The best MyFitnessPal alternative for protein is Protein Buddy

Protein Buddy is the best MyFitnessPal alternative for protein

Choose Protein Buddy if the only number you want from MyFitnessPal is protein. One daily target, one number on the home screen, and a meal logged in seconds by photo, voice, barcode, typing or Siri. That is Protein Buddy, the app we make.

Why Protein Buddy wins

1. Barcode scanning is free, with no limit. Scan every packaged food you eat, forever. MyFitnessPal's own Free vs Premium table marks Barcode Scan & Meal Scan as not included with a free account.¹
2. One number, logged in seconds. Protein is the headline on the home screen, with the grams still to go underneath. Calories, macros and fiber are optional: tick them in Settings under What to track, or untick them and they stay out of sight.
3. Five ways to log. Photograph the plate and the grams fill in, say what you ate, scan a barcode, type the meal, or on iPhone say "Log protein in Protein Buddy" and answer with the grams without opening the app.
4. The everyday methods are free forever. Manual entry, barcode, typed meals and Siri, plus your target, your history and two-way Apple Health or Health Connect sync. Photo, voice and Protein Scout come with 3 free tries each, and a one-time lifetime purchase is there if you never want another bill.
5. An assistant you can ask for free. Ask the Assistant what to eat for the grams you have left, and talking to it is free. MyFitnessPal's listing describes its AI Coach as a feature for Premium users.⁷
6. No account to start. Download, answer a short quiz, and your protein target is set, with GLP-1 use built in.

Protein Buddy compared with MyFitnessPal

Barcode scanning is free in Protein Buddy

Scan as many barcodes as you like in Protein Buddy. It is free forever, with no limit and no expiry. MyFitnessPal's own Free vs Premium table, read on 24 September 2026, marks Barcode Scan & Meal Scan as not included with a free account, and its App Store listing puts barcode scan, meal scan and voice logging under Premium.¹⁷

In Protein Buddy:

1. Open the ••• menu and choose Scan a barcode, or switch the camera to its Barcode tab.
2. Point it at the code. EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A and UPC-E codes read on their own, with no shutter press.
3. Set the servings you ate on the stepper, and the protein is logged.

Logging by photo, voice or barcode covers when each method fits.

Why people switch from MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is a calorie and macro diary, and a big one. For protein it is the long way round: barcode, meal scan and Voice Log sit in Premium, and Voice Log is a microphone inside the app rather than a Siri command, so the app has to be open.³

What sends people looking is the work each entry asks for. A calorie total depends on everything you ate, so an item you skipped leaves the day incomplete. Enough incomplete days and the diary stops being useful.

Swapping it for a different calorie counter keeps that problem. A smaller database and a nicer interface do not change the requirement for a complete record. One protein number does.

One number instead of a full diary

In a protein log each entry stands alone, so a missed meal is a gap rather than a broken day. That is what makes the habit last, and why one number is enough goes into the reasoning.

The self-monitoring research is consistent that people who keep logging do better,⁴ and one number a meal is the log people keep.

See Protein Buddy against other apps

If your search is specifically for a MyFitnessPal alternative for protein, carrying the full calorie diary into the new app defeats the point of switching. The comparison of protein trackers without calorie counting covers what matters once the diary is gone. The full protein tracker comparison puts Protein Buddy beside Cronometer, MacroFactor and Lose It, and the Cal AI alternative for protein covers the photo-first calorie app. If you want calories counted after the switch, calorie counter apps compared, protein first sets MyFitnessPal beside Lose It!, YAZIO, Cronometer, MacroFactor and Cal AI.

Your history can come with you

Dietary protein is a standard data type in both Apple Health and Health Connect, defined by the operating system rather than by any app.⁵⁶ Protein Buddy reads those records when they are present, so your charts and averages are useful from day one. Open the Health app and look under Dietary Protein before you delete the old tracker: if MyFitnessPal was writing there, those days come with you.

The switch, in order has the steps, including the Health permission to turn on.

Start with Protein Buddy

Protein Buddy is the best MyFitnessPal alternative for protein. Download Protein Buddy, answer the short quiz to get your daily target, and scan the next packaged food you eat. The barcode scanner is free from the first scan.