Yuka vs Fig: Health Score or Dietary Filter, Which Do You Need?

You scan a jar of satay sauce with Yuka and it flags an additive. You scan the same jar with Fig and it puts a red X next to peanuts. Yuka never mentioned the peanuts; Fig never mentioned the additive. Both worked as designed; they answer different questions.

Key Takeaways

• Yuka scores how healthy a product is; Fig checks whether its ingredients fit your restrictions.
• Yuka’s Premium adds alerts for gluten, lactose, soy, sulfites, palm oil, vegetarian, vegan and pork-free.
• Fig covers 27 preset diets, all food allergies and 2,800+ ingredients.
• Both are barcode-first; Yuka says a product with no barcode cannot be scanned.
• Neither has a halal, kosher or Jain mode.

TL;DR: Yuka tells you how healthy a packaged product is. Fig tells you whether its ingredients fit your diet or allergy. Want a nutrition opinion? Take Yuka. Need a shopping decision? Take Fig. Keeping halal, kosher or Jain? Neither covers you.

What Yuka actually checks

Yuka scores food on three criteria: nutritional quality, additives and whether it is organic. Its US listing claims 85 million users and 4 million food products plus 2 million cosmetics (Yuka, US App Store, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Diet alerts sit behind Premium: vegetarian and vegan diets plus gluten-free, lactose-free, soy-free, sulfite-free, palm oil-free and pork-free preferences (Yuka Help Center, retrieved 2026-09-24). That is an alert layer on top of the score, not an ingredient-by-ingredient verdict.

Yuka’s help centre says a product without a barcode cannot be linked to a product sheet, so “you therefore cannot scan products without bar codes” (Yuka Help Center, retrieved 2026-09-24). Loose produce and restaurant dishes cannot be checked. It also ignores “traces” lines such as “may contain traces of wheat”, and says to check the label yourself for allergies (Yuka Help Center, retrieved 2026-09-24). See what “may contain milk” means for a dairy-free diet.

What Fig actually checks

Fig skips the health score and asks a narrower question: do these ingredients fit your restrictions? Its listing describes a barcode scan that checks “if a product’s ingredients are compatible with your diet in under a second”, built with 11+ dietitians and 1M+ members claimed (Fig, US App Store, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Its support page lists 27 preset diets, including Low FODMAP, Low Histamine, Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Dairy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, No beef, No pork and No poultry. It adds that all food allergies are supported, because you can customize your profile down to more than 2,800 single ingredients (Fig support, page last updated 2024-03-01, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Verdicts are a green check, a yellow dash for ingredients that may not fit, or a red X for ingredients that do not (Fig support, last updated 2022-12-15, retrieved 2026-09-24). You can also set a severity level per restriction, from preference to severe including cross-contact (Fig support, last updated 2025-02-18, retrieved 2026-09-24).

One limit shapes everything: Fig is currently available in the US on iOS and Android (Fig support, last updated 2022-10-21, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Yuka vs Fig, side by side

Figures come from the listings and support pages cited above, retrieved 2026-09-24.

Where the two overlap

Both cover vegan and vegetarian eating, plus gluten-free and lactose-free. Fig separates Lactose Free from Dairy Free, which matters because milk proteins such as caseinate contain no lactose at all (our ingredient guide).

Both call themselves a starting point. Yuka says to check the label for allergies. Fig says it is “meant to be used as a guide, not a crutch”, and that “it’s up to you, your doctor and your dietitian” to decide what is right for you (Fig support, last updated 2023-09-15, retrieved 2026-09-24). With a food allergy, treat either app as a first pass and confirm with the packaging and your clinician.

Ingredient data has limits too: entries such as “natural flavors” can hide animal-derived carriers, so how “natural flavors” are declared matters more than the score next to them.

Where a religious-diet or Jain shopper still has to look elsewhere

Neither app has a halal, kosher or Jain mode. Yuka’s Premium list stops at vegetarian, vegan and pork-free, with no beef-free or nut-free alert. Fig lists No beef, No pork and No poultry, but publishes no halal or kosher verdict and no Jain preset.

Fig’s custom ingredients go further: you can exclude items one by one, and the list includes “Onions and Garlic”. What you get is your own list, not a religious ruling, and neither app certifies anything.

For halal, use a tool that reads E-numbers against certifier guidance: our halal travel food guide covers the rest. For kosher, the kosher travel food guide explains symbols and shared equipment. Neither app answers the Jain questions about root vegetables, onions, garlic or shared equipment.

What each one costs

Yuka is free to scan, and Premium is listed at €15 a year for offline mode, product search, unlimited history and the diet alerts (Yuka, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Fig is free with 5 scans a month (Fig support, last updated 2023-09-14, retrieved 2026-09-24); Fig+ adds unlimited scans, restaurants and store filtering. Its help page describes an annual plan costing “about the cost of a cup of coffee each month”, a monthly option and a 7 day free trial, without a headline number (Fig support, last updated 2024-08-15, retrieved 2026-09-24).

Features and prices change: this is a snapshot of what both companies published on 2026-09-24.

Which one should you install

• Want a second opinion on how processed a product is? Yuka.
• Managing an allergy, an intolerance or a low FODMAP diet? Fig.
• Shopping outside the US? Fig is the blocker; Yuka’s help centre lists 15 countries (Yuka Help Center, retrieved 2026-09-24).
• Keeping halal, kosher or Jain? Neither, though Fig’s No beef, No pork and custom lists get you part of the way.

The bottom line

Yuka and Fig are two different jobs: a health opinion on one side, a yes-or-no answer on the other. Plenty of shoppers would get value from both.

Check before you eat. The Verify Veg app scans a barcode or reads an ingredient list from a photo and flags ingredients against your diet (vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, Jain and more). Download on the App Store - Android is coming soon.

Written by Samir Narain, founder of Verify Veg. Verify Veg helps people check packaged food against their diet by scanning barcodes and reading ingredient lists from photos.

Note: Verify Veg provides ingredient-based compatibility checks, not certification. Recipes and preparations vary by restaurant, region and cook, so always confirm with the restaurant, brand or vendor.