The best protein tracker app in 2026 is Protein Buddy: MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, MacroFactor and 7 more compared

What is the best app to track protein intake?

Protein Buddy is the best app to track protein intake in 2026. Protein is the one number on the home screen, and a meal goes in as a photo, a spoken sentence, a barcode, a typed description or, on iPhone, a request to Siri. Barcode scanning, typed meals, Siri logging, the Home Screen widget, your full history and two-way Apple Health or Health Connect sync are free forever. There is no account to create before your first log.

We built Protein Buddy to be the best protein tracker there is, and this page puts it next to the ten apps people compare it with most: MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, MacroFactor, Lose It!, Cal AI and YAZIO, then Protein Pal, ProteinOnly, FoodNoms and MacrosFirst. Updated September 2026: every fact about another app comes from its own website, help centre or store listing, read on 24 and 25 September 2026.

Quick verdicts

• Best protein tracker overall: Protein Buddy. One number on the home screen, and five ways to log it.
• A calorie and macro diary: MyFitnessPal. Protein is one column, and barcode scanning is Premium.⁵
• Up to 95 nutrients: Cronometer. Photo, voice and Siri logging are Gold.⁷
• Weekly calorie coaching: MacroFactor. A paid app with a 7-day trial and no free version.⁹
• Lose It!, a calorie budget for weight loss. Barcode scanning and advanced protein tracking are Premium.¹³
• Calories from a photo: Cal AI. Scan results need a subscription.¹⁵
• An AI calorie counter: YAZIO. Photo logging is Pro.²¹
• The smaller protein-first apps: Protein Pal and ProteinOnly. The widget and the full history are Pro in both.¹²³

Protein Buddy: the best app for tracking protein

1. Barcode scanning is free, with no limit. Protein Pal keeps it for Pro, and MyFitnessPal and Lose It! keep it for Premium.¹⁵¹³
2. One number, logged in seconds, five ways. Photo, voice, barcode, a typed sentence, or Siri on iPhone without the app even opening.
3. Two-way Health sync, free on iPhone and Android. Protein you log lands in Apple Health or Health Connect, and protein another app writes there counts toward your day.
4. Free where it matters, from the first minute. No account, no trial clock. Manual, barcode, typed meals and Siri never cost anything, and photo, voice and Protein Scout each start with 3 free tries on your own plates.
5. A target made for you. A short quiz covers your weight, age, activity, goal and whether you take a GLP-1 medication, and the number is ready the moment you finish.
6. Pay once if you like. A one-time lifetime purchase sits next to the subscription, on iPhone and on Android.

If you want a daily record of dozens of vitamins and minerals, that is Cronometer's job; if protein is your number, Protein Buddy wins outright.

MyFitnessPal: a calorie and macro diary, protein one column of many

MyFitnessPal is a calorie, macro and nutrition diary: every entry is a meal, a food and its servings, and protein sits in one column among many. Creating a basic account is free, and the free version sets macro goals as percentages.⁶ Barcode scan, meal scan and Voice Log are Premium logging tools the basic version does not have, and Premium is sold as an annual or monthly plan.⁵ It connects to more than 35 apps and devices, Health Connect among them.⁵

For protein, Protein Buddy takes fewer steps: you log the protein itself and see one number for the day. The MyFitnessPal alternative for protein walks through the switch.

Cronometer: up to 95 nutrients, protein one of them

Cronometer's free Basic plan logs foods, exercise, biometrics and notes, tracks up to 95 nutrients, sets custom macro and micronutrient targets and includes a barcode scanner, over a database of more than a million verified foods.⁷ Photo Log, Voice Log and logging through Siri are Cronometer Gold features, sold monthly or yearly, and the Basic plan starts with a free sign-up.⁷⁸

That depth is the point of Cronometer. If the number you care about is protein, Protein Buddy puts it on the home screen, and photo, voice and a free Siri command get it there. See the free Cronometer alternative.

MacroFactor: weekly calorie coaching, and no free version

MacroFactor is a calorie and macro coach: it estimates your energy expenditure and adjusts calorie and macro targets at a weekly check-in.¹⁰ It logs by photo, description, barcode and search, and syncs with Apple Health and Google Fit.⁹ It is a paid app with three auto-renewing subscriptions and a 7-day trial, and its own FAQ says there is no free version.¹⁰⁹ You start by signing up for an account,¹² and Siri logging runs through its Shortcuts, which you set up in Apple's Shortcuts app.¹¹

Protein Buddy starts free, with no account, and the Siri command is built in. The MacroFactor alternative for protein goes deeper.

Lose It!: a calorie budget, with protein goals in Premium

Lose It! is built around a calorie budget: calorie tracking, a weight-loss plan and community support are its free Basic tier.¹³ Photo meal logging, AI Voice, the barcode scanner and advanced tracking of macronutrients, protein included, are Premium, and a lifetime Premium sits among its in-app purchases.¹³

In Protein Buddy a protein goal and barcode scanning are free from the first day.

Cal AI: calories from a photo, results behind a subscription

Cal AI counts calories from a photo, a barcode or a described meal, and its App Store listing says food scanning analysis results require a subscription.¹⁵¹⁴ Your data is kept with an Apple ID or a Google account, and it reads steps from Apple Health or Google Fit.¹⁴

Protein Buddy's photo logging is built around the protein on the plate: snap it, and the grams fill in. The free Cal AI alternative for protein compares the photo-first apps.

YAZIO: an AI calorie counter, photo logging in Pro

YAZIO sells itself as an AI calorie tracker for weight loss, with a free calorie counter, a food diary and a barcode scanner, and no sign-up to start.²⁰ AI photo tracking, the detailed nutrition view and its fasting plans are Yazio Pro, sold as a subscription,²¹²⁰ and macro goals are set as percentages of carbohydrates, protein and fat.²³ It sends nutrients to Apple Health.²²

Protein Buddy is protein first: a goal in grams from a short quiz, one number on the home screen, and calories only if you switch them on.

Protein Pal and ProteinOnly: the other protein-first apps

Protein Pal keeps barcode scanning, photo scanning, the widget, calorie tracking and Apple Health sync (on iOS) for Pro, and its listing adds food search and the complete history and stats to the Pro list.¹² ProteinOnly gives one week of history free, has no calories anywhere, and sells Pro, with the widget and the full history, as an annual or monthly subscription.³⁴ In Protein Buddy the widget, your whole history and two-way Health sync are free, and voice logging, Siri and Protein Scout come with it. Point Protein Scout at a restaurant menu and it ranks the dishes for what to eat next.

Side by side: Protein Buddy vs MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, MacroFactor and Lose It!

All four are calorie diaries: every entry is a food and a serving, and protein is one column among many. In Protein Buddy you log the protein itself.

Side by side: Protein Buddy vs Cal AI, YAZIO, FoodNoms and MacrosFirst

Cal AI and YAZIO both count calories first, and both keep photo results for paying users.¹⁵²¹ FoodNoms keeps AI photo and text logging, and Apple Health import, for Foodnoms+.¹⁶¹⁷ MacrosFirst sells AI logging by voice, text or photo as Premium on auto-renewing subscriptions, and its Siri logging runs on that AI search.¹⁹¹⁸

Is there a free protein tracker with a barcode scanner?

Yes. In Protein Buddy, barcode scanning is free with no limit, forever. Tap ••• at the right end of the logging dock, then Scan a barcode, or switch the camera to its Barcode tab. Hold the pack under the camera: it reads the code on its own, with no shutter to press, and shows the product, the brand and a servings stepper so you log the portion you ate.

Protein Pal, MyFitnessPal and Lose It! charge for barcode scanning, MacroFactor has no free version.¹⁵¹³⁹ In Protein Buddy every scan is free and lands in a protein-first log with your whole history and two-way Health sync behind it. The free protein tracker apps guide lists everything that is free.

Is there a protein tracker app with a one-time purchase?

Yes. Protein Buddy sells a one-time lifetime purchase on both iPhone and Android. Pay once, and photo scans, voice logs and Protein Scout are yours for good. The free core (manual entry, barcode, typed meals, Siri, your target, history and Health sync) never needed paying for in the first place. The price is shown in the app and in your store before you buy.

MacroFactor offers three auto-renewing subscriptions and no free tier, YAZIO sells Pro as a subscription, MacrosFirst Premium renews automatically, ProteinOnly's Pro is annual or monthly, and FoodNoms+ is listed as monthly or annual.^102019317

What to check before you download a protein tracker

1. Is protein the headline or a column? In a calorie diary, protein sits in a row under calories. In Protein Buddy it is the one number on the home screen.
2. Can you add calories without a full diary? In Protein Buddy, tick them in Settings, under What to track, and they get a goal of their own beside protein.
3. What does the free version keep? Some apps charge for barcode scanning, others for the widget or your history. Protein Buddy's free core has no trial clock.
4. Can you pay once? Protein Buddy has a lifetime purchase on iPhone and Android.

Choosing for a particular stage of life? The same comparison, written around what matters most, is here for GLP-1 users, for perimenopause and for menopause and after.

Protein first, calories optional

Protein Buddy shows protein and nothing else by default. If you want more, the What to track row in Settings lets you tick calories, fiber, carbs or fat, each with its own goal, and unticking them puts the app back to protein only. You never have to count calories to use it, and you can whenever you like.

The calorie trackers start from the full diary and let you look for protein inside it. Protein Buddy starts from protein and lets you add the rest. The protein tracker without calorie counting comparison shows how much lighter that makes every day. Shopping by calories or macros? Calorie counter apps compared and macro tracking apps compared make the same case, protein first.

One day of logging in Protein Buddy

A few taps per meal and one number to think about. The guide to logging by photo, voice and barcode shows every method in action, the protein widget guide puts the day on your Home Screen, and syncing protein with Apple Health is one switch.

Start with Protein Buddy

Protein Buddy is the best protein tracker app in 2026. Download it, answer the short quiz, and log your first meal in the next minute. Your 3 free photo and 3 free voice tries show you what it does with your own plates.