Cronometer and MyFitnessPal are the two names that come up most when people want to track more than calories. They differ in what’s free, where their food data comes from and what you can take with you. We make Calorix, a third, competing app, and we don’t rank these two: every fact here comes from each company’s website, help centre, terms or App Store listing, checked on October 23, 2026.
The short version
- Free plan: Cronometer’s includes the barcode scanner, dozens of nutrients and full data export; MyFitnessPal’s covers logging and macros, with the scanner and export in Premium.
- Food data: Cronometer focuses on lab-analysed and verified entries; MyFitnessPal has a much larger database, restaurant dishes included.
- Price: MyFitnessPal Premium is $49.99 a year on its website; Cronometer Gold is $59.99 a year.
Free plans compared
Cronometer Basic is free “for an unlimited amount of time” (Cronometer support). It includes food, exercise and biometrics logging, “Unlimited use of our Barcode Scanner”, custom macro and micronutrient targets, syncing with apps and devices, custom foods and recipes, reports and charts within a 7-day window, and the “Ability to export ALL raw data” (Cronometer). It shows ads.
MyFitnessPal Free includes food and exercise logging, measurements and progress, creating foods, meals and recipes, viewing your macronutrients, goals by percentage, sharing your diary, linking partner apps and a printable report. The barcode scanner, Meal Scan, fasting, net carbs, food analysis, data export and an ad-free app are Premium (MyFitnessPal help). “As of October 1, 2022, Barcode Scan is available only with a Premium subscription.”
Where the food data comes from
Cronometer describes its database as “over 1M lab-analyzed or verified foods” (Cronometer Gold) and tracks dozens of nutrients per food; its Gold page says up to 95 in one table and 84 in another. MyFitnessPal’s App Store listing advertises “20.5M+ foods, including restaurant dishes”, and its help centre says the database combines “foods added by MyFitnessPal” and “foods that are added by our users” (MyFitnessPal help).
That’s the real trade-off. A larger database finds more branded and restaurant foods; a curated one has fewer duplicates with different values. We haven’t run our own accuracy test of either, so we won’t call one more accurate; for foods you log often, compare the entry with the label.
Price
| Plan | Cronometer Gold | MyFitnessPal Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $10.99 | $9.99 on the website; $9.99 or $19.99 in the app |
| Yearly | $59.99 | $49.99 on the website; $49.99 or $79.99 in the app |
| Free trial | None advertised | 7 days |
Gold adds photo and voice logging, a fasting timer, Crono Coach, a recipe importer, a macro scheduler, long-term charts and no ads. Premium adds the barcode scanner, Meal Scan, voice logging, fasting, macros by gram, data export and no ads; Premium+ adds a meal planner and grocery lists. On refunds, Cronometer’s terms say “There are no refunds for termination or cancellation of your Premium Service” (Cronometer terms); App Store purchases of either go through Apple.
Details: Cronometer price and MyFitnessPal Premium price.
Your data
Cronometer lets every user export all their raw data, free. MyFitnessPal lists “Data Export” as a Premium feature, although it says your logs and history stay in your account if you go back to Free.
Platforms
Both work on the web and on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and Wear OS. On the App Store, Cronometer is in English only and MyFitnessPal in 20 languages. Cronometer also has a professional version for dietitians and coaches to follow clients.
When Cronometer is the better choice
- You want a free barcode scanner and free data export.
- You care about vitamins and minerals, not just calories and macros.
- You work with a dietitian or coach who uses Cronometer’s professional tools.
When MyFitnessPal is the better choice
- You eat out often or buy many branded foods, and want the biggest database.
- You want the app in a language other than English, or a large community.
- You’ll buy Premium on the website, where it’s $10 a year less than Cronometer Gold.
Our app: Calorix
We make Calorix, so it isn’t in the comparison. It’s an iPhone-only calorie app that logs from a photo, barcode, label or your voice and shows each ingredient with grams you can correct; barcode lookups are free, with 3 free AI scans a day, and Pro is $39.99 a year in the US after a 3-day free trial. It tracks calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber and water, not Cronometer’s micronutrients, and has no web or Android app. See Calorix vs MyFitnessPal.
More options: MyFitnessPal alternatives.
Change log
- October 23, 2026: page published. Free and paid features, prices, data export, refunds and platforms checked on cronometer.com, Cronometer’s help centre and terms, myfitnesspal.com, MyFitnessPal’s help centre and both US App Store listings.
Updated October 23, 2026
