The best MyFitnessPal alternatives, and which one fits your reason for leaving

Why people look for MyFitnessPal alternatives

MyFitnessPal is still the biggest name in food tracking, with more than 280 million members in over 120 countries. But a few documented changes send people looking elsewhere.

The quick ways to log cost extraBarcode Scan, Meal Scan (a photo of your plate) and Voice Log are part of Premium, at $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year. On the free plan, you log by searching.

Ads, and an ad networkAn ad-free app is a Premium feature. In March 2026 MyFitnessPal launched MyFitnessPal Ads, a media network that offers brands display, video, full-screen, sponsored and email placements and reaches its 5.7 million free monthly users in the US. It says its own data goes beyond demographics to members’ nutrition goals, dietary preferences and daily habits, and that ads are designed to be relevant to the choices members are already making.

Your data and advertisingIts privacy policy describes sharing with advertising partners, with opt-outs. Its privacy rights page says it doesn’t expressly sell information, but that some advertising cookies on its website may count as “selling” or “sharing” under US privacy laws.

One company, more of the marketMyFitnessPal bought Cal AI, one of the most popular photo calorie apps, in a deal announced in March 2026. Cal AI still runs as a separate app, but if you want to leave the company as well as the app, that matters.

Other reasons are more personal: the cost adds up, you want something simpler or more detailed, or you want more than a number at the end of the day. Here’s where to look for each.

What to switch to, by reason

The alternatives at a glance

We picked six of the most widely used food trackers people switch to, chosen for their reach and for what each does differently. It’s an editorial pick, not a ranking. MyFitnessPal is in the table too, so you can compare.

The alternatives, one by one

Cronometer

Cost

Free; Gold $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year

Where

Web, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch

App Store

4.8 from 100K ratings

Cronometer is the switch for people who want more detail, not less: calories, macros and dozens of vitamins and minerals, from a database of more than 1.1 million verified foods. The barcode scanner, custom targets and syncing with your apps and devices are free. Gold adds photo and voice logging, a recipe importer, a Macro Scheduler with different targets for each day of the week, no ads, and Crono Coach, short guidance from your own diary and targets. It connects to Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, WHOOP and more.

Best forSwitchers who want the scanner free and every nutrient counted.

Worth knowingThe free version shows ads, and reports on the free plan cover a 7-day window. Its privacy policy allows using your food photos, comments and corrections to train its models, and says it hasn’t sold personal information in the last 12 months.

Lose It!

Cost

Free; Premium prices vary by offer, including a lifetime option

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch, web

App Store

4.8 from 782K ratings

Lose It! is the closest like-for-like switch: a long-running calorie counter that says more than 57 million people have used it, with a database of over 56 million foods and recipes. It works out a personal daily calorie budget from your profile and goal, and logging, a plan and community groups are free. Premium adds photo and AI voice logging, the barcode scanner, macro and nutrient tracking, fasting, targets for each meal, GLP-1 medication logging, and connections to Fitbit, Garmin, Withings, Apple Health and more.

Best forA simple daily calorie budget that’s quick to keep up.

Worth knowingLike MyFitnessPal, its barcode scanner is a Premium feature. Its privacy policy allows using your data to develop and train AI tools, and selling or sharing some data for targeted ads, with an opt-out.

MacroFactor

Cost

$11.99 a month, $47.99 for six months or $71.99 a year; 7-day free trial

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android

App Store

4.8 from 23K ratings

MacroFactor, from the Stronger By Science team, is a macro tracker with a coach built in. It estimates how much energy you really use from what you log, adjusts your calorie and macro targets at a weekly check-in, and never shows warnings or red numbers when you go over. Logging is quick: barcode and label scanning, search, quick add, custom foods and Describe, where you type or say what you ate, plus AI photo logging that splits your plate into foods you can edit.

Best forAnyone who wants calorie and macro targets that keep up with their progress, and no ads.

Worth knowingThere’s no free tier, only a 7-day trial. It’s built for hitting your numbers, so meal plans aren’t mentioned. Its privacy notice says it doesn’t sell your personal data or share it for cross-behavioural advertising.

FatSecret

Cost

Free; Premium $10.49 to $14.99 a month, or $38.99 to $59.99 a year

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch, web

App Store

4.7 from 15K ratings

FatSecret keeps the basics free: a food diary, a barcode scanner, recognition of foods and meals from a photo, an exercise diary, a weight tracker, a community, and syncing with Apple Health and Fitbit. You can also share your diary with a health professional through fatsecret Professional. Premium adds meal plans written by its dietitian for different diets and calorie goals, planning ahead, extra meal headings and water tracking.

Best forKeeping a free diary with the scanner included.

Worth knowingThe US app is set up for US foods and brands. Its privacy page wouldn’t load for us; its App Store privacy label lists health and fitness data, contact details, your content, search history and identifiers as linked to you, and nothing as used to track you.

Lifesum

Cost

Free with limits; Premium from $29.99 for three months to $119.99 a year

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch

App Store

4.6 from 151K ratings

Lifesum says 65 million people have joined it, and it’s broader than a counter. You can log by photo, voice, text or barcode, and it builds nutrition plans from your goals, preferences, restrictions and activity, including keto, paleo and high-protein, with meal plans and grocery lists. A weekly Life Score looks at what you eat and drink and how active you are, and it syncs with Apple Health both ways.

Best forCounting with meal plans and a wider view of healthy eating.

Worth knowingIts listing says the free version has limited features, but not which ways of logging are free. In the App Store, Premium is $29.99 to $39.99 for three months, $69.99 for six or $99.99 to $119.99 a year. Its App Store privacy label lists identifiers as used to track you.

Cal AI

Cost

A subscription, after a 3-day free trial

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch

App Store

4.8 from 373K ratings

Cal AI is built for speed: snap a photo, scan a barcode or describe your meal, and it breaks down the calories and nutrients. It connects to Apple Health and Google Fit. MyFitnessPal’s announcement says Cal AI runs as a standalone app for “performance-oriented” members, and TechCrunch (third party) reports it now uses MyFitnessPal’s food database.

Best forLogging from a photo with as little effort as possible.

Worth knowingIt’s part of MyFitnessPal, so it isn’t a way to leave the company. Its FAQ says it can’t yet import your MyFitnessPal history and is about 80% accurate. Scan results need a subscription, and the App Store lists prices from $2.99 to $29.99 without saying which period each covers. Our AI calorie counter guide compares it with other photo apps, including SnapCalorie.

Retenna Ours

Cost

Free early access, with founding pricing for life

Where

Coming to iPhone, Android and the web

Status

Not out yet; early access is open

Retenna isn’t a calorie counter with extras. It’s every lifestyle expert in one app, and its nutritionist counts calories and nutrients (counting is a health feature, for adults aged 18 and over) with logging made light: an advanced 3D scan of your plate that reads what’s there and how much, barcodes, nutrition labels, your voice or a few typed words, and one tap for meals it planned or ones you have often. It reads restaurant menus and the order emails you choose to share, sets your calorie targets and adapts them as you go, and brings your history over from apps such as MyFitnessPal. Then it puts what you log to work. It plans your meals and the shop around where you’ll be, your training, what’s in your kitchen, your budget, your allergies and everyone at your table, and it shares one picture of your week with your trainer, your planner, your personal shopper and the people you love.

Best forPeople who want more than a number at the end of the day.

Worth knowingIt isn’t out yet, so you can’t switch today: keep your current app, and join early access to hear first. Retenna is coming to iPhone, Android and the web. The UK will be one of the first countries, and we’ll confirm the others nearer the time. Its personal shopper never takes commission, uses affiliate links or shows paid placements, and we never sell your information.

And MyFitnessPal itself: what it still does well

Cost

Free; Premium $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year; Premium+ $99.99 a year

Where

iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch, web

App Store

4.7 from 2.4M ratings

To be fair to MyFitnessPal, it’s still the one to beat on reach and data. Its database holds over 20 million foods, including more than 68,000 brands and 380 restaurants. Its AI Coach, launched in June, answers from your diary and can now read a photo of your fridge and suggest meals. Premium+ adds a meal planner that, when we checked on 22 October, planned around allergies, budget, cooking time and how many you’re feeding, with grocery delivery. Since January its recipes and calorie targets have also been available inside ChatGPT.

Worth staying ifYou rely on its database for branded and restaurant food, you use the Coach or the meal planner, and you’re happy to pay for Premium, which removes the ads and adds the scanner. When we checked on 22 October, the Coach was on iPhone only, in English, in six countries.

Where Retenna goes further

Switching from one tracker to another changes the price, the ads and how quickly you log. It doesn’t change what the numbers are for. Every app here counts; the difference is what happens next.

Yes

The maker documents it.

Partly

A lighter version: calorie targets you set, or that are worked out from your profile, rather than ones the maker says adapt as you go; a meal suggestion, targets for each meal, or ready-made plans for a diet and a calorie goal, rather than a planned week; targets for each day that you set yourself rather than meals fitted to your training; dietary restrictions rather than allergies; grocery lists without the shop; or a serving count rather than each person at the table.

–Dash

Not mentioned in the maker’s own materials. That doesn’t prove it can’t.

The top rows are where the best trackers meet, and Retenna is built to match them, with a 3D scan that reads the volume of what’s on your plate and, like MacroFactor, targets that adapt as you go. It’s also built to bring your MyFitnessPal history with you, which none of the others mentions. Beyond that, every tracker here, MyFitnessPal included, is built around the count. Retenna is built around your week. What you log teaches it the meals you actually make, so next week leans on them. It tells your trainer how you’ve eaten around hard sessions, and when leg day moves, a high-protein dinner is ready that night. Your personal shopper knows what’s running low. And it plans around your allergies and the foods you avoid, for you and for everyone you cook for. Always check labels: it isn’t medical advice.

If you want one app for more of your life than food, our guide to all-in-one lifestyle apps compares the options.

Your first weeks with Retenna, coming from a tracker

A tracker starts from a blank diary every morning. Retenna starts from you, and learns more every week, into one living model of you that every expert shares. You can see, change or forget any of it.

1. Day one It brings your food diary over from apps such as MyFitnessPal, so you don’t start from a blank page. Then it asks: who you cook for, any allergies and foods anyone avoids, your weekly food budget and your usual supermarket. You share the recipes you love, from websites, cooking videos or a photo of a cookbook page, snap the fridge and cupboards, and connect what you choose, such as your calendar and Apple Health, Health Connect, Samsung Health and more.
2. Within weeks It suggests. It has learned your usual breakfast, so logging it is one tap, and from what you log, it has noticed you order in on late nights unless dinner is ready, so before a late Tuesday it suggests cooking double on Monday, and waits for your yes.
3. In time It decides the way you would. A week of meals planned around where you’ll be, a smaller shop when you’re away, the veg box skipped, and your targets adapted as your training and your body change, all done and explained, with an Undo.

Here’s a week a few months in. You’re home Monday to Thursday, out on Wednesday and away from Friday. Alex is in on Monday and Thursday and doesn’t eat meat, and your trainer has just moved leg day to Tuesday. You log as you go, mostly with one tap. Each note is what Retenna would show you, with its reason.

Everything you ate is logged and counted, most of it with one tap. But the week also comes in £42 under your usual one, with protein when leg day needs it and nothing left to go off while you’re away. That’s the work a tracker leaves to you.

You stay in chargeYou choose what Retenna simply does and tells you about after, and what waits for your yes. New spending asks first, anything that involves another person always asks first, and every plan comes with its reason and an Undo. Keep undoing the same kind of plan, and it notices and suggests a rule.

How to switch without losing your history

Years of meals, weights and habits are worth keeping. Here’s how to take them with you.

1. Export before you cancel. MyFitnessPal’s file export, which emails your nutrition, progress and exercise history as spreadsheet files, is a Premium feature. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information through its privacy rights process.
2. Bring it over to Retenna. Retenna is built to bring your history over from other apps: your food diary from apps such as MyFitnessPal, your workout history from apps such as Fitbod, Strong and Hevy, and more. It isn’t out yet, so keep your diary where it is until you can bring it over.
3. Elsewhere, don’t count on a direct import. None of the other apps above mentions importing a MyFitnessPal food diary on the pages we checked, and Cal AI’s FAQ says it can’t yet. If you switch to one of them, keep your export as a record and start the new diary fresh.
4. Bring your weight and activity through your phone. If they’re in Apple Health, apps that read it, such as Lifesum, can pick up your weight there.
5. Write down what you’ll want again. Your goals, your targets and the foods and recipes you log most, so setting up the new app takes minutes.
6. Cancel in the right place. If you pay through the App Store or Google Play, cancel there: deleting the app doesn’t stop the subscription. Apple and Google explain how for iPhone and Android.
7. Delete your account if you want your data gone. Cancelling doesn’t delete it. MyFitnessPal’s privacy rights page explains how to ask for deletion.

How to choose

If you want another tracker, one of these will do it, and some do it better than MyFitnessPal for your reason. If you want your counting to plan your meals as part of your whole week, that’s Retenna.

For another tracker

• CronometerDetailed nutrients, with a free barcode scannerPhoto and voice need Gold.
• FatSecretA free diary with the scanner and photo recognition included
• MacroFactorTargets that adapt each week, and no adsNo free tier.
• Lose It!A simple daily calorie budgetThe scanner needs Premium, as on MyFitnessPal.
• LifesumCounting with meal plans and a weekly Life Score
• Cal AIQuick photo loggingOwned by MyFitnessPal.

For more than a tracker

What to check before you trust one

• How you feel about counting. Counting isn’t right for everyone, and switching apps is a good moment to ask how it feels. Retenna has a gentle mode for this: it tracks without numbers, just balance, protein or veg, and you can pause counting at any time. If tracking food makes you anxious, or you have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor before you start again in a new app. The NHS has advice on eating disorders and where to get help.
• Health limits. Retenna’s experts, and the apps compared here, are not doctors, registered dietitians, physiotherapists or therapists. If you’re managing a medical condition, or medication that affects how you eat, get advice from a professional.
• Allergies. No app, ours included, can promise a meal or a product is safe. Always check labels: it isn’t medical advice.
• Privacy. Read whether your data is sold, shared for advertising or used to train AI, and whether you can export and delete it, before you log a single meal.
• What’s really free. Check which ways of logging come with the free plan, and whether the price shown is for a month, a year or an introductory offer.

Where Retenna fits

Questions

Sources

• MyFitnessPal: Premium, 2026 Winter Release, MyFitnessPal Ads, Cal AI acquisition, AI Coach launch, Coach help, Meal Planner, ChatGPT app, data export, privacy rights, privacy policy, App Store
• Cronometer: Gold, Crono Coach, privacy policy, App Store
• Lose It!: App Store, Calorie Schedule, privacy policy
• MacroFactor: how to log food, AI food logging, privacy notice, App Store
• FatSecret: App Store
• Lifesum: App Store
• Cal AI: website, FAQ, MyFitnessPal’s blog post, App Store; third party: TechCrunch
• Switching: Apple, cancel a subscription, Google Play, cancel a subscription
• Health: NHS, eating disorders

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