F
Forkin

VS CRONOMETER

Forkin vs Cronometer — the actual differences

Cronometer is the reference for micronutrient depth — up to 95 nutrients per food from lab-verified databases. Forkin trades that depth for a wider feature surface: environmental scoring, meal planning, recall alerts, recipes with reviews, voice cook mode, and a transparent donation programme — all under EU jurisdiction.

  • BasedCanada (British Columbia)
  • HostedUS-based cloud servers (per privacy policy); no EU data residency offered
  • Verified2026-05-12

What we won't pretend

Where Cronometer is stronger

Comparing yourself only to your own advantages is marketing, not honesty. Here is what Cronometer genuinely does better than Forkin today — we'd rather you make the right call than pick us by default.

  • Micronutrient depth: up to 92 nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids) from lab-verified USDA and NCCDB sources — the deepest micronutrient tracking of any consumer app.
  • Data accuracy: every food entry curated from primary scientific databases (USDA SR28, NCCDB, Canadian Nutrient File) rather than crowdsourced — fewer errors per entry.
  • Gold tier value: $4.16/month effective (annual) is significantly cheaper than most diary competitors for the depth of nutritional data unlocked.
  • Active development: voice logging and AI-enhanced photo logging shipped in April 2026; the team ships features regularly.

Feature by feature

Side by side

Every row cites a public source. Rows we couldn't verify against a primary source are flagged — we'd rather mark them than guess.

Scanning

Barcode scanning

Forkin

Unlimited barcode scans on every tier

Unlimited barcode scanning (free and Gold)

AR / depth meal scanner

Forkin

Depth-aware AR meal scanner — multi-second 3D scan, gram-level portion estimation

Gold: photo logging that identifies key ingredients; no depth-based volume estimation

Nutrition

Micronutrient tracking depth

Cronometer is the reference standard for micronutrient tracking; Forkin focuses on product discovery and environmental impact rather than clinical diary use.

Forkin

Standard macros + Nutri-Score 2023 v2 components (sugars, sat fat, fibre, protein, sodium, fruit/veg)

Up to 92 nutrients including amino acids, antioxidants, individual fatty acids — class-leading depth

Scoring methodology

Forkin

Forkin Score — proprietary 0–100 nutritional-quality composite built on the Nutri-Score 2023 v2 base, plus transparent penalties for NOVA processing group, additive toxicology risk (49% cap when any high-risk additive is present), and IARC cancer-risk flags for processed meat (Group 1) and red meat (Group 2A). Component breakdown visible per product; environmental score and plate breakdown shown as separate scores.

Raw nutrient values displayed without a product-quality summary grade

Pet-food scoring

Forkin

FEDIAF nutrient-adequacy scoring for dogs and cats by life stage

No pet-food-specific scoring

Forkin

Community recipes with ratings, reviews, forking, and per-recipe Nutri-Score + env scoring

Gold: URL-import recipe builder with per-serving nutrition; no community sharing

Recipe reviews & ratings

Forkin

5-star ratings, comments, and cook-log photos on every recipe

No community recipe ratings or reviews

Forkin

Weekly meal plans wired to your diet, allergies, and pantry

Diary-style logging; no dedicated meal-plan builder

Shopping lists

Forkin

Shareable shopping lists with scan-to-tick in-store mode and pantry-aware swap suggestions

No shopping-list feature

Apple Health / Health Connect sync

Forkin

Apple Health (iOS) and Health Connect (Android) two-way sync for diary entries

Apple Health (HealthKit), Google Fit, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura — broad integration

Voice cook mode

Both apps offer voice features but for different jobs — Cronometer logs meals by voice; Forkin reads recipe steps aloud for hands-free cooking.

Forkin

Hands-free voice-controlled cook mode with audio-narrated steps

Gold: voice logging of meals (April 2026) — speak what you ate to log it; not a recipe cook-along mode

Water tracker

Forkin

Not in scope — defer to Apple Health / Health Connect for water logging

Free: dedicated water intake widget in diary (added Aug 2024)

Sustainability

Environmental score

Forkin

0–100 environmental impact score (a–e grade) on every food product

No environmental scoring feature

Data & coverage

Product catalogue

Forkin

4M+ enriched products (nutrition, environmental score, NOVA, allergens, dietary); top-50k cached offline for instant scans

1.1 million curated/verified foods — smaller than MFP/Yuka but higher per-entry accuracy

Product reviews

Forkin

User reviews and ratings on every scanned product

No user reviews per product

Prices & shop database

Forkin

2M+ shops globally (OpenStreetMap-sourced), user price submissions, AI receipt scanner

No price tracking or shop database

Open data approach

Forkin

Built on Open Food Facts; enrichments contributed back to the open ecosystem

Uses USDA, NCCDB, and other public scientific databases; own curated layer not open-sourced

Trust & safety

EU company & GDPR jurisdiction

Forkin

EU-registered company under GDPR enforcement; no US CLOUD Act exposure

Canadian company (British Columbia) — GDPR-compliant for EU users but outside EU jurisdiction

EU hosting & data residency

Forkin

100% renewable EU servers (Germany + Finland); data never leaves EU jurisdiction

US-based cloud servers per privacy policy ("HIPAA compliant servers in the United States"); no EU data residency option; international transfers acknowledged in policy

Donation programme

Forkin

5–20% of net revenue donated to partner non-profits each quarter; members vote on causes; public transparency reports

No revenue-share donation programme documented

Recall alerts

Forkin

Push alerts for product recalls (US, Canadian, and French national agencies) matched against your scans and pantry

No recall alert feature

Pricing

Forkin

Essential €4.99/mo (€29.99/yr) · Pro €11.99/mo (€74.99/yr) · Supporter & Champion mission tiers

Gold $49.99/yr ($4.16/mo effective) or $10.99/mo · Pro $39.99/mo for clinicians/coaches (10 client seats)

Platforms

Forkin

iOS, Android, web (forkin.io)

iOS, Android, web

Bibliography

Every claim, sourced

These are the primary URLs we used to verify each row on this page. If a row is wrong, send us the public source that contradicts it — hello@forkin.io.