Is ZOE Free? ZOE Plus and Gut Health Test Prices
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The ZOE app is free. ZOE Plus, the paid app membership, costs $99.99 a year or $15.99 a month in the US, and the £149 Gut Health Test is sold only in the UK, only to paying members. In September 2025 ZOE retired its $294 test kit program and replaced it with this three-part lineup, which is why so many older prices online no longer apply.
Prices last verified on ZOE's FAQ and UK membership page: September 16, 2026
ZOE's own randomized trial enrolled 347 adults and found that 18 weeks of its personalized program lowered blood triglycerides by 0.13 mmol/L more than standard dietary advice, with no significant difference in LDL cholesterol (Bermingham et al., 2024). That trial is the reason ZOE gets asked about so often: people want to know whether the science is worth paying for, and what paying actually means in 2026.
This guide covers what the free ZOE app includes, what ZOE Plus costs in the US and the UK, how the Gut Health Test is priced and refunded, the legacy pricing you may still see quoted, and what independent research says about personalized nutrition before you commit.
IMPORTANT
Your ZOE pricing check at a glance.
Four stops, so you know exactly what you would pay.
⏱️ Progress 0/4 • ~0 minutes in • Keep going
⏳ Step 1: What the free app does
⏳ Step 2: What ZOE Plus and the test cost
⏳ Step 3: Refunds and cancelling
🔍 The cheapest way to get a ZOE gut score (revealed near the end)
Is ZOE free? The app is, the personalization is paid
Yes, ZOE has a free version. The ZOE Health app is listed as free with in-app purchases on the App Store and rated 4.8 from about 6,900 US ratings, and the Android version is free with 100,000 or more downloads and a 3.8 rating from about 3,590 reviews (store figures checked September 2, 2026). The lower Android score tracks with the refund complaints covered further down.
Here is the ZOE pricing lineup as shown on ZOE's FAQ and its UK membership page:
| Tier | US price | UK price | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free app | $0 | £0 | Barcode Processed Food Risk Scale, photo meal scoring, plant counter, streaks, AskZiggie AI chat |
| ZOE Plus (app membership) | $99.99 a year or $15.99 a month | £119.88 for 12 months (£9.99 a month); 3-month plan and short paid trial also offered | Personalized scores, unlimited learning content, no ads |
| Gut Health Test | Not sold (coming in the future) | £149, one-time, requires a paid membership | Stool sample kit, gut microbiome score out of 1,000, personalized gut advice in the app |
Three things stand out in that table:
- The US and UK are different products right now. A US customer can only buy the app subscription. The stool test, the part of ZOE that makes it ZOE, is UK-only, and ZOE's FAQ says it is working on launching next-generation testing in the US in the future.
- The annual plan is the real price. $99.99 a year works out to $8.33 a month. The monthly plan at $15.99 costs $191.88 over the same year, almost double.
- Everything auto-renews. ZOE's UK plans are billed in full in advance and renew until cancelled. The App Store subscription does the same.
Everyone asking "is ZOE free" wants the same thing: the real number before the card comes out.
As Figure 1 shows, the relaunch cut the first-year cost for a US customer by more than three quarters compared with the old test kit plans.
Figure 1: First-year cost in the US. Legacy plans add the 2025 kit price to 12 months of the $9.99 membership.
What the free ZOE app actually does
The free app is a complete product on its own. ZOE positions it as a mindful-eating tool rather than a calorie counter, and its App Store listing does not mention calories or macros at all.
- Barcode scanning with a Processed Food Risk Scale. Scan a packaged food and the app rates how heavily processed it is, from no risk to high risk. This is the feature most free users talk about in reviews.
- Photo meal scoring. Snap a plate and the app returns a score based on blood sugar and blood fat impact, macronutrient balance and fiber content, according to the FAQ's description of how meal scores are calculated.
- Plant counter. Tracks how many different plants you eat toward a 30-a-week target.
- Streaks, "beans" and goals. Rewards for consistent logging. Several reviewers on both stores dislike the game layer, and ZOE's own replies acknowledge the feedback.
- AskZiggie. An AI chat trained on ZOE's content. ZOE's UK terms warn that it can produce incorrect or incomplete responses and should not be asked medical questions.
One long US review describes using the free app for 276 days without ever subscribing, so the free tier is complete enough to live in. What it will not do is tell you how a food affects your body specifically. That requires the paid tier, and in the UK, the test.
If you want the free tier of a tracker that does count calories and macros, the cheapest nutrition apps in 2026 comparison covers those.
IMPORTANT
Checkpoint: the free tier is covered.
Next up is what the paid tiers cost and what they add.
⏱️ Progress 1/4 • ~2 minutes in • Keep going
✅ Step 1: What the free app does
👉 Step 2: What ZOE Plus and the test cost
⏳ Step 3: Refunds and cancelling
🧩 The cheapest way to get a ZOE gut score (coming soon)
ZOE Plus price: what $99.99 a year adds
ZOE's FAQ lists three things behind the paywall: personalized scores, unlimited learning content, and an ad-free experience. The free app shows ads, which Play Store reviewers noticed after the redesign.
Two details matter for buyers:
- In the US, "personalized" means questionnaire-personalized. Without a test kit, ZOE personalizes scores from the health questions you answer and any blood test results you type in. That is useful, but it is not the microbiome-based personalization the brand is known for. Paying for ZOE Plus does not give a US customer access to testing.
- The App Store labels the purchases "ZOE Premium." The in-app purchase list shows ZOE Premium at $99.99 and ZOE Premium at $15.99. Those are the annual and monthly ZOE Plus plans under a different name, not a third tier.
Subscription management is store-side. The FAQ tells ZOE Plus subscribers to manage and cancel in their phone's App Store subscriptions, and to cancel at least the day before the renewal date to avoid a charge. Access to paid features continues until the current term ends.
ZOE gut health test cost: £149, UK only
The relaunched test is simpler than the old one. According to the UK product page, the kit now contains one at-home stool sample kit. You post the sample back, and the app shows a gut microbiome score out of 1,000, a list of "good" and "bad" bacteria, and personalized gut advice.
What is gone: the blood-sugar sensor, the finger-prick blood test, and the standardized muffins. ZOE now predicts your blood fat and blood glucose responses from your microbiome, health questionnaire and optional blood results.
Rules from the UK terms of service, effective July 15, 2026:
- The test is only sold with an active paid membership. Trial members cannot buy it.
- You must complete testing within 6 months of receiving the kit.
- Results usually arrive within 3 to 4 weeks of ZOE receiving your sample, but the terms say this is not guaranteed.
- People who have had an ileostomy or colostomy, or who are on chemotherapy, are not eligible. Anyone with an active eating disorder is strongly discouraged from using the app.
- Liquid stool samples cannot be processed, and ZOE suggests waiting 7 days after food poisoning before testing.
On the 12-month plan, a membership plus the test costs £268.88 in year one.
IMPORTANT
Checkpoint: halfway, and the prices are on the table.
Now the part people skip until it costs them: getting money back.
⏱️ Progress 2/4 • ~4 minutes in • Keep going
✅ Step 1: What the free app does
✅ Step 2: What ZOE Plus and the test cost
👉 Step 3: Refunds and cancelling
⏳ The cheapest way to get a ZOE gut score (next)
Legacy ZOE pricing you will still see quoted
Search results are full of the old numbers, so here is how to recognize them. Before September 17, 2025, ZOE sold a test kit plus a membership commitment:
| Legacy plan | Kit price | Membership | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| US 4-month Starter | $294 | $24.99 a month | USA Today, Feb 2025 |
| US 12-month Core | $294 | $9.99 a month | USA Today, Feb 2025 |
| US 12-month Complete (with retest) | $474 | $9.99 a month | USA Today, Feb 2025 |
| UK program | £299.99 | £24.99 a month on a 12-month membership | BBC Good Food |
That legacy kit included a continuous glucose monitor and a blood test, which is why it cost roughly twice the new one. The UK terms state that anyone who bought before September 17, 2025 stays on the old terms until their next renewal or until they move to the new app.
Spotting an outdated price
An App Store review from 2026 describes paying "$60 a month" for ZOE, far above anything ZOE sells today. If a review or blog post quotes more than $25 a month, it is describing the old program.
ZOE refund and cancellation rules, country by country
UK app membership. The UK terms give you 14 days from purchase to cancel for a full refund by emailing [email protected]. After day 14 the purchase is final for the term you chose. You can stop the plan renewing any time at zoe.com/account under Manage, and you keep access until the term ends. If a renewal goes through because you forgot, you have another 14 days to cancel that renewal for a refund.
UK trial. The paid trial rolls into a monthly membership unless cancelled. You can also cancel within 14 days of buying the trial for a full refund.
UK Gut Health Test. Refund depends on where the kit is: full refund if ZOE can stop dispatch (preparation starts within 24 to 48 hours), full refund minus return postage for an unopened box, refund minus the kit's unit cost and postage if you opened it, and no refund once you have sent your sample.
US ZOE Plus. Because the subscription is sold through Apple or Google, refunds follow the store's rules rather than ZOE's. Cancel through the phone's subscription settings at least a day before renewal.
Legacy US test kit members. The older US terms (effective June 20, 2025) say orders may not be cancelled once the kit is prepared, that later refunds are at ZOE's discretion, and that memberships auto-renew for the same 4 or 12 month period you originally chose.
Complaints. ZOE's FAQ lists [email protected] with a 48-hour acknowledgement and a 5 to 7 working day review. General email enquiries carry a stated 7 to 14 day response window, so use in-app chat if you are an active member.
Several 2026 Play Store reviews describe asking to end a paid year early after the app redesign and being refused. Under the terms above, that refusal is allowed, so start with a shorter plan if you are unsure.
Annual or monthly, test or no test: decide before day 14, not after.
IMPORTANT
Checkpoint: final stretch before the reveal.
Refunds are sorted. The cheapest route to a gut score is next.
⏱️ Progress 3/4 • ~6 minutes in • Keep going
✅ Step 1: What the free app does
✅ Step 2: What ZOE Plus and the test cost
✅ Step 3: Refunds and cancelling
✨ The cheapest way to get a ZOE gut score (about to reveal)
7 tips before you pay for ZOE
- Use the free app for 30 days first. The barcode scale and photo scoring are free. If you stop opening it in week three, ZOE Plus will not fix that.
- In the US, know what "personalized" means today. Without a test, paid personalization comes from your questionnaire and typed-in blood results. Wait for the US test if the microbiome piece is why you are here.
- Buy annual or buy nothing. $99.99 a year versus $191.88 on monthly billing is the biggest single saving in the whole price list.
- UK buyers: pair the test with the shortest paid plan. The test needs an active paid membership, not a 12-month one. A 3-month plan plus the £149 test gets you the full result and the app long enough to act on it, and you can extend at renewal if you are still using it. This is the cheapest way to a ZOE gut score.
- Mark day 14. In the UK that is the last day for a full refund on membership, and the same window applies after each renewal.
- Post your sample early. You have 6 months to complete the test, results take 3 to 4 weeks, and a refund is impossible once the sample is in the mail.
- Read your own data rights. The UK terms grant ZOE a perpetual, worldwide license to user content including meal photos. If that bothers you, the privacy-first nutrition tracker guide lists alternatives.
What the research says you are paying for
ZOE's marketing leans on its science, so read that science before paying.
The variability is real. The PREDICT 1 study fed identical meals to 1,002 UK adults and found large person-to-person differences in blood responses: a 103% coefficient of variation for triglycerides, 68% for glucose and 59% for insulin. Gut microbiome explained more of the variation in fat response (7.1%) than the meal's macronutrients did (3.6%), while genetics explained only 9.5% of glucose response (Berry et al., 2020). The whole ZOE model rests on this study.
The trial result is modest and ZOE ran it. In the ZOE METHOD trial, the personalized group improved triglycerides versus control, but LDL did not change significantly, and blood pressure, insulin and glucose did not differ between groups. Secondary gains in weight, waist and HbA1c were concentrated in highly adherent participants. The trial was designed and run by ZOE's own scientists (Bermingham et al., 2024). Lumen's evidence base has the same shape, and the Lumen pricing guide walks through all four of its papers.
Independent pooled evidence is cautious. A 2026 meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials comparing personalized nutrition with standard advice in adults with overweight or obesity found slightly greater reductions in body weight and body fat, but no effect on BMI, waist circumference, lipids or glycemic markers (Duc et al., 2026).
The microbiome ranking is an association, not a cause. ZOE's Nature paper built its Microbiome Health Ranking from more than 34,000 US and UK participants. The authors themselves write that causal inference needs prospective cohorts and interventional trials (Asnicar et al., 2026). Your £149 buys a score built on associations, and the paper says so.
Cheaper feedback loops also work. A 12-week trial of 168 Japanese adults at risk of type 2 diabetes paired a coaching app with a scanned glucose sensor and improved time in the 70 to 140 mg/dL range while reducing BMI more than control (Kitazawa et al., 2024). If glucose response is what you care about, a sensor plus a tracker is a different route, and the best apps for CGM users guide compares them.
Barcode scoring apps have a retention problem. A 2024 scoping review of 46 food-choice apps found that 59% work by scanning a barcode and showing a rating, that 8 of 11 evaluation trials reported significant effects, and that app designs generally fail to encourage repeated long-term use (Benthem de Grave et al., 2024). ZOE's free tier is this kind of app, which is another reason to test the free version for a month before paying.
How to start or cancel ZOE without losing money: 5 steps
- Download the free ZOE Health app from the App Store or Google Play and log for a couple of weeks. No card is needed.
- Choose your country's route. US: subscribe to ZOE Plus inside the app, annual plan. UK: buy the membership and Gut Health Test bundle at zoe.com, which offers Klarna at checkout.
- Write down the renewal date the day you buy. App Store subscriptions show it under Settings, Subscriptions. Web purchases show it at zoe.com/account.
- To cancel a web membership, go to zoe.com/account, tap Manage on the subscription, cancel the plan and follow the steps until you see confirmation. For a refund inside the 14-day window, email [email protected] rather than only switching renewal off.
- To cancel ZOE Plus bought in-app, open your phone's subscription settings, choose ZOE, and cancel at least one day before renewal. The app keeps working until the paid term ends.
Where NutriScan fits
ZOE answers "how does this food affect my body" and stays deliberately quiet on calories and macros. NutriScan covers the numbers: a photo meal scan returns calories, protein, carbs and fat for mixed plates, with a free tier of 5 scans a week and a Premium plan at about $59 a year.
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If you want ZOE's food-quality lens and a calorie number for the same plate, running the free ZOE app next to NutriScan costs less than ZOE's old test kit did on its own. The daily dashboard then shows where the day's calories and macros landed.
NutriScan's pricing is laid out the same way as this guide, so you can compare line by line.
IMPORTANT
Recap: your ZOE pricing check is done.
Save this before you pay for anything.
⏱️ Progress 4/4 • ~8 minutes in • Nicely done
✅ Step 1: The free app covers barcode and photo scoring
✅ Step 2: ZOE Plus is $99.99 a year; the £149 test is UK-only
✅ Step 3: UK refunds close on day 14
✅ The cheapest gut score: shortest paid plan plus the test (revealed)
FAQ
Is the ZOE app free?
Yes. Since the September 2025 relaunch, the ZOE Health app on iOS and Android is free to download and use. The free tier includes the barcode Processed Food Risk Scale, photo meal scoring, a plant counter and streaks. Personalized scores, unlimited learning content and an ad-free experience sit behind ZOE Plus.
How much does ZOE Plus cost?
ZOE Plus costs $99.99 a year or $15.99 a month in the US, billed through the App Store or Google Play. In the UK the 12-month app membership is £119.88, which works out to £9.99 a month. A 3-month plan and a short paid trial are also offered.
How much is the ZOE gut health test?
The new Gut Health Test is £149 and is only sold in the UK, and only to people with an active paid app membership. As of September 2026 ZOE is not selling a test kit in the US; its FAQ says next-generation US testing is coming in the future. The older US kit cost $294 to $474 plus a monthly fee before the relaunch.
Can I get a refund from ZOE?
In the UK you can cancel a membership for a full refund within 14 days of purchase or of an automatic renewal by emailing [email protected]. After that the term is final. A Gut Health Test is refundable in full if you cancel before dispatch, minus postage if you return it unopened, and not at all once you have posted your sample. ZOE Plus bought through an app store follows Apple or Google refund rules.
Do I still need to wear a glucose monitor for ZOE?
No. The relaunched program dropped the blood-sugar sensor, the finger-prick blood test and the standardized test meals. ZOE now predicts your blood fat and blood glucose responses from your stool sample, health questionnaire and optional blood test results. If you want real glucose data, a separate sensor and a compatible tracker is the route, and the HealthifyMe CGM plan is one priced example.