MacroFactor vs Cronometer: Targets or Micronutrients?

MacroFactor vs Cronometer is a choice between a calorie target built from what you eat and how your weight moves, and a log with up to 95 nutrients. MacroFactor is the first. Cronometer is the second, and it also has a $0 plan. In the US the yearly plans were $71.99 and $59.99 when I checked.

MacroFactor vs Cronometer: how does each set your calorie target?

MacroFactor’s site explains the method: calories in, minus the change in stored energy, equals calories out. If you eat about 3000 calories and your weight says you’re in a 200-calorie daily surplus, it puts your expenditure at about 2800. It ignores smartwatch and activity-tracker data on purpose, because it says they estimate expenditure poorly.

Cronometer works forward, from a profile. By default the Energy Target comes from your Weight Goal, your profile and your expenditure settings. Its own example is a user on Maintain Weight. BMR is 1394 kcal and baseline activity is 279 kcal, a total of 1673 kcal. Log an hour of road biking at 500 kcal, or import it from a device, and the target rises to 2155 kcal. Set a Custom Energy Target and the Weight Goal switches off.

So one app learns your burn from outcomes, and the other estimates it and then adds whatever exercise you record. Each can go wrong in its own way. The first needs honest food logs and weigh-ins, since a half-logged day lowers its estimate. The second needs a decent starting estimate and activity data you trust.

To see this on your own numbers, record the target each app gives you on day one and again after three weeks, then check which one moved with your scale.

Which app tracks micronutrients better?

Cronometer tracks more, going by its own numbers. Its Gold page lists up to 95 nutrients and other compounds, but the mobile layout of the same table says 84. Both plans get custom macro and micronutrient targets. Gold adds Oracle Nutrient Search, which suggests foods that are good sources of a nutrient you want more of.

MacroFactor tracks micronutrients too, but the pages I opened give no count. By default the app sets and updates your goals from your age, sex, weight and program. Each goal has a floor, a target and a ceiling, and you can edit any of the three. If a doctor gave you numbers, either app takes them.

To see what depth buys, I compared one food across two USDA records. A cup of boiled lentils is 198 g. Without salt, the first record gives 116 kcal per 100 g and 2 mg of sodium, so 230 kcal and 4 mg in the cup. With salt, the second record gives 114 kcal and 238 mg per 100 g, so 226 kcal and 471 mg.

USDA record (SR Legacy)	Portion	Energy	Sodium
Lentils, boiled, without salt (FDC ID 172421)	198 g (1 cup)	230 kcal	4 mg
Lentils, boiled, with salt (FDC ID 175254)	198 g (1 cup)	226 kcal	471 mg

Same cup, different record. The two sit 4 kcal apart and 467 mg of sodium apart. A calories-only log can’t tell them apart. An app that tracks sodium can, but only if you pick the right record. That’s the case for a deep nutrient view, and its price.

What does each one cost, and what comes without paying?

Cronometer’s Basic plan costs $0 and includes the barcode scanner, a database of over 1M foods, custom targets and reports within a 7-day window. Gold is $10.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly on the US site. MacroFactor has no $0 plan, only a seven-day trial, per its App Store listing. I found no trial length for Cronometer Gold. The MacroFactor side of the bill is itemized in MacroFactor cost.

Here are the first monthly and annual lines on each country’s App Store page. Canadian and Australian prices are in local dollars.

Country	Cronometer Gold monthly	Cronometer Gold annual	MacroFactor monthly	MacroFactor annual
United States	$10.99	$59.99	$11.99	$71.99
United Kingdom	£9.99	£59.99	£10.99	£62.99
Canada	$14.99	$79.99	$15.49	$90.99
Australia	$18.99	$99.99	$17.49	$103.99

On yearly plans MacroFactor costs more in all four countries. The gaps are $12.00 in the US, £3.00 in the UK, $11.00 in Canada and $4.00 in Australia. Monthly plans split. Cronometer is cheaper in three of the four, and MacroFactor is $1.50 cheaper in Australia.

What the money unlocks differs more than the price does. On Cronometer, search and the barcode scanner are included. Photo logging, voice logging and the recipe importer need Gold, and so does dropping the ads and lifting the 7-day reports window. On MacroFactor, scanning, photo logging and recipe import all sit behind the subscription, so there is no free tier to set beside Cronometer’s Basic. Both let you take your data out. Cronometer lists exporting all raw data among its Basic features, as a CSV file, and MacroFactor exports spreadsheets.

Which should you pick?

For a target that follows your weight, MacroFactor fits, provided you’ll log every day. Pick Cronometer if you care about vitamins and minerals, want a plan at $0, or work from nutrient targets someone else gave you. Add Gold for photo and voice logging. If your targets are percentage splits, Macroline app alternative shows how those can disagree with grams per kilogram. And if the real alternative in your head is a free app with a huge database, read MacroFactor vs MyFitnessPal.

How I’d decide, case by case:

• If you skip weigh-ins for weeks, take Cronometer, since the adaptive method has nothing to read.
• If you eat out often and log by estimate, take Cronometer, since a rough log won’t corrupt a target.
• If you’re changing your weight on purpose and want the numbers to keep up, take MacroFactor.
• If a doctor asked you to track a mineral, either works. Keep the doctor’s numbers as the targets.

Don’t run both for long. Keep both and the same dinner ends up with two different numbers, because you guessed the portion twice, and soon you believe neither. Pick the one you’re curious about and give it two weeks, using the checks in how to choose a calorie counter app.

Is there a third option next to MacroFactor and Cronometer?

Calsa sits between them on depth. It shows calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber and sugar, with more nutrients on request, and every entry carries its source and a line for the calculation.

	MacroFactor	Cronometer	Calsa
Plan at $0	None; seven-day trial	Basic	None; the price and trial length are shown before the questions
Calorie target	From logged food and weight trend	From a Weight Goal, profile and recorded activity	A suggested new goal when your trend calls for it
Nutrients	Micronutrients with floor, target and ceiling	Up to 95 nutrients and compounds	Six by default, more on request
Where it runs	iPhone and Android	Web, iPhone and Android	Web, iPhone and Android

Where Calsa is weaker: it shows six nutrients by default where Cronometer lists up to 95, and it has no coached program that rewrites your target the way MacroFactor’s does. The food database is smaller. There’s no watch app, widget, meal plan or manual workout logging, and every plan needs a subscription.

Choose something else if you want Cronometer’s nutrient depth, MacroFactor’s weekly coaching, a plan at $0 or a watch app.

Give whichever you pick two weeks of real meals, oil and weekends included. A tidy week would flatter either app.

Calsa smooths your weigh-ins into a trend and suggests a new goal when the trend calls for one, and the decision stays yours.