Noom review 2026: cost, how it works and what the studies say

Noom does not sell itself as a plain calorie counter but as a habit change program. It starts with a questionnaire of about 15 minutes on your weight, your goal and your dieting history. You then get a plan, often around 16 weeks long, with a daily calorie range and a weight loss curve based on a pace of 1 to 2 pounds a week (roughly 0.5 to 0.9 kg).

The heart of the program is the daily lessons of 5 to 15 minutes. According to Noom, they draw on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy and stress management. The idea is to understand why you reach for a cookie after a tense meeting, or why you eat more in front of the TV, instead of banning foods. Lessons also cover sleep, stress and self-care, topics close to our guide on how to stop food cravings.

Around the lessons, the app offers a food log (search, barcode scanner and meal photos), weight, water and step tracking, recipes and a community. Coaches trained in behavior change check in every week and answer by message; one-to-one coaching is presented as optional.

The last pillar is the color system. Every food is labeled green, yellow or orange according to its calorie density, meaning its calories per gram. No food is off limits: orange foods are simply meant to be balanced with green ones, which fill you up for fewer calories.

If you read English, you can use Noom almost anywhere it is sold. The App Store listing, checked in October 2026, gives four languages: English, German, Korean and Spanish. That means German and Spanish speakers get a translated app, while Noom is not available in French or Norwegian. The French Google Play listing even states that most of the app itself is in English. Noom’s website shows a French landing page, but the app and its daily lessons are not translated.

This matters more than it seems. The whole program relies on reading a short lesson every day and reflecting on your own thoughts and habits. For someone who reads English with effort, that daily reading quickly becomes a chore, and the psychological content loses much of its value.

The app can still be downloaded in all six countries we checked, with prices in local currency. The table below sums up what the App Store shows in each of them. Note that Apple lists the purchases under one generic name, so you only see the exact plan and price after the sign-up questionnaire.

Noom does not publish a price list for Europe or the UK. The only detailed official price list is for the United States, on Noom’s website, last updated in September 2026. The longer the commitment, the lower the monthly cost: from $70 for one month to $209 for twelve months, or about $17 a month. According to Noom, the most popular choice is the four-month plan at $169.

Noom has added a medical layer to its program, Noom Med. It pairs the app with telehealth visits with clinicians who can prescribe, when they find it appropriate, anti-obesity medications such as GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide, tirzepatide). The “Microdose” plans use low doses, which Noom presents as easier to tolerate.

Everything about this offer is designed for the US healthcare system: prices in dollars, references to US insurance and the FDA, and a note that it is not available in all 50 states. Noom presents no version of Noom Med for the UK, France, Germany, Spain or Norway: from Europe, you only get the behavioral program, Noom Weight. Noom also states that the compounded semaglutide in its plans has not been reviewed by the FDA for safety, efficacy or quality.

In the UK and Europe, these treatments are prescribed within a regular medical framework, after a doctor’s assessment. If this concerns you, our guide on GLP-1s and weight loss explains why diet and keeping your muscle mass still matter during treatment.

Noom points to an unusual number of scientific papers for an app, which is to its credit. Two studies give a good sense of the results.

The largest is an analysis published in Scientific Reports in 2016, covering 35,921 users of the former Noom Coach app. 77.9% recorded a drop in weight and 22.7% lost more than 10% of their starting weight. But it was an observational study with no control group, limited to users who logged data at least twice a month for six months, with self-reported weights: the most motivated users, in other words.

The strongest is a randomized trial published in Obesity Science & Practice in 2026: 427 adults with overweight or obesity followed either Noom for 16 weeks or a nutrition education program. At 16 weeks, the gap was small (−1.2% versus +0.6%). At 68 weeks, a year after the program ended, the Noom group was at −4.05% versus +1.46%, and 41% of participants had lost at least 5% of their weight, compared with 19.5%.

The best documented criticism is not about the method but about the subscription. In February 2022, Noom agreed to settle a class action filed in federal court in Manhattan (Nichols v. Noom). The plaintiffs accused the company of drawing customers in with “risk-free” trials, then pushing them into costly automatic renewals that were hard to cancel, with up to eight months of non-refundable payments totaling as much as $199.

The settlement included $56 million in cash and $6 million in subscription credits, $62 million in all, for US customers who bought auto-renewing subscriptions between May 2016 and October 2020 and were not refunded. The court gave final approval in July 2022. Noom denied wrongdoing and said its disclosures and cancellation process complied with the law, while changing its business practices.

The case is closed and only concerned the United States. It is simply a reminder of a rule that applies to any health subscription, at Noom or anywhere else: write down the date your trial ends, and check the exact renewal amount before you confirm your payment.

Noom suits people who already know roughly what they should eat but get stuck on the “why”: emotional snacking, meals eaten in front of a screen, sugar cravings late in the day. If you enjoy reading, learning and doing short exercises every day, and a coach who checks in keeps you going, the format makes sense. You also have to be willing to pay several months upfront and, if you are in France or Norway, to follow everything in English.

The program is less suited to you if you mainly want a quick way to know the calories in your meals: the lessons take time, and a simple tracker is often enough. It is even less suited if stress or emotions weigh on your relationship with food to the point of causing real distress: CBT-inspired lessons do not replace a psychologist or a doctor (see also our article on stress and weight gain). If you have a history of eating disorders, any calorie tracking, whatever the app, is worth discussing with a health professional.

If Noom is not right for you, whether because of the language, the price or the format, there are several serious options with different philosophies:

Noom is a serious program built on behavioral psychology, and it mainly helps people who want to understand their habits rather than just count. Its real cost depends on the length and the country: from $70 for one month to $209 for a year in the United States, from £40.99 to £189.99 in the UK App Store, always with automatic renewal. The app is available in English, German, Spanish and Korean, not in French or Norwegian, and Noom Med remains a US offer. Studies show a modest but lasting average weight loss, to be read knowing that they are often run by Noom. The best tool is the one you will still be using in six months: test before you pay upfront, and choose the method that fits the way you live.