6 MyFitnessPal Alternatives Worth Switching To (2026)

You want to log what you ate. That’s the entire job.

MyFitnessPal does it, and it has more ratings than any other calorie tracker on the App Store by a factor of three. But somewhere along the way logging a chicken breast started involving ads, upsells and features you never asked for, and a lot of people go looking for something quieter.

Here are six alternatives, with the parts you can verify.

How this list is sourced

I have not personally logged food in all six of these for a month each, and you should distrust any blog that claims it has.

What is verified: every app name, developer, star rating and rating count below was pulled from the US App Store on 11 August 2026. Feature descriptions come from each app’s own store listing and documentation.

Specific subscription prices are deliberately left out of this article. They were the single most-wrong thing in the previous version of this page. Every app here is free to download and sells several subscription lengths at prices that change by region and by promotion — one of these apps currently lists nine different in-app purchase price points on a single App Store page. Any number I print goes stale.

What I have verified instead, and what actually matters, is the shape of each app’s pricing: whether a usable free tier exists at all.

One correction first

The previous version of this article said FatSecret was “completely free, no premium tier”.

That is not true. The App Store listing for Calorie Counter by fatsecret, from Secret Industries Pty Ltd, shows monthly, quarterly and annual subscription in-app purchases. There is a free, ad-supported tier and it is genuinely usable, which is why the app is on this list. But “no premium tier” was wrong, and it’s fixed.

Why people leave MyFitnessPal

Sticking to what’s checkable rather than piling on:

1. The free tier keeps getting thinner. Features that used to be free, most notably barcode scanning, moved behind Premium. That single change drove more switching than everything else combined.
2. The database is user-submitted. That’s why it’s the biggest food database in existence, and also why the same food shows up eleven times with different numbers. It’s a trade-off, not a bug.
3. Ads in the free version.
4. It does a lot of things. If you only want a food log, most of the app is in your way.

If none of that matches your experience, staying is a perfectly reasonable decision. MyFitnessPal sits at 4.7 stars across 2,349,917 ratings, which is not the profile of a broken app.

Pick your category first

The right answer is completely different depending on which of these you are.

• You want to log food and nothing else → Lose It! or FatSecret
• You care about micronutrients, not just calories → Cronometer, and it isn’t close
• You want the app to set and adjust your targets for you → MacroFactor
• You’re in Europe and half your food isn’t in US databases → Yazio
• You want detailed tracking with a clinical bent → MyNetDiary
• You want to pay nothing, ever → FatSecret’s free tier

Quick comparison

Developers and ratings verified on the US App Store, 11 August 2026. All are free to download.

App	Developer	Rating	Ratings	Free tier	Its one strength
MyFitnessPal	MyFitnessPal, Inc.	4.7	2,349,917	Yes, limited	Biggest database
Lose It!	FitNow, Inc.	4.8	770,731	Yes	Simplest to actually use
MyNetDiary	MyNetDiary Inc.	4.8	161,254	Yes	Depth of tracking
Cronometer	Cronometer Software Inc	4.8	96,079	Yes	Micronutrient accuracy
Yazio	YAZIO GmbH	4.7	49,749	Yes	European food coverage
MacroFactor	Stronger By Science Technologies LLC	4.8	20,637	Trial only	Adaptive targets
FatSecret	Secret Industries Pty Ltd	4.8	14,729	Yes	Usable without paying

MyFitnessPal is in the table for comparison. It is not one of the six alternatives.

The six

1. Cronometer — 4.8 stars, 96,079 ratings

Best for accuracy and micronutrients.

The pitch is the database. Cronometer leans on curated and lab-analysed nutrition data rather than accepting whatever a user typed in, and it tracks vitamins and minerals rather than stopping at the macros.

If you have ever wondered whether you’re actually getting enough iron, magnesium or B12, this is the only app on this list that will give you a straight answer.

The trade-off: a smaller database than MyFitnessPal, so obscure restaurant items are more likely to need manual entry. Free tier plus a paid Gold tier.

2. Lose It! — 4.8 stars, 770,731 ratings

Best for people who just want to log food.

The largest rating base of the six alternatives here, and the one most likely to survive contact with a busy week. Clean interface, fast logging, barcode scanning, and it doesn’t try to be a social network or a coach.

The trade-off: micronutrient tracking is thin. If calories and macros are all you want, that isn’t a problem.

3. MacroFactor — 4.8 stars, 20,637 ratings

Best if you want the app to think for you.

From Stronger By Science Technologies LLC. The distinguishing feature is that it estimates your actual energy expenditure from your logged intake and your weight trend, then adjusts your targets as the data comes in. Most apps hand you a number on day one from a formula and never revisit it.

The trade-off, and it’s the important one: there is no permanently free tier. It’s free to download with a trial, and after that it’s subscription-only. Everything else on this list lets you keep using it for nothing.

Pick it if you already know you’ll track for months and you’re tired of guessing whether your target is right.

4. Yazio — 4.7 stars, 49,749 ratings

Best for European users.

Listed on the App Store as “AI Calorie Tracker by Yazio”, from YAZIO GmbH, a German developer. That matters more than it sounds: European supermarket products and regional foods are far better covered here than in US-first databases, and thin European coverage is one of the most common reasons people outside the US give up on calorie tracking entirely.

Includes a fasting tracker and meal plans alongside the food log. Free tier plus Pro.

5. FatSecret — 4.8 stars, 14,729 ratings

Best if you refuse to pay anything.

Published as “Calorie Counter by fatsecret” from Secret Industries Pty Ltd. Large food database, barcode scanning, and a free ad-supported tier that is genuinely usable rather than a three-day tease.

Be clear about what it is, though: as corrected above, there is a paid tier, with monthly, quarterly and annual subscriptions in the App Store listing. The distinction is that the free version stands on its own, not that no premium exists.

The trade-off: the interface is dated next to Lose It! or Yazio, and there are ads.

6. MyNetDiary — 4.8 stars, 161,254 ratings

Best for detailed, long-term tracking.

The quiet one, and it has more ratings than Cronometer, Yazio, MacroFactor and FatSecret combined. Comprehensive food logging with nutrient breakdowns, weight and habit tracking, and features aimed at people managing a specific condition rather than only cutting weight.

Pick it if Cronometer’s depth appeals but you want a friendlier interface.

What MyFitnessPal still does better

Being fair about it, because switching has real costs.

• The database is enormous. Chain restaurant meals and obscure regional products are more likely to be in there than anywhere else. That is the direct upside of the user-submitted model.
• Recipe import. Paste a URL, get a nutrition breakdown.
• It connects to everything. Two decades of integrations with other fitness apps and devices.
• Your friends are on it. If accountability is what makes you log, that isn’t a small thing.

If those matter to you, the frustrations might be worth living with.

The awkward questions

Can I take my data with me? Mostly no. There is no standard export-import path between calorie trackers, and most of these will start you at zero. Some support a CSV export of your own history, which is worth grabbing before you delete anything, but you will be re-entering custom foods and recipes by hand.

This is the real switching cost and almost nobody mentions it. If you have three years of MyFitnessPal history, budget an evening for setup.

Is the free tier actually usable, or is it bait? It varies, and it’s the question worth asking before you install. Lose It!, Cronometer, Yazio, FatSecret and MyNetDiary all have free tiers you can use indefinitely. MacroFactor doesn’t. Whether your specific must-have feature sits inside the free tier changes with every app update, so check the current listing rather than trusting any article, including this one.

Which has the best barcode scanner? Lose It! and MyFitnessPal both handle this well. Cronometer scans reliably against a smaller database, so you’ll hit misses more often on unusual products.

Do these work outside the US? Yazio is the strongest for European products by some distance. The others are US-first and their databases show it. If you’re logging food bought in a European supermarket, start there.

Do you even need to track calories?

Worth asking before you install anything.

Tracking tends to help when you:

• Want precision rather than a rough direction
• Are trying to gain muscle without excess fat
• Genuinely don’t know what you’re eating and want to find out
• Want to build portion awareness and then stop tracking

Tracking may be a bad idea if you:

• Have any history of disordered eating
• Find that logging creates anxiety around meals
• Already have reliable intuition about portions
• Are maintaining rather than changing

That first point isn’t a disclaimer to skim past. If food logging has ever tipped into something compulsive for you, none of these apps is the right tool, and that’s a conversation for a professional rather than an app review. Several of these apps let you hide calorie totals for exactly this reason.

If you’re unsure, try two weeks. You’ll know quickly whether it’s useful or corrosive.

FAQ

Is MyFitnessPal still worth using? If the size of the database is what you need, yes. At 4.7 stars across 2,349,917 ratings it isn’t a bad app — it’s a big app with an aggressive free-tier strategy. Leave because a specific thing annoys you, not because a blog told you to.

What’s the most accurate calorie tracking app? Cronometer, because of how its food database is built. “Accurate” here means the nutrition data is right. No app can know how much oil went in the pan.

Which is the best free MyFitnessPal alternative? FatSecret for a free tier that stands on its own. Lose It! if you want a free tier plus a better interface.

Is any premium tier actually worth paying for? Cronometer Gold if micronutrients matter to you, and MacroFactor if you want targets that adjust themselves. For ordinary calorie logging, the free tiers cover it.

Can I import my MyFitnessPal data? Generally not. Export what you can from MyFitnessPal for your own records, then expect to start fresh.

What if I don’t want an app at all? A notes app, a spreadsheet, or photographing every meal all work. The method matters far less than whether you keep doing it.

Sources

• App names, developers, star ratings, rating counts, download prices and in-app purchase listings: US App Store, 11 August 2026

Related reads:

• TDEE Calculator: How to Calculate Your Daily Calories — work out your numbers first
• Best Pre-Workout Meal Ideas — timing food around training
• How to Use a Fasting Tracker to Lose Weight — the other approach to intake
• Best Free Gym Tracker Apps for Beginners — the training side

Disclosure: Calio is mine

I build iOS apps, and Calio is one of them. It works out a maintenance calorie estimate and targets for loss or gain. It’s a calculator, not a food tracker, so it doesn’t replace anything on this page.

It does not appear in the comparison table, in the six ranked entries, or in any FAQ answer above. Scoring my own product against apps I compete with isn’t a fair test, and you shouldn’t have to take my word for it either way.

If you need a starting number before you pick a tracker, it exists. Judge it on its App Store reviews rather than on this page.

— Dolce