FatSecret vs macros.gg
By Austin Thiel, Founder of Macros.ggUpdated July 2026
One is the most generous free tracker of the old guard. The other charges for everything up front — and is built like a game.
Get startedQuick verdict
The short version.
- You want everything free and don't care about polish
- You want unlimited trend history without paying
- You want a built-in fasting timer on the free plan
- You've started and abandoned trackers before
- You want the scanner and AI logging without an upsell in the way
- You don't want ads in your food diary
- You want to track with friends
Feature comparison
Both apps, feature by feature — July 2026.
Pricing
Full prices, July 2026.
FatSecret
- Shows ads
- Barcode scanner
- Fasting timer
- Unlimited trend history
- Smart Food Scan (photo AI)
- Smart Assistant (voice & text AI)
- Meal plans, no ads
Macros.gg
- The whole app, nothing held back
- No ads, ever
- Cancel in two clicks
- Unlimited AI logging
- Full trend history
- Quests, XP, and ranked seasons
FatSecret Premium is $59.99 a year on top of a famously generous free tier; Macros.gg is $80 a year (or $12 a month) with no free tier at all. The real difference is what kind of app you want to open every day: a reports dashboard, or a game.
Pros & cons
Where each app is strong, and where it isn't.
FatSecret
- The most generous free tier of the big five
- Unlimited free trend history
- Free fasting timer
- 2M+ verified foods across 50+ countries
- Long-running community
- Ads in the free version
- Interface reviews consistently describe as dated
- AI logging requires Premium
- No quests, XP, or shared tracking
- People who refuse to pay for a tracker, period
- Anyone who wants full trend history free
- Old-school forum communities
Macros.gg
- One plan — every feature included, no upsells, no ads
- Log a meal by typing a sentence or snapping a photo
- Barcode scanner included
- XP, daily quests, and ranked seasons
- Parties and a Discord server
- Recurring meals — set up once, log in one tap
- Imports your Cronometer history
- No free tier — 3-day trial, then $12/mo or $80/yr
- No micronutrient tracking
- No adaptive coaching algorithm
- No health app sync yet (Apple Health, Garmin)
- No voice logging
- Newer app with a shorter track record
- People who've quit other trackers
- Anyone motivated by streaks, levels, and ranked seasons
- Friends tracking together
Where they differ
What free actually gets you
The most complete free tier of the classic trackers: scanner, reports, fasting timer, and unlimited history, traded against light banner ads.
Also everything free — scanner, AI logging, quests, parties — and no ads at all. The trade is that Macros.gg is newer and skips micronutrients.
The experience
FatSecret is a reports dashboard: tabs of numbers, functional and complete, in a design that reviews consistently call dated.
A modern web and mobile app where logging earns XP and quests tick off as you go. Same job, very different feel.
Community
Groups and forums with years of history — genuinely active, in an old-message-board style.
A Discord server, parties you create with friends, and ranked seasons. Community is live rather than threaded.
Why people switch
A modern app
Web, iOS, and Android with a current design. FatSecret works, but it feels its age.
AI logging, uncapped
FatSecret's Smart Food Scan and Smart Assistant require Premium. Macros.gg includes AI logging in its one plan, with no weekly cap.
The game layer
Quests, XP, ranked seasons, and streak shields. FatSecret tracks your streak and stops there.
No ads
FatSecret's ads are lighter than most — but they're still there. Macros.gg has none.
Sign in with Discord or Apple and log your first meal. Setup takes about a minute.
Get startedQuestions people actually ask
$12 a month, or $80 a year. There's one plan and everything is in it: food and weight tracking, the barcode scanner, AI logging, the nutrition assistant, full trend history, quests, XP, streaks, and the Discord. New accounts get a 3-day free trial — cancel before it ends and you're not charged.
If FatSecret's free tier does everything you need and the design doesn't bother you, it's a genuinely good deal — keep it. People switch for the ad-free experience, AI logging on the free plan, and the game layer that makes daily logging feel like progress instead of paperwork.
No. There's a 3-day free trial, then it's a subscription. That's deliberate: free trackers pay for themselves with ads in your food diary, upsells at every tap, or by selling your data, and we won't do any of the three. One price, no ads, nothing else sold to you inside the app.
There's no automatic import from FatSecret yet — Cronometer import shipped first, and more are on the way. Your old diary stays behind for now, but your targets carry over in your head, and the first levels and quests come quickly.