Review
MyFitnessPal
The default calorie tracker for over a decade.
Overview
MyFitnessPal is the household name in calorie tracking. Its strength is breadth — the largest crowdsourced food database in the category and integrations with virtually every fitness device. Its weakness, also a function of crowdsourcing, is variable accuracy: identical foods can have wildly different entries depending on who created them.
Strong points
- Largest food database, including most restaurant chains
- Wide integrations with wearables and fitness apps
- Familiar UX that most users already know
- Solid barcode scanner
Weak points
- Crowdsourced entries vary in quality — accuracy depends on which entry you pick
- Heavy paywall on features that used to be free (barcode, macros, exports)
- AI logging exists but lags behind Welling and Cal AI
Who it's best for
- Users who eat a lot of branded or restaurant food
- People who want a tracker their friends and trainer already use
- Light tracking — quick daily totals without coaching
Fact sheet
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Web |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Free tier; Premium ≈ $20/mo or $80/yr |
| Logging methods | Manual, barcode, photo (Premium), recipe import |
| AI estimation | Yes — improving, limited on free tier |
| Macro tracking | Yes (Premium for custom goals) |
| Database size | 14M+ crowdsourced entries |
| App Store rating | 4.7 ★ |
Best alternative to MyFitnessPal
Recommended alternative
Welling
Regain control of your diet with AI.
Welling solves the two issues MyFitnessPal users complain about most: slow logging and inconsistent crowdsourced entries. Photo logging is three seconds, macros are accurate to ±1.9%, and core features are not paywalled the way MyFitnessPal Premium has paywalled them.
Read the Welling review →FAQ
Is MyFitnessPal still free?
There is a free tier, but several historically free features (barcode scanning, custom macros, data exports) now require Premium.
Why do the same foods have different calorie counts?
Entries are crowdsourced. Verified entries are marked, and picking those reduces the variance considerably.
How does MyFitnessPal compare to Welling?
MyFitnessPal wins on database breadth and integrations. Welling wins on logging speed, AI estimation accuracy, and adherence.