The best macro tracking app puts protein first: 7 apps compared

The best macro tracking app puts protein first

The best macro tracking app is the one that puts protein first, and Protein Buddy is built exactly that way. Of the three macros, protein is the one that protects your muscle, so it leads, and carbs and fat sit right beside it. Protein Buddy is a protein tracker: choose Protein and macros and you track protein, carbs and fat, each against its own goal, with no calories anywhere, which is macro tracking without the calorie math. On a GLP-1 the case for protein is even stronger, and Protein Buddy keeps your protein goal in place when your weight drops. Barcode scanning and typed meals are free forever, and there is no account to create.

Protein Buddy is our app, and we built it around protein because the research below says that is the macro to get right. The two tables put it next to six well-known apps people use to track macros (MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, YAZIO, Cronometer, MacroFactor and Cal AI), and every fact about them comes from their own website, store listing or help pages, read on 24 and 25 September 2026.

Why should protein lead your macros?

Because protein is the macro the research ties to keeping muscle, and the official advice gives it a daily gram goal that carbs and fat do not get.

• The US Dietary Guidelines prioritize protein. The 2025 to 2030 edition tells Americans to prioritize protein foods at every meal, with a goal of 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, adjusted to your calorie needs. Carbs and fat get food choices and limits instead: whole grains over refined carbs, healthy fats, and saturated fat under 10 percent of calories.¹
• It keeps lean mass while the weight comes off. A meta-analysis of 24 trials with 1,063 adults compared diets with the same calories and the same fat, one higher in protein and one higher in carbs. Over about 12 weeks on average, the higher-protein diets lost 0.87 kg more fat and kept 0.43 kg more lean mass. The differences are modest, and both favor protein.²
• It builds muscle when you train. Across 49 trials with 1,863 people, extra protein on top of strength training added muscle and strength, with the gains leveling off at about 1.6 g per kilogram a day.³ The International Society of Sports Nutrition puts the range for building and keeping muscle at 1.4 to 2.0 g per kilogram for most people who exercise.⁴
• It keeps you fuller. Higher-protein meals raise fullness and the hormones behind it. The effect is modest, and it does not show up as eating less at the next meal.⁵
• You need more of it with age. Older muscle responds less to the protein in each meal, so the PROT-AGE group recommends at least 1.0 to 1.2 g per kilogram a day for people over 65, and 1.2 or more for those who are active.⁶
• On a GLP-1, it is the priority. A 2025 advisory from four US obesity and nutrition societies says sufficient protein should be a priority to help preserve muscle and bone, above all alongside strength training. It notes that 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilogram a day has been proposed during active weight loss, and suggests eating protein-rich foods first in a meal.⁷

Carbs and fat come with far wider ranges. The Institute of Medicine's acceptable ranges for adults run from 45 to 65 percent of calories for carbs and 20 to 35 percent for fat, with protein at 10 to 35 percent.⁸ In 2024 a National Academies committee concluded that the method behind those ranges falls short of today's evidence standards, and recommended dropping them from future reviews.⁹ So give carbs and fat a sensible goal, and give protein a daily number you actually reach.

The scale starts at 0.8 g per kilogram, the adult RDA, which is set to prevent deficiency.⁸ There is no established protein target made for GLP-1 medication: 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilogram is a range proposed during active weight loss, so your prescriber's or dietitian's number comes first. The same goes for anyone with kidney disease, whose protein target is set by their care team. Losing weight without losing muscle goes further on keeping muscle while the scale moves.

Why Protein Buddy wins

1. Protein leads, carbs and fat follow. The ring on your Home screen fills with protein. Choose Protein and macros and carbs and fat sit beside it, each with its own goal in grams. Choose Everything and calories and fiber join them.
2. Macros without the calorie math. Protein and macros shows protein, carbs and fat and leaves calories out completely: no budget to balance and nothing to subtract.
3. A protein goal built to keep muscle. A short quiz covers your weight, age, activity, goal and whether you take a GLP-1 medication. On a GLP-1, a lower weight never lowers your protein goal.
4. Macros from the food you log. Snap a photo, say what you ate, scan the barcode or type it, and the carbs and fat come back beside the protein, following the portion you pick. On iPhone, Siri logs protein without the app opening.
5. Free where it counts. Barcode scanning and typed meals are free forever, with the full nutrition. Photo and voice logging come with 3 free tries each.
6. No account, two-way Health sync. Install, answer the quiz, log. Protein syncs both ways with Apple Health and Health Connect, and logs with nutrition write calories, carbs, fat and fiber there too.

If you want every vitamin and mineral in a daily diary, that is Cronometer's job. If protein is the macro you care about most, Protein Buddy wins.

Protein Buddy vs MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and YAZIO

All three start from calories. MyFitnessPal's free version is a basic account with macro goals set by percentage, while barcode scan, meal scan, Voice Log and macro tracking with custom goals are Premium.¹¹¹⁰ Lose It! puts photo logging, AI Voice, the barcode scanner, HealthKit sync, macro tracking and custom nutrient goals, protein included, in Premium.¹⁹²⁰ YAZIO sets macro goals as percentages of calories, has moved its AI photo logging into YAZIO Pro, and its Apple Health link writes nutrients while reading activity and weight.^21232224

Protein Buddy vs Cronometer, MacroFactor and Cal AI

Cronometer tracks calories and up to 95 nutrients, syncs with Apple Health and Health Connect, and keeps Photo Log, Voice Log and Siri food logging for Gold.¹²¹⁴¹³ MacroFactor adjusts calorie and macro targets at weekly check-ins and has no free version: a 7-day trial, then one of three auto-renewing subscriptions.¹⁵¹⁶ For Siri it ships its own shortcuts and Shortcuts actions to build on, and you sign up with an account.¹⁷¹⁸ Cal AI's App Store listing says food scanning results require a subscription, and its FAQ signs you in with an Apple ID or Google account.²⁵²⁶

In Protein Buddy, protein is the number on your Home screen, and carbs and fat come with every meal you snap, say, scan or type. Leaving one of these six? The MyFitnessPal alternative for protein, the free Cronometer alternative, the cheaper MacroFactor alternative and the free Cal AI alternative for protein walk through the switch.

Is there a macro tracker that doesn't count calories?

Yes. Protein Buddy is a protein tracker, and its Protein and macros choice tracks protein, carbs and fat, each against its own goal in grams, with no calories anywhere.

Going over a carb or fat goal is never shown as a warning. Want calories after all? Choose Everything and calories and fiber join in, with a calorie goal that adds up from your protein, carb and fat goals at 4, 4 and 9 calories per gram, so the numbers always agree. Shopping for a calorie counter instead? Calorie counter apps compared, protein first puts them side by side. How Protein Buddy tracks carbs and fat next to protein shows it on screen, and if you would rather track protein alone, the protein tracker without calorie counting keeps it to one number.

What is the best macro tracking app for GLP-1?

The one that keeps protein in the lead. On a GLP-1, a smaller appetite and taste aversions can make enough protein hard to reach, which is why the 2025 advisory suggests eating protein-rich foods first and names food logs and food photos as ways to keep an eye on intake during treatment.⁷ Protein Buddy asks about GLP-1 in its short quiz, keeps protein as the headline on a small-appetite day, and never lowers your protein goal just because the scale moves down, because that goal is there to protect muscle while the weight comes off. Carbs and fat can sit beside it with Protein and macros.

Your prescriber's or dietitian's protein number always comes first. How much protein on a GLP-1 walks through the ranges, and strength training on a GLP-1 covers the other half of keeping muscle.

Is there a free macro tracking app with a barcode scanner?

Yes. In Protein Buddy, barcode scanning is free with no limit, forever, and every scan comes back with protein, carbs, fat, fiber and calories for the servings you set. Typed meals are free the same way: type what you ate and the numbers fill in. Photo and voice logging come with 3 free tries each, and after that they are part of our community, by subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase on iPhone and Android.

MyFitnessPal and Lose It! keep barcode scanning for Premium, and MacroFactor has no free version.¹⁰¹⁹¹⁵ Free protein tracker apps lists everything that is free in Protein Buddy.

Start with Protein Buddy

Download Protein Buddy, answer the short quiz, and pick Protein and macros. Protein leads, carbs and fat follow, and barcode scanning and typed meals stay free forever.