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MacroFactor vs MyFitnessPal for lifters

Which nutrition app fits someone who lifts, compared on adaptive calories, protein targets for training days, what's free, and what each one does with your workouts. Facts checked 2026-11-03.

Andrew MonrealFounder, Arrow··7 min read

If you lift and you'll pay, I'd pick MacroFactor. At $71.99 a year, it recalculates your expenditure from your logged intake and trend weight and adjusts your targets at weekly check-ins. MyFitnessPal is the better pick if you want to start free, want the bigger database (20.5M+ foods, including restaurant dishes) or want different macro goals for training days, which is a Premium feature at $79.99 a year. Neither one changes your protein or carbs based on how your training is going. If you don't care how your food connects to your lifting, you can stop here. Arrow, which I make, only matters if you want those two read together.

Disclosure: I make Arrow, which comes up near the end as a third option. We didn't run a hands-on logging test for this page. Every MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal fact below comes from their own App Store listings, website or help center, checked 2026-11-03.

Who this page is for: people who lift and track food. Arrow is built for lifters who want training and macros in one app and read together. If you only want to count calories, or you don't lift, MacroFactor or MyFitnessPal is the better fit and Arrow isn't worth your money.

01Do your calories adjust on their own?

MacroFactor does, and it shows its math. Its help center describes the expenditure estimate as a calculation from your calorie intake and the change in your trend weight. If your trend says you've been in a 200 kcal surplus while eating about 3,000 kcal, it estimates your expenditure at about 2,800. Weekly check-ins then adjust your calorie and macro targets. It's also "adherence-neutral," meaning you don't have to hit last week's targets for the next adjustment to be sensible.

MyFitnessPal doesn't, on its own pages. We found no weight-trend calorie adjustment on its listing or Premium page as of 2026-11-03. Its listing and Premium page (checked 2026-11-03) offer customized calorie and macro goals and an AI Coach that gives tips based on your history, but neither describes a target that recalculates from your weight trend. You set the goal, and you change it yourself.

For a lifter, I think this is the biggest difference. MacroFactor's check-ins are built to catch a bulk that drifts to maintenance or a cut that stalls, and in MyFitnessPal you have to catch it yourself. Our page on apps that adjust calories from your weight trend explains how adaptive TDEE works in more detail.

02Can you set a protein target that fits training days?

MyFitnessPal Premium lets you set unique macro goals for each day of the week, "to align with your workout schedule," per its Premium page. That's useful if you eat more carbs on lifting days, and you can view macros in grams or percentages.

MacroFactor offers custom macro programs built around your goals and preferences, per its listing, with weekly check-ins adjusting them.

Both give you a protein number. If you want different macros on training and rest days without doing the math, MyFitnessPal Premium does that more directly than MacroFactor today.

03What's free and what's paid?

MacroFactor MyFitnessPal
Free tier None Yes: food, weight and exercise tracking
Barcode scan Included Premium
Meal scan / voice log Not listed on the pages we checked Premium
Database Verified food database 20.5M+ foods, including restaurant dishes
Micronutrients Detailed breakdowns Custom targets for sodium, fiber and more
Ads Ad-free Ads on free; Premium is ad-free

MacroFactor's pitch is accuracy ("verified food database"), and MyFitnessPal's is size. Size probably matters more if you eat out a lot, and much less if you cook the same ten meals.

04What does a lifter pay per year?

  • MacroFactor: $71.99/year, $47.99/6 months or $11.99/month. Adding MacroFactor Workouts makes it an $89.99/year bundle.
  • MyFitnessPal: $0, or Premium at $79.99/year or $19.99/month.

Between these two, the cheapest setup is MyFitnessPal free plus a free gym log. If you want adaptive calories, MacroFactor is the only one of the two that offers them, and at $71.99 a year it also costs less than MyFitnessPal Premium.

05What does each app do with your training?

MyFitnessPal logs workouts and steps to count calories burned. MacroFactor's nutrition app doesn't take training data into its targets, and MacroFactor's help center says its Nutrition and Workouts apps "do not automatically adjust training based on nutrition data, or nutrition targets based on training data." They do share body weight, measurements and period data.

Here's why that matters, using an illustrative example (not a real user). A 75 kg lifter on a maintenance goal logs food in either app. Over three weeks, their bench top set is stuck at 70 kg x 6, and their protein has averaged 105 g against a 150 g target, because lunch got skipped on workdays. Trend weight is flat, which is exactly what a maintenance goal wants, so MacroFactor's check-in has no reason to change calories, and MyFitnessPal has nothing to adjust. Neither one sees the bench press. The lifter has to connect "stuck at 70 x 6" with "45 g short on protein" on their own, across two apps.

Arrow is built around that connection. It keeps the lifting log and the food log in one app, your goal, training and Apple Health steps feed its targets, and those targets update weekly from your weight trend. When progress stalls on a gain goal, either your trend weight or your lifts, Arrow suggests new calorie and macro targets, and you decide whether to accept them (how that works).

06Where Arrow falls short today

  • It's paid. Arrow's AI features need a Diamond subscription, and the price is shown in the App Store and can vary. MyFitnessPal has a free tier and Arrow doesn't.
  • iPhone only for now. The current Arrow, with the features on this page, is on iOS. The Android version is older. MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal are on both.
  • Far fewer ratings. Arrow has a 4.79 from about 9,200 US App Store ratings, versus about 23,700 for MacroFactor and 2.39 million for MyFitnessPal.
  • Newer. Arrow has been on the App Store since December 2023, against September 2021 for MacroFactor and 2009 for MyFitnessPal. MacroFactor has the longer public track record for an adaptive calorie algorithm.
  • Restaurant food. MyFitnessPal lists 20.5M+ foods including restaurant dishes. If you eat out a lot and want the biggest database, MyFitnessPal is the better pick than Arrow today.
  • No published stall rule. Arrow suggests new targets when progress stalls, but we haven't published the exact rule or how big the change is in each case. MacroFactor documents its expenditure math in its help center.

07Which one should you pick?

Pick MacroFactor over Arrow if

  • You want the app to manage calories for you and you don't need it to know about your lifting.
  • You want an adaptive algorithm with documented math and a longer track record.
  • You already use MacroFactor Workouts and are fine with the two apps not adjusting each other.
  • You're on Android.

Pick MyFitnessPal over Arrow if

  • You want to start free.
  • You eat out a lot and want the biggest food database, restaurant dishes included.
  • You want training-day and rest-day macros without doing the math (Premium).
  • You're on Android.

Pick Arrow if

  • You lift and log food on an iPhone, and you want the app to suggest new targets when your progress stalls. Neither app above looks at your lifts to do that.
  • You want one app for the workout log and the food log, with Apple Health steps feeding your targets.

More options are in best MacroFactor alternatives.

08At a glance

MacroFactor MyFitnessPal
Adaptive calories from weight trend Yes, weekly check-ins Not found on its listing or Premium page
Price $71.99/yr Free, or $79.99/yr Premium
Training changes nutrition targets No (per its help center) No (exercise adds calories burned)
Best for Hands-off calorie management Free start, big database, per-day macros
US App Store rating 4.8 from about 23,700 4.7 from about 2.39 million

Checked 2026-11-03.

09Sources

Checked 2026-11-03.

This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to a professional before making changes that affect your health.