job with its 56+ million items.
  • Best for a single plate, fast: Cal AI. “Track your calories with just a picture” — snap it, get calories, protein, carbs and fat, done before the server comes back.
  • Best for measured portions: SnapCalorie. Says it works with restaurant dishes as well as home cooking, and measures food volume with depth sensors on supported iPhones.
  • Best for shared tables and remembering where you ate: PlateDiary. One photo of the table, every dish cut out, one rough “~” number per dish, and the night kept with its place and companions. We make PlateDiary, so weigh that in.
  • Best for the detail-minded: Cronometer. If you want to see what a dinner did to your vitamins and minerals, nothing on this list goes deeper.

Works in any app

Five tricks for counting a meal out, whatever you use.

  1. Check for a posted number firstChains often print it on the menu or their website. If it’s there, use it.
  2. Photograph before anyone digs inAny photo app does better with a full, untouched plate in good light.
  3. Count your share, not the tableAte two of six dumplings? Take a third of the dish’s number. In PlateDiary, tap Edit and type it.
  4. Add the drinksA milk tea, a pint or a margarita can be a whole extra dish. In PlateDiary, drinks are saves too.
  5. Round, then move onA rough number you keep beats a perfect one you never enter. More in how to estimate calories when you eat out.

An honest note

PlateDiary is for the table, not for everything.

Take a Saturday in Singapore with Wei and Hana: laksa, chicken rice, a plate of satay and three iced kopi, all from one table. That is the meal PlateDiary was built for. PlateDiary is not a full calorie tracker: there is no barcode scanner, no food database to search, no exercise and no weight. Pair it with a full tracker at home if you want everything counted.

  • Off unless you turn them on. With Calories off, PlateDiary is a food diary for eating out and shows no numbers at all.
  • One photo of the table. Every dish and drink is cut out on your phone into its own save. A read gives each dish one rough “~” number, rounded to the nearest 10.
  • Accept or correct. Accept makes the number yours; Edit lets you type your own. PlateDiary remembers your correction for that dish at that place.
  • No AI needed. Type your own number on any food or drink save, free.
  • The Calories page adds up each day’s saved meals over a week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks or a year, in four tabs: Summary, When, Dishes and Where.

In PlateDiary

A rough number for the dishes you save — only if you want one.

Off unless you turn them on

Calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and, when PlateDiary AI reads your photo of the table, each dish gets one rough “~” number. Accept it or change it; a number you correct is remembered for that dish. With Calories off, the app looks exactly as it did before.

A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes, with the place's name as a hint — never the table photo, faces or your location. Calorie numbers never go to analytics, and nothing is written to a health app. PlateDiary AI starts with free tries; here is how it works.

Get PlateDiary

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. MyFitnessPal — official site
  2. MyFitnessPal — Premium features
  3. Lose It! — Calorie Counter, App Store listing
  4. Cal AI — official site and FAQ
  5. SnapCalorie AI Calorie Counter, App Store listing
  6. Cronometer — official site
  7. FDA: guidance on calorie labeling for chain restaurants
  8. Tufts Now: independent and small-chain restaurant meals (2013)
  9. PubMed: accuracy of stated restaurant calorie contents (2011)

Questions

Questions people ask.

How do I track calories when eating out?

Use the chain’s posted number when there is one. Otherwise take a photo before eating, let an app make a first guess for each dish, and adjust it to the share you actually ate.

Which calorie app has restaurant menus?

Database apps like MyFitnessPal and Lose It! include many chain-restaurant items. Independent restaurants are rarely in any database, which is where photo apps help.

How do you count calories at a restaurant without a menu number?

Start from a similar dish, break the plate into base, protein, sauce and sides, and allow extra for oil. Or photograph it and correct the app’s estimate.

Are restaurant calorie counts accurate?

On average, posted chain numbers are close, but a 2011 study found about one item in five was off by 100 calories or more. Treat any restaurant number as rough.

Do I count shared plates?

Count your share. Estimate the whole dish, then take your fraction — in PlateDiary each dish is its own save, so you can edit each one to what you ate.