EAN and UPC scanning
The live scanner reads standard EAN and UPC barcodes straight from your camera, the same formats used on packaged food in the US, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Free, always
Scan Food Barcodes for Free
Barcode scanning is the one AI-adjacent feature in SnapKai that has never cost a credit and never will. Point the camera at a barcode and get calories and macros back from a shared product database that grows with every label scan people confirm.
Barcode scanning is free, no credits required.
How the barcode scanner works
Shared database first
A scanned barcode checks SnapKai's shared product database first, then falls back to Open Food Facts, an open crowd-sourced food database. Label scans are how supermarket house brands that international databases miss get added.
A fallback when a barcode is missing
If a barcode has no match, SnapKai offers a label scan or a free typed entry rather than a dead end.
Products added by people like you
When someone confirms a label scan, the product joins the shared database, so the next person to scan that barcode gets a free match.
Why free, permanently
Several subscription calorie trackers put barcode scanning behind a paywall. SnapKai keeps it free on purpose: barcode scanning, manual entry, search, daily reports, trends and weight tracking are all free forever, and credits only ever pay for the two AI features, meal photo scans and nutrition label scans. See the full breakdown on the no-subscription page.
For a packet without a working barcode, or a product SnapKai does not yet know, the nutrition label scanner reads the panel directly, and the confirmed result helps grow the same shared database that makes future barcode scans free for everyone.
Contains data from Open Food Facts, licensed under the ODbL.
Barcode calorie scanner: frequently asked questions
Yes, permanently. Barcode scanning does not use credits today, and it will not in future. It sits alongside manual entry, search, reports and trends as one of the parts of SnapKai that is free forever.
SnapKai offers a nutrition label scan or a free typed entry to fill the gap. If you scan the label, the product is added to the shared database once confirmed, so the next person who scans that barcode gets a free match.
The live scanner reads standard EAN and UPC barcodes (EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E), the formats used on packaged food in the US, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Not every one. SnapKai checks its own shared product database first, which grows as people scan and confirm nutrition labels, and then falls back to Open Food Facts, an open crowd-sourced food database. Coverage varies by brand and country, so some products will not be found. When that happens you can scan the label, which adds the product for everyone else once you confirm it, or log the food manually for free.
Still have questions?
Contact usReady to log your first meal?
30 free credits on signup, plus 1 month of unlimited AI scans free for new members (fair use). No card, no subscription, no catch. Barcode scanning stays free even if you never pay a cent.
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