Noom is not a scam in the sense that it sells a fake product. It’s a real weight loss app with published clinical data behind it. But the company has a well-documented history of billing practices that made many users feel scammed, including a $56 million class action settlement over deceptive auto-renewal tactics. So the answer depends on which part of Noom you’re asking about: the weight loss program itself, or the way the company handles your money.
What Noom Actually Does
Noom is a smartphone app that combines calorie tracking with daily psychology-based lessons designed to change how you think about food. The core approach draws on cognitive behavioral therapy, a well-established psychological framework. The app teaches you to identify thought patterns that lead to overeating, set incremental goals, and manage stress without turning to food. You also get access to a human coach and a group chat with other users.
One of Noom’s signature features is a color-coded food system that sorts everything you eat into categories based on calorie density. Green foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains) are the least calorie-dense. Yellow foods include lean proteins like salmon and ground turkey. Orange foods (previously called “red”) cover items with added sugars and high saturated fat. No food is banned outright. The system nudges you toward eating more green foods while keeping portions of orange foods small.
Does It Work for Weight Loss?
A peer-reviewed study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care found that people who completed Noom’s program lost an average of 7.5% of their body weight over 24 weeks. For someone weighing 200 pounds, that’s about 15 pounds. Among all users who started the program (including those who dropped off), the average was 6.58%. Roughly 64% of people who completed the program lost more than 5% of their body weight, which is the threshold the CDC considers clinically meaningful for reducing health risks.
Those numbers are real, but context matters. The 84% completion rate in that study is high compared to what most people experience with app-based programs, and study participants may have been more motivated than the average subscriber. Weight loss results also vary widely from person to person. Noom works through the same basic mechanism as any calorie-tracking program: it helps you eat less than you burn. The psychological coaching layer is what distinguishes it, and for some people that extra structure makes a genuine difference.
The Billing Controversy
This is where the “scam” reputation comes from, and it’s earned. In 2022, Noom agreed to pay $56 million in cash, plus $6 million in subscription credits, to settle a federal class action lawsuit. The case covered roughly 2 million users who purchased subscriptions between May 2016 and October 2020. Individual payouts ranged from $30 to $167 per person.
The lawsuit alleged that Noom lured customers in with a trial period, then made cancellation deliberately difficult. A former senior software engineer at Noom was quoted in the suit saying that canceling was “difficult by design.” Users reported that the company misrepresented how its trial period worked, failed to clearly disclose automatic enrollment, and buried the cancellation process behind unnecessary steps. The Better Business Bureau received more than 1,200 complaints from people who said they canceled their trial but were still billed $120 or more. The BBB gave Noom a “D” rating as a result.
As part of the settlement, Noom was required to improve its auto-renewal disclosures, add a separate opt-in step (like checking a box) before enrolling users in auto-renewal, and provide an easy cancellation button on the account page. These changes were valued at up to $120 million in the settlement terms.
Current Pricing and Cancellation
Noom currently offers a 7-day trial so you can test the app before committing. After that, you choose between a monthly plan at $70 per month or an annual plan at $209 (about $17.42 per month). That’s significantly more expensive than most calorie-tracking apps, many of which are free or under $10 per month.
Cancellation has improved since the lawsuit, but there are still details worth knowing. You can cancel through the Subscription Portal in the app or on Noom’s website. Renewal charges are not refundable, so you need to cancel before your next billing date. And here’s the detail that still catches people off guard: uninstalling the app does not cancel your subscription. If you delete Noom from your phone without formally canceling, you’ll keep getting charged.
Who Gets Value From Noom
Noom tends to work best for people who respond well to structured daily lessons and psychological reframing around food. If you’ve tried calorie counting before and found that you know what to eat but struggle with the behavioral side, Noom’s CBT-based approach addresses that gap directly. The daily articles are short, the food logging is straightforward, and the coaching adds a layer of accountability that a standalone app doesn’t provide.
It’s a harder sell if you already understand nutrition basics and have strong self-monitoring habits. In that case, you’re paying $70 a month for features you could replicate with a free calorie tracker and a good book on habit change. The coaching quality also varies. Noom coaches are not licensed therapists or registered dietitians, and some users find the interactions generic rather than personalized.
The program is legitimate, and the clinical evidence supports modest but real weight loss for people who stick with it. The company’s billing history, however, justifies the skepticism behind searches like this one. If you decide to try Noom, set a calendar reminder before your trial ends, cancel through the app’s Subscription Portal rather than just deleting it, and treat the auto-renewal date as a hard deadline since refunds on renewal charges aren’t available.