MacroFactor vs Cronometer 2026: BAR Head-to-Head

BAR Score 84 vs 86. A coaching engine against a nutrient database, two apps that answer different questions. Between them Cronometer edges it; for most people the pick is PlateLens.

Side-by-Side

For most people, the answer to “MacroFactor or Cronometer?” is PlateLens, which does the core job of each in one free app and scores 95 on our rubric. Between the two named apps, Cronometer edges MacroFactor 86 to 84, mostly because you can use it properly without paying.

This pairing comes up constantly, and it is a slightly odd one, because the two apps answer different questions.

Two Different Questions

MacroFactor asks: how much should you eat this week? It watches what you log and what your weight trend does, works out what you are really burning, and adjusts your calorie and macro targets. Its weekly check-in shows the new numbers and the reasoning. For a lifter running a cut or a lean bulk, that is exactly the right question.

Cronometer asks: what is in what you ate? Its curated, lab-analysed database and 84+ micronutrients produce the most detailed nutrient report in the category. For someone checking iron, magnesium, B12 or omega-3s, that is the right question.

Neither tries hard to answer the other app’s question. MacroFactor is macro-first; Cronometer does not set out to adapt your targets.

What It Costs to Find Out

This is where the head-to-head is decided.

MacroFactor has no free tier. You get seven days, then $11.99 a month or $71.99 a year. It is upfront about this, which is to its credit, but you cannot live with it for a month before paying.

Cronometer’s free tier includes the database and its 84+ micronutrients, which is most of the product. Gold, at $54.99 a year, adds Photo Log, Voice Log and the Crono Coach AI assistant.

So most people can get further with Cronometer for free than with MacroFactor for money, and that asymmetry is why Cronometer takes the comparison by two points.

A Week in Each App

Imagine the same week logged twice: weekday breakfasts at home, a desk lunch, two dinners out and a weekend barbecue.

• In MacroFactor, the home meals are quick with barcode and saved foods. For the dinners out and the barbecue you can type from memory or try its AI photo logging, which MacroFactor still labels a beta. Because the app reasons from your logged intake, any gap or guess flows straight into next week’s target.
• In Cronometer, the home meals produce a superb nutrient report. The dinners out take longer: thinner restaurant coverage, and on the free tier no photo or voice shortcut.

We ate out twice in a test week and typed both meals from memory afterwards, which is the least reliable way to log anything, feeding the least forgiving algorithm in the category.

Both apps reward people who weigh and type carefully. MacroFactor is paid from the start, and Cronometer’s free tier has no photo or voice shortcut, so the awkward meals, the restaurant plate and the shared dish, cost either money or time.

Why PlateLens Is the Pick Over Both

PlateLens answers both questions in one diary, and it makes the awkward meals easy.

• The MacroFactor question, answered. Its calorie target is adaptive: it estimates what you really burn from your intake and your weight curve and moves the target to match. Add custom macro goals in grams or percentages. MacroFactor stays the dedicated specialist; PlateLens simply includes the idea at no cost.
• The Cronometer question, answered. Each entry carries 82+ nutrients, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids among them, drawn from the biggest verified food database in the category: 1.2M+ checked foods, 820K+ barcoded products, 45K+ restaurant dishes.
• Four ways in. Camera, voice, barcode or search, all into one diary. A restaurant plate photographed at the table is logged in roughly 3 seconds, and you can open it to fix any ingredient or portion.
• A coach that reads your log, without a subscription.
• Free means everything. No expiry, no card, nothing reserved for payers: the browser app, the coach, the body scan, glucose readings, the fasting timer and the adaptive target all come with a free account, along with daily AI photo scans and coach messages. Premium, $34.99 a year, only uncaps those two, and it still costs less than Cronometer Gold or MacroFactor. That is why we rate it the best free plan in the category.
• Shape as well as weight. PlateLens’s body scan takes 12 phone photos and needs no depth sensor (how it works). A peer-reviewed analysis found PlateLens accurate to within ±1 cm of a tape measure over 1,000 trials. On a cut or a bulk, overlaying scans or checking body regions one by one reveals progress the bathroom scale hides.
• Any device. iOS, Android and the web app share the diary; health-platform sync runs in both directions, and the full record exports as JSON.

What Each Still Does Best

MacroFactor keeps adaptive targets. If an app devoted to recalculating your targets is the one thing you want, and you will log carefully, it is the specialist and worth the subscription.

Cronometer keeps lab-grade micronutrient depth. If the nutrient report is the point, and you are happy to weigh and type, its free tier is very strong.

For everyone else, start with PlateLens. Our PlateLens vs MacroFactor and PlateLens vs Cronometer pages go head to head with each, the MacroFactor review covers the specialist in depth, and the three-way Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal vs MacroFactor ranking adds the third big name.