Is the Olive App Accurate? Its 0-100 Score vs Aurascan

Olive and Aurascan both scan product labels, but they report results in different shapes. Olive gives each product one 0-100 score, where higher means cleaner, plus plain-language reasons. Aurascan says it never gives a single score for a whole product and grades each ingredient instead, with its evidence tiers shown. This comparison sets the two side by side and does not declare a winner, so the facts below are for you to weigh against what you want to know.

Side by side in one line: Olive reports one 0-100 score per product with plain-language reasons, while Aurascan reports a grade for each ingredient, with the evidence tier behind it.

Key takeaways

• Olive reports one 0-100 score per product (higher is cleaner) with plain-language reasons.
• Aurascan says it never gives a single score for a whole product. It grades each ingredient on a six-step scale from Beneficial to Serious harm.
• Olive's lab-testing claims differ by page: the App Store listing cites lab results for 90 products, and the Olive website cites roughly 400 products. Each figure is reported with its own source.
• Aurascan's evidence tiers run from human clinical trials at the top to mechanistic hypotheses at the bottom, so each grade should be read with the tier behind it.
• Pricing is only partly disclosed: Olive's App Store listing says new members can start with a free trial and that a subscription is required, without stating a price.

What is the difference between Olive's 0-100 score and Aurascan's per-ingredient grades?

Olive gives each product a single score from 0 to 100, where higher means cleaner. Aurascan says it never gives a single score for the whole product and grades each ingredient instead.

Olive's website describes its output this way: it 'scores it from 0 to 100 (higher is cleaner), explains in plain language why it scored that way,' and flags items such as seed oils, additives, hidden sugars, contaminants and endocrine disruptors. It also says it 'points you to a cleaner swap.'

Aurascan's methodology page describes a different design. Its grading is 'Never a single score for the whole product,' and each ingredient is graded on its own.

The practical difference is what you see first. A single number answers how a product rates overall, while a list of ingredient grades shows what each item is and how strong the evidence behind its grade is.

How does Olive score a product from 0 to 100, and what does the number leave out?

The number leaves out how each factor is weighted, because Olive's pages do not disclose the weighting inside the score. Olive's score is one number per product, and it comes with plain-language reasons. Those reasons are the part to read alongside the number.

Is the Olive app accurate?

The published pages for either app do not give an accuracy or error rate, so this article cannot rate either one's accuracy. What each output measures is the more useful comparison. Olive's website says its score 'explains in plain language why it scored that way,' and it flags seed oils, additives, hidden sugars, contaminants and endocrine disruptors. Aurascan's methodology page says its evidence tiers run from 'Human clinical trials at the top, mechanistic hypotheses at the bottom.'

A single score compresses many ingredients into one figure, so the reason behind any one ingredient can be hard to see from the number alone. Olive's App Store listing says 'No brand can buy a better score,' and its website says 'we do not take money to change scores.' These are Olive's own statements about its independence, and this article does not test them.

How does Aurascan grade each ingredient, and what do its evidence tiers mean?

Aurascan grades each ingredient on a six-step scale that runs from Beneficial to Serious harm, and it ranks the evidence behind each grade by tier.

• Beneficial
• Neutral
• Mild concern
• Concern
• Serious concern
• Serious harm

Aurascan's methodology page says the evidence tiers run from 'Human clinical trials at the top, mechanistic hypotheses at the bottom.' The tiers include randomized human trials, human observational studies and mechanistic hypotheses. A grade supported by human trials and a grade supported only by a mechanistic hypothesis are not equally certain, so the tier matters as much as the grade.

When evidence is thin, Aurascan says it does not guess: 'With no good evidence we return an unresolved result, not a guess.' The site also states that 'AI can be wrong, so every source is shown,' and that a verifier checks each cited authority against the sources actually retrieved. Anything the verifier cannot tie to a real source 'gets rewritten in neutral terms or removed.'

Its food label scanner page says results keep 'facts, interpretation and unknowns visibly separate' and that the tool 'doesn't turn a barcode into a diagnosis or a magic safety score.'

Product data sources and claimed coverage for each app

Olive's homepage and ingredient-checker page cite '10M+' products; the checker says its work 'runs on a database of 10M+ products,' and its App Store listing reads 'Food scanner: 1.3 million+ products scored for seed oils, artificial dyes, additives...'

Aurascan looks up each barcode across Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central and a barcode database, and says a product missing from those sources can be added by photographing its label. Olive's pages do not say which databases supply its product records, and Aurascan's catalog size was not disclosed.

The two Olive counts come from different pages and are not reconciled here. Each is reported as its page states it.

For nutrients, the Nutrition Facts panel is the place to check. The FDA's Nutrition Facts label guidance explains that serving sizes are standardized to make similar foods easier to compare, and that 5% DV or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low while 20% DV or more is considered high. Check the serving size first, because every %DV is stated per serving.

A database count shows how many items a system holds, not how complete or current any single product's record is.

What lab testing does each app disclose, and what is not disclosed?

Olive discloses its own heavy-metal lab testing, and its two pages give different product counts. The App Store listing says 'Lab results for 90 products, including heavy metals like lead and arsenic.' The Olive website says it tests for lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic 'across roughly 400 products so far.'

Aurascan's published pages do not describe in-house lab testing of products.

For Olive, the following details are not disclosed: which laboratories run the tests, the testing method, which products were tested, and how test results feed into the 0-100 score. The website describes the testing as 'independent,' which is Olive's own description.

Lab results for a subset of products cannot establish heavy-metal levels in any other product, and one test does not describe every batch of a food or cosmetic.

How do the two apps handle skincare, cosmetics, and personal care products?

Olive covers skincare and cosmetics, flagging fragrance, parabens, phthalates and endocrine disruptors, and it rates personal care ingredients as 'green, yellow, or red.' Aurascan says it scans barcodes on food, drinks, cosmetics, personal care and household products, and it grades each ingredient individually.

Olive therefore uses a 0-100 score for food and a three-color rating for personal care ingredients. Aurascan uses per-ingredient grades across product types. When you compare the two on a cosmetic, check whether you are reading a color, a score or an ingredient grade, and what evidence each one points to.

What does the Olive app cost?

Olive's App Store listing shows 'Free · In-App Purchases,' says new members 'can start with a free trial,' and lists 'Subscription required.' The trial length and subscription price are not disclosed on its pages.

Is Olive worth the subscription?

Olive's published pages do not state a subscription price or trial length, so its cost cannot be weighed against its features from those pages alone. Its website says the homepage offer is 'Free to try on iPhone and Android,' and says 'Your subscription is what funds the testing.'

The App Store listing also describes a separate 'Olive Protocol' clinician program 'with its own price.' This article describes only that the listing mentions the program and makes no claims about what it does.

How do Olive and Aurascan compare at a glance?

Olive reports one 0-100 score with reasons, while Aurascan reports per-ingredient grades with evidence tiers. The table lists each disclosed detail, and 'Not disclosed' marks what the pages do not say.

Factor	Olive	Aurascan
Score format	One 0-100 score, higher is cleaner	No single score for the whole product
Grading	0-100 score plus plain-language reasons	Per-ingredient grades on a six-step scale from Beneficial to Serious harm
Evidence shown	Weighting not disclosed	Evidence tiers, with every source shown
Product data	10M+ products (website); 1.3 million+ scored food products (App Store)	Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central and a barcode database
Missing products	Not disclosed	Add by photographing the label
Lab testing	Heavy metals: 90 products (App Store); roughly 400 products (website)	Not described in published pages
Personal care	Rated green, yellow or red	Per-ingredient grades
Ads and affiliates	No ads, no affiliates (website)	No ads, no affiliate commission (methodology page)
Pricing	Free to download with in-app purchases; free trial for new members; subscription required; price not disclosed	Not covered in this comparison
Platforms	iPhone (App Store listing); iOS and Android (website)	Not disclosed in this comparison

Which related guides cover other scanner apps in this comparison set?

Several related guides compare other scanner apps, and each one looks at how a label gets rated from a different angle.

• Best Yuka Alternatives in 2026: 8 Food Scanner Apps Compared
• Aurascan vs Yuka: Which Food Label Scanner App Is Better?
• Aurascan vs Open Food Facts: What Each One Tells You
• Myth: One Health Score Tells You If a Food Is Good for You

Olive and Aurascan describe their methods in different terms, and the facts above are meant to be compared, not ranked. If you want to see the per-ingredient format for yourself, scan a barcode with the Aurascan app and read each ingredient's grade alongside the sources shown for it.