MacroFactor
Cronometer
MacroFactor
CronometerMacroFactor and Cronometer are two of the most careful trackers you can use, and they’re careful about different things. MacroFactor is built around your targets. It works out what you burn and changes your calories each week. Cronometer is built around nutrients. It tracks more of them, from lab-analyzed food data, and leaves the targets to you.
Adaptive targets vs targets you set
This is where the two apps differ most. MacroFactor works out what you burn from what you log and how your trend weight moves—“a deterministic calculation based on your calorie intake and change in trend weight”, it says. A weekly check-in, on a day you choose, updates your targets from that number. You can let it set everything, or split the work and set some of it yourself. MacroFactor publishes its own accuracy figures for these estimates.
Cronometer lets you set your own target for each macro and nutrient, on the free plan. Your targets stay where you put them until you change them. Gold’s macro scheduler sets different macro targets for each day of the week.
Micronutrient tracking
If you track vitamins and minerals, Cronometer goes deeper. It tracks up to 84 nutrients on Basic, and more on Gold, each with a target you can set.
MacroFactor tracks 54 items, from macro- and micronutrients to alcohol, caffeine and water, and you can set a floor, a target and a ceiling for any of them. For most people, 54 covers what matters. If you follow a specific vitamin or amino acid, check that it’s on MacroFactor’s list.
Food database accuracy
Both apps check their foods. 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”, and every food submitted to it goes through a verification process. It has more than 1 million foods.
MacroFactor’s search holds around 1.36 million verified foods, plus 4 million more in its barcode database. Products that people submit are checked before they’re added. About 26,500 of its common foods have complete micronutrient data, much of it from the same NCC research database.
Price and free plans
Cronometer’s free plan, Basic, includes the barcode scanner, up to 84 nutrients, custom targets, and data export. It shows ads. Gold removes the ads and adds photo and voice logging, longer reports and the macro scheduler. In the US, Gold costs $59.99 a year, or $10.99 a month.
MacroFactor has no free plan. To the question of a free version, its product page answers “No, there isn’t (and will never be) a free version”. After a 7-day trial, it costs $71.99 a year, $47.99 for six months, or $11.99 a month, with every feature in that one plan. That’s a little more than Gold, by the month and by the year.
Photo, voice and barcode logging
MacroFactor includes all three in its one plan. Its AI Food Logging fills a plate with editable entries from its database, and you make any edits before you log. Describe lets you speak or type a meal.
Cronometer’s barcode scanner is free. Its Photo Log and Voice Logging need Gold. Both use what you show or say to suggest foods from its database, and you choose the right ones.
Trackers, health data and the web
Cronometer syncs with activity trackers on the free plan, among them Garmin, Oura, WHOOP and Fitbit, as well as Apple Health and Health Connect. It also runs in a browser, so you can log on a computer.
Cronometer also keeps health data beside your food. You can add readings such as blood glucose and ketones to your diary, or import them from a Dexcom glucose monitor or a Keto-Mojo meter. Gold adds a fasting timer and more charts, among them glucose. If you eat keto or watch your blood sugar, that puts your readings next to your meals.
MacroFactor runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple Watch, but not in a browser. It tracks body measurements and progress photos, and lets you mark a fasting day, but its help center doesn’t mention glucose or ketones. It doesn’t use calorie burn from a watch or tracker to set your targets, since it measures what you burn from your intake and weight instead.
Switching apps and exporting your data
Neither app can import your food log from another app. MacroFactor brings in daily calorie and macro totals through Apple Health or Health Connect, not the foods, and Cronometer’s help center describes no way to bring in a diary. Either way, you start your food log again.
Both let you take your data out. MacroFactor exports spreadsheets of your food log and progress, and Cronometer exports CSV files on any plan.
Where Fit Shapes fits
Both apps leave gaps. MacroFactor has no free plan, and it costs more than Cronometer Gold. Cronometer puts photo and voice logging in Gold, and leaves your targets to you. In both, a photo gives you a list of foods to check before the meal is logged, and neither can import your food log from another app.
Fit Shapes sits between the two. Like MacroFactor, it adjusts your targets as you go. Each week, Adaptive Targets proposes a new set from what you eat and weigh, calories and macros together. Like Cronometer, it tracks vitamins and minerals, not only macros. A photo logs the meal instantly, and every subscription includes photo, voice and barcode logging. It has no ads, doesn’t sell your data, and costs less than half as much as MacroFactor. It also imports your data from MacroFactor and Cronometer. So if you decide to switch, you can bring your history with you.
The catch is that Fit Shapes has no free plan, while Cronometer’s free plan includes barcode scanning and detailed nutrients. After the 14-day free trial, you pay for a subscription.
Questions
Is MacroFactor better than Cronometer?
Neither is better for everyone. MacroFactor suits you if you want targets that adjust each week and every feature in one plan. Cronometer suits you if you want a free plan, the most nutrient detail, or to log on a computer.
Is Cronometer cheaper than MacroFactor?
Yes. Cronometer has a free plan, Basic, and Gold costs $59.99 a year or $10.99 a month. MacroFactor has no free plan, and costs $71.99 a year or $11.99 a month.
Does Cronometer adjust your calories like MacroFactor?
No. Cronometer uses the targets you set, and Gold can vary your macros by day of the week. MacroFactor works out what you burn from your intake and weight trend, and updates your targets at a weekly check-in.
Does Cronometer or MacroFactor track more nutrients?
Cronometer. It tracks up to 84 nutrients on its free plan, and more on Gold. MacroFactor tracks 54, and lets you set a goal for any of them.
Is MacroFactor or Cronometer more accurate?
We found no outside test that compares them. Both check the foods in their search. Cronometer’s come from lab-analyzed sources, and about 26,500 of MacroFactor’s common foods carry complete nutrient data from the same kind of research database.
Can I use MacroFactor or Cronometer on a computer?
Only Cronometer. It runs in a browser as well as on iPhone and Android. MacroFactor runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and Apple Watch, with no web app.
Can I move my Cronometer diary to MacroFactor?
No. MacroFactor brings in daily calorie and macro totals from Apple Health or Health Connect, up to 30 days back, but not the food log.
Sources
- MacroFactor, apps.apple.com/us/app/macrofactor-macro-tracker/id1553503471, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, macrofactor.com/macrofactor/, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/258-ai-food-logging, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/216-log-foods-with-describe, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/247-introduction-to-check-ins-and-coaching-modules, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/36-where-is-my-nutrition-synced, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/68-export-your-data, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, help.macrofactorapp.com/en/articles/46-food-search-database, checked October 15, 2026
- MacroFactor, macrofactor.com/macrofactor-vs-myfitnesspal-2025/, checked October 15, 2026
- 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, support.cronometer.com/hc/en-us/articles/47549391461780-Mobile-Voice-Logging, checked October 15, 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
