There are a handful of apps that let you scan a barcode and get an opinion about what you are holding. They disagree, because each one decides for itself what counts and how much.
These pages describe how each app works, taken from that app’s own published material and linked so you can check it, and where Kaibu takes a different approach. They are not scored or ranked against each other: the useful question is which one answers the question you are actually asking.
The apps
- Yuka: One score per product, from nutrition, additives and organic status.
- Olive: Flags seed oils, additives and allergens, on a paid subscription.
- Fig: Matches a product against the restrictions you pick, from a very long list.
Head to head
If you have already narrowed it to two:
- Yuka vs Olive: Two scanners, two methods, two very different prices.
- Think Dirty vs Yuka: One rates cosmetics, the other rates cosmetics and food.
The one difference that runs through all of them
Most scanners answer “what is this product worth, in general”. They produce one number or one grade, and it is the same for every person who scans it. That is a genuinely useful answer and it is not the only question worth asking.
The other question is “does this suit me”, and it has a different answer for a reader avoiding sesame than for one who is not. Kaibu is built around the second: you save the diets and allergens you care about, and a product is read against your list.
If what you avoid is a specific ingredient, there is a page on scanning against your own list and one on apps for alpha-gal.
Every app here, Kaibu included, reads crowd-sourced label data that can be wrong or out of date, and none of them is a medical device. Check the pack.