Carby vs Cal AI: snap the plate, or plan the shop?
Cal AI is for logging a meal you already have, by photo. Carby is for deciding dinners before you shop. Cal AI’s own listing says food-scanning results require a subscription. Carby is not a photo calorie tracker.
Side by side
| Criterion | Carby | Cal AI |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Weekly dinners built around a named US grocery store and a budget you type first, with estimated ingredient costs and one aisle-grouped list. | A photo-first calorie tracker. Snap a meal, scan a barcode, or describe food. The App Store listing says food-scanning analysis results require a subscription. FAQ: about 80% scan accuracy; no MyFitnessPal import. |
| Starter price | $39.99/year after a 3-day trial on web yearly checkout | Free to download. Scanning requires a paid plan. US App Store in-app items include Unlimited prices such as $2.99, $5.99, $9.99, $19.99, $29.99 and a $59.99 family plan. Read the paywall you see. |
| Cost if you stay a year | $39.99 if you stay on the web yearly plan after the 3-day trial | Depends on the Unlimited plan Apple shows you. The public site does not publish one yearly rate. Grocery is extra. |
| Trial | 3-day trial on the web yearly offer visitors actually see. Monthly ($9.99) and weekly ($4.99) plans also exist. Read the checkout. | FAQ describes a free-trial page on family invites. Trial length is shown in the App Store paywall, not as a single public number on calai.app. |
| Refunds | Web Stripe charges: email within 30 days of the charge for a refund. App Store charges go through Apple. Cancel during the trial and you are not charged. | App Store and Google Play refunds go through those stores. Direct CalAI purchases: email support. Deleting the app does not cancel. Cancel in iPhone Settings → Subscriptions → CalAI. |
| Grocery list | One shopping list for the week, grouped by aisle. You shop it yourself. | No grocery-budget dinner list. You log meals after you eat them, mostly by photo. |
| Store cost estimates | Yes | No |
| Food diary / calorie log | No. Carby does not log calories, carbs or photos of food you already ate. | A photo-first calorie tracker. Snap a meal, scan a barcode, or describe food. The App Store listing says food-scanning analysis results require a subscription. FAQ: about 80% scan accuracy; no MyFitnessPal import. |
| App Store rating | 4.0 from 29 ratings (small sample) | 4.8 from 371,445 ratings |
Cost if you actually stay
Carby: $39.99 if you stay on the web yearly plan after the 3-day trial
Cal AI: Depends on the Unlimited plan Apple shows you. The public site does not publish one yearly rate. Grocery is extra.
Cal AI facts are from its public site and US iTunes Lookup, checked October 20, 2026. Missing dollar amounts were omitted, not guessed. Carby web yearly is $39.99 after a 3-day trial, with a 30-day web refund. Grocery purchases are extra on both sides. Carby does not replace a food diary.
Where they win
- Photo, barcode and text logging aimed at speed.
- Hundreds of thousands of App Store ratings.
- A family plan exists as an in-app purchase.
Where we win
- You get dinners and an aisle list before you spend.
- Catalog estimates for a named store, not an 80% photo guess after dinner.
- A published web yearly price. Cal AI’s public site does not publish one yearly rate; the App Store shows several Unlimited prices.
Choose us if / pick them if
Choose Carby if: Choose Carby if the photo would be of a grocery receipt you have not created yet.
Pick Cal AI if: Pick Cal AI if you will pay to log meals by snapping them, and you accept their FAQ’s about-80% scan accuracy note.
Best photo calorie tracker appsFrequently asked questions
Is Cal AI a meal planner?
No. It estimates calories on a plate. It does not plan a week of dinners around a grocery budget.
Does Carby scan food photos?
No. Carby is not a photo logger. Cal AI is.
Can I import MyFitnessPal into Cal AI?
Cal AI’s FAQ says not yet. Carby also does not import MyFitnessPal.
Sources checked October 20, 2026: App Store listing · iTunes Lookup id 6779585429 · Carby billing policy · Carby refund help · Cal AI homepage · Cal AI FAQ · App Store listing · iTunes Lookup id 6480417616. Competitor facts come from those public pages and US iTunes Lookup. Missing cells were omitted, not guessed.