Which Weight Loss App Wins? (2024)

Klinio aims at diabetic dieters, while Noom uses psychology to encourage better eating. Both have a dedicated base of users who have lost weight and improved their eating habits. But which is better for you?

I have done a careful analysis of both weight loss apps. I’ve examined their approaches, pored over their recipes, and carefully studied customer reviews.Klinio has a lot to offer those with diabetes and prediabetes, and both apps can be a useful part of a weight loss plan. And both have areas for improvement.

This was a close matchup in every round, but ultimately I gave Noom the first-place award. Read on to learn more and see which one is right for you.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

About Each App

Klinio

Klinio focuses on diabetes management and promoting healthy lifestyle habits. It includes several meal plans, including moderate carb and keto, as well as a progress tracker that lets you see how your weight loss plan is going. It also tracks your glucose levels and lets you log water consumption.

In addition to your meal plan, Klinio provides an interactive grocery list that you can use at the store. You even get a low-impact workout plan that is suited for almost any level of physical fitness.

Noom

Noom takes a psychology-focused approach to weight loss. It aims to alter your habits and mindset about food. The app helps you track meals, snacks, weight, and exercise, and offers a personal coach and support group. The Noom diet is grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of talk therapy often used in clinical psychology.

The Noom diet promotes low caloric density foods, which are high in water and lower in calories by volume. This approach is designed to help you lose weight sustainably without drastic changes to diet or exercise routines​​. Noom doesn’t restrict any foods, but it encourages you to eat more healthy foods and to enjoy less healthy foods in moderation.

Tracking

Winner:Noom

Noom wins this one in a close round, but if you are living with diabetes, you may well prefer Klinio’s expanded diabetes monitoring options. Both Klinio and Noom can sync data from your Apple Watch or Fitbit, as well as from many smart scales. Both apps offer step tracking to help you monitor your physical activity.

The Klinio app includes comprehensive tools for tracking macronutrients, calorie intake, water consumption, and physical activity. It also provides a progress tracker to monitor blood sugar levels and weight loss, which can be shared with healthcare providers. Moreover, Klinio offers educational content to help users understand and effectively manage their condition.

Klinio lets you track blood glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). This is very important for those living with diabetes or prediabetic conditions. But if you don’t have diabetes, many of its options will be of limited use to you. While the Klinio plan can be useful for individuals without diabetes, it’s really geared toward weight loss for diabetics.

The Noom app helps you track your daily food intake. It also uses a color system to recommend foods based on their caloric density and nutritional value. Green foods are nutrient-dense and low in calories, yellow foods have a moderate calorie density, and orange foods are higher in calories and lower in nutritional value.

Noom members also log their weight and activities daily. The app includes a built-in step counter and a growing activity database to assist in tracking various physical activities​​​​​​. You get daily lessons on weight loss and how your mood and mindset affect your dieting. Most dieters will find Noom a bit more user-friendly.

Recipes

Winner: It’s a tie

This should have been an easy win for Klinio. Noom gives you over 1,100 recipes, while with Klinio you get access to over 45,000. But Noom provides many recipes on its website so you can see them before you commit to signing up, while Klinio only lets you see a handful and expects you to pay for a subscription before you get more.

Klinio’s recipes are approved by Klinio’s head nutritionist. You get recipe recommendations based on your calorie, sugar, and nutritional requirements. Klinio also provides grocery shopping lists, which is very helpful. But you have to subscribe to gain access to Klinio’s recipes.

I’m not a big fan of this approach. Informed customers make better decisions about their diet and health choices. Klinio offers 11 sample recipes, none of which look particularly exciting. But giving prospective subscribers access to a few hundred of Klinio’s 45,000+ recipes would be a much better approach.

Noom sources its recipes from Rodale, Inc., publisher of magazines like Prevention and Men’s Health. The recipes it selects are healthy and varied, and you can view many of them on Noom’s website without a subscription.

Noom's recipes include Shrimp Biryani, Healthy Breakfast Burrito, Crispy Baked Breaded Pork Chops, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Mediterranean Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Artichokes, Apple, Corn & Tomato Chowder, Greek and more. These recipes vary in complexity and ingredients and cater to different tastes and dietary needs

Both Noom and Klinio offer recipes for vegan and vegetarian dieters. I’m especially impressed that Klinio supports vegan diabetic diets. Keeping the carbs down is important for maintaining blood sugar, but many vegetarian entrees are high in carbohydrates. A healthy plant-based diet with restricted carbs is a great way to lose weight and get control of blood sugar levels.

Coaching

Winner:Noom

Noom wins this round by default. Noom offers personalized coaching from Goal Specialists, while Klinio has no personalized coaching programs. The Klinio app provides tools to help you manage your diabetes, but there’s no one-on-one support.

Your Goal Specialist checks in with you weekly to talk about your previous week and its goals. They also help you set goals for the upcoming week. Having a Goal Specialist to talk with holds you accountable and gives you motivation to stick to your diet.

Noom's coaching program focuses on behavioral psychology and habit formation to build a healthy lifestyle. It includes daily lessons on nutrition and wellness, personalized coaching, and a user-friendly app interface. You should note that while the coaches are trained to provide support, they are not necessarily credentialed in nutrition or therapy.

You can also engage with other Noom clients in Noom Circles. After you fill out your quiz, Noom puts you in Circles with others who share your interests. You can join Circles led by a Noom Coach or private Circles created by fellow Noomers and moderated by a fellow member.

Pricing

Winner: Klinio

Klinio is considerably less expensive than Noom, especially if you want to order a shorter-term subscription.

Noom offers you auto-renewing 1 to 12 month plans. But for a 1-month plan, you’ll be spending a whopping $70. And because these plans renew automatically, you could wind up spending $840 for an annual subscription that would cost you just $209 ($17.42/month) if you bought the 12-month plan upfront.

With Klinio, you can choose between 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 month subscriptions. A 1-month subscription to Klinio will cost you just $16.50, and a 12-month subscription costs $156 ($13/month).

In addition to subscriptions, both Noom and Klinio offer many upsells. While the items they are offering can be helpful on your weight loss journey, many customers at both companies have complained that they find the incessant offers irritating.

Klinio’s Weight Loss Fuel is a fiber supplement that promotes a feeling of fullness, so you eat less. There are no stimulants in this Weight Loss Fuel, just natural fibers like cellulose and glucomannan, a dietary fiber made from elephant yam roots.

You can subscribe to a Weight Loss Fuel order every 1, 3, or 6 months. With a 6-month order, you pay just $39.99 per box, while with a monthly order, each box costs $64.99. Klinio also offers cookbooks and guides.

In addition to its main plan, Noom offers several support programs for an additional fee. Noom Mood offers psychological counseling to compliment. Noom Med puts you in touch with telehealth professionals who can provide you with prescriptions for weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and metformin.

Noom Med costs $49 per month and is only available to Noom Weight members. This does not include the costs of any prescriptions. Since many insurers do not cover these drugs for weight loss, you could find yourself spending over $1,000 a month on weight loss meds.

Customer Service

Winner:Noom

While I’m giving Noom this round, I have serious concerns about both services. While both companies have many satisfied clients, they also have a distressingly high number of customer service complaints.

In 2022 Noom paid a $62 million settlement in a class action suit. The suit alleged that Noom advertised “free trial periods,” but made it so difficult to cancel that many customers wound up getting charged for a service they neither wanted nor used. Noom has since changed its auto renewal and cancelation policies as part of that settlement.

Klinio has also received many complaints over its cancellation procedures. Many people have noted that it’s nearly impossible to get in touch with the company to cancel subscriptions. Others have claimed that even after canceling they were repeatedly charged.

Noom has changed its policies, and the number of complaints has declined. Its most recent Better Business Bureau rating was an A+. I believe Noom has learned its lesson (a $62 million fine is a great behavioral motivation tool) and is doing better.

Klino vs. Noom – Quick Overview

And The Winner Is:Noom

Noom's comprehensive approach to weight loss makes it the best option for most dieters. Its focus on behavioral change, as well as food and exercise, helps users develop healthy habits and a positive relationship with food.

You also get personalized coaching from dietitians and personal trainers to enhance motivation and accountability. Noom Circles also provide you with further support from other Noom users. This gives you a sense of community and shared experience​​ that can help you stick to your diet and keep those pounds off.

Dieters with diabetes might find Klinio a more suitable choice. Klinio is specifically designed to assist in managing blood sugar levels and making healthier food choices, which are crucial for diabetic individuals. But Klinio’s more narrow focus means that it may not be as well-suited for non-diabetics who are seeking to control their weight.

FAQ

What are Noom Circles?

Noom Circles are interest-based communities where you can communicate with Noom members. Circles provide you with encouragement and advice from other dieters and help you stick to your diet and exercise plan when you are tempted to slack off.

What foods are forbidden on the Noom diet?

No foods are forbidden on the Noom diet. They are divided into green, yellow, and orange categories. Orange foods are high in calories and low in nutrition, so you are encouraged to eat less of them. But you can enjoy a donut (orange) for breakfast so long as you use the rest of your daily calorie count eating green and yellow foods.

Does Klinio offer plant-based diabetic menus?

Klinio offers a large selection of vegan and vegetarian recipes for diabetics. When you sign up for Klinio, you get a personalized selection of recipes based on your dietary needs. The recipes also provide shopping lists, so you know beforehand exactly what to buy for the week.

Is Noom a diet meal delivery service?

Noom is an app that provides you with many excellent low-calorie recipes that can help you develop healthier eating and exercise habits. But Noom does not offer meals. If you are looking to eat healthier and lose weight, check out our list of the best weight loss meal delivery services.