Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal: Data, Price and Daily Use

These two split most clearly at the free version. On the US App Store, Cronometer’s yearly plan, “Gold Annual”, was $59.99 and MyFitnessPal’s “Annual Premium” was $79.99. Cronometer’s free version includes a barcode scanner and a data export. In MyFitnessPal both sit behind the paid plan.

Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal: which has more food data?

MyFitnessPal lists the larger database by count, and Cronometer lists the smaller one with more nutrient detail. The MyFitnessPal listing says “20.5M+ foods, including restaurant dishes”. The Cronometer listing says a curated database of more than 1.1 million foods, and tracking of 95+ vitamins and minerals.

The ratio is about 19 to 1, and I wouldn’t read much into it. The listings don’t say what each app counts as one food. MyFitnessPal’s help center also says you can add foods that are missing from the database yourself, so part of that count comes from users. Cronometer’s help center says its free version gives all users nutrition data from lab-analyzed sources.

A bigger count settles little, so check whether the foods you eat each week are in there, with the nutrients you care about.

Run a test with five foods you eat often. Search each one in both apps and write down the calories per 100 g and whichever micronutrient you track. Two minutes shows which database fits your kitchen, and the checks in the best calorie counter app guide extend the same test to any other app.

What does each free version include?

The free tier is where they differ most, and Cronometer includes more of the logging tools. Here are the two help center lists, one column each:

	Cronometer Basic	MyFitnessPal Free
Barcode scanner	included	Premium only
Photo logging	Gold	Premium (Meal Scan)
Voice logging	Gold	Premium
Data export	included (CSV of all raw data)	Premium only
Fasting timer	Gold	Premium
Macro targets by day of week	Gold (Macro Scheduler)	Premium (goals by day)
Ads	removed in Gold	removed in Premium
AI assistant	Gold (Crono Coach)	Premium, iOS only (Coach)

On the free side, Cronometer has one clear limit. Reports and charts cover a 7-day window, per the Gold page, and longer ranges, custom charts and print reports are Gold.

MyFitnessPal’s free version draws the line elsewhere. Per the export article, data export is for paid members, while free users can print a report or share the diary. Free also covers food and exercise logging, goals by percentage, your own foods and recipes, and partner apps.

If you scan packages all day, read the barcode row first, because that is where the two apps part ways.

How do the prices compare?

In the US, Cronometer is cheaper on both plans. Elsewhere the store listings are too tangled to call. All prices below are from the App Store.

Start with the US. Cronometer’s website shows Gold at $59.99 a year, shown as $4.99 a month, or $10.99 billed monthly. MyFitnessPal’s yearly plan is $79.99, which is about $6.67 a month, and its monthly plan is $19.99, according to the company’s membership guide. Twelve months on each monthly plan cost $131.88 and $239.88.

The break-even point is simple division. Cronometer’s yearly price equals about 5.5 monthly payments ($59.99 divided by $10.99), and MyFitnessPal’s equals 4 ($79.99 divided by $19.99). If you’d stay longer than that, the yearly plan is the cheaper one. If you aren’t sure, start monthly and switch when you’ve passed the mark.

Storefront	Cronometer Gold	MyFitnessPal Premium
US	Gold Annual $59.99, Gold Monthly $10.99	Annual Premium $79.99, Monthly Premium $19.99
UK	Gold Annual £59.99, Gold Monthly £9.99	Yearly and Annual Premium £39.99 to £64.99, monthly £7.99 and £15.99
Canada	Gold Annual $79.99, Gold Monthly $14.99	Yearly and Annual Premium $69.99 to $114.99, monthly $13.99 and $27.99
Australia	Gold Annual $99.99, Gold Monthly $18.99	Yearly and Annual Premium $79.99 to $129.99, monthly $14.99 and $29.99

One caution on that table: the store pages give names and prices but no billing periods. MyFitnessPal’s pages carry several entries under similar names, so the UK, Canada and Australia ranges don’t show a winner. The US prices are the clean comparison. For Cronometer against another US plan at $79.99 a year, see Cronometer vs Lose It, and for a UK app that sets its own prices, the Nutracheck reviews. Cronometer’s UK, Canada and Australia pages list the same Gold names. The UK and Canada show one price per name, and Australia shows two for “Gold Monthly”.

I couldn’t find a trial length for Gold on the pages I opened. MyFitnessPal says only that it offers a Premium trial on occasion, and that the length varies by account.

Which one is easier to use every day?

It depends on how you log. Both let you search and sync devices, and the gap is in what’s free and what’s paid. If a lesson plan matters more than a log, Noom vs MyFitnessPal puts a program next to a tracker.

Free Cronometer scans barcodes, per its store listing. Photo and voice logging, a recipe importer that reads a web address, and Repeat Items, which schedule foods into the diary, are Gold. MyFitnessPal’s free version builds a recipe by hand or from a web address, per its help article. Scanning, Meal Scan and voice are paid.

On devices, the Cronometer listing names Apple Health, Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura and Whoop. MyFitnessPal’s says “40+” trackers, watches and health apps. MyFitnessPal also lists a water tracker, a community and GLP-1 dose logging, and a fasting tracker that is a Premium feature. I found no water tracker or community on Cronometer’s pages.

The App Store privacy labels matter just as much in daily use. Both App Store pages declare data used to track you: identifiers and usage data for MyFitnessPal, and contact info, identifiers and usage data for Cronometer. Developers fill these in, and Apple doesn’t verify them.

Log the same breakfast in both apps and note how many taps pass before a paid feature gets in the way.

Where does Calsa fit?

Calsa sits outside this pairing: it is paid, and it shows the price, trial and cancel path before any question. Barcode scanning, photo logging and a full export are in every plan. Plans differ in the AI chat.

Calsa takes its calories from a food database and shows the source and the grams behind each entry. You can download everything you’ve logged on any plan. When a subscription ends you can still read, export and delete your diary, and your history is there if you come back. The database is smaller than either app above, which matters if you eat unusual foods.

The comparison covers 15 calorie trackers sold in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, checked against their websites, help centers and App Store pages. The paid screens were never opened.

	In the category (of 15 apps, checked 8 Oct 2026)	Calsa
Source of each number	0 of 15 show the database source of every number; 9 show a check badge or a “checked by nutritionists” claim without it	every number shows its source and database release; an unconfirmed amount is marked “estimate”
Tracking	2 of 15 declare no tracking; 13 of 15 declare tracking	no tracking; health data is used only to run the service

Where Calsa is weaker: every plan is paid once the trial ends, and next to these two it has no manual workout logging, no Apple Watch app or widget, no meal plans or fasting, and a smaller food database.

Choose something else if a zero-cost plan, a watch app or a database with millions of entries matters more to you than a source on every number.