Diet App Scorecard: Monthly User Ratings for Popular Calorie Trackers

Sergey Oreshko - Co-founder and CEO of MyNetDiary

Which calorie tracking app do users rate highest? Most answers to that question, from "best calorie tracker" roundups and from AI assistants alike, are built from feature checklists. A checklist can't tell you whether an app has been crashing, whether last month's update made it better or worse, or what happens when you try to cancel. The Diet App Scorecard answers from what users actually wrote in US App Store reviews, every month, with one published method applied to every app, MyNetDiary included. Below: the current table, the full history, and what the reviews have shown so far.

What Is the Diet App Scorecard?

Choosing a calorie tracking app from its App Store page is harder than it should be. The displayed star rating is a long-run average, often spanning years unless the developer has reset it, and it includes star ratings submitted without a written review. On the app pages we check each month, the auto-generated Review Summary has often stayed positive while that month's reviews ran negative, as MyFitnessPal's did through its redesign, and the default "Most Helpful" sorting surfaces reviews that are frequently years old.

The usual alternatives don't fix that. "Best calorie tracker" roundups compare feature checklists, and the AI assistants that now answer the same question work from the same material: those roundups and the apps' own feature lists. Both can tell you which apps have a barcode scanner. Neither can tell you whether users have been reporting crashes, whether the update that shipped three weeks ago made the app better or worse, how accurate the database is for the meals people actually eat, or what happens at cancellation. Recent reviews are full of exactly that, and it is what this scorecard reports.

I'm Sergey Oreshko, the CEO of MyNetDiary, which has been on the App Store since 2008, and I read competitor reviews constantly. Every month we pull US App Store reviews for the calorie and food tracking apps in the top 100 Health & Fitness category and run the same AI workflow and the exact same prompt on every app to filter duplicates and unrelated content, recalculate the month's average, and generate the summary. One process for every app applies the same criteria to all of them, MyNetDiary included; it does not eliminate bias or error, which is why the prompt, model, and method are published on our methodology page. Before publication, the averages and counts are recomputed from the stored reviews and checked against the text, and health-related content is reviewed by Sue Heikkinen, MS, RDN.

To check any app yourself in five minutes, sort its App Store reviews by Most Recent and read 20 to 30 of them; see How to Find the Best Calorie Tracker App for the full method.

Current Scorecard: September 2026 at a Glance

Diet App Scorecard September 2026: Which Calorie Tracker Has the Best User Ratings?

September 2026 ranking, highest to lowest: Calo 4.74, MyNetDiary 4.45, Foodvisor 4.13, Cronometer 3.87, Lose It! 3.56, MacroFactor 3.36, Cal AI 3.04, MyFitnessPal 2.88, Municorn 1.93. These are monthly averages of written reviews, recalculated after filtering, not the ratings the App Store displays. Apps are listed in download ranking order.

# = download ranking in the top 100 Health & Fitness category, US App Store, September 30, 2026. vs Aug = change from the August 2026 rating. Reviews = written reviews analyzed after filtering. Organic means the review-pattern screening found nothing that warrants caution; it does not authenticate individual reviews. *Calo: 35 of its 179 five-star reviews are 25 characters or fewer, all of them generic phrases such as "Great app" or "Love it"; monitoring continues. Cronometer: 18 of its 99 reviews arrived on September 22, the day a search bug shipped and was fixed. See the methodology.

Calo received the highest average user rating, 4.74, among the calorie tracking apps analyzed in the Diet App Scorecard for September 2026, based on 205 filtered reviews, followed by MyNetDiary at 4.45 and Foodvisor at 4.13. Calo's score is the highest any app has posted since the series began in February 2026, and it is the first app since April to lead two months in a row. MyNetDiary's 4.45 is back inside the 4.40 to 4.56 range it held from February through July, and the exercise-logging complaints behind its August dip did not recur.

Compared to August: Foodvisor rose 0.70, the month's largest gain, and Municorn fell 0.86 to 1.93, the lowest score any app has posted since May, with most of its reviewers objecting to a subscription revealed only after a long questionnaire. MyFitnessPal rose 0.60 to 2.88, its best since the March redesign. Cronometer's September 22 search outage produced 18 reviews in a day, and three reviewers updated their reviews once support fixed it. Simple left the top 100. See the full Diet App Scorecard September 2026 for detailed analysis.

Eight Months of Ratings: Who Has Led, and How Often

The Scorecard has now analyzed 16,713 filtered reviews across eight installments, enough for the month-to-month noise to start separating from the pattern. MyNetDiary has led four of the eight months and finished in the top three in all of them. Calo has led three, including the last two, and is the first app since April to hold the top spot in consecutive months. The apps above 4.0 sit within fractions of a star of each other, on monthly volumes ranging from a few dozen reviews to several hundred, so a single month's crown means less than the pattern behind it. The qualifying set also changes with the download chart, from nine apps to twelve, so a second-place finish is a position among that month's apps, not within a fixed panel.

Reviews analyzed = US App Store written reviews remaining after duplicate and unrelated reviews were filtered; the total counts reviews, not unique reviewers. Ratings are monthly review averages, not App Store star ratings.

Every App, Every Month

The table below collects each app's monthly review rating from every installment, so the claims on this page about consistency and swings can be checked without opening eight reports. A dash means the app was not in the US App Store top 100 Health & Fitness chart on the last day of that month. Review counts for each month are in the installment linked from the archive.

Monthly averages of filtered written reviews, in rating order as of September 2026. † July includes a disclosed 37-review spike on July 22 from MyNetDiary's own rating prompt. ‡ August includes an exercise-logging bug reported by eleven reviewers. * = monitoring note for an elevated share of brief five-star reviews (Calo since May; Cal AI in August for a two-day, version-correlated cluster). B = Bimodal flag; F = Flagged (the label used before the current designations).

Seven Things Eight Months of Reviews Have Shown

Across the eight installments, several patterns recur: the gap between downloads and satisfaction, the cost of redesigns, outages and billing surprises that show up in reviews within days, and ratings that move for reasons other than the product. These are the ones that have held up.

The most-downloaded apps have not been the best-reviewed. In February, MyNetDiary led from download rank #28; in September, Calo led from #63 and Foodvisor placed third from #89, while Cal AI (#4) and MyFitnessPal (#9) rated 3.04 and 2.88. Across the seven months with a complete table above, the rank correlation between download position and review rating has been positive every time (0.25 to 0.62: the further down the chart, the higher the rating tends to be); no single month is statistically significant on nine to twelve apps, but the sign has never flipped. That is why the chart is ordered by download rank rather than by rating.

A redesign can cost nearly two stars, and the way back is slow. MyFitnessPal rated 3.67 in February. After its March redesign it fell in each of the next three installments, to 1.82 in May, and spent the summer at or near the bottom of the table. September's 2.88 is its best score since the redesign and the first month in which reviewers said a layout change had improved the app, but it is still 0.79 below February, and the one-star complaints have not changed in six months. See our guide to switching from MyFitnessPal.

Recent reviews record outages and bad updates that an overall rating hides. MyFitnessPal's food search broke for much of July 19, and the day produced that month's angriest cluster. A MyNetDiary update on August 6 broke exercise logging; eleven reviewers reported it between August 7 and 10, and the reports stopped once the fix shipped. MyFitnessPal replaced its calorie summary with a swipeable arc on August 21 and reversed it within a week, and reviewers said so. Cronometer's 4.59.1 update broke food search on September 22; eighteen reviews landed that day, and three reviewers later revised their reviews upward after support fixed it the same day. Reviews cannot say how often an app crashes across its user base. They can show that it did, when, and whether it was fixed.

A rating can climb without the product getting better. BitePal's rating jumped by 1.37 points from April to May and by 0.97 from June to July, while reviewers kept reporting charges after cancellation, off-Apple subscriptions they couldn't find to cancel, and refused refunds. Each time, reviewers described being asked to rate the app before they had really used it; each time we flagged the pattern, and in August BitePal dropped out of the top 100. Prompting cuts both ways: MyNetDiary's own rating prompt produced a 37-review, nearly all five-star spike on one day in July, which we disclosed and footnoted. The current example is milder: the share of Calo's five-star reviews that are 25 characters or fewer has risen from about one in six to one in five, and because its criticism is specific it carries a monitoring note rather than a flag.

Small samples swing hard, so read the review count. MacroFactor went 3.76, 4.47, 3.61, 2.79, 3.36 across May through September on review volumes of 34, 66, 41, 19, and 28. Some of that is the product (reviewers objected to a late-August redesign), but with monthly samples this small, large rating changes need cautious interpretation: one review moving from one star to five shifts a 28-review average by about 0.14. Whenever a rating moves by half a star or more, the second column to check is the number of reviews behind it.

Billing and paywalls are the category's fault line. The specific pattern of 2026 is the questionnaire that ends at a paywall: an app listed as free to download asks five to forty-five minutes of questions, by reviewers' own estimates, and then nothing works without a subscription. In September that pattern produced the lowest score in the series since May, Municorn's 1.93, and the same complaint came from 20 of Cal AI's 108 reviewers even as its rating rose for a fifth straight month. Refunds are the other half: Foodvisor reviewers described requesting refunds inside the 14-day window the app advertises and being turned down. Some billing or paywall complaint appeared at every one of September's nine apps; MyNetDiary's concerned its own upgrade prompts and free-tier limits, raised by five and seven reviewers, rather than unexpected charges.

AI photo logging earns praise and complaints from the same feature, and reviewers describe the correction step as the difference. In August, Simple's AI coach was the most-praised feature in the month's largest review body while its AI food logging was its leading complaint. September sharpened the comparison between two photo-first apps: Cal AI drew 18 accuracy complaints in 108 reviews, and Calo drew 20 compliments and three complaints. What Calo's reviewers kept saying is that a wrong estimate is easy to correct; what Cal AI's kept saying is that corrections don't stick. One MyNetDiary reviewer gave five stars specifically because the AI features are optional. For the longer view, see AI Calorie Counters in 2026: From Hype to Feature.

MyNetDiary's Rating, Month by Month

Because MyNetDiary publishes this series, its own history belongs on the page in full. Across eight installments the range is 4.19 to 4.56, with a top-three finish every month, four of them first. Two months carry disclosures: July's 4.46 includes a 37-review, nearly all five-star spike on July 22 from the app's own rating prompt, and August's 4.19 includes an update that broke exercise logging and drew eleven complaints. No number has been adjusted; the full row is in the table above.

Which Apps We Analyze

We don't maintain a fixed list of apps chosen by our editorial team. On the last day of each month, we check the US App Store's top 100 apps in the Health & Fitness category and identify all apps whose primary function is calorie tracking, food tracking, or diet tracking. We exclude apps that aren't primarily diet or calorie tracking: workout-only trackers, step counters, meditation apps, period trackers, and the like.

The scorecard adapts to the market. If a new app rises in popularity, it enters the analysis. If an app falls out of the top 100, it exits. If an app is popular enough to rank in the top 100, whether it got there organically or through paid marketing and advertising, it belongs in the analysis. Apps that reach the top of the download chart but receive poor reviews once people use them reveal a gap between popularity and satisfaction, and that gap is exactly what the scorecard is designed to surface.

What Each Monthly Scorecard Includes

Each monthly installment covers every qualifying app with:

• Filtered average rating. The average star rating recalculated from that month's written reviews only, after removing duplicates and unrelated reviews. This is a review rating for the current month, not the rating the App Store displays.
• Review summary. A 100 to 120 word AI-generated summary of what users said, representing positive and negative sentiment proportionally. Each app's summary is independent and doesn't compare to other apps.
• Review-pattern assessment. Whether each app's review patterns appear organic, bimodal, or suspicious, as assessed by the AI using the same analysis prompt applied to every app. A flag identifies a pattern for scrutiny; it is not proof of manipulation.
• Comparison table. All apps side by side with ratings, the change from the prior month, top praise, top complaint, and review patterns, listed in download ranking order.
• Trend analysis. Cross-app observations about the themes that dominated reviews that month: outages and update regressions, billing and paywall patterns, and what users say about new features.

For deeper analysis of specific dimensions like food database accuracy, free tier value, and logging speed, see our companion articles in the Diet App Scorecard series.

Which App Might Be Right for You?

There isn't one best calorie tracking app for everyone. What follows are the strengths and tradeoffs reviewers mention most often, not exclusive capabilities or tested audience segments. Calo's reviewers want the fastest possible photo logging, voice entry included, and accept correcting a portion now and then; its negative reviews are about trials and renewals. Cronometer's reviewers care about micronutrient depth and a database they trust, and can live with ads in the free tier; its support turns up in reviews as a strength. MacroFactor's reviewers want an adaptive calorie target and will pay for it. Lose It! keeps a large base of decade-long loyalists who prize its recipe builder and food database despite a growing list of paywalled features. Foodvisor's reviewers want tracking to feel like a game and should read its refund complaints first. MyFitnessPal still earns credit for database breadth even from reviewers furious about its redesign. Simple, when it is in the top 100, draws people who want fasting structure and daily coaching. MyNetDiary is most often praised for ease of use, a free tier that covers daily tracking, broad nutrition detail, and a staff-verified food database. The scorecard's purpose is not to choose for you, but to show which strengths and tradeoffs users are reporting right now.

Scorecard Archive

Diet App Scorecard September 2026: Which Calorie Tracker Has the Best User Ratings? Nine apps, 1,148 reviews analyzed. Calo led for a second straight month at 4.74, the highest score in the series to that point; MyNetDiary returned to 4.45; Foodvisor posted the largest gain and Municorn the largest decline, to 1.93, the lowest score since May; Cronometer's September 22 search outage was fixed the same day, and reviewers recorded both halves.

Diet App Scorecard August 2026: 10 Calorie Apps, 1,772 Reviews. Calo posted the highest score in the series to that point, 4.70; MyNetDiary fell to a then-series-low 4.19 after an update broke exercise logging; Cal AI, MacroFactor, and Municorn tied at 2.79; and MyFitnessPal reversed an unpopular interface change within a week.

Diet App Scorecard July 2026: Best Rated Calorie Counting Apps. Eleven apps, 2,388 reviews analyzed. MyNetDiary returned to the top at 4.46, MacroFactor fell 0.86 stars from June's lead, and BitePal rose 0.97 while billing complaints continued, its second straight Bimodal flag.

Diet App Scorecard June 2026: What Users Actually Say About Calorie Apps. Ten apps, 1,379 reviews analyzed. MacroFactor posted the highest rating (4.47), with Calo at 4.45 and MyNetDiary third at 4.40, its first month outside the top two. Billing complaints dominated one-star reviews for BitePal, Cal AI, and Municorn.

Diet App Scorecard May 2026: User Ratings and Review Trends. Eleven apps, 2,508 reviews analyzed. Calo posted the highest rating (4.66), with MyNetDiary second (4.56), the first month MyNetDiary wasn't on top. MyFitnessPal fell to a then-scorecard-low 1.82, and BitePal's rating rose 1.37 while its billing complaints continued. Authenticity concerns narrowed from six apps to three.

Diet App Scorecard April 2026: 10 Apps, 2,995 Reviews Analyzed. MyFitnessPal's redesign backlash deepened to a second consecutive month of major decline, falling to 2.31 on review volume of 1,438. Six of ten apps showed review patterns flagged for authenticity concerns, up from one in March. Cal AI users reported daily calorie targets as low as 200. MyNetDiary held at 4.54; Cal AI lowest at 1.92.

Diet App Scorecard March 2026: 12 Apps, 2,900+ Reviews Analyzed. MyNetDiary led with 4.56; FoodPilot lowest at 1.95. MyFitnessPal dropped 0.77 stars following its March redesign, the largest decline recorded at that point.

Diet App Scorecard February 2026: Which Calorie Tracker Has the Best User Ratings? Nine apps, 1,601 reviews analyzed. MyNetDiary led with 4.56; BitePal lowest at 1.79.

About the Methodology

The scorecard uses one consistent process across all qualifying apps. For the exact analysis prompt, data sources, filtering rules, AI model, and review-pattern framework, see the full Diet App Scorecard methodology.

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