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Information current as of October 19, 2026.
Logging food is the easy part. The hard part comes a few weeks in, when the scale stops moving and you have to decide what to change.
MyFitnessPal and Carbon both track calories and macros well. The difference is what happens next. MyFitnessPal is a food log you manage yourself. Carbon is a macro coaching app that adjusts your targets every week based on your progress, and tells you why. If you're looking for a MyFitnessPal alternative that adjusts your macros for you, that difference is the one that matters.
MyFitnessPal is built for people who want to record what they eat and set their own numbers. Your calorie and macro goals come from your profile and stay the same until you change them. It has a permanent free tier, and Premium adds faster logging and gram-level targets.
Carbon is built for people who want the app to make the adjustment decisions. You log your food and weigh in, and once a week Carbon reviews your weight trend and what you actually ate, then adjusts your calories and macros if needed. Every check-in explains what changed.
Carbon averages your weight over several weeks, so one heavy morning doesn't trigger a change, and compares that trend with what you logged. That's how it tells a plan that isn't working apart from a week that didn't go to plan.
| If this happens | Carbon does this |
|---|---|
| You're on pace for your goal | Keeps your targets the same |
| Your weight trend stalls | Makes a small, measured adjustment instead of a big cut |
| You're losing faster than your target rate | Raises your calories |
| You ate more than planned but still made progress | Factors in what you actually ate instead of treating the week as a miss |
| An adjustment would take you below your calorie floor | Stops lowering your calories and recommends maintenance or a reverse diet |
Carbon is built for consistency, not perfection, and its adjustments get more accurate the more consistently you log and weigh in. See how the weekly check-in works.
| Feature | Carbon | MyFitnessPal |
|---|---|---|
| Targets adjust for you every week | ✓ | ✗ |
| Explains every change at a weekly check-in | ✓ | ✗ |
| Weekly calorie planning | ✓ Calorie Planner moves calories between days | Different goals by day of the week (Premium) |
| Minimum calorie floor | ✓ Set for each user | 1,200 calories for women, 1,500 for men |
| Limits how fast you lose | ✓ Calories go up if you lose too fast | Undereating warnings |
| Verified food database | ✓ Nothing crowdsourced | Includes user-submitted foods |
| Barcode scanning | ✓ Included | Premium |
| Photo logging | ✓ Smart Logger | Meal Scan (Premium) |
| Macro targets in grams | ✓ Included | Premium (free uses percentages) |
| Health app sync | Apple Health and Google Health Connect | 40+ fitness apps and devices |
| Community | Member Facebook group | In-app forums |
| Free option | 7-day free trial on the web | Permanent free tier |
| Monthly price | $11.99 a month | Premium $19.99 a month, Premium+ $24.99 a month |
| Longer plans | $59.99 for 6 months, $99.99 a year | Premium $79.99 a year, Premium+ $99.99 a year |
| App store rating | 4.8 on the App Store and Google Play, from 14,000+ ratings | 4.7 Apple, 4.4 Google Play |
Carbon is rated 4.8 on the App Store and Google Play from 14,000+ ratings. People who switched from MyFitnessPal most often mention two things: targets that adjust every week, and a simpler app to log in.
"Thought was going to be same as MFPal but much better... Adjusts each week so that you hit your goal at a sustainable rate. Gave me an extra 400 calories to eat each day after a week which has made sticking with programme much more likely."
"It is NOT *just* a food logging app. It is also a coaching app that adjusts your intake for you week to week based on your goals and results."
"In 2 years of using carbon, after coming off around 4 years of using MFP... I would say Carbon has the best and most simple UI, and no nonsense features distracting me."
Choose MyFitnessPal if you want a free food log, you already know your numbers and are happy adjusting them yourself, or you want connections to more than 40 fitness apps and devices.
Choose Carbon if you want your calories and macros adjusted for you each week, you've stalled before without knowing what to change, or you want a plan that holds up when your week doesn't go to plan.
Carbon costs $11.99 a month, $59.99 for 6 months, or $99.99 a year, and every plan includes weekly coaching and support from real people. Start your 7-day free trial.
It depends on what you want the app to do. Carbon is better if you want your calories and macros adjusted for you each week based on your progress. MyFitnessPal is better if you want a free food log and you're comfortable setting and changing your own targets.
Carbon is built for that. You log your food and weigh in, and at each weekly check-in Carbon reviews your weight trend and what you logged, adjusts your calories and macros if needed, and explains the change.
No. MyFitnessPal sets a goal from your profile, and it stays the same until you change it. Carbon adjusts your targets at a weekly check-in based on your progress.
No. MyFitnessPal's AI Coach answers questions using your own diary, like what to eat with the protein you have left. It's available on Premium and Premium+, on iOS, in English, in six countries. Your calorie and macro targets still stay the same until you change them. Carbon's coaching changes the targets themselves: at each weekly check-in it reviews your weight trend and what you logged, adjusts your calories and macros if needed, and explains why.
Month to month, yes. Carbon costs $11.99 a month, and MyFitnessPal Premium costs $19.99 a month. On a yearly plan, Carbon is $99.99, the same as MyFitnessPal Premium+ and more than Premium at $79.99. MyFitnessPal also has a free tier. Carbon's price includes weekly coaching, barcode scanning, gram-level macro targets and support from real people.
Yes. Carbon offers a 7-day free trial when you sign up on the web at web.joincarbon.com. After that, plans are $11.99 a month, $59.99 for 6 months, or $99.99 a year.
Yes. When you set up Carbon, enter the maintenance calories you already know from tracking and choose a rate of loss close to the one you’ve been following. Carbon picks up where your current diet is instead of starting over, and your weekly check-ins adjust from there.
This article is for informational purposes and isn't medical advice. If you have a medical condition, take medication affected by diet, or have a history of disordered eating, talk with a qualified professional before tracking. MyFitnessPal details come from MyFitnessPal's own published comparisons, MyFitnessPal vs BetterMe, MyFitnessPal vs MyNetDiary and Cronometer vs MyFitnessPal (September 2026).
