If you just want the short version: on iPhone, VeganCheckr and Is It Vegan? are the strongest dedicated vegan scanners. On Android, Open Food Facts and WhatsVegan lead. Yuka is a great health app — but it doesn't give vegan verdicts at all.
The longer version matters, though, because these apps differ in ways their store screenshots don't show: some cap free scans, some hide key features behind subscriptions, and only a few tell you why a product failed. We put seven of them side by side and verified pricing, platforms and features against their App Store and Google Play listings and official sites in August 2026.
How we compared the vegan scanner apps
A vegan scanner has one job: tell you quickly and reliably whether a product involves animals. So we judged each app on the criteria that actually decide that:
- Price and free limits — what you get before a paywall appears.
- Verdict evidence — does the app show which ingredients triggered the result, or just a badge? A bare "not vegan" doesn't help with tricky cases like E471 or natural flavors.
- Vegetarian mode — vegetarians need different flags, especially for animal rennet in cheese.
- Offline use — supermarket basements and foreign trips are exactly where you scan most.
- Privacy — food choices are personal; an app shouldn't harvest them.
Vegan scanner apps at a glance
| App | Price / free limits | Platforms | Vegan verdict & evidence | Vegetarian mode | Offline | Privacy notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VeganCheckr | Free, no scan caps; optional Premium | iPhone (iOS 16+), Apple Silicon Macs, Vision Pro | Vegan / vegetarian / non-vegan, with the flagged ingredients and additives shown | Yes, incl. animal-rennet detection in cheese | Offline scan history | "Data Not Collected" App Store label; no account |
| Is It Vegan? | Free; optional subscriptions from $1.99/mo, $19.99 lifetime | iPhone | Vegan verdict via barcode, label photo or search; 20,000+ ingredient database | Not advertised | Not advertised | — |
| WhatsVegan | Free; premium $3.99/mo or $29.99/yr | Android | Photo of the ingredient list, color-coded green / orange / red per ingredient; no barcode scanning | Partial — "possibly vegan" flags help vegetarians | Not advertised | — |
| VegVisor | Free; Pro $6.99/week or $24.99/yr | iPhone, Android | Barcode scan plus AI ingredient-by-ingredient breakdown | Not advertised | Not advertised | — |
| Fig | Free with capped scans; Fig+ approx. $5.99–7.49/mo or $34.99–69.99/yr | iPhone | Vegan is one of 2,800+ diet filters; flags ingredients against your profile | Not listed by name | Not advertised | — |
| Yuka | Free scanning; Premium approx. €15/yr (open pricing) | iPhone, Android | None — health score only, no vegan verdict | Premium-only "vegetarian diet" alert | Premium-only offline mode | Independent, ad-free |
| Open Food Facts | Free, non-profit, no premium | iPhone, Android | Vegan/vegetarian info shown where community data exists | Yes, where data exists | Not advertised | Anonymous use; open source |
Prices in USD except Yuka (advertised in euros). Details reflect App Store and Google Play listings as of August 2026 and can change.
The seven apps, one by one
VeganCheckr — free scanning with the evidence shown (iPhone)
VeganCheckr is our app, so judge this section accordingly — but the differentiators are easy to verify. Scanning is free without scan caps, and every barcode scan returns a vegan, vegetarian or non-vegan verdict with the evidence: the exact flagged ingredients and E-numbers, not just a colored badge.
It's also unusually good for vegetarians: it flags traditional cheeses made with animal rennet, such as Parmigiano Reggiano and Gorgonzola, which most scanners wave through. When there's no barcode, a camera scan reads the printed ingredient list, and a typed ingredient checker handles everything else. The App Store privacy label reads "Data Not Collected", no account is needed, and it works in 32 languages. The main honest caveat: it's Apple-only — iPhone (iOS 16+), Apple Silicon Macs and Vision Pro, with no Android version.
Put it to the test on your next shop
The fastest way to compare scanners is to scan something tricky — a biscuit with E471, or a pesto:
- Open VeganCheckr and tap Scan, then point your camera at the barcode.
- Read the verdict and the evidence — every flagged ingredient and additive is listed with the reason.
- No barcode? Use the ingredient scan to photograph the printed label instead.
Is It Vegan? — the veteran, revived (iPhone)
Is It Vegan? is the revival of one of the original vegan scanners; its developer says the app has passed a million downloads since 2012. The current version scans barcodes (including a "PowerScan" mode for a whole cart), deciphers label photos, and searches a database of 20,000+ categorized ingredients across 100+ languages. It's free to download with optional subscriptions from $1.99 a month to a $19.99 lifetime unlock. As of August 2026 the revived app is iPhone-only — we found no current Android version. We compare it against four rivals in detail in our Is It Vegan? alternatives roundup.
WhatsVegan — ingredient photos, no barcodes (Android)
WhatsVegan (EatSmart Apps) takes the opposite approach: no barcode scanning at all. You photograph the ingredient list, and it color-codes each ingredient — green for vegan, red for not, orange for "possibly vegan" ingredients that can come from animal or plant sources. That deliberately sidesteps the missing-product problem barcode databases have, though it means more squinting at labels. It's free with a premium tier at $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and it's Android-only.
VegVisor — barcode plus AI analysis (iPhone and Android)
VegVisor (OneRack) is a newer cross-platform scanner: point it at a barcode for an instant status, backed by AI ingredient-by-ingredient analysis and a name search for products without barcodes. It keeps a scan history automatically. The listing doesn't advertise scan limits, but note the Pro pricing structure: $6.99 per week or $24.99 per year — that weekly tier can add up fast if you tap through without reading.
Fig — powerful, but scans are metered (iPhone)
Fig is really an allergen-and-diet app with vegan as one of 2,800+ supported filters — great if you're vegan and gluten-free, for example, or shopping for a household with mixed needs. The catch is the meter: "Unlimited Scans" is explicitly a Fig+ perk, so the free tier caps how much you can scan. Fig+ runs roughly $5.99–7.49 a month or $34.99–69.99 a year depending on the tier, and the app is iPhone-only as of this writing.
Yuka — excellent health app, not a vegan checker (iPhone and Android)
Yuka scans food and cosmetics and rates their health impact — nutritional quality, additives, organic status — across a database of some 6 million products, with over 10 million Android downloads alone. What it doesn't do is tell you whether a product is vegan. There is no vegan verdict at all, and even the "vegetarian diet" alert sits behind the Premium membership (about €15 a year, open pricing), along with offline mode and product search. We've written a full breakdown in Yuka for vegans: where it falls short.
Open Food Facts — the free, open database (iPhone and Android)
Open Food Facts is a non-profit project run by thousands of volunteers — "the Wikipedia of food" — and its app is completely free with no premium tier. Scan a barcode and you'll see Nutri-Score, Eco-Score and vegan/vegetarian information wherever the community has filled in the data; you can set a vegan preference so matching products are highlighted. Its privacy stance is genuinely strong: anonymous use, open source, and your scans stay yours. The trade-off is coverage — analysis depends on volunteers having entered and maintained each product, so gaps and stale entries happen, and the raw label data is presented with less interpretation than the dedicated vegan scanners above give you.
A verdict you can't verify is just a guess with good UI. The best vegan scanner is the one that shows you the flagged ingredients — because you'll meet products it has never seen, and then the skill transfers.
Which vegan scanner should you download?
iPhone, want free and thorough: VeganCheckr — no scan caps, verdict evidence, rennet detection for vegetarians, and nothing collected about you. iPhone, want the veteran: Is It Vegan? remains a solid pick. Android: pair Open Food Facts (barcode, free forever) with WhatsVegan (ingredient photos) to cover both bases. Multiple dietary restrictions: Fig, if the subscription is worth it to you. General health scoring: Yuka — just don't rely on it for vegan checks.
Whichever you choose, keep your label-reading skills sharp. Apps are the fast path, but knowing the usual suspects — gelatin, carmine, hidden animal ingredients — is what saves you when the database comes up empty. Our guide to reading food labels as a vegan covers the method, and The Vegan Society's definition of veganism is a sensible anchor for the judgment calls ("as far as is possible and practicable").
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free vegan scanner app?
It depends on your platform. On iPhone, VeganCheckr scans barcodes and ingredient labels free without scan caps and shows the flagged ingredients behind every verdict. On Android, Open Food Facts is completely free and non-profit, and WhatsVegan offers a solid free ingredient-photo scanner.
Is Yuka a vegan scanner app?
No. Yuka rates products on nutritional quality, additives and organic status, but it does not give vegan verdicts. It offers a vegetarian-diet alert, but only as part of its Premium membership (about €15 a year).
Do vegan scanner apps work offline?
Mostly no — verdicts usually need a connection to query a product database. Yuka puts its offline mode behind Premium, and VeganCheckr keeps your scan history available offline, which helps when you are traveling or shopping with poor signal.
How accurate are vegan scanner apps?
No scanner is perfect. Database entries can be outdated, recipes change by country, and camera scans can misread labels. Prefer apps that show the evidence behind a verdict — the exact flagged ingredients — so you can double-check unclear cases yourself.
Check any product in seconds
VeganCheckr scans barcodes and ingredient labels, flags hidden animal ingredients and E-numbers, and shows you the evidence. Free on the App Store.
Scan with your iPhone camera