Today vs Cal AI.
Two AI health apps. Same decade. Different assumptions about what you want. If you've been looking for a Cal AI alternative, this page is the short honest version of why Today exists and who it's for.
What each app is for.
Cal AI is an AI-powered calorie counter. You photograph food; it estimates calories and macros; it grades your day against a target; a streak pushes you to come back tomorrow. The assumption is that you've decided a number is the problem and reducing it is the project.
Today is an AI health partner built on the opposite assumption: that the useful work is noticing patterns across your body — weight, menstrual cycle, mood, food — and that "a target to hit" is rarely the right frame. Today logs, correlates, and quietly surfaces patterns. Short by design — it doesn't try to keep you.
At a glance.
| Today | Cal AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Notice patterns across your body | Count calories toward a target |
| Domains covered | Weight, cycle, mood, food | Food (calories / macros) |
| Menstrual cycle awareness | Yes — cycle-aware weight and mood | No |
| Streaks | None | Yes |
| Daily notifications | None | Yes |
| Daily calorie target | None | Core feature |
| Photo-scan food logging | No — narrative ("pizza with blue cheese") | Yes |
| Moralises food | No, by design | Indirectly, via daily targets |
| AI model | Anthropic Claude | Proprietary / undisclosed |
| Session length | Short — seconds, not minutes | Open-ended |
| Pricing | Free in beta; subscription planned | Subscription |
| Platform | iOS, Android | iOS, Android |
Pick Cal AI if…
You have a specific calorie or macro target you want to hit. You like photo-scan food logging. Streaks motivate you without bothering you. You're not tracking a menstrual cycle, or you prefer to track it separately.
Pick Today if…
You want to understand your patterns, not optimise a number. You've noticed that your weight moves predictably with your cycle and you're tired of apps that call that "failure." You want an AI that's short, grounded in your own data, and doesn't moralise food. You'd rather an app get out of the way than notify you.
The honest bit.
These are different products for different jobs. Cal AI is a well-executed calorie counter with AI on top; Today is a cross-domain correlation engine with a different philosophical starting point. Someone who needs calorie counting is not going to get it from Today, and someone who wants their scale read in cycle context is not going to get that from Cal AI.
If you're still unsure, the two blog posts worth reading are What tracking means, if it's not for optimising and The problem with streaks. Those are the two decisions Today makes that most competitor apps don't.
Today is a quiet AI health partner that correlates your weight, cycle, and mood — without streaks, without targets, without guilt.
Join the beta →Cal AI is a trademark of its respective owner. This page is editorial comparison content and Today is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with Cal AI. Feature claims about Cal AI reflect the app's publicly documented behaviour at the time of writing; please verify current details on their official site.