Best Calorie and Macro Tracking Apps: Databases, Pricing and Accuracy Compared

The best calorie tracking apps do different jobs. Some store every restaurant dish. Others verify UK barcodes. A few count vitamins. One changes your target each week. This is a source-reviewed guide, not a hands-on lab test. Figures below come from public store listings, pricing pages, privacy labels and named studies captured on 13 September 2026.

This page is for adults choosing a food diary. It is not a medical-device review. A log is a notebook. It cannot diagnose illness or promise weight change. If logging starts to feel like punishment, stop and speak to a clinician.

Who this best calorie tracking apps shortlist is for

Use this best calorie tracking apps page if you want a food diary, a macro target or a UK barcode scan. Skip a trophy ranking. Public listings do not prove one app is best overall.

People who eat a wide mix of restaurant food often start with MyFitnessPal. Shoppers who live on Tesco, Aldi or Greggs labels often want Nutracheck. People who care about iron or fibre milligrams often look at Cronometer.

Lifters who want the target to move with the scale often look at MacroFactor. People who want a cheap US year plan still look at Lose It. A European-leaning diary with fasting tools sits on YAZIO.

None of these apps replace a dietitian. Protein still comes from food. See our protein intake everyday guide if you want portions, not a paywall.

How we compared public listings

We read manufacturer pricing and help pages, Apple App Store and Google Play listings, privacy labels and Google Data Safety sections. We also read named validation papers on MyFitnessPal and other diaries.

We did not install the best calorie tracking apps for this article. We did not weigh plates in a lab. We did not invent a Vitality Ledger score.

Where a number was missing or the listing disagreed by country, we say so. Install bands that did not appear on the official page we fetched are omitted.

Shortlist at a glance

The best calorie tracking apps table is a snapshot from 13 September 2026. Check the live checkout in your storefront.

MyFitnessPal: the large log

MyFitnessPal is the default name in this category. The US App Store listing on 13 September 2026 advertised a 20.5 million food database, an AI coach, GLP-1 dose reminders and a Premium+ meal planner. Version 26.36.0 appeared about four days before capture. It needs iOS 18 or later. Age rating is 16+.

myfitnesspal.com/premium the same day listed Premium at $79.99 a year and Premium+ at $99.99 a year after a 7-day trial. Premium+ adds a meal planner, 1,500-plus recipes and grocery-app sync. The planner is listed for the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Grocery-app sync is US-only on that page.

US App Store ratings were 4.7 from 2.4 million ratings. UK ratings were 4.7 from 470,000. Google Play showed 4.4 from 2.91 million reviews in the header and 2.83 million in the panel, updated 4 September 2026. Twelve-month US Premium cost is $79.99 on the annual SKU, or 12 × $19.99 = $239.88 if you stay on the monthly IAP.

Read the full MyFitnessPal review for the privacy label and the validation papers.

Nutracheck: the UK barcode diary

Nutracheck is a UK product from NutraTech Ltd. The GB App Store listing on 13 September 2026 advertised a 500,000-plus item UK database, Tesco through Waitrose, plus Greggs, Nando’s, Costa and Pret. It tracks seven nutrients: carbs, protein, fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt and fibre. Version 13.2.0 appeared about six days before capture. Age rating is 18+ with in-app controls.

New users get a 7-day trial. After that you subscribe monthly or yearly, or stay on Lite with daily diary limits. The manufacturer Prices page, fetched the same day from a non-UK IP, showed $29.99 for 12 months against $6.99 × 12 = $83.88. Treat sterling as check-live. A 12-month year at $29.99 is the cheaper public path if that dollar sheet is what checkout uses.

UK App Store ratings were 4.8 from 264,000 ratings. Google Play (GB) showed 4.4 from 60,600 reviews in the header and 4.3 from 59,000 in the panel, updated 25 August 2026. Play declared no third-party sharing. Apple’s label still listed tracking via purchases, location, identifiers and usage.

See the Nutracheck review if you shop in Britain. Skip it if you need a US diner database.

Cronometer and MacroFactor

Cronometer sells depth. The Gold page we fetched listed $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year. The free tier still logs foods and many nutrients. The US App Store showed 4.8 from 98,000 ratings and version 4.58.3 dated 4 September 2026. Gold IAP matched $10.99 and $59.99. Google Play showed 4.6 from 58,200 reviews in the header and 57,100 in the panel, updated 11 September 2026. Play listings contain ads. Recent Play notes complain that ads stall logging. Gold is the ad-free path.

Twelve-month US Gold cost is $59.99 on the year, or 12 × $10.99 = $131.88 monthly. Fallaize and colleagues (2021) found Cronometer’s energy values were not significantly lower than ESHA-Food Processor, unlike MyFitnessPal in that student sample. That is one methods paper. It is not a crown.

MacroFactor sells a weekly coach algorithm and no permanent free tier. The US Play listing on 13 September 2026 printed $11.99 a month, $47.99 for six months or $71.99 a year, plus a 7-day trial. US App Store ratings were 4.8 from 22,000. IAP also showed a $89.99 bundle year. Play showed 4.7 from 16,700 reviews, updated 2 September 2026, and declared no third-party sharing. A 12-month US nutrition-app year is $71.99, versus $143.88 monthly. You still cook the food.

Lose It! and YAZIO

Lose It! is the older US diary. The US App Store showed 4.8 from 777,000 ratings and version 18.5.100 about three days before capture. IAP included Premium SKUs at $39.99 and $79.99, plus lifetime rows. loseit.com/insights still showed $39.99 a year. A Lose It Support article listed Premium at $79.99 a year. We will not pick a winner between two official pages. Check the live year price. Google Play showed 4.6 from 183,000 reviews in search captures, updated 8 September 2026.

YAZIO is a German freemium diary. The US App Store showed 4.7 from 51,000 ratings, age 9+, and version 26.36.2 about two days before capture. IAP included 12-month rows at $47.90 and $23.90, 3-month $23.99, semi-annual $34.99 and other Pro SKUs. Google Play showed 4.4 from 861,000 reviews in the header and 846,000 in the panel, updated 11 September 2026. Play said the app may share location, personal info and device IDs. A July 2026 Play review called the database weak versus rivals. That is one user.

Accuracy, privacy and when to skip

Griffioen-Roose and colleagues (JMIR, 2020) compared MyFitnessPal with the Belgian Nubel table. After cleaning, the app underestimated protein by 7.8% and carbohydrate by 6.4%. Energy was slightly overestimated. Even-numbered student records in Fallaize et al. (2021) showed lower energy on MyFitnessPal than on ESHA. Those papers are old relative to 2026 features. They still warn that a crowd-sourced row can miss sodium or fibre.

CDC adult guidance still centres on a pattern of food and about 150 moderate activity minutes a week, not an app badge. NHS pages still start with the Eatwell plate. A diary can teach portions. It cannot certify a deficit is safe if you are pregnant, underweight or have a history of disordered eating.

Skip one of the best calorie tracking apps if the job is wrong. Skip MyFitnessPal if you refuse ad tracking. Skip Nutracheck if you do not shop UK brands. Skip Cronometer if ads on the free tier will stop you logging. Skip MacroFactor if you will not weigh in for a week. Skip Lose It! and YAZIO if the live SKU is a mystery you will not screenshot.

Two of the best calorie tracking apps can coexist. Many people log UK barcodes on Nutracheck and export a week to a clinician. Add both 12-month prices before you stack them.