Calorie Counter Software

To be reviewed in this chart, a program must 1) function as a personal electronic diary that helps you manage your eating and exercise to reach specific weight and nutrition goals, and 2) be well known (we rule out products of Google rank three or lower).

To minimize bias, we report only verifiable facts except in "Best Feature," "Worst Flaw," ratings, and good/bad color codes.

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	Diet Power 4.4	CalorieKing 4.0	FitDay PC 1.0	Perfect Diet Tracker 1.4	Self Diet Club	SparkPeople	Weight-By-Date 2.95
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.)
OVERALL RATING
VERSATILE?
ACCURATE?
EASY TO USE?
ONBOARD HELP
EMAIL SUPPORT
PHONE SUPPORT
COMPANY ATTITUDE
BEST FEATURE	Personalization	Food variety	User interface	User interface	Ease	Nutrients	Calorie graph
WORST FLAW	First 5 minutes	Nutrient data	Nutrient data	Nutrient history	Portioning	Support	Trust
Price ($US)	$39.99	$45.00	$29.95	$29.95	$16/yr	FREE	$37.00
# Buyers/Members	Undisclosed	?	?	Undisclosed	?	250,000?	Undisclosed
Current Release (Year)	2008	2004	2004	2007	~2007	~2007	2006
First Release (Year)	1992	?	?	2007	?	2002	2000
Operating Systems	Windows	Windows/Mac	Windows	Windows/Mac	Web-based	Web-based	Windows
Vista?	YES	no	no	YES	n/a	n/a	YES
Download Size	7-64 MB	12 MB	5 MB	3 MB	n/a	n/a	9 MB
Drive Space Needed	1000 MB	30 MB	20 MB	6 MB	n/a	n/a	20 MB
RAM Needed	256 MB	64 MB	64 MB	256 MB	n/a	n/a	16 MB
Free Updates?	YES	no	no	YES	n/a	n/a	YES
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.)
Free Trial?	15 days	7 days	no	7 days	no	n/a	15 days
$$$-Back Guarantee?	1 year	no	30 days	no	no	n/a	30 days
Who Can Use?	Anyone 14+	Non-preg 13+	?	Non-preg 18+	Anyone	Non-preg 18+	Anyone
Installations Allowed	∞	1	1	2	n/a	n/a	∞
Users per Installation	4	5	∞	∞	1	1	10
Portable?	Travel Bag	PDA sync	no	no	n/a	n/a	PDA sync ($)
# Foods	11,000	50,000	9,000	7,000	12,000	10,000	11,000
# Nutrients in Foods	33	10	?	6	24	31	28
# Your Nutrients Tracked	33	5	31	6	4	75	10
Foods x Nutrients Tracked	363,000	250,000	279,000	42,000	48,000	750,000	110,000
Trans Fat?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Nutrients Updated (Year)	2006-2007	2007	?	2006	?	2008	2006
# Recipes	101	0	0	0	0?	0	0
Add/Analyze Your Recipes?	YES	no	no	no	?	no	YES
# Exercises	1000	120	507	250	145	200	130
Calorie Budget Personalized?	YES	YES	?	YES	YES	YES	YES
Budget Tracks Metabolism?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Budget Corrects for Sodium?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Corrects for Menstruation?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Nutrition Quotient?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.)
Real-Time Food Coach?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Logging Time (min/day)	5	6	7	6	7	8	7
Ideal Weight?	YES	YES	YES	no	no	no	no
Meal Plans?	no	$	YES	no	no	YES	YES
Meal Planner?	YES	YES	YES	no	YES	YES	YES
Track Your Key Ratio?	da/wk/mo/qtr/yr	ml/da/wk	YES	YES	YES	da	no
Track Your Other Nutrients?	da/wk/mo/qtr/yr	da/ft/mo	da-∞	no	wk/mo/∞	da/wk/mo/yr	da-∞
Allowances Personalized?	YES	no	?	YES	YES	?	YES
Allowances Editable?	YES	YES	?	YES	?	YES	YES
Track Actual Water Intake?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	?
Create Custom Variables?	YES	no	YES	no	no	YES	YES
Portion Estimator?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
Allow Metric Entries?	Usually	YES	YES	YES	no	YES	YES
Animated Tutorials?	YES	no	no	no	no	YES	YES
Personalized Tips?	YES	no	no	no	no	no	no
User Forums?	YES	$	YES	no	YES	YES	no
Daily News?	YES	no	no	no	no	YES	no
Newsletters?	YES	no	no	no	YES	YES	no
Feature Articles?	YES	YES	no	no	YES	YES	no
Make Money?	YES	no	YES	no	no	no	YES
Special Editions?	YES	YES	no	no	no	no	YES
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.)
	Diet Power 4.4	CalorieKing 4.0	FitDay PC 1.0	Perfect Diet Tracker 1.4	Self Diet Club	SparkPeople	Weight-By-Date 2.95