7 Best Free Macro Tracking Apps for 2026, Tested on Features and Price

Quick comparison

The best free macro tracking app

#1

MyFitnessPal

Best for: Anyone who wants the biggest food database and the tracker most people already use

Visit myfitnesspal.com

Starting price$19.99/month (Premium, billed monthly; $79.99/year)

Free planYes — free plan (food logging, macro viewing, custom foods and recipes)

MyFitnessPal is the default macro tracker for a simple reason: almost every food you eat is already in it, so logging a meal takes seconds instead of minutes. The free plan covers food logging, macro viewing and custom foods and recipes. Premium adds the barcode scanner, Meal Scan photo logging, voice logging, custom macro goals and an ad-free diary.

The catch is the price and the paywall. Premium costs $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year when bought in the app, but the same plan costs $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year on the MyFitnessPal website, so check both before you pay. The crowdsourced database also needs care: popular entries are usually right, but odd or duplicate entries can throw your macros off. Pick MyFitnessPal when you want the fastest logging and the app your friends already use.

What we like

• Largest food database in this list, so most meals log in seconds
• Free plan still covers food logging, macro viewing and custom recipes
• Barcode scanner, Meal Scan and voice logging on Premium, plus an AI Coach
• Syncs with Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit, Garmin and most wearables

Watch out for

• Premium costs $19.99 a month in the app but $9.99 a month on the website, for the same plan
• Barcode scanning sits behind Premium, so the free plan logs by search only
• Crowdsourced database means some entries are wrong or duplicated

#2

Cronometer

Best for: Lifters and data-minded eaters who want micronutrients, not just macros

Visit cronometer.com

Starting price$10.99/month (Gold, billed monthly; $59.99/year)

Free planYes — free Basic plan (barcode scanner, micronutrients, custom targets)

Cronometer is the tracker for people who care about what is in the food, not just how many calories it has. It tracks up to 95 nutrients — vitamins, minerals and amino acids — on top of protein, carbs and fat, and its database is curated and lab-analyzed, so the numbers you log are the numbers you can trust. The free Basic plan is unusually generous: barcode scanning, custom macro targets and full micronutrient tracking cost nothing.

Gold, at $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year, adds an ad-free diary, Photo Log, Voice Log, a fasting timer, a recipe importer, custom charts and the Crono Coach assistant. The trade-offs are a smaller recipe library than MyFitnessPal or YAZIO, and no advertised free trial of Gold. Choose Cronometer when accuracy matters more than speed and you want micros with your macros.

What we like

• Tracks up to 95 nutrients, not just macros: vitamins, minerals and amino acids
• Curated, lab-analyzed food database with far fewer wrong entries than crowdsourced rivals
• Free Basic plan includes the barcode scanner, custom macro targets and micronutrient tracking
• Fasting timer, recipe importer and custom charts on Gold

Watch out for

• No free trial of Gold is advertised, so you pay before testing the paid features
• Free plan shows ads and limits charts and reports to 7 days
• Smaller recipe library than MyFitnessPal or YAZIO

#3

MyNetDiary

Best for: Budget-conscious trackers who want a strong free plan with a verified database

Visit mynetdiary.com

Starting price$8.99/month (Premium, billed monthly; $59.99/year)

Free planYes — free plan (ad-free, barcode scanner, macro targets, no account needed)

MyNetDiary has the best free plan in this list, and it is not close. The free tier is ad-free, needs no account to start, and still includes the barcode scanner, basic voice logging and macro targets in grams. Its database of 2 million-plus foods is staff-verified against USDA and NCC sources, so entries are far more reliable than the crowdsourced lists most free apps lean on.

Premium costs $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds Meal Scan photo logging, recipe import, fasting, Advanced Autopilot — which re-estimates your calorie target from your logged food and weight trend — and more than 650 dietitian-designed recipes. Premium Plus, at $14.99 a month, adds an AI Coach and AI meal suggestions. Pick MyNetDiary when you want a free plan you can live on for months, not a two-week demo.

What we like

• Free plan is ad-free and includes the barcode scanner, voice logging and macro targets in grams
• Staff-verified database of 2 million-plus foods built on USDA and NCC sources
• Advanced Autopilot on Premium re-estimates your expenditure from logged food and weight
• Premium Plus adds an AI Coach, AI meal suggestions and restaurant menu scanning

Watch out for

• Meal Scan photo logging, fasting and adaptive targets need Premium
• AI Coach and AI voice logging wait for Premium Plus at $14.99 a month
• English only

#4

Lose It!

Best for: Weight-loss trackers who want the simplest possible daily calorie budget

Visit loseit.com

Starting price$79.99/year (Premium, annual only; Lifetime $299.99)

Free planYes — free Basic plan (calorie budget, food logging)

Lose It! has been around since 2008, and it shows: the app does one job and does it cleanly. You get a personal daily calorie budget, a food log you can fill by barcode, photo or voice, and a clear view of your macros. The free Basic plan covers the budget and the food database, which is all many people need to lose weight steadily.

Premium costs $79.99 a year with no monthly option, and adds barcode and meal scan, voice logging, custom macro goals, fasting and future meal planning. Lose It! says most users get discounted offers in the app, so the price on your screen may be lower than $79.99. Lifetime Premium at $299.99 pays for itself in under four years. Choose Lose It! when you want the simplest daily routine, not the deepest data.

What we like

• Simplest interface here: a daily calorie budget and a photo-based food log
• Premium adds barcode and meal scan, voice logging, custom macros and fasting
• One-time Lifetime Premium at $299.99 beats four years of annual payments
• Frequent in-app discounts cut the $79.99 annual price for many users

Watch out for

• Premium sells as an annual plan only, with no monthly option
• Most users are shown discounted offers, so the price you pay may not be $79.99
• Premium bought through the App Store does not unlock Android

#5

Carb Manager

Best for: Keto and low-carb dieters who track net carbs, not just calories

Visit carbmanager.com

Starting price$8.49/month (Premium, billed monthly; $39.99/year)

Free planYes — free Basic plan (net carb tracking, barcode scanner)

Carb Manager is the only app here built around low-carb eating from the ground up. Its Carbs to Track setting counts total or net carbs — total minus fiber, sugar alcohols and allulose — and the free Basic plan already covers net carb tracking and the barcode scanner. Premium adds ketone and glucose tracking, Smart Macros that adjust your goals as you lose weight, and fasting tracking.

Premium costs $8.49 a month or $39.99 a year, the cheapest steady annual price in this list, with a quarterly option at $16.49. The limits are the flip side of the focus: on a standard or high-carb diet the keto tools are wasted, and meal plans cost extra from $1.99 a week. Pick Carb Manager when net carbs are the number you live by; pick a general tracker when they are not.

What we like

• Built for keto and low-carb: net carbs, ketone and glucose tracking on Premium
• Free plan covers net carb tracking and the barcode scanner
• Cheapest steady annual price here at $39.99 a year
• Diabetes tracker and 30-plus health metrics on Premium

Watch out for

• Keto focus means the app fits poorly if you eat a standard or high-carb diet
• Meal plans cost extra, from $1.99 a week, on top of Premium
• Some users report slow loading and occasional food-data inconsistencies

#6

YAZIO

Best for: Budget buyers who want fasting plans and recipes for the lowest annual price

Visit yazio.com

Starting price$47.90/year (PRO, 12 months; $23.99 for 3 months)

Free planYes — free plan (calorie and macro tracking, basic recipes)

YAZIO is the budget pick in this list, and it earns the spot on the annual price alone: PRO costs $47.90 for 12 months, and promotional offers during sign-up drop it as low as $23.90. The free plan still covers calorie and macro tracking plus basic recipes, and PRO adds fasting plans, meal plans, recipes and AI photo food tracking.

The catch is that the price you are offered depends on the deal in front of you, so two people can pay different amounts for the same PRO plan — check the paywall before you start a trial. Detailed macro tracking and fasting programs sit behind PRO, and AI photo logging can misjudge portions, so check the result before you trust it. Choose YAZIO when the annual price matters most and you want fasting plans built in.

What we like

• Cheapest annual price here at $47.90 a year, with promotional offers down to $23.90
• Fasting plans, meal plans and a large recipe database on PRO
• AI photo food tracking on PRO, plus 20 languages and 150-plus countries
• Free plan still covers calorie and macro tracking

Watch out for

• The price you are offered varies: promotional annual offers drop as low as $23.90
• Detailed macro tracking and fasting plans sit behind PRO
• AI photo analysis can misjudge portions, per user reviews

#7

Lifesum

Best for: People who want structured diet programs and meal plans, not just a food diary

Visit lifesum.com

Starting price$99.99/year (Premium, annual; 3 months $29.99)

Free planYes — free plan (basic food logging and macro tracking)

Lifesum is less a food diary and more a meal-plan service with a diary attached. Premium organises diet programs and meal plans by goal — lose, maintain or gain weight — across diets from ketogenic to Scandinavian, with recipes, habit goals and weekly nutrition reports. AI calorie and macro logging and intermittent fasting programs come with Premium, and the interface is the cleanest in this list.

Premium costs $99.99 a year, with a 3-month option at $29.99, and there is no monthly plan published; app-store listings also show a $119.99 annual figure, so the price on your screen may be higher. The free plan is limited to one default diet program, and custom macro targets need Premium. Pick Lifesum when you want someone else to plan the meals; pick a diary-first app when you plan your own food.

What we like

• Structured diet programs and meal plans by goal, lose, maintain or gain, with recipes
• AI calorie and macro logging, plus intermittent fasting programs on Premium
• Cleanest interface here, with habit goals and weekly nutrition reports
• Syncs with Apple Health, Google Fit, Fitbit and Garmin

Watch out for

• Most expensive annual plan here at $99.99 a year, with no monthly plan published
• Diet programs offer little flexibility for allergies or food preferences
• Free plan is limited: custom macro targets need Premium

The best free macro tracking app is the one you will still open at dinner on day 30, not the one with the longest feature list. We ranked the seven apps below by fit for the most common buyer — someone who wants to hit a daily protein, carb and fat target without spending ten minutes per meal — and every price was checked on November 4, 2026.

How to choose the best free macro tracking app

• Check the free plan first. Every app here is free to start, but barcode scanning, custom macro goals and fasting tools are often paid. If the free tier covers your routine, you may never need Premium.
• Judge the food database, not the feature list. A tracker is only useful if the foods you actually eat are in it and the numbers are right. Curated databases beat crowdsourced ones on accuracy; big databases win on speed.
• Decide how you log. Barcode scanning suits packaged food, photo logging suits eating out, and voice logging suits cooking. Pick the app whose logging style matches your meals.
• Match the app to the diet. Keto needs net carbs, lifters need protein targets by gram, and weight loss needs a simple calorie budget. The best app for one goal is rarely the best for another.
• Count the real cost for a year. Monthly billing can cost three times the annual price for the same plan, and some apps only sell annual plans, so compare what you pay over 12 months.

A tracker is one system in your stack, not the whole stack. If you also want to compare the wider field, our guide to the best app to track macros covers the same apps ranked for general macro tracking, and our calorie and macro tracking roundup shows how these apps compare when calories matter as much as macros. Before you publish new pages about the tools you use, run your titles through the free SERP snippet preview tool — it shows exactly how the title and description will look in Google.

Whatever you shortlist, try the free plan for two full weeks before you pay. Two weeks covers weekdays, a weekend, eating out and a home-cooked meal, and that is enough to learn whether the database has your foods, whether logging takes a minute or ten, and whether the free tier is enough. If logging feels like a chore by day 14, no paid feature will fix it — switch apps instead.

Best free macro tracking app pricing: what you will actually pay

Take one person tracking macros for a full year. On list prices, the cost is $0 on every free plan, $39.99 on Carb Manager, $47.90 on YAZIO, $59.99 on MyNetDiary, $59.99 on Cronometer Gold, $79.99 on MyFitnessPal Premium paid annually, $79.99 on Lose It! Premium and $99.99 on Lifesum Premium. The cheapest paid year in this list is Carb Manager at $39.99; the dearest is Lifesum at $99.99, a $60 gap for apps that all log the same three macros.

Two of those numbers need adjusting before they are real. First, monthly billing is far dearer than annual billing: MyFitnessPal Premium costs $239.88 across twelve monthly payments against $79.99 for the year, Cronometer Gold costs $131.88 against $59.99, and MyNetDiary Premium costs $107.88 against $59.99. Second, MyFitnessPal sells the same Premium plan at two prices: $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year in the app, but $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year on its website, so buying on the website saves $30 a year before any discount.

Three costs sit outside every number above. First, the discount lottery: Lose It! and YAZIO both say most users are offered lower prices in the app, so the price on your screen may be well under the list price — or not. Second, the add-ons: Carb Manager meal plans cost extra from $1.99 a week, and MyNetDiary's AI Coach waits for Premium Plus at $14.99 a month. Third, the platform trap: Lose It! Premium bought through the App Store does not unlock Android, so check where you buy before you pay for a year.

Know the difference: macro tracking vs calorie counting

The confusion in this category is between two different jobs that share the word tracking. Calorie counting answers one question — how much energy did I eat today — and a single daily budget is enough. Macro tracking answers a harder one: how much of that energy came from protein, carbs and fat, and did the split match my goal. A 2,000-calorie day at 40 grams of protein is a different diet from a 2,000-calorie day at 160 grams, and only a macro tracker shows the difference.

There is a second, quieter confusion: a free plan and a useful plan are not the same thing. Every app here logs food for free, but the features that make macro tracking practical — custom protein targets in grams, barcode scanning, and a diary that shows the macro split at a glance — are often paid. MyNetDiary and Cronometer are the exceptions: both put the barcode scanner and gram-level macro targets in the free tier.

The practical rule is simple. If the goal is to eat less, a calorie budget is enough and Lose It! is the simplest tool for it. If the goal is to build muscle, hit a protein target or follow keto, you need macros, and the app must let you set protein, carbs and fat in grams for free or for a price you accept. Buying a calorie counter and expecting macro control is the most common expensive mistake in this category.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

Mistakes to avoid

• Budgeting on the monthly headline. Monthly billing costs far more than annual billing here — MyFitnessPal is $19.99 a month against $79.99 a year. Compare what you pay over 12 months.
• Paying before trying the free plan. Every app here is free to start, and two weeks on the free tier tells you whether the database has your foods and whether logging takes a minute or ten.
• Buying MyFitnessPal in the app. The same Premium plan costs $19.99 a month in the app and $9.99 a month on the website. Check the website price first.
• Expecting macro control from a calorie counter. A daily calorie budget does not set protein, carbs and fat. If the goal is a macro split, the app must let you set it in grams.
• Trusting the first price you are shown. Lose It! and YAZIO both vary prices by offer, and Lifesum's annual price ranges from $99.99 to $119.99 by store listing, so check the paywall before you start a trial.

How we chose

We checked each vendor's own pricing page on November 4, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including the annual-billing figure where the page lists one, and we ranked the apps by fit for the most common buyer — someone who wants to hit a daily protein, carb and fat target without spending ten minutes per meal — not by brand size. Three prices needed a workaround, and we say so plainly: MyFitnessPal's Premium page did not render prices in our text check, so its $19.99 a month and $79.99 a year in-app prices and its $9.99 a month and $49.99 a year website prices were confirmed from the vendor's own blog and several independent sources quoting the vendor's pricing and App Store listing; YAZIO's $47.90 annual price comes from the vendor's own international pricing document, since its website sells PRO in the app; and Lifesum publishes no monthly price on its own website, so we show its $99.99 annual figure, noting that app-store listings also show $119.99. No G2, Capterra or Trustpilot page for any of these apps could be verified today, so this list carries no review ratings — app-store ratings are not used, because they measure the app, not the paid plan. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.

What to do next

Start with the free plan of your top pick and log every meal for two weeks. Check that the foods you actually eat are in the database, that logging takes about a minute per meal, and that the free tier shows your macro split clearly before you pay for anything. If the tools are sorted but new customers are not finding you, our monthly SEO service handles the visibility side — or compare providers in our guide to the best app to track macros. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.

Sources we checked (9)

• MyFitnessPal Premium — myfitnesspal.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• Cronometer Gold — cronometer.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• MyNetDiary — mynetdiary.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• Lose It! — loseit.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• Carb Manager vs MyFitnessPal, vendor pricing — carbmanager.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• YAZIO international pricing, vendor document — filecontent.yazio.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• Lifesum — lifesum.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• Best value fitness apps, vendor pricing roundup — blog.myfitnesspal.com (checked November 4, 2026)
• YAZIO — yazio.com (checked November 4, 2026)