Looking to track your plant-based meals without losing your mind (or your appetite)?

I’ve spent way too many hours testing different apps so you don’t have to. Whether you’re a seasoned vegan or just trying to eat more plants, there’s an app that’ll make tracking your meals actually doable in 2025.

Let’s break down the best plant-based meal tracking apps with the pros, cons, and which one might actually stick in your daily routine.

The Best Plant-Based Meal Tracking Apps in 2025

Skip ahead:

• Text-based trackers
• Photo & AI-powered apps
• Specialized vegan apps
• Comprehensive nutrition trackers
• How to choose the right app for you

Text-Based & AI-Powered Apps (The Easy Button)

MealByMeal: Text Your Way to Better Nutrition

If you’re like me and hate opening apps and scrolling through endless food databases, MealByMeal might be your new best friend.

The concept is stupidly simple: just text your meals to the app, and it calculates your calories and macros automatically. No photos, no manual searching – just text what you ate.

For example, text “oatmeal with blueberries and almond butter for breakfast” and it figures out the nutrition info for you.

It’s perfect for plant-based eaters who want to track without the hassle. The database recognizes tons of plant foods and meals, from tempeh to nutritional yeast to that fancy vegan restaurant dish.

And most importantly, it works with your lifestyle, not against it. Because let’s be honest – if tracking is too complicated, we just stop doing it.

You can learn more about MealByMeal here if you’re into the text-based approach.

SnapCalorie: Just Take a Picture, It’ll Last Longer

SnapCalorie is for the visual learners among us. It uses AI to identify your food from photos and gives you the nutrition breakdown.

What makes it shine for plant-based eating:

• Recognizes vegan proteins like tempeh, seitan, and tofu
• Provides detailed micronutrient info (crucial for plant-based diets)
• It’s FREE (unlike many competitors that hit you with subscription fees)

The photo recognition technology has gotten scary good, correctly identifying most plant foods in my testing. It’s like having a nutritionist in your pocket who happens to be really into photography.

Specialized Plant-Based Apps

Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen: The Plant-Based Checklist

This isn’t your typical calorie counter. Instead, Dr. Greger’s app gives you daily checklist goals for essential plant food groups.

It’s based on Dr. Michael Greger’s nutrition research and focuses on getting the right foods in your diet rather than obsessing over calories.

The checklist includes:

• Berries
• Other fruits
• Cruciferous veggies
• Greens
• Other vegetables
• Beans
• Whole grains
• Nuts and seeds
• Spices
• Beverages
• Exercise

Perfect if you’re more interested in nutritional quality than counting every calorie. Plus, there’s something oddly satisfying about checking those boxes off each day.

Forks Over Knives: The Whole-Food Plant-Based Hub

The Forks Over Knives app brings the popular documentary’s principles to your phone with:

• Thousands of whole-food, plant-based recipes
• Weekly meal plans
• Grocery lists
• Cooking guides

What’s unique is that it’s not just about tracking – it’s about helping you transition to and maintain a plant-based lifestyle. The meal planner helps automate your weekly menu, which is super valuable if you need structure.

It’s a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, which I personally appreciate in this subscription-heavy world we live in.

You can check out Forks Over Knives here for more details.

Comprehensive Nutrition Trackers

Cronometer: For The Nutrition Nerds

If you’re the type who wants to know if you’re getting enough selenium and manganese (hello, fellow nutrition nerds), Cronometer is your app.

What makes it stand out for plant-based eaters:

• Tracks over 80 nutrients (not just macros)
• Shows which nutrients you might be missing
• Gold standard for accuracy in food database
• Allows you to track supplements

As a plant-based eater, micronutrient tracking is actually super important. Cronometer shows you if you’re hitting targets for B12, iron, calcium, zinc, and other nutrients that require a bit more attention in a plant-based diet.

The Cronometer food database is extensive and includes many plant-based specialty products, which isn’t always the case with mainstream apps.

Yazio: The International Plant-Based Option

Yazio deserves a spot on this list for its international recipe database and user-friendly interface.

It offers:

• Calorie and macro tracking
• Meal planning with vegan options
• Intermittent fasting features
• Integration with fitness trackers

What I particularly like about Yazio is that it feels less clinical than some nutrition apps. The recipe suggestions actually look appetizing, and the interface is clean and intuitive.

The basic calorie tracker is free, with a pro version offering additional recipes and meal planning tools.

Other Noteworthy Mentions

VNutrition: The Vegan Transition Helper

Specifically designed for people transitioning to a vegan diet, VNutrition focuses on ensuring you meet nutritional targets with:

• Food diary
• Reminders to consume appropriate food groups
• Nutrition education

It’s a free app that serves as both a tracker and an educational tool.

21-Day Vegan Kickstart: For Beginners

As the name suggests, this app is perfect for those just starting their plant-based journey. It offers:

• Structured 21-day meal plans
• Cooking demonstrations
• Nutrition education
• Shopping lists

The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program is backed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, so you know the nutritional advice is solid.

How to Choose the Right Plant-Based Tracking App

Let’s be real – the “best” app is the one you’ll actually use consistently. Here’s how to decide:

• If you hate manual logging, go with MealByMeal (text-based) or SnapCalorie (photo-based)
• If you’re concerned about getting all nutrients on a plant-based diet, Cronometer is your best bet
• If you need meal ideas and planning help, choose Forks Over Knives
• If you want to build healthy habits rather than count calories, Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen is perfect
• If you’re just starting out, the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart provides the most structure and guidance

The truth is, most people abandon tracking apps within a few weeks because they’re too cumbersome. The easiest app to use consistently will give you better results than the “perfect” app you use for three days.

My personal take? I use a combination of MealByMeal for daily tracking (because I’m lazy and texting is easy) and Cronometer once a week for a more detailed micronutrient check-in.

But experiment and find what fits into your life – because a tracking app that works with your lifestyle is worth its weight in nutritional yeast.