Avo Starting Solids vs 101 Before One: App Tracker or Printed Program?
101 Before One is a paid family-meals program with a book, courses and a 101-foods checklist; Avo Starting Solids is a free food, reaction and nappy tracker. Compared.
By the Avo Parenting teamPublished October 29, 20267 min read
In short
- 101 Before One is a program, not just an app: a printed 250-page guide, courses, 300+ family-style recipes, weekly meal plans with shopping lists, a 101-foods checklist and expert Q&A. The app needs a paid membership, listed at $49.99 to $59.99 a year or $40.99 to $99.99 one-time, and the book bundle sells for around $125 to $147.
- Avo Starting Solids is a free tracker: foods, allergens, reactions and nappies on one timeline, the 100 Foods Challenge, 300+ foods with age and allergen flags, 500+ recipes and a 30-day first-tastes plan. Premium is $24.99 a year.
- Both count foods before the first birthday. 101 Before One wraps the count in a curriculum written by a pediatrician, allergist and dietitian, with human experts to message; Avo wraps it in a log, an AI that checks a plate or a barcode, and the nappy record no other app keeps.
- Choose 101 Before One if you want a course and family meals from day one. Choose Avo if you want a free record and an app that does not mind purées. Neither replaces your paediatrician.
101 Before One and Avo Starting Solids share a goal, a wide variety of foods before the first birthday, and almost nothing else. 101 Before One is a paid program built around family meals: a printed book, a course, recipes, weekly plans and a checklist, with an app to carry them. Avo is a free app built around a log. The short answer: if you want to be taught and fed a plan, 101 Before One; if you want a free record of what your baby ate and what happened, Avo.
This comparison was written by the Avo Parenting team. Everything about 101 Before One comes from its App Store listing and website, read on 29 October 2026, and we have put our own app's gaps in the same rows. Our roundup of starting solids apps covers the wider field.
What is free and what is paid in Avo Starting Solids and 101 Before One, from their own listings on 29 October 2026.
How we compared the two
We compared the products on what a parent does between six and twelve months: deciding what to serve, serving it safely, introducing allergens one at a time, noticing reactions and nappy changes, and keeping a record a doctor can use. We also compared cost, format and who wrote the guidance. We did not try to judge the quality of 101 Before One's course, which we have not taken.
Avo Starting Solids vs 101 Before One at a glance
| Avo Starting Solids | 101 Before One | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A free tracker app with a food library | A paid program: printed book, courses, recipes, meal plans, checklist and app |
| Made by | Avo Parenting, an editorial team working from NHS, AAP, CDC and WHO guidance | 101 Before One LLC; founder Julie Laux with a registered dietitian, pediatrician, pediatric allergist and speech-language pathologists |
| Food guidance | 300+ foods with age, allergen and choking flags and serving notes; also free on this site | A 101-foods list with baby-led weaning guidance for 6 to 12 months and a course on the top nine allergens |
| Counting foods | 100 Foods Challenge, free, each food linked to its serving page | 101 Foods Checklist, in the membership |
| Recipes and meal plans | 500+ recipes plus the ones you import from Instagram, TikTok and blogs; a 30-day first-tastes plan synced with the log | 300+ family-style recipes, a first 4-week plan and weekly plans with shopping lists |
| Reaction and allergen log | Free, per food, with the date | Allergen progress on the checklist |
| Poop log | Free: form, colour and type beside each food | Not offered |
| Questions | Avo AI: ask a question, scan a product barcode or snap a plate to check it for your baby's age; no human experts | Q&A with pediatric specialists in the app, and booked consultations |
| Purées or baby-led weaning | Both, no preference | Family meals from six months; baby-led weaning first |
| Price (US, Oct 2026) | Free tracker; premium $24.99 a year | Membership required: $49.99 to $59.99 a year or $40.99 to $99.99 one-time; book plus lifetime app bundle around $125 to $147 |
| Languages | 21 in the app; the store listing shows English | English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish |
| App Store rating | 4.7 from 17 ratings | 4.5 from 95 ratings |
Where 101 Before One is stronger
It is a curriculum. A first four-week plan, a course taught by feeding specialists, weekly meal plans with a shopping list and a printed guide you can keep on the counter. If you want weaning explained once, in order, by people with credentials, that is what you are paying for. Avo has 30 guides by age on this site, but they are reference reading, not a course.
Family meals from the start. The whole program is built so the baby eats what the family eats from six months, with recipes and weekly shopping lists adapted for that. Avo's 500+ recipes are baby recipes with age labels, and its 30-day plan is a first-tastes sequence rather than a family menu.
Humans you can message. The membership includes Q&A with pediatric specialists in the app and the option to book a consultation. Avo answers questions with Avo AI, which is instant and knows your baby's age, but it is not a clinician.
Clinical authorship. A pediatrician, a pediatric allergist and a registered dietitian are named on the team. Avo's guidance is compiled by an editorial team from public health sources and is not reviewed by clinicians, which we say on our About page.
Where Avo Starting Solids is stronger
It is free. Logging foods, allergens, reactions and nappies, the 100 Foods Challenge and the food library cost nothing. 101 Before One's app needs a membership, and its printed bundle costs more than any app on the market.
The nappy log. Avo records nappy form, colour and type on the same timeline as each food, the record a doctor asks for when a baby is constipated or has a rash after a new food. 101 Before One does not log nappies. Our guide to baby poop after starting solids explains what changes are normal.
Reactions against a food and a date. A checklist shows allergen progress; a log shows which food, which day and what happened. That is the history an allergist asks for. Our allergen pages group every common-allergen food so you can plan the order.
A food-by-food reference. 300+ foods with age, allergen and choking flags, free in the app and on this site in 19 languages. 101 Before One's guidance is organised around its list and its recipes rather than a lookup for any food.
An AI that checks the plate. Snap a photo of the meal or scan a product barcode and Avo AI names the foods, flags allergens and choking risks for your baby's age and logs it. 101 Before One's answers come from its course and its experts, which is slower and, for a specific question at 3am, not what you want.
No side in the purée debate. Avo supports spoon-feeding, finger foods or a mix, and the 100 Foods Challenge counts a food however it was served. 101 Before One is a baby-led weaning program.
Languages. 21 in the app against seven, and the tracker stays free in all of them.
Which should you choose?
Choose 101 Before One if:
- You want a course, a printed guide and a weekly plan with a shopping list.
- You want the baby eating family meals from the first week.
- You want to ask a pediatric specialist and are willing to pay for the membership.
Choose Avo Starting Solids if:
- You want a free log of foods, allergens, reactions and nappies.
- You feed purées, finger foods or both and want an app that does not mind.
- You want a free food-by-food reference you can look up at the table, or an AI that checks the plate in front of you.
- You use the app in a language other than English, or in a language 101 Before One does not offer.
Do you have to reach 101 foods before age one?
No, and neither product says you do. The NHS, AAP and CDC ask for variety, iron-rich foods from the start and allergens introduced early and kept up, not a number. The list is a way of making variety visible, and 100 or 101 is simply a round target. If your baby reaches a year with forty foods and a good relationship with mealtimes, nobody has failed.
The bottom line
101 Before One is a program you buy once and follow; Avo is a log you keep for free. If you want structure and a teacher, 101 Before One is the more complete product and costs accordingly. If you want a record of what actually happened, including the nappies, Avo keeps it without charging you, and the food library answers the "can my baby have this" questions a course cannot predict. We have compared Avo with Solid Starts and BLW Meals the same way.
Prices, features and ratings are from the US App Store and each developer's website on 29 October 2026 and will change. Avo Starting Solids is made by Avo Parenting, the publisher of this site.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 101 Before One app free?
No. The app is free to download, but its listing says a paid membership is required to use it. In-app prices in the US store are listed at $49.99 and $59.99 a year and from $40.99 to $99.99 as a one-time purchase, and the printed book plus lifetime app bundle has been listed at around $125 to $147. Avo's tracker is free, with premium at $24.99 a year.
What is the difference between the 101 Before One checklist and Avo's 100 Foods Challenge?
They are the same idea: offer a wide variety of foods before the first birthday and tick them off. 101 Before One's list is part of its paid program and sits beside its recipes and plans. Avo's 100 Foods Challenge is free, each food links to its own serving page, and the log behind it records reactions and nappies as well as the tick.
Do you have to reach 101 foods before age one?
No. Neither 101 nor 100 is a medical target. The NHS, AAP and CDC ask for variety, iron-rich foods and allergens introduced early and kept up, not a number. Both apps say the same; the count is a way to make variety visible.
Does 101 Before One track reactions or poop?
Its checklist tracks foods tried and allergen progress, and the program includes a course on the top nine allergens. It does not log nappies. Avo logs reactions against a food and a date, and nappy form, colour and type beside each food, free.
Is 101 Before One medically reviewed? Is Avo?
101 Before One credits a registered dietitian, a pediatrician, a pediatric allergist and speech-language pathologists, and says its program is published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Avo's guidance is compiled from NHS, AAP, CDC and WHO sources by an editorial team and is not reviewed by clinicians, which Avo states on its About page.
Sources
The guidance in this article comes from these bodies. The badge shows which region's rules each one sets.