MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal are often compared, but they’re built on different ideas. MacroFactor is a premium-only app that acts like a diet coach. MyFitnessPal is a food diary with a free plan, two paid tiers and the largest user base of the two. We make Calorix, a third, competing app, and we don’t rank these two: every fact below comes from each company’s website, help centre or App Store listing, checked on October 23, 2026.
The short version
- Pick MacroFactor if you weigh in regularly, log carefully and want an app that recalculates your calories and macros every week from your real progress, without ads.
- Pick MyFitnessPal if you want to start free, need a very large food database, or want barcode and photo logging for less than MacroFactor costs (Premium on its website, $49.99 a year).
How each sets your targets
MacroFactor estimates how much energy you burn by comparing your trended weight changes with the calories you log, then “auto-adjusts your macro plan every week” (MacroFactor). It deliberately doesn’t use smartwatch calorie estimates for this. The trade-off: it needs regular weigh-ins and honest logging to work well.
MyFitnessPal gives you calorie and macro goals that you can customise: by percentage on the free plan, and by gram, by meal or by day with Premium (MyFitnessPal help). Its App Store listing also describes an AI Coach that gives tips based on your goals and logging history.
Logging food
MacroFactor includes, on its one paid plan, AI photo logging (“Simply snap a photo or describe your meal”), a barcode and nutrition-label scanner, a database of 1.36 million verified entries, a recipe importer that reads a web link and speech-to-text logging.
MyFitnessPal lets free users search its database (“20.5M+ foods, including restaurant dishes”, per its App Store listing) and log by hand. The barcode scanner (“As of October 1, 2022, Barcode Scan is available only with a Premium subscription”), Meal Scan photo logging and voice logging are Premium (MyFitnessPal help).
A large database means more choice, including restaurant meals; a smaller verified one means fewer duplicate or wrong entries. Which matters more depends on what you eat.
Price
| Plan | MacroFactor | MyFitnessPal |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Monthly | $11.99 | $9.99 on the website; $9.99 or $19.99 in the app |
| Yearly | $71.99 | $49.99 on the website; $49.99 or $79.99 in the app |
| Where you pay | App Store or Google Play only | Website, App Store or Google Play |
MacroFactor also sells a 6-month plan ($47.99) and a $89.99-a-year bundle with its Workouts app, and says it “doesn’t ever run discounts or sales on subscriptions” (MacroFactor). MyFitnessPal’s Premium+ adds a meal planner and grocery lists. Full breakdowns: MacroFactor price and MyFitnessPal Premium price.
Your data and privacy
MacroFactor’s product page promises an “Ad-free, privacy-first experience”, that “Data is private and will never be sold” and “Export your data any time”. MyFitnessPal’s free plan shows ads, and data export is a Premium feature; if you go back to Free, it says your logs and history stay in your account.
Switching is easier into MacroFactor than out of MyFitnessPal: MacroFactor imports “the last 30 days of data” through Apple Health or Google Fit to start its analytics.
Platforms
MacroFactor runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android, in English and Japanese. MyFitnessPal runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and Wear OS, has a website you can log on, and is available in 20 languages on the App Store.
When MacroFactor is the better choice
- You want the app to adjust your calories and macros from your actual results, week after week.
- You’ll pay for a tool without ads, and you like detailed analytics (weight trend, expenditure, micronutrients).
- You’re a lifter running a cut or a bulk and want macro targets that keep up.
When MyFitnessPal is the better choice
- You want a free plan to build the habit before paying anything.
- You eat out a lot and want restaurant dishes in the database.
- You’d buy Premium on the website, where $49.99 a year is less than MacroFactor’s yearly price, or you want to log on the web.
Our app: Calorix
We make Calorix, so we kept it out of the comparison. It’s an iPhone-only calorie app that logs from a photo, barcode, label or your voice and shows each ingredient with its grams so you can correct it; barcode lookups are free and you get 3 free AI scans a day, and Pro is $39.99 a year in the US after a 3-day free trial. It doesn’t adjust targets from your logs like MacroFactor, and it has no web or Android app. See Calorix vs MyFitnessPal.
Change log
- October 23, 2026: page published. Prices, plans, features, data and platforms checked on macrofactor.com, MacroFactor’s help centre, myfitnesspal.com, MyFitnessPal’s help centre and both US App Store listings.
Updated October 23, 2026
