Built for vegetarian eating
A calorie tracker that takes vegetarian food seriously.
Most trackers treat vegetarian eating as the meat version with something removed. It is not. Different foods, different portions, and a protein target that takes actual planning to hit — which is precisely the number most vegetarian diets are quietly missing.
The problem
Vegetarian food is where databases fall apart.
- Paneer sabzi, kadhi, chole and mixed dal have no standard entry, and the entries that exist were submitted by strangers describing a different kitchen.
- Portions are served in katoris and bowls, not in grams — and the food is mixed together rather than plated as separate items.
- Protein is scattered across a dozen small sources instead of arriving as one obvious piece of the meal, so it is far harder to keep track of.
- The distinction between vegetarian, eggetarian and vegan is treated as a filter on a search list rather than as how someone actually eats.
BetterCal takes a different route. There is no database to search — you describe the meal in plain words and the estimate is made against how that food is really cooked and served where you live.
Voice logging
Say the whole plate at once.
Tap the microphone and describe it the way you would to a person — "paneer bhurji, two rotis and a katori of curd". BetterCal transcribes it, separates every item, and writes the lot into your day with calories and macros.
One recording covers the whole meal, however many things are on the plate. You see the transcript before anything saves, so a misheard dish name is obvious rather than buried inside a number.
Protein
The number vegetarian diets usually miss.
A default vegetarian plate — rice, dal, sabzi, roti — lands around 12 g of protein. A full day of them lands near 40 g, against a sensible target of 100–130 g for most adults. The gap is almost always the same misunderstanding: dal is treated as the protein source when it is a carbohydrate dish with some protein in it.
BetterCal fills in protein alongside calories on every entry, so the running total is visible without any extra work. Being able to see that you are at 45 g by dinner is most of what fixes it.
| Food | Serving | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soya chunks | 50 g dry | 26 g | 165–180 |
| Paneer, toned milk | 100 g | 17–19 g | 150–190 |
| Paneer, full-fat | 100 g | 18–20 g | 260–300 |
| Hung or Greek curd | 1 katori | 10–12 g | 100–140 |
| Chole | 1 katori | 8–10 g | 200–280 |
| Rajma | 1 katori | 7–9 g | 180–260 |
| Tofu | 100 g | 8–10 g | 75–90 |
| Dal, toor or moong | 1 katori | 6–9 g | 120–180 |
| Curd, plain | 1 katori | 5–6 g | 90–120 |
| Milk | 200 ml | 6–7 g | 120–135 |
Diets
Vegetarian, eggetarian or vegan.
It is a setting, not a filter. Choose your diet during onboarding and BetterCal's estimates and suggestions stay inside it. Eggetarian is treated as its own thing rather than as an awkward special case, which matters in South Asia where it is extremely common.
Vegan works the same way. Tofu, soya, tempeh, nut milks and legumes are ordinary food here, not substitutions to be looked up.
Jain and no-onion-garlic diets are handled through description — say what you ate and it is estimated as described, without you having to find a matching database entry that does not exist.
Home cooking
Corrections stick.
The largest source of error in any home-cooked estimate is cooking fat, and no tool can see how much oil went into your pan. So BetterCal starts with a reasonable average and lets you fix it: adjust a dish once and it remembers.
Over a few weeks the estimates converge on your kitchen rather than an average of everyone else's — which for someone eating mostly home-cooked vegetarian food is the difference between a useful log and a decorative one.
Frequently asked questions
Can I log vegetarian Indian food by voice?
Yes. Hold the microphone and describe the meal in your own words — "aloo gobi, two rotis and dahi". It is transcribed and logged with calories and macros, and one recording handles several dishes at once.
Does it track protein as well as calories?
Yes. Every entry carries protein, carbs and fat, so the daily protein total is visible without extra work. For a vegetarian diet that total is usually the number worth watching most closely.
Does it handle vegan food?
Yes. Set your diet to vegan and estimates and suggestions stay inside it. Tofu, soya, tempeh, legumes and plant milks are treated as normal foods rather than as substitutes.
What about eggetarian diets?
Eggetarian is a first-class diet setting, not a workaround. Eggs are among the easiest foods to log accurately, and two of them add 12 g of protein to a plate for around 150 calories.
Do I need to photograph my food?
No. BetterCal has no camera and no barcode scanner. You log by speaking or typing, which means you can log a meal after you have eaten it rather than having to remember beforehand.
Is it free?
Free to download, with 20 AI meal logs a day at no cost. Meals already in your memory are always free to log again. See what is free.
Start today
Log a vegetarian day in one sentence.
Free to start on iPhone and Android.