Yuka Alternatives: SwapGenie vs Yuka, Fig, Bobby Approved & Open Food Facts
Yuka made grocery scanning mainstream. Point your phone at a barcode, get a score from 0 to 100, and see whether a product is "excellent" or "poor". It's quick, it's free to start, and millions of people use it.
But Yuka gives everyone the same score. A jar of hazelnut spread gets one number, whether you're shopping for yourself, for a child with a nut allergy, or for a partner who avoids palm oil. If that's why you're looking for a Yuka alternative, this guide compares the main grocery scanner apps side by side: SwapGenie, Yuka, Fig, Bobby Approved and Open Food Facts, plus a few others worth knowing.
Full disclosure: we make SwapGenie. So we've kept the comparison to facts you can check, and we say where other apps are ahead.
The short answer
SwapGenie if you want a score that's personal to you and each person you shop for. Yuka if you want one general rating and also scan cosmetics. Fig if you follow a long or unusual list of dietary restrictions. Bobby Approved if you want to follow Bobby Parrish's ingredient standards. Open Food Facts if you want free, open data and to add missing products yourself.
Why people look for a Yuka alternative
Most people who switch from Yuka aren't unhappy with the app. They've run into one of three limits:
- One score for everyone. Yuka rates the product, not the product for you. A cereal with gluten can rate "good" on Yuka and still be the wrong pick for someone who avoids gluten.
- Allergen alerts are a paid extra. Yuka's alerts (for example gluten, lactose or palm oil) are part of Yuka Premium.
- Shopping for more than one person. Families often have different needs in one cart: one person avoids dairy, another wants low sugar. Yuka's help pages don't describe separate profiles for family members (checked October 2026).
Grocery scanner apps have grown up around these gaps. Some go deep on dietary restrictions, some follow one expert's standards, and some, like SwapGenie, make the score itself personal.
Grocery scanner apps compared at a glance
| App | What the score is | Personal to you? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SwapGenie | 0–100, worked out for each person from their allergens, lifestyle choices and nutrition goal, plus processing (NOVA) and Nutri-Score | Yes. A score for you and for each family member | Free (unlimited scans, 8 allergens). Pro: 14-day free trial, then $4.99/month in the US, local prices elsewhere |
| Yuka | 0–100, the same for everyone: 60% nutrition, 30% additives, 10% organic | The score isn't. Premium adds alerts | Free. Premium is a yearly subscription (roughly $10–20 a year) |
| Fig | Whether a product fits your dietary restrictions | Yes. Over 2,800 restrictions to choose from | Free. Fig+ is a paid subscription |
| Bobby Approved | Approved or not, by Bobby Parrish's ingredient standards | No. One standard for everyone | Free |
| Open Food Facts | Nutri-Score (A–E) and NOVA group (1–4) for each product | No. The same grades for everyone | Free, run by a non-profit |
SwapGenie vs Yuka
How Yuka scores a product
Yuka's own help pages explain the method: 60% of the score is nutritional quality, 30% is additives and 10% is whether the product is organic. If a product contains an additive Yuka rates as high risk, its score is capped at 49. The result is one score per product, shown in four bands from "excellent" to "poor".
That's a clear, consistent system, and it's why Yuka is easy to trust at a glance. It's also why it can't tell you whether a product suits you. Yuka Premium adds alerts for things like gluten, lactose, sulfites, soy and palm oil, along with search and an offline mode. The alerts sit on top of the score; the score stays the same for everyone.
How SwapGenie scores a product
SwapGenie starts every product at 100 and checks it against the profile you set: your allergens, the ingredients you avoid (lifestyle choices) and your nutrition goal. Then it adds the product's processing level and Nutri-Score. Every point it takes away comes with a reason you can tap and read.
So the same jar of hazelnut spread can score very differently for two people. For someone with a nuts allergen set, it gets a red flag and loses 40 points. For someone who only avoids seed oils, it might lose a few points for processing and Nutri-Score. Same product, honest answer for each person.
With family profiles (SwapGenie Pro), you add up to 4 more people, each with their own allergens and goals. Scan once and see a score for everyone, with one line that sums it up: "No flags for anyone", or "Not for: Mom".
Where Yuka is ahead
- Database size. Yuka says it covers millions of food and cosmetic products. SwapGenie reads Open Food Facts and USDA FoodData Central, which are large but have gaps for some regional products.
- Cosmetics. Yuka scans beauty and personal care products too. SwapGenie is food and drink only.
- iPhone today. Yuka is on iPhone and Android. SwapGenie is on Android now, with the iPhone version planned for February 15, 2027.
- Yearly price. Yuka Premium is billed yearly and costs less over a year than SwapGenie Pro, which is billed monthly. (On SwapGenie, allergen checks such as gluten, lactose and soy are free; on Yuka, alerts are part of Premium.)
Where SwapGenie is ahead
- A personal score. The number itself changes with your profile, not just an alert on top of a general score.
- Allergens on the free tier. Gluten, dairy, nuts & peanuts, eggs, soy, shellfish, sesame and lactose are free. Corn and sulfites are in Pro.
- Family profiles. A score and a reason for each person, in one scan.
- Swaps that fit everyone. Suggestions are checked against every family member's flags, with products sold in your country shown first.
- Transparent rules. Every allergen and flag has an "Includes" list of the ingredient names SwapGenie looks for. The scoring rules are published below.
- NOVA and Nutri-Score both count. NOVA, widely used in food research to measure processing, and Nutri-Score, the front-of-pack grade used in several European countries, both feed into the score.
- Ingredients read in 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Serbian, which helps with imported products.
- Your data stays on your phone. No account, no ads. Your profile, family members and scan history are never sent to us.
Try the personal score on your own groceries
SwapGenie is free on Google Play: unlimited scans, a personal 0–100 score and 8 allergens, with no account and no ads. Scan the products you already buy and see how they score for you.
Get SwapGenie on Google Play →SwapGenie vs Fig
Fig is built around dietary restrictions, and it goes deep: it lets you pick from more than 2,800 of them, from common allergies to specific diets. If your list is long or unusual, Fig is worth a look. Its paid tier, Fig+, adds profiles for more than one person ("Multiple Figs").
SwapGenie takes a different approach. Instead of a fits or doesn't-fit answer, it gives a 0–100 score that combines your allergens, lifestyle choices and nutrition goal with how processed the product is (NOVA) and its Nutri-Score. Then it suggests swaps with a similar taste. If you want to know not just "can I eat this?" but "is there a better pick on the same shelf?", that's the gap SwapGenie fills.
SwapGenie vs Bobby Approved
Bobby Approved is a free app built on the ingredient standards of Bobby Parrish, the creator behind FlavCity. Scan a product and it tells you whether it meets his standards, and suggests approved alternatives. It's simple, and if you already follow his content, it fits right in.
The difference is whose rules you follow. Bobby Approved applies one person's standards to everyone. SwapGenie applies yours, and a different set for each person in your family.
SwapGenie vs Open Food Facts
Open Food Facts is the free, open food database run by a non-profit, built by volunteers who add products and photos. Its app shows each product's Nutri-Score and NOVA group. It's also one of the main data sources behind SwapGenie, so this one is less "versus" and more "together".
Use the Open Food Facts app to read the raw data and to add products that are missing. Use SwapGenie when you want that data turned into a personal score, family results and swap suggestions. If SwapGenie can't find a product, it links you to the Open Food Facts app so you can add it in a few photos.
Other grocery scanner apps
A few more names come up when people search for apps like Yuka. Fooducate grades foods and is popular for diet tracking. EWG's Healthy Living app, from the Environmental Working Group, covers food and personal care products. We haven't compared them in detail here, but the same question applies to every app on this list: is the score about the product in general, or about you?
How SwapGenie scores a product: the full rules
No black box. These are the rules every SwapGenie score follows:
| Rule | Effect on the score |
|---|---|
| Starting score | 100 |
| Each of your allergens found in the ingredients | −40 (red flag) |
| Each lifestyle choice found (for example seed oils, food dyes, MSG) | −10 (amber flag) |
| Your nutrition goal not met (for example too much sugar for "Low sugar") | −15 (amber flag) |
| Processing level, NOVA group 2 / 3 / 4 | −5 / −10 / −15 |
| Nutri-Score C / D / E | −5 / −10 / −20 |
| No ingredient list available, with filters set | Score capped at 60, and SwapGenie says it can't check |
| Final score | Between 0 and 100 |
Allergens are found in the ingredient text and in Open Food Facts' allergen tags, which helps with products labelled in other languages. When the ingredient list is missing, SwapGenie tells you it can't check instead of guessing. It reads what's on the label data, so always check the package too.
SwapGenie Free vs Pro
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Barcode scans | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Personal 0–100 score with reasons | Yes | Yes |
| Allergens | Gluten, dairy, nuts & peanuts, eggs, soy, shellfish, sesame, lactose | Plus corn and sulfites |
| Lifestyle choices | Seed oils, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, food dyes, MSG | Plus palm oil, carrageenan, nitrates & nitrites |
| Nutrition goals | Low sugar, low sodium, high protein, low saturated fat | Plus high fiber, low carb, low calorie, Mediterranean |
| Swap suggestions | 3 a day | Unlimited |
| Family profiles | You | You plus up to 4 more people |
| NOVA and Nutri-Score | Yes | Yes |
| Scan history, stored on your phone | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | None | None |
| Price | Free | 14-day free trial, then $4.99/month in the US (Google Play shows your local price) |
Which grocery scanner app should you pick?
- You have allergies or shop for a family with different needs: SwapGenie.
- You want one quick general rating, and you scan cosmetics too: Yuka.
- You follow a long or rare list of restrictions: Fig.
- You follow Bobby Parrish's standards: Bobby Approved.
- You want open data and to add missing products: Open Food Facts.
Plenty of people use two: Open Food Facts to add a missing product, and a scanner app for the everyday shop. If personal scores and family shopping matter to you, SwapGenie is the one built for it.
One scan, a score for everyone you shop for
Set your allergens, lifestyle choices and goal once. SwapGenie checks every scan against them, shows the reasons, and suggests swaps with a similar taste. Pro adds family profiles for up to 4 more people, unlimited swaps and more allergens, flags and goals, with a 14-day free trial.
See how SwapGenie works →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best alternative to Yuka?
It depends on what you need. SwapGenie is the best Yuka alternative if you want a score that's personal to you and to each person you shop for, with allergen checks included for free. Fig suits long or unusual lists of dietary restrictions. Bobby Approved follows Bobby Parrish's ingredient standards. Open Food Facts is the free, open database many scanner apps, including SwapGenie, read from.
How is SwapGenie different from Yuka?
Yuka gives every product one score for everyone: 60% nutrition, 30% additives and 10% organic. SwapGenie gives a 0–100 score for each person, based on their allergens, lifestyle choices and nutrition goal, plus the product's NOVA processing level and Nutri-Score. Every point taken away comes with a reason. SwapGenie also supports family profiles and suggests swaps checked against everyone's flags.
Is SwapGenie free?
Yes. The free version includes unlimited scans, the personal 0–100 score, 8 allergens (gluten, dairy, nuts & peanuts, eggs, soy, shellfish, sesame, lactose), 5 lifestyle flags, 4 nutrition goals and 3 swap suggestions a day, with no ads. SwapGenie Pro has a 14-day free trial, then costs $4.99 a month in the US (local prices elsewhere) and adds family profiles, unlimited swaps, and more allergens, flags and goals.
Can I use SwapGenie for my whole family?
Yes, with SwapGenie Pro. Add up to 4 more people, each with their own allergens, lifestyle choices and nutrition goal. One scan shows a score for everyone and a single line such as "Not for: Mom". Swap suggestions are checked against every family member's flags. Family profiles stay on your phone.
Does Yuka have allergen alerts?
Yes, in Yuka Premium. Its alerts cover a set list, for example gluten, lactose, sulfites, soy and palm oil. The alerts don't change Yuka's score, which stays the same for everyone. In SwapGenie, allergens are free and change the score itself.
Is SwapGenie available on iPhone?
SwapGenie is available on Android through Google Play now. The iPhone version is planned for the App Store on February 15, 2027.
Sources
- Yuka: How are food products rated? (Yuka help center)
- Fig: Fig: Food Scanner & Discovery (Google Play listing)
- Open Food Facts
- SwapGenie: Google Play listing and the NOVA guide on this blog
Details of other apps were checked in October 2026 on their own help pages and store listings and can change. Yuka, Fig, Bobby Approved, Open Food Facts, Fooducate and EWG's Healthy Living belong to their owners; SwapGenie and MarVikIT aren't affiliated with them. SwapGenie gives information, not medical advice.