The best calorie counter app puts protein first: 7 apps compared

Which calorie counter app should you choose?

Choose a protein-first tracker: Protein Buddy. It counts calories as well, with a calorie goal of its own and calories on every meal you snap, say, scan or type. What it puts first is protein, because calories decide how much weight you lose and protein decides how much of that weight is fat rather than muscle. Barcode scanning and typed meals are free forever, and there is no account to create.

Protein Buddy is our app. We built it around the protein number, and the two tables below set it next to six well-known calorie counters. Every fact about those six comes from their own website, help center or store listing, read on 24 and 25 September 2026.

Is protein more important than calories?

They do different jobs, and you want both. Calories decide how much weight moves. Protein decides what that weight is made of, and helps you feel fuller while it moves. For the number on the scale, calories matter more. For what you keep, protein does.

The calorie side is settled. The obesity guideline from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and The Obesity Society says an energy deficit is required to lose weight, and that many different diets work once intake comes down.¹ In a two-year trial of 811 adults with overweight, people assigned to 15% or 25% of calories from protein lost about the same weight, 3.0 and 3.6 kg (about 7 and 8 lb).² Protein does not replace the deficit, and no honest tracker should tell you it does.

The protein side is about what you keep. Across 24 trials and 1,063 adults on the same prescribed calories for about 12 weeks, the higher-protein groups lost 0.87 kg (about 2 lb) more fat and kept 0.43 kg (about 1 lb) more lean mass, while total weight differed by less than a kilogram.³ A major review adds a modest boost to fullness after higher-protein meals (though not less eating at the next meal), and finds the benefits in the people who actually kept their protein up.⁴

So a calorie count tells you whether you ate less. Protein tells you whether you fed the muscle you want to keep while you did. The longer version is in protein or a calorie deficit: which one is doing the work.

Why should a calorie counter put protein first?

Because eating less is exactly when protein slips, and the stakes rise on a GLP-1 and with age.

On a GLP-1, appetite and protein fall together. Studies see calorie intake drop by 16% to 39% on GLP-1 medicines, and the 2025 advisory from four US obesity, nutrition and lifestyle medicine societies warns that low protein from a smaller appetite may add to muscle loss, particularly with older age or around perimenopause and menopause. It suggests eating protein-rich foods first in a meal.⁵ It does not set a GLP-1-specific number: it notes that 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg a day has been proposed during active weight loss, that there is no agreement yet on which body weight to use, and that protein works alongside strength training rather than instead of it.⁵ Protein and muscle loss on GLP-1 medications goes further.

With age, the bar is higher. The adult RDA is 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight a day,⁷ and the PROT-AGE study group recommends at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg for people over 65, and 1.2 g/kg or more for those who are active.⁶

The goal belongs in grams. The research sets protein in grams per kilogram of body weight. A goal set as a share of calories does the opposite of what you need: it shrinks every time calories come down.

The GLP-1 advisory also offers an absolute target, 80 to 120 g a day, as one way to make a goal easier to keep, alongside the ranges above rather than as a GLP-1-specific number.⁵ Protein Buddy sets your goal in grams from a short quiz, keeps it where it is when you lower your calorie goal, and on a GLP-1 does not lower it when your weight drops.

Tracking only helps while you keep doing it. A review of 22 studies consistently linked self-monitoring with weight loss, while rating the evidence weak,⁸ and in two six-month weight-loss trials fewer than half of participants were still tracking after week 10.⁹ So the number that matters most should take seconds to log.

If you take a GLP-1 or manage a health condition, your prescriber or dietitian sets your protein and calorie numbers, and a tracker helps you reach them. Losing weight without losing muscle covers the strength training half.

Why choose Protein Buddy?

1. Protein is the headline. The ring on your Home screen fills with protein, the number that helps you keep muscle while the weight comes off.
2. Calories too, when you want them. Under Keep an eye on in Settings, choose Protein and calories and calories get a goal of their own, or choose Everything for calories, carbs, fat and fiber.
3. A protein goal in grams, made for you. A short quiz covers your weight, age, activity, goal and whether you take a GLP-1 medication. Lowering your calorie goal never moves it, and on a GLP-1 a weight drop does not lower it.
4. One meal, logged in seconds, five ways. Snap a photo, say what you ate, scan a barcode, type a sentence, or on iPhone say "Log protein in Protein Buddy" and answer with the grams. Photo, voice, typed and barcode logs bring calories, carbs, fat and fiber next to the protein and follow the portion you pick.
5. Free forever for everyday logging. Barcode scanning and typed meals, full nutrition included. Photo and voice come with 3 free tries each, and keep going when you become part of our community.
6. No account, and Health sync both ways. Protein logged in other apps counts toward your day, and logs with nutrition write calories, carbs, fat and fiber to Apple Health or Health Connect.

How do MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and YAZIO compare?

MyFitnessPal's Free vs Premium page puts Barcode Scan, Meal Scan, Voice Log and macro tracking with custom goals in Premium, and its free plan sets macro goals by percentage.¹⁰¹¹ Its listing adds GLP-1 logging for doses and symptoms without saying which tier it sits in.¹² Lose It! gives a free calorie budget and keeps photo logging, AI Voice, the barcode scanner, HealthKit sync and custom nutrient goals, protein included, for Premium, where its new GLP-1 Support sits too.¹³¹⁴

YAZIO needs no signup, lists its barcode scanner outside Pro, sets macro goals as percentages of calories and has moved AI photo logging into Pro.¹⁵¹⁷¹⁶ Its Apple Health link writes nutrients and reads activity and weight.¹⁸

All three start from calories and leave you to find protein inside the diary. Protein Buddy starts from protein and puts calories beside it. If you are leaving one of them, the MyFitnessPal alternative for protein walks through the switch.

How do Cronometer, MacroFactor and Cal AI compare?

Cronometer tracks calories and 95+ nutrients with free custom targets and a free barcode scanner, keeps Photo Log, Voice Log and Siri food logging for its paid Gold plan, and starts with an account and a confirmed email.^19202122 It syncs with Apple Health and Health Connect.²³

MacroFactor has no free version, only a 7-day trial, adjusts calorie and macro targets every week from your logs and weight, offers Siri shortcuts and Shortcuts actions, and starts with an account.²⁴²⁵²⁶ Cal AI builds a plan from lifestyle questions, says in its App Store listing that food scanning results require a subscription, and signs you back in with an Apple ID or Google account.²⁷²⁸

In Protein Buddy your protein goal, barcode scanning, typed meals, Siri and Health sync are free, and a GLP-1 is part of how the goal is set. The free Cronometer alternative, the MacroFactor alternative and the Cal AI alternative for protein go deeper on each.

Is there a free app that counts calories and protein?

Yes. In Protein Buddy, barcode scanning and typed meals are free forever, and both come back with full nutrition, calories included. Tap ••• in the logging dock and choose Scan a barcode, then hold the pack under the camera. Or choose Log manually, type what you ate, such as "salmon with rice and greens", and tap the sparkle button for the estimate. Photo and voice come with 3 free tries each.

MyFitnessPal and Lose It! keep barcode scanning for Premium, MacroFactor has no free version, and Cal AI's listing says food scanning results require a subscription.^10132427 Cronometer scans barcodes for free as well, with calories as the headline.¹⁹

How do calories work in Protein Buddy?

Protein stays the number on your Home screen, and calories join it in three steps. The protein and calorie tracker page shows it in action.

Counting macros instead of calories works the same way: Protein and macros tracks protein, carbs and fat with no calories at all. Macro tracking apps compared, protein first takes that side further. Ask the Assistant what to eat for the protein you have left or, when you track calories, how many you have had today. And if you would rather keep it to one number, Just protein puts the rest away; the protein tracker comparison covers that side.

Start with Protein Buddy

If you are choosing a calorie counter, choose a protein-first tracker: Protein Buddy. Download it, answer the short quiz, and log your first meal in the next minute. Add calories under Keep an eye on when you are ready, and scan every pack you eat: barcode scanning and typed meals are free forever.