Best Macro Tracking Apps: Count Your Macros Like a Pro
- 13 Minute Read
We compared six macro tracking apps on database accuracy, custom macro targets, free features, and price. One app needed 46% more actions than another to log the same week of meals. Here is what each includes free, what needs a subscription, and which is the best macro tracking app for most people.
Key Takeaways
- Free custom macro targets are rarer than free macro tracking: MyNetDiary, Cronometer, and Carb Manager include them; MyFitnessPal and Lose It! sell gram targets in Premium, and MacroFactor has no free tier.
- Verification beats database size: MyNetDiary’s 2M+ staff-verified foods and Cronometer’s 1.2M verified foods are built on research-grade databases; MyFitnessPal and Lose It! are mostly user-submitted.
- For precision nutrition tracking, MyNetDiary tracks up to 108 nutrients per food entry, with detailed tracking of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients; Cronometer up to 95, MacroFactor 57, Lose It! 28 in Premium, MyFitnessPal 21.
Best macro tracking apps in 2026 include:
- MyNetDiary: best overall food tracker with fast logging, large verified database and 108 nutrients (best for tracking micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals alongside macros and calories); hasn’t hidden its core utility behind a paywall
- Cronometer: strong device integrations and multi-variable charting, with verified food database
- MacroFactor: ideal for athletes and serious macro trackers
- MyFitnessPal: huge crowdsourced food database, most integrations, powerful meal planner
- Lose It!: largest crowdsourced food database, strong social tools
- Carb Manager: net carb tracking and keto meal planning for low-carb eaters
MyNetDiary is the best macro tracking app for most people in 2026: custom macro targets are free, it tracks up to 108 nutrients per food entry, and it logged 127 identical entries in fewer actions than any other tracker in our January 2026 test. Your choice decides how accurate your counts are, because a protein target is only as good as the gram values behind it, and the largest food databases are mostly user-submitted. It also decides whether protein can be fixed in grams while carbs flex, whether targets adjust as your weight changes, and whether your fitness tracker feeds the log.
Quick answer: MyNetDiary is our pick for the best app for macro tracking in 2026: custom macro targets, barcode scanner, voice logging, and the full nutrient set are free, with no ads and no account required to start; Premium ($59.99 per year) adds macro cycling and Advanced Autopilot.
What Are Macros, and Why Track Them?
Macros, short for macronutrients, are the three nutrients that supply calories: carbohydrates and protein at 4 calories per gram, fat at 9. Tracking macros means logging the grams of each against a daily target, instead of calories alone.
Two people can eat 2,000 calories a day, one with 60 grams of protein and one with 150; a calorie total hides that gap, a macro log shows it. A higher protein intake during a calorie deficit is linked to better hunger control and to keeping muscle while losing fat (see why tracking macronutrients for weight loss works), and on keto plans net carbs decide whether you stay in ketosis. The best app for tracking macros also shows fiber, saturated fat, and the vitamins and minerals in the foods you log.
How Many Macros Do You Need?
The Dietary Reference Intakes set an Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range for adults: 45 to 65% of calories from carbohydrates, 10 to 35% from protein, and 20 to 35% from fat. On 2,000 calories at MyNetDiary’s default 45/20/35 split, that is 225 g of carbohydrates, 100 g of protein, and 78 g of fat. If you have a medical condition or take a weight-loss medication, set targets with your clinician or dietitian.
Who Should Use a Macro Tracking App?
Anyone whose goal depends on the mix of what they eat as much as on the amount:
- Athletes and bodybuilders who set protein and carbohydrates around training; adaptive targets in MacroFactor and MyNetDiary’s Advanced Autopilot (Premium) recalculate as weight changes.
- People losing weight with a protein focus; in MyNetDiary’s peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research study, more tracking days per week were associated with greater weight loss (details in the FAQ below).
- GLP-1 users who want to keep muscle while losing weight; MyNetDiary’s GLP-1 Companion (Premium) is built for these medications.
- Keto and low-carb eaters, who need net carbs first; Carb Manager and MyNetDiary’s Keto diet plan both do this.
- People with a fitness goal such as body recomposition, who want fixed gram targets that hold while calories change.
Quick Comparison: Best Macro Tracking Apps at a Glance
Prices are US list prices checked in October 2026; database sources and nutrient depth follow in the next section.
| App | Best for | Free macro tracking | Custom macro targets | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyNetDiary | Best overall | Yes, no ads | Yes, free, by grams or percentages | Free; Premium $59.99/yr; Premium Plus $99.99/yr; Premium lifetime $179.99 |
| Cronometer | Device integrations and charting | Yes, with ads | Yes, free; day-by-day Macro Scheduler in Gold | Free; Gold $59.99/yr |
| MacroFactor | Adaptive macro coaching | No free tier (7-day trial) | Yes, manual or adaptive | $71.99/yr; no free tier |
| MyFitnessPal | Large food database | Yes, with ads | Percentages free; grams and per-meal targets in Premium | Free; Premium $79.99/yr; Premium+ $99.99/yr |
| Lose It! | Beginners | Yes, with ads | Premium only | Free; Premium $79.99/yr |
| Carb Manager | Low-carb and keto macros | Yes, no third-party ads | Yes, free; per-meal and day-of-week targets in Premium | Free; Premium $39.99/yr |
Check what happens to your protein target when your calorie budget changes: a percentage target moves with calories, a fixed gram target stays put, and both get called custom macros. MyNetDiary and Cronometer let you fix grams free; MyFitnessPal and Lose It! sell gram targets in Premium; MacroFactor sets grams within its subscription; Carb Manager’s daily targets are free.
In our January 2026 test (iPhone, paid versions where applicable, every tap counted as an action) we logged the same 127 food entries over one week in each app: MyNetDiary needed 711 actions and every other app tested needed 23% to 46% more, with MyNetDiary as the base; Carb Manager was not tested. Method and dataset: our food logging speed test.
Actions to log 127 identical food entries over one week, January 2026; fewer is better.
How We Compared the Best Macro Tracking Apps
We compared the apps on the food database behind every entry, supported nutrient coverage (populated detail varies by food and source), logging effort, and what the free tier includes. Developer documentation establishes the features, our January 2026 benchmark counts logging actions, the independent study below measures nutrient estimates for set menus, and the final ranking is editorial; figures come from each developer’s published materials, checked in October 2026. Our food database quality guide explains how to tell verified data from user submissions.
| App | Database source | Verification | Database size | Nutrients tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyNetDiary | USDA + NCC reference data; branded and restaurant foods verified by staff | Staff-verified; 2,500 to 3,500 foods reviewed and updated daily | 2M+ | Up to 108 (free) |
| Cronometer | USDA + NCC reference data; national food composition databases; USDA branded data; Nutritionix barcodes | Curation team reviews every user-submitted food | 1.2M | Up to 95 |
| MacroFactor | USDA + NCC + Open Food Facts | Curated set that includes community data | 1.36M | 57 |
| MyFitnessPal | Company-added and user-added entries | Company-reviewed foods plus public user submissions | 20M+ | 21 |
| Lose It! | Company and user entries | Partially verified: a marked subset is verified, the bulk of entries is not | 60M+ | 28 (Premium) |
| Carb Manager | USDA + NCCDB reference foods, licensed branded data, member submissions | Varies by source; member foods are not verified before publication | 1M+ (developer-reported) | 30+ (Premium) |
Sources, checked October 2026: MyNetDiary’s verified food database page; Cronometer’s Data Sources help article; Carb Manager’s View sources of food data help article; MacroFactor’s help center and App Store listing; the MyFitnessPal and Lose It! help centers and App Store listings.
For accuracy, a 2026 study in Nutrition and Health (Bayram and Ozturkcan) entered the same standardized three-day menus into 13 nutrition apps, manual logging only; MyNetDiary’s three-day mean energy estimate came within 5 calories of the reference and its protein estimate was the closest of the 13. MyNetDiary did not fund the study and was not involved in it; full results and limitations are on our research page.
For user feedback we use the Diet App Scorecard, a monthly average user review rating calculated from filtered written US App Store reviews, with one published method for every app, MyNetDiary included. Roundups and AI assistants work from feature checklists, and a checklist tells you what an app offers; recent reviews show what users report about how easy an app is to use day to day, reliability, updates, database coverage, and billing.
In the September 2026 edition, MyNetDiary rated 4.45, second of nine apps and back inside the 4.40 to 4.56 range it held from February through July after an August dip tied to exercise-logging complaints. MyFitnessPal rated 2.88, eighth of nine and its best month since its March redesign.
Across eight monthly editions, MyNetDiary has finished in the top three every month and led four. These are monthly review averages, not the App Store’s displayed star ratings.
The 6 Best Macro Tracking Apps in 2026
1. MyNetDiary: Best Overall Macro Tracking App
Best for: most people who want fast, accurate macro tracking with the full nutrient picture, without paying for the basics.
Key features:
- Macro tracking by grams or calorie percentages with custom macro targets, free; lock two macros in grams and the third flexes with your calorie budget, with macros per meal.
- Staff-verified food database of more than 2 million foods built on the USDA and NCC research-grade food databases, with 2,500 to 3,500 foods reviewed and updated daily, plus a free barcode scanner with accurate nutrition data from the same database and free voice logging.
- Up to 108 nutrients per food entry, free, including omega fatty acids and amino acids; available detail varies by food and source.
- Advanced Autopilot, a personalized metabolism adjustment algorithm similar in concept to MacroFactor’s. An adaptive algorithm: instead of a formula frozen at signup, it estimates your actual energy expenditure (TDEE) from your logged food, logged exercise, and Trending Weight, then updates calorie and macro targets as that estimate changes. Your weight forecast updates with every entry. Available in Premium.
- Premium adds calorie and macro cycling, preset keto, low-carb, high-protein, and low-fat splits, Meal Scan, and GLP-1 Companion; Premium Plus adds AI Coach, AI Voice Logging, and AI Restaurant Menu Scan.
Fixed gram targets in MyNetDiary: two macros locked, the third flexes with the calorie budget.
Why it stands out: MyNetDiary needed 711 actions to log 127 food entries in our January 2026 test, fewer than any other app measured, and the free tier carries no ads and needs no account to start. Fixed gram targets, macros per meal, and the verified nutritional data behind every entry are what you use day to day, and it provides highly accurate nutrition tracking from research-grade databases that held up in the 2026 Nutrition and Health test above. It is also used by dietitians and health professionals through Professional Connect at no cost to either side, its 2M+ verified foods are licensed by more than 50 other apps and services, and it has 32 million registered users and a 4.8-star rating from more than 166,000 US App Store ratings (September 2026).
Price: Free, no ads; Premium $8.99 per month or $59.99 per year; Premium Plus $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year; Premium lifetime $179.99. Get MyNetDiary on the App Store or Google Play.
2. Cronometer: Best for Device Integrations and Multi-Variable Charting
Best for: people who want wearable and glucose monitor data charted next to a verified food log.
Key features:
- Verified database of 1.2 million foods built on the same research-grade reference data as MyNetDiary, plus national food composition databases, USDA branded data, and Nutritionix for barcodes, with up to 95 nutrients; its curation team reviews every user-submitted food.
- Custom macro targets free, as ratios or fixed grams, plus a free barcode scanner; the day-by-day Macro Scheduler, fasting timer, and custom charts need Gold.
- Direct connections for WHOOP, Oura, Polar, Suunto, Dexcom, Keto Mojo, Garmin, and Fitbit, charted against any tracked variable.
Why it stands out: Cronometer connects wearables and a continuous glucose monitor directly, more devices than MyNetDiary, and charts them against each other. Trade-offs: ads in the free tier, 1,003 actions to log 127 entries in our January 2026 test (41% more than MyNetDiary), and no in-app community, meal plans, shopping list, or offline logging (see our Cronometer vs MyNetDiary comparison).
Price: Free with ads. Gold $10.99 per month or $59.99 per year.
3. MacroFactor: Best for Adaptive Macro Coaching
Best for: athletes and serious macro trackers who want targets recalculated weekly from their own data.
Key features:
- An adaptive energy expenditure algorithm that estimates your metabolism from logged intake and weight trend, then adjusts targets weekly; MacroFactor introduced it before MyNetDiary added Advanced Autopilot.
- Set macros yourself or let the app set them; the plan adapts to what you ate, not what you were supposed to eat.
- Verified database of 1.36 million foods that includes Open Food Facts community data; 57 nutrients; photo logging, voice logging, and recipe import.
Why it stands out: MacroFactor centers its workflow on weekly calorie and macro adjustments from logged intake and weight trend; it needed 877 actions to log 127 entries in our January 2026 test (23% more than MyNetDiary). It has no free tier, in-app community, or meal plans, three integrations, and offline logging limited to previously logged foods.
Price: $11.99 per month, $47.99 per six months, or $71.99 per year, after a 7-day free trial.
4. MyFitnessPal: Best for a Large Food Database
Best for: people who need obscure restaurant dishes and international brands, plus many app and device connections.
Key features:
- More than 20 million food entries: company-reviewed foods plus public user submissions.
- Macro goals as percentages free; targets by gram and by meal, and the barcode scanner, need Premium. 21 nutrients tracked.
- More than 40 third-party integrations, the most of any app here, and a Premium+ meal planner with grocery lists and Instacart ordering.
Why it stands out: Breadth: a very large catalog and the most integrations here. The costs: ads in the free tier, 1,035 actions to log 127 entries in our January 2026 test (46% more than MyNetDiary), duplicate entries, and an average user review rating of 2.88 in the September 2026 Diet App Scorecard, eighth of nine, against 4.45 for MyNetDiary (see our MyFitnessPal vs MyNetDiary comparison).
Price: Free with ads. Premium $19.99 per month or $79.99 per year. Premium+ $24.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
5. Lose It!: Best for Beginners
Best for: first-time trackers who want a simple, calorie-first interface with social motivation.
Key features:
- Calorie and basic macro tracking free; custom macro targets, per-meal macro views, and the barcode scanner in Premium.
- More than 60 million food entries, mostly user-submitted; 28 nutrients in Premium.
- Head-to-head and group challenges, groups, streaks, and voice logging (Premium).
Why it stands out: The social layer and the track record: the developer reports 57 million users and 150 million pounds lost, and it logged 127 entries in 872 actions in our January 2026 test (23% more than MyNetDiary). For macro work, the limit is the paywall on custom targets and barcode scanning (see our Lose It! vs MyNetDiary comparison).
Price: Free with ads. Premium $79.99 per year.
6. Carb Manager: Best for Low-Carb and Keto Macros
Best for: keto and low-carb eaters who want net carbs as the first number on screen.
Key features:
- Net carb tracking, an unlimited barcode scanner, and custom daily macro targets, free, with no third-party ads; per-meal and day-of-week targets for carb cycling in Premium.
- Premium adds 30+ nutrients, a meal planner, a recipe library, an intermittent fasting timer, voice logging, Fitbit and Garmin sync, and Smart Macros, which lowers goals as you lose weight.
Why it stands out: Everything is built around net carbs, which keto demands. Outside keto it is narrower: nutrient tracking beyond macros is Premium-only, and of its 1M+ foods, Common Foods carry verified reference data, branded foods are licensed, and member-submitted foods are not verified before publication, so check those against the label. MyNetDiary’s Keto diet plan (Premium) also puts net carbs on every screen and logs ketones with meals.
Price: Free. Premium $8.49 per month or $39.99 per year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best macro tracking app?
MyNetDiary is the best macro tracking app for most people: custom macro targets by grams or percentages are free, it combines research-grade reference sources with a food database verified by MyNetDiary staff, and it logged 127 food entries in fewer actions than any other tracker in our January 2026 test. MacroFactor fits athletes, Cronometer fits people who chart wearable data, and Carb Manager fits keto.
What is the best macro tracking app for weight loss?
MyNetDiary, for people who want free macro targets and fast logging. A study conducted by MyNetDiary researchers and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research followed 5,132 MyNetDiary users with a weight-loss goal who logged food regularly and weighed in monthly: each additional tracking day per week was associated with 35% higher odds of losing at least 5% of body weight. The study is observational and did not compare apps: association, not causation.
Which macro tracking app has the most accurate food database?
MyNetDiary is our pick for the best app for accurate nutrition tracking in this comparison. In a 2026 independent test that logged the same standardized menus in 13 nutrition apps (Nutrition and Health), its three-day mean energy estimate came within 5 calories of the reference and its protein estimate was the closest of the 13; those results describe the tested menus, not an error guarantee for individual foods. Accuracy depends on the data source, the verification process, and nutrient completeness, the number of nutrient fields populated per food entry. MyNetDiary is built on the same research-grade sources as Cronometer, USDA and NCC, and adds a staff-verified database of 2M+ foods with up to 108 nutrients per entry (available detail varies by food and source); Cronometer’s verified database holds 1.2M foods with up to 95 nutrients.
Can I track macros for free?
Yes. MyNetDiary offers accurate nutrition tracking for free: custom macro targets, a barcode scanner, voice logging, and the full nutrient set, with no ads and no account required to start, so the free tier goes beyond just calories and macros. Cronometer and Carb Manager also allow free custom targets; MyFitnessPal and Lose It! sell gram targets in Premium, and MacroFactor has no free tier.
What is the best app for counting macros on keto?
Carb Manager is the best app to count macros on keto if you want a keto-focused tool: net carb tracking and the barcode scanner are free, and Premium adds meal plans and carb cycling. MyNetDiary’s Keto diet plan (Premium) is an alternative, with ketone logging and full nutrient tracking.
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