MacroFactor vs macros.gg
By Austin Thiel, Founder of Macros.ggUpdated July 2026
One adjusts your targets with an algorithm. The other gets you to log every day. Different bets on the same problem.
Get startedQuick verdict
The short version.
- You want your calorie target recalculated for you each week
- You're mid-cut or mid-bulk and track everything anyway
- You'd rather have a great algorithm than a community
- 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.
MacroFactor
- Full access
- Every feature included
- Adaptive coaching
- No free plan after the trial
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
MacroFactor costs $71.99 a year after a 7-day trial. Macros.gg is $80 a year (or $12 a month) after a 3-day trial — same shape, and neither of us has a free plan.
Pros & cons
Where each app is strong, and where it isn't.
MacroFactor
- The best adaptive TDEE algorithm available
- Recalculates your targets weekly from your weight trend
- Fast manual logger, plus AI photo and typed logging
- No ads anywhere
- No free plan
- No community or shared progress
- No streaks, quests, or game features
- Steep learning curve
- Physique athletes on a structured cut or bulk
- People who want a hands-off coach
- Solo trackers with established habits
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
Coaching algorithm
MacroFactor recalculates your calorie and macro targets each week based on your weight trend. It's the best implementation of this idea on the market.
Targets come from your goal settings and stay put until you change them. There is no adaptive algorithm.
Price of entry
A seven-day trial, then $71.99 a year. Every feature sits behind the subscription.
A three-day trial, then $80 a year (or $12 a month). Every feature sits behind the subscription here too — quests, ranks, the scanner, uncapped AI logging.
Playing with others
MacroFactor is built as a solo tool. There are no social or shared features.
Parties, ranked seasons, and a Discord server. Tracking with other people is the point of the app.
Why people switch
Free to start
You can use Macros.gg for months before deciding whether Pro is worth it. MacroFactor asks for the subscription after a week.
Tracking with friends
Parties and ranked seasons. MacroFactor has none of these, by design.
Streaks that forgive
Shields cover a missed day, so a vacation doesn't zero out a two-month streak.
AI logging, uncapped
AI logging is included with no weekly cap. MacroFactor's AI features are in its paid app too — the difference is the cap, not the paywall.
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.
No. Your targets come from your goal settings, and you can change them whenever you want, but there's no weekly recalculation. If adaptive coaching is the main thing you want, MacroFactor does it better.
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 MacroFactor 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.