Cronometer
MyFitnessPal
Cronometer
MyFitnessPalCronometer and MyFitnessPal both log food, calories and macros. They differ in where their food data comes from, what the free plan includes, and how much nutrient detail you see.
Food data: lab-analyzed, or added by users
Cronometer says its foods come from lab-analyzed sources, such as the NCCDB, the USDA’s SR28, and the Canadian Nutrient File, “not crowd-sourced guesses”. Every food submitted to it goes through a verification process.
MyFitnessPal’s database is a combination of foods added by MyFitnessPal and foods added by its users, and it is much bigger. It has over 20.5 million foods, including restaurant dishes, against Cronometer’s more than 1 million. You are more likely to find the exact branded or restaurant item you ate. Because users add foods, the same food can also appear several times with different values, so check the entry you choose.
What one study found
In a 2025 study, two researchers entered the same three-day food records from 43 Canadian endurance athletes into both apps. The researchers compared the totals with a reference database. Cronometer’s totals for energy, protein, carbohydrate and fat were close to the reference, and the two researchers’ totals agreed closely. MyFitnessPal’s totals agreed less well. For energy, the two researchers’ totals differed by about 225 kcal a day on average, against about 18 kcal in Cronometer.
The study is small. Its participants joined in 2020, and both databases have changed since. It shows how consistently two people can log the same food in each app, not how accurate either app is for your own meals.
Free plans
Cronometer’s free plan, Basic, includes the barcode scanner, up to 84 nutrients, and custom targets for macros and micronutrients. Its reports cover 7 days.
MyFitnessPal’s free plan logs food and exercise, saves your own foods and recipes, and sets calorie and macro goals by percentage. The barcode scanner has needed Premium since October 2022, and so have Meal Scan and data export.
Both free plans show ads.
Nutrient detail
If you track vitamins and minerals, Cronometer is built for it. It tracks up to 84 nutrients on Basic, and more on Gold, each with a target you can set. MyFitnessPal’s free plan shows your macronutrients, and Premium adds “deeper nutrition breakdowns”. It does not publish how many nutrients it tracks.
Photo logging and the paid plans
Both apps put photo logging in the paid plan. Both use the photo to suggest foods from their database, and you choose the right ones before you log. Cronometer’s Photo Log is in Gold. MyFitnessPal’s Meal Scan is in Premium. MyFitnessPal calls its suggestions “a starting point, not a final answer”. Both paid plans remove ads.
Targets
MyFitnessPal sets your calorie goal from your profile and the weekly rate you choose. It offers to recalculate it with every ten pounds you lose. When you log exercise, it raises that day’s goal. Premium lets you set different goals by day or by meal.
Cronometer lets you set your own target for each macro and nutrient on the free plan. Gold’s macro scheduler sets different macro targets for each day of the week.
Moving your MyFitnessPal history to Cronometer
MyFitnessPal’s export needs Premium or Premium+. It emails a ZIP of three CSV files, and the nutrition file holds the totals for each meal, not the foods in it.
We found no way to import that file, or a MyFitnessPal diary, into Cronometer. Its help center does not mention MyFitnessPal. In its forum, staff said in 2019 and 2020 that importing was not a feature, and have announced nothing since. Cronometer can sync data from other apps and devices, and Gold imports recipes from websites. Neither moves a diary. Keep your MyFitnessPal export as a record of your history.
Where Fit Shapes fits
Fit Shapes is both a food logger and an adaptive coach. Take a photo of a meal, and it logs the meal at once. You can edit it afterward. Each week it proposes a change to your targets from your food and weight history, and you decide whether to accept it. It also tracks vitamins and minerals, and it imports your MyFitnessPal meal totals and weigh-ins. It has no free plan.
Questions
Is Cronometer more accurate than MyFitnessPal?
No study shows which app is accurate for your own meals. One 2025 study found that Cronometer’s totals stayed closer to a reference database, and varied less between two people logging the same food. Cronometer’s foods come from lab-analyzed sources. MyFitnessPal’s include foods its users add.
Is Cronometer free?
Yes. Basic is free, with ads, and includes the barcode scanner. Gold adds photo and voice logging, more nutrients, and reports over any date range.
Can I move my MyFitnessPal diary to Cronometer?
Not that we could find. Cronometer documents no MyFitnessPal import, and MyFitnessPal’s export, which needs Premium, holds meal totals rather than the foods you logged.
Sources
- Cronometer, cronometer.com/, checked October 14, 2026
- Cronometer, cronometer.com/gold/, checked October 14, 2026
- Cronometer, cronometer.com/blog/photo-logging/, checked October 14, 2026
- Cronometer, cronometer.com/blog/how-to-use-the-barcode-scanner/, checked October 14, 2026
- Cronometer, support.cronometer.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018760151-Account-Settings, checked October 14, 2026
- Cronometer, cronometer.com/features/accurate-databases.html, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402625100941-Supported-Devices, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/15457546881805-What-is-included-in-the-free-version, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, myfitnesspal.com/premium, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045761612-How-to-use-the-Meal-Scanner, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032624771-How-to-use-the-Barcode-Scanner, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032271472-How-can-I-force-my-calorie-goals-to-update, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032273352-Export-your-nutrition-progress-and-exercise-data, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032271252-Where-does-MyFitnessPal-get-its-food-data, checked October 14, 2026
- MyFitnessPal, support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/34889191368077-The-difference-between-Free-Premium-and-Premium, checked October 14, 2026