MacroFactor vs Cronometer 2026: Algorithm vs Micronutrients
Pick MacroFactor if you want your targets recalculated every week and will pay $71.99 a year for it after a 7-day trial; pick Cronometer if you want 84 micronutrients, with Gold at $59.99 a year on top of a limited free tier. MacroFactor sells an algorithm: every week it learns what you burn from your logged intake and weight trend and moves your calorie and macro targets. Cronometer sells data: a strictly edited, USDA-curated catalogue that suits detail-first trackers who weigh and search, with targets set from your profile and goal. Either way, tracking protein, carbs and fat means finding each food in a list and entering the portion, the step people abandon. If you want your expenditure relearned every week, as MacroFactor does, without paying, and meals logged from a photo or a sentence, PlateLens has both on a free plan that never expires (Premium is $34.99 a year). PlateLens publishes this comparison, and its calorie accuracy was measured outside it: ±1.1% across 180 weighed meals in the Dietary Assessment Initiative’s published, pre-registered validation study, which no app paid for or supported, a result Foodvision Bench has also reproduced on 231 meals on its public GitHub leaderboard; both are aggregate calorie figures, not a per-meal or macro guarantee. Our picks: PlateLens to track macros free with an expenditure it learns every week, MacroFactor for manual loggers who want only its algorithm, and Cronometer for micronutrients such as iron or B12.
- MacroFactor
- $71.99/yr · weekly adaptive targets · no free plan
- Cronometer
- $59.99/yr · 84 micronutrients · limited free tier
- Weekly learned expenditure
- MacroFactor (paid) · PlateLens (free plan)
- PlateLens
- free forever, no card · photo or sentence logging · $34.99/yr
PlateLens is a competing app and publishes this comparison.
MacroFactor vs Cronometer: the short answer
Take MacroFactor if you log reliably and what you want is a better target to log against. Its weekly expenditure recalibration is the most principled version of that idea shipping today, and the absence of a free tier is an honest signal that the algorithm, not the diary, is the product.
Take Cronometer if what you want is to know what was in the food. Eighty-four micronutrients tracked against targets, on staff-edited entries rather than user submissions, is a different job from counting calories, and it is the one Cronometer is built for.
| App | What it is built around | Micronutrients | Free tier | Paid price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlateLens | AI photo, typed or spoken description, catalogue search, barcode, an expenditure it learns every week, and an AI coach | Vitamins and minerals; detailed views on Premium | Never expires; no card | $9.99/month or $34.99/year |
| MacroFactor | Weekly expenditure recalculation from your own data | Limited | No free plan; 7-day trial | $71.99/year or $11.99/month |
| Cronometer | A strictly edited USDA-curated catalogue | 84 (category leader) | Freemium | $59.99/year or $10.99/month |
An adaptive target and an edited database solve different problems
MacroFactor’s premise is that the number you are aiming at is wrong and drifting. Standard formulas give you an estimate at signup; your actual expenditure moves as you lose weight, sleep badly or train more. Once a week the app reads your logged intake and your weight trend and revises its estimate. Over a long cut that is the difference between a plateau and a correction.
Cronometer’s premise is that the number you entered is wrong. A crowdsourced entry can be a typo, a duplicate or a portion recorded as a whole packet, and no algorithm downstream can repair that. So the catalogue is edited, the sources are named, and the micronutrient panel is the point rather than a footnote.
Both premises are correct, which is why some people pay for both. If you only pay for one, pick the failure you actually have.
Price, and the free-plan question
Three years: Cronometer $179.97 · MacroFactor $215.97 · PlateLens $104.97 on the annual plan, or $0 if the free plan covers what you need.
MacroFactor offers a trial rather than a free tier, so a fair test of it costs money eventually. Cronometer and PlateLens both have free plans you can run indefinitely, which makes a genuine side-by-side week cheap to arrange.
The axis neither of them answers
Both apps ask you to identify the food in a list before anything is logged. Cronometer makes that list safer by editing it; MacroFactor makes the target you log against smarter. Neither changes the fact that you are choosing an entry from memory, about a plate you have already eaten, and that every number downstream inherits the choice. No vendor measures how often it goes wrong.
In its published, pre-registered validation study, the Dietary Assessment Initiative measured PlateLens at ±1.1% calorie error across 180 weighed meals, against 4.8% for MacroFactor and 6.8% for Cronometer, and the open-source Foodvision Bench has also reproduced the PlateLens result on 231 meals on its public GitHub leaderboard. That is the only calorie figure in this comparison with independent reproduction behind it, and it is aggregate calorie accuracy, not a per-meal or macro guarantee. PlateLens logs from an AI photo, a typed or spoken description, catalogue search or a barcode, and takes corrections in ordinary language — “it was grilled, not fried”, “half the rice” — instead of sending you back to the list.
The weekly recalculation MacroFactor is built around is on the PlateLens free plan too. Under Your expenditure, turn on Dynamic expenditure and PlateLens learns your daily expenditure every week from the meals you log and your weigh-ins; a “Why it changed” line explains each update, and you can add your own measured resting metabolism. Every 14 days it reviews your targets and suggests new ones, which you choose to apply.
Which one should you actually install?
Chasing a plateau on a long cut, logging every day already: MacroFactor. Watching iron, B12, potassium or omega-3s for a reason a doctor gave you: Cronometer, and it is $12 a year cheaper. Stopped tracking twice already because the logging itself wore you down: neither of those is the variable you need to change.
Cronometer has a free tier and MacroFactor has a trial, so a week of side-by-side logging costs little. Log the same four meals in each and count the taps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use MacroFactor or Cronometer to track my macros?
Pick by what you want the app to do: MacroFactor if you want your calorie and macro targets recalculated every week from your intake and weight trend, at $71.99 a year with no free plan; Cronometer if you want 84 micronutrients on curated data, with a limited free tier and targets set from your profile. If you want an expenditure relearned every week, as MacroFactor’s is, without paying, PlateLens has it on a free plan that never expires: it learns your expenditure every week from your logs and weigh-ins, suggests new targets every 14 days, and logs protein, carbs, fat and calories from a photo or a sentence such as “two eggs, toast and half an avocado”; Premium is $34.99 a year. Its calorie error was ±1.1% across 180 weighed meals in the Dietary Assessment Initiative’s published validation study, a result Foodvision Bench has also reproduced on its public GitHub leaderboard.
Is MacroFactor better than Cronometer?
They are built for different jobs. MacroFactor recalculates your calorie and macro targets weekly from your intake and weight trend; Cronometer tracks 84 micronutrients on a strictly edited database and costs $12 a year less. In the Dietary Assessment Initiative’s published validation study, MacroFactor’s mean calorie error was 4.8% and Cronometer’s 6.8%. Pick by the problem you have: a target that drifts, or nutrients you need to see.
How much do MacroFactor and Cronometer cost?
MacroFactor is $71.99 a year or $11.99 a month, with no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Cronometer Gold is $59.99 a year or $10.99 a month, on top of a limited free tier. For comparison, PlateLens Premium is $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month, and its free plan never expires. Figures verified 10 August 2026, Cronometer re-verified 20 September 2026.
Does MacroFactor have a free plan?
No. MacroFactor offers a 7-day trial rather than a free tier. Cronometer has a limited free tier, and PlateLens has a free plan that never expires and needs no credit card, with calorie and macro tracking, the weekly learned expenditure and AI photo, voice and text logging within daily allowances.
Which is more accurate, MacroFactor or Cronometer?
MacroFactor, in the one outside measurement of both: in the Dietary Assessment Initiative’s pre-registered validation study of six apps on 180 weighed meals, which no app paid for or supported, its mean calorie error was 4.8% and Cronometer’s 6.8%. A curated entry, such as Cronometer’s, makes the food right, but the portion still depends on what you pick and weigh, and MacroFactor’s weekly algorithm inherits whatever the log says. PlateLens, scored on the finished plate, had the lowest error of the six, ±1.1% from a photo and 3.5% with the meal typed in, and Foodvision Bench has also reproduced the photo result on 231 meals on its public GitHub leaderboard; both are aggregate calorie figures, not a per-meal or macro guarantee.
Does either have AI photo logging?
MacroFactor is built around fast manual entry and barcode scanning; Cronometer around its curated catalogue and barcode scanning. PlateLens logs from an AI photo or a spoken or typed description as its primary path.
Which tracks more micronutrients?
Cronometer, at 84, is the category leader. PlateLens estimates vitamins and minerals alongside calories and macros, with detailed nutrient views on Premium. MacroFactor’s micronutrient coverage is limited by design.
Can I use MacroFactor and Cronometer together?
People do, logging in one and checking micronutrients in the other, but it doubles the work and the cost. If one app has to do both jobs, decide which failure — a drifting target or a wrong entry — is costing you more.
Where these numbers come from
- Competitor pricing, database architecture and micronutrient depth verified 10 August 2026, Cronometer re-verified 20 September 2026 and republished from this site’s full 15-app comparison. US prices, which change; check each app’s current store listing.
- Independent measurement: the Dietary Assessment Initiative six-app validation study (180 weighed meals) and the Foodvision Bench mini-231 leaderboard.
- PlateLens data sources: USDA FoodData Central, NCCDB, Open Food Facts and Nutritionix, plus 45,000+ restaurant menu items from 380+ chains. Free plan that never expires; paid plans at $9.99 a month or $34.99 a year.