Pensum
Pensum vs Lifesum
Pensum is a calm, fast calorie and macro tracker. You set your own calorie and macro targets, see 18 micronutrients against daily targets, and get a calorie target that follows your measured expenditure. There are no ads and no account, and your Lifesum history imports. Your own calorie and macro goals are free in Pensum. Lifesum charges Premium for them.
Android. iPhone waitlist on the home page.
If you want to track your own numbers, pick Pensum. Your own calorie and macro targets, photo logging, custom foods and recipes, 18 micronutrients and an adaptive target from measured expenditure are free, with no ads and no account. In Lifesum, your own calorie and macro goals, AI tracking and creating your own foods are Premium, which lists at $99.99 a year in the US. Pensum is on Android today, with an iPhone waitlist.
What Lifesum locks behind Premium
Lifesum's store listing says it plainly: free to download and use with limited features. Free users start on the Lifesum Standard program, search the food database and log meals. The calorie goal comes from the program, and free users can't change it.
Lifesum's help article on Premium lists what sits behind the paywall: your own daily calorie goal, your own carb, protein and fat goals, AI Tracking (photo, voice and text logging), creating your own foods, recipes, meals and exercises, and sodium, fiber and cholesterol detail per meal. Programs beyond Standard and the full recipe library are Premium only as well. In Pensum, everything in the left column below is free.
| Pensum | Lifesum | |
|---|---|---|
| Your own daily calorie goal | Free | Premium only |
| Your own carb, protein and fat goals | Free | Premium only |
| Photo, voice and text logging | Free | Premium only |
| Creating your own foods, recipes and meals | Free | Premium only |
| Sodium, fiber and cholesterol | Free, with 18 micronutrients against targets | Premium only |
| Calorie target | Free, adaptive from your measured expenditure | Set by the program; your own goal is Premium only |
Prices depend on store and region. On the US App Store, the one-year plan lists at $99.99, three months at $29.99 to $39.99 and six months at $69.99. Google Play's US listing shows in-app items from $3.99 to $99.99, and its description names 1-month, 3-month and annual plans. Lifesum frequently shows discounted offers in the app, so the first year often costs less than list. Google Play does not mark Lifesum as containing ads.
| Plan (US prices) | Pensum | Lifesum |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Full diary, your own calorie and macro targets, photo logging, micros, adaptive targets, imports, no ads | Standard program, food search and logging, program-set calorie goal |
| 3 months | Not needed | $29.99 to $39.99 (App Store list) |
| 6 months | Not needed | $69.99 (App Store list) |
| Yearly | Optional Plus; Google Play shows the price in your currency | $99.99 list; in-app offers often lower |
Lifesum prices from its US App Store and Google Play listings, checked September 25, 2026. Other regions differ.
How Pensum is paid for. Everything you need to track is free: diary, manual logging, barcode scanning, search, photo logging, label scan, recipe import, custom foods, saved meals and recipes, favorites, 18 micronutrients plus fiber, sugar and saturated fat, trends, adaptive targets, Ask Pensum, Health Connect sync, widgets, CSV export and imports.
Pensum Plus is optional. It pays for what costs money to run: unlimited AI, micronutrients that fill in on their own as you log, and a daily cloud backup, encrypted in transit and at rest on servers in the EU. Nothing you need to track sits behind it.
Pensum vs Lifesum, side by side
What you get free in each app, and what Lifesum keeps for Premium.
| Pensum | Lifesum | |
|---|---|---|
| Price and access | ||
| Free tier | Full tracker, free | Limited: Standard program, search and logging |
| Paid tier | Optional Plus: unlimited AI, micros that fill in on their own, daily cloud backup | Premium, $99.99 a year at US App Store list |
| Ads | None, on any tier | Not marked as containing ads on Google Play |
| Account | None needed | Required |
| Logging | ||
| Photo, voice and text logging | Free; up to five photos of one meal plus notes, voice log included | AI Tracking, Premium only |
| Barcode scanner | Free | Yes |
| Your own foods and recipes | Custom foods, recipes and saved meals, free; recipe import from text or a screenshot | Premium only |
| Repeat meals | Favorites, Log again, last portion remembered, multi-add | Favorites |
| Food data | ||
| Sources | Hand-curated catalogue on USDA FoodData Central, plus German BLS and the Swiss Food Composition Database, plus millions of products via Open Food Facts | USDA, MyNetDiary, UK FSA, German BLS, Swedish Food Agency, plus user-created foods |
| Barcode not found | Photograph the label; Pensum reads the values and adds the product to Open Food Facts | Creating your own food is Premium only |
| Quality flags | Every nutrient value flagged verified, partial or estimated | Blue badge on verified items |
| Targets and expenditure | ||
| Your own calorie goal | Free | Premium only |
| Your own macro goals | Free; pin protein, fat or carbs in grams or g/kg | Premium only |
| Adaptive expenditure | Measured from your intake and weight trend, free; method published | Goal from program and profile |
| Nutrients | ||
| Micronutrients | 18 plus fiber, sugar and saturated fat against targets, free | Sodium, fiber and cholesterol detail per meal, Premium only |
| AI features | ||
| Questions about your diary | Ask Pensum answers from your own meals, weight and targets, free; changes only on Apply | Not listed |
| Privacy and data | ||
| Where the diary lives | On your phone; no data sale | Lifesum account in the cloud |
| Export | CSV export and manual backups, free | 7 days on the website; full history only on request through support |
| Health Connect | Reads weight; writes meals and manual weigh-ins | Imports exercise; exports nutrition |
Lifesum features from its help center, App Store and Google Play listings, checked September 25, 2026. "Not listed" means we did not find it in Lifesum's help center or store listings.
What actually differs
Your own targets are the paywall
Most people who search for a Lifesum alternative hit the same wall: they know the numbers they want, and Lifesum's free version will not let them enter them. Its help center lists a custom daily calorie goal and custom carb, protein and fat goals as Premium. Free users follow the Standard program's goal. In Pensum, targets are yours on the free plan. Set a goal weight and pace, pin protein, fat or carbs to grams or grams per kilogram, and the rest fills around it.
A calorie target measured from you
Lifesum sets your calorie goal from your profile and the program you are on. Change the program and the goal changes with it. Without Premium, you can't set it yourself.
Pensum works from your own data. It starts from an estimate, then measures what you actually burn from your logged intake and your weight trend, and moves your target when that measurement changes. It is free and uses no AI. Every equation and constant is published at pensumapp.com/expenditure, and the TDEE calculator gives you a starting number before you have data.
The nutrient numbers, free
Lifesum turns nutrition into judgments: food ratings on some programs, day ratings, and a weekly Life Score. The numbers underneath, such as sodium, fiber and cholesterol per meal, are Premium only.
Pensum shows 18 micronutrients plus fiber, sugar and saturated fat against daily targets on the free plan, and flags each value as verified, partial or estimated, so you can see when a number is filled in rather than measured. There are no scores, badges or gamified pressure. See the micronutrients page for what is tracked.
Photo logging: Premium in Lifesum, free in Pensum
Lifesum's AI Tracking brings photo, voice and text logging into one screen, and its help center lists it as a Premium feature. In Pensum, photo logging is free. Send up to five photos of one meal plus your notes, such as a rough weight, the oil you used or the bowl size, and you get an editable ingredient list that names hidden oil and sugar. Our published research found that telling the model the plate's total weight cut the average gram error roughly in half. The photo guide shows how to get good results.
Food data: curated basics, millions of products
Pensum's search starts with a hand-curated catalogue built on USDA FoodData Central, with the German BLS and the Swiss Food Composition Database added. Millions of packaged products come in via Open Food Facts, where an active community scans new products all the time. If a barcode is not found, photograph the nutrition label: Pensum reads the values and adds the product to Open Food Facts for everyone. Basic foods rank before branded products, and every value is marked verified, partial or estimated. Lifesum's database includes user-created foods, with a blue badge on verified items, and creating your own food there is Premium only. In Pensum it is free.
Pensum is for you if
- You want to set your own calorie and macro targets without paying.
- You want your calorie target to follow your measured expenditure.
- You want micronutrient numbers against daily targets.
- You want to log by photo, barcode or search without a subscription.
- You want no ads, no account and a diary that lives on your phone.
- You are on Android and want your Lifesum history to come with you.
Switching from Lifesum to Pensum
Pensum imports Lifesum's data export, so your diary history and weigh-ins come with you.
- Request your full Lifesum export. The website's quick export covers only the last 7 days. For your whole history, Lifesum's help center says to ask through the in-app chat or support with your account email. Lifesum emails you the file, including food, weight and recipes.
- Install Pensum. From Google Play. No account to create.
- Import the file. In Pensum, open Settings, tap Import data, choose Lifesum and pick the file as it arrived. Each logged item comes over with its calories and macros in its meal, plus your weigh-ins. Grams and serving sizes stay behind, and entries arrive without a time of day. A preview shows before anything is written, and days you already logged in Pensum are skipped. How the import works.
- Set your own targets. With imported weigh-ins and intake, measured expenditure has history to work from. Pin your protein and keep logging.
Lifesum questions
Is Lifesum free?
Lifesum is free to download and use with limited features. The free version puts you on the Lifesum Standard program and lets you search the database and log food. Setting your own calorie goal, your own carb, protein and fat goals, AI tracking, creating your own foods, the full recipe library and most programs need Premium. In Pensum, your own calorie and macro targets, photo logging, custom foods and recipes and 18 micronutrients are all free.
How much is Lifesum Premium in 2026?
On the US App Store, a year of Lifesum Premium lists at $99.99, three months at $29.99 to $39.99 and six months at $69.99. Google Play's US listing shows in-app items from $3.99 to $99.99. Lifesum often shows discounted offers in the app, and prices differ by country. Pensum's tracker is free, and Pensum Plus is optional.
Is Lifesum Premium worth it?
Premium is what Lifesum charges to set your own calorie and macro goals, log meals by photo, voice or text, create your own foods and recipes, and see sodium, fiber and cholesterol per meal. It also adds programs beyond Standard and the full recipe library. If you want to track your own numbers, Pensum gives you the core of that free: your own targets, photo logging, custom foods and recipes, 18 micronutrients and an adaptive target from measured expenditure, with no ads.
Does Lifesum have ads?
Google Play does not mark Lifesum as containing ads. The free version is funded by Premium upgrades. Pensum has no ads either, on the free plan and on Plus. The difference is what the free version includes: in Pensum, your own calorie and macro targets are free.
Can I set my own macros in Lifesum for free?
No. Lifesum's help center lists setting your own daily calorie goal and your own carbohydrate, protein and fat goals as Premium features. Free users follow the Lifesum Standard program. In Pensum you can pin protein, fat or carbs to your own grams or grams per kilogram for free.
How do I cancel Lifesum Premium?
Where you subscribed: Google Play, the App Store, lifesum.com, Paddle or the Galaxy Store. Lifesum recommends canceling at least three days before renewal. Deleting the app or your account does not end the subscription. Premium stays active until the end of the paid period.
Can I export my Lifesum data?
Yes. The Lifesum website exports the last 7 days of nutrition data. For your full history, including food, weight and recipes, Lifesum's help center says to request it through the in-app chat or support using your account email, and the file arrives by email. Pensum imports that export directly, and Pensum's own CSV export is free.
What is the best free alternative to Lifesum?
Pensum is a free Lifesum alternative for Android that needs no subscription: diary, barcode scanner, photo logging, your own calorie and macro targets in grams, 18 micronutrients and adaptive targets from measured expenditure, with no ads and no account. Pensum sells no data, and it imports your Lifesum export, so your diary history and weigh-ins come with you.
Is Pensum available on iPhone?
Not yet. Pensum is on Google Play for Android, with a direct APK for phones without Google services. An iPhone version has a waitlist on the Pensum home page, with no release date promised.
How we compared
We used Lifesum's help center articles on Premium, AI Tracking, the food database, Life Score, food ratings, data export and canceling, plus its App Store and Google Play listings, checked on September 25, 2026, alongside the current Pensum release. Prices vary by region and change over time. If something here is out of date, tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
- Lifesum help: What do I get when I buy Premium?
- Lifesum help: Multimodal Tracking explained (AI Tracking)
- Lifesum help: Lifesum's Food Database
- Lifesum help: Life Score
- Lifesum help: Food Rating
- Lifesum help: How can I export my nutritional information?
- Lifesum help: Cancel subscription
- Lifesum help: Using Lifesum in a web browser
- Lifesum on the US App Store
- Lifesum on Google Play
Your own calorie and macro targets, free. Your Lifesum history comes with you.