Key Takeaways
- MyNetDiary is a lesser-known app, but it’s a “hidden gem” for the great functionality it offers for free.
- MyNetDiary actually tracks both calories and macros, with one of the fastest logging of any app we’ve reviewed.
- MyNetDiary has advanced progress-tracking features, including the ability to load progress photos and compare them side-by-side.
The Search for the Perfect Free Tracker
At FeastGood, we know the struggle is real when it comes to finding a good free nutrition tracker.
Getting dialed in on your nutrition is a great way to make progress toward health and fitness goals, whether that is for fat loss or muscle gain, but many trackers today don’t have free versions, or the best features are behind a paywall.
Good news for you: my team and I have tested over 20 apps and we currently recommend MyNetDiary as the best free calorie-counting app, and below, I’m going to explain exactly why we’ve given it this crown.
The Pitfalls of Free Calorie Trackers
Here are the four most common pitfalls I see with free calorie trackers and why they aren’t an issue with MyNetDiary.
Annoying Ads
One of my pet peeves when using free nutrition-tracking apps is the onslaught of ads. There can be annoying pop-ups to close, and/or they make the app so slow that logging takes forever.
If logging takes forever, you’re less likely to do it, and then you won’t know if you’re actually hitting your targets, which will slow progress toward your goals.
For example, the free version of MyFitnessPal is so bloated with ads that it’s practically unusable.
MyNeyDiary mentions that they have zero third party ads within the app. The only ad MyNetDiary runs is for its premium version, which only popped up when I tried to access certain features).
An ad for the Premium version will appear if you try to access a Premium feature:

Unreliable Food Database
Most free apps or apps that have a free version, are plagued with unverified entries in their food database. When nutrition information is outdated or downright wrong, you can easily miss your targets completely without knowing it.
This is an especially big problem for beginners who don’t have experience in knowing “reasonable” calorie & macro counts for foods and can’t recognize the inaccuracies themselves.
I used MyNetDiary side-by-side with Cronometer (which has a reputation for being a very accurate food database), and the diary entries were 100% accurate.
MyNetDiary has over 1.7 million verified foods with no user-contributed inaccuracies. Foods are updated daily to ensure the database is always accurate.
For example, here is an entry in the food database for shredded wheat biscuits – it shows calories and macro breakdown for the biscuit, and I can easily switch between logging in units (number of biscuits) or grams – it matches the entry for the same food in Cronometer:

No Macros
Some nutrition apps only offer calorie tracking (at least in the free version). Fooducate and LoseIt are basic free calorie-counting apps, but information on macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) is only available in the premium version.
While “calories are king” (meaning they matter most when it comes to weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance), macros are really important when it comes to body composition.
Most people don’t want to lose muscle mass when losing weight, ending up a smaller but not leaner version of themselves. Similarly, most people don’t want to gain fat when bulking – they want to add muscle. Macros matter when it comes to achieving these goals.
I’m pleased to report that MyNetDiary does show macros (and more) in the free version.
The daily report for “My Nutrients” shows calories, macros, sodium, and calcium:

Clunky Interface
Some apps are hard to navigate, and tracking intake and other items like water, weight/measurements, and exercise (if these features are even available for tracking) are not intuitive.
While it’s not a free app, BetterMe is an example of an app that is not user-friendly.
MyNetDiary was fun and easy to use. I’ll talk more about that, next.
Introducing MyNetDiary: What Sets It Apart
I’ll admit that I was skeptical about MyNetDiary when I first heard about it and started using it. I’ll explain why I was wrong to be skeptical and what I liked about it below.
Macros
First of all, I mistakenly thought that it was only a calorie tracker and wasn’t going to be able to track my macros (at least, not for free).
It turns out that MyNetDiary accurately tracks macros (including saturated fat as a subset of fat and fiber as a subset of carbohydrates) and sodium and calcium.
Below, you can see the macro breakdown per meal, which IS available in the free version.
Note, that when my colleague tested the app a couple of years ago, it didn’t show a macro breakdown per meal. However, I’m pleased to report that this feature is now available.
Per meal macro breakdown:

But, here’s the kicker, you are only able to set custom macro targets in the premium version of the app (more on that below).
Apple Graphic
One of the fun features of MyNetDiary is its apple graphic for the daily calorie target.
If you stay within the target, the apple turns green. If you exceed the calorie target by a small amount, it turns amber as a warning, and if you go way over the calorie target, it turns red.
MyNetDiary’s apple graphic is a calorie meter that changes color:

This fun, interactive feature made it more engaging, and the “game” aspect motivated me to hit my target. This, of course, makes it more likely to achieve my goals on track.
It should be noted that some other apps are trying to move away from this “red” color design, as red usually means you’re doing something wrong, and just because you don’t hit your targets on a single day, doesn’t mean you’re off track.
However, for me, I still like this feature and enjoy seeing it at a glance as a quick overview.
Food Grade
MyNetDiary will give each food a letter “grade,” running from A-D, based on how healthy the app rates the food.
For someone new to learning about nutrition, this can be a helpful feature to guide them to healthier food choices overall.

Daily Analysis
In addition to the Food Grade, I liked the Daily Analysis, and I thought this was a really valuable feature in a free app!
The benefit of the Day Nutrition Highlights is that it lets you know what you’re doing well (for example, I’m really good at eating enough dietary fiber) and areas where you can improve (for example, I often eat too much sodium).
This is motivating and can improve your eating habits and overall health.

Progress Photos
They say, “a photo is worth a thousand words,” and while I’m too shy to share my progress photos here, I’m really impressed that MyNetDiary allows me to upload progress photos, and then I can compare any two photos side-by-side to see changes over time.
This can be really encouraging if the scale isn’t moving in the desired direction. Often, body composition changes are visible when the scales stay the same.
Community
One of the cool features of MyNetDiary was the free community right in the app – not a separate Facebook group but with a similar style newsfeed and the ability to join groups of users with similar interests, goals, or life circumstances like “40-Somethings.”
You can share how your journey is going and celebrate the success of other members in the community.
How to Get Started with MyNetDiary
Getting started with MyNetDiary is straightforward, and very similar to most other nutrition apps.
Set-up
You fill out some basic information including your birth date (to calculate your age), your biological sex, and your goals in terms of weight maintenance, weight gain or weight loss, and the desired rate of gain/loss.



Note that there were some generalizations that I didn’t like.
For example, calorie needs generally don’t change much by age and are stable for ages 20-60.
It’s also not exactly true that female bodies need fewer calories. What does impact metabolism is lean muscle mass.
In general, lean muscle mass tends to go down as we age, but this is correlational and not causational.
People often exercise less as they get older because they are busy with families and careers. It’s exercising less that causes less lean muscle mass, not aging itself.
Similarly, in general, women have less lean muscle mass than men (due to both hormonal status – women have less muscle-building testosterone – and lifestyle factors – women are less likely to do heavy resistance training than men). But again, this is a generalization.
As a result, I found the calorie projection too low for my needs.
But, the good news is that you can set up a different calorie target in the app. I did think it was misleading that it said “you can set any custom rate and customize all targets in the app after finishing this initial setup.”
They left out that you have to pay for the Premium version to customize the macro targets.
So, if you have higher than average muscle mass for your age and/or sex, consider selecting a higher calorie target than what the app initially sets for you.
Daily Logging
This might sound over-the-top, but logging in MyNetDiary was “awesomely easy.” There is no other way to put it.
They boast that their food logging takes 17% fewer taps than MacroFactor and 57% fewer taps than MyFitnessPal. While I didn’t count my taps to test the math exactly, it certainly felt fast and efficient to me.
Unlike MyFitnessPal, the barcode scanner is included for free, and it is quick and accurate.
Text-based searches were fast and reliable, and I was able to easily switch between different types of units right on the main logging screen without needing to click on additional screens.
Plus, after just a few days of logging my food, when I went to each meal to add food, all of the most recent foods I’d logged for that meal were there. Like a lot of people, I eat similar foods for each meal most days, and this made logging really easy.
Plus, MyNetDiary has one of the coolest logging features I’ve ever seen: AI Meal Scan. You just take a picture of your dish of food, and it identifies the components and estimates the portion size and calories.
Note: we tested the meal scan feature on every nutrition app available to find out which one was the most accurate. You can find our results here.
AI Meal Scan:

It’s not as accurate as individually measuring each item yourself. Still, in a scenario like being at a restaurant or friend’s house for a meal where you don’t know the components, it’s better than not logging at all.
However, there are only ten free scans included in the free version, so you’d want to be mindful about how often you use it compared to guessing yourself.
Tracking Progress
Tracking progress was just as easy as tracking my food. I could input my weight each day and upload progress photos whenever I wanted. I already talked about how helpful photos can be when body weight isn’t changing.

The weight tracker in MyNetDiary is also really insightful because it automatically calculates your weight trend, and forecasts future weights (see above), including a fun graphic showing you headed toward your goal and the expected date to reach it (adjusts dynamically over time, based on your actual rate of progress):

My Personal Experience with MyNetDiary
Based on my personal experience with MyNetDiary, you can absolutely benefit from using the free version.
In the one week I used MyNetDiary, I made progress toward my goal, losing 0.7 kg (1.5lbs), which surpassed my goal of ¼ kg (0.5lbs) per week.
The app was just as reliable in terms of tracking calories and macros as Cronometer and MacroFactor. And, as a bonus, the Food Grade and Daily Analysis made it really beginner-friendly for people who are new to learning about nutrition.
So, not only can you make progress beyond gaining or losing weight, you can also use the insights from Food Grade and Daily Analysis to make more healthful food choices. Getting more nutritious foods can improve your health even if your weight doesn’t change.
The free version is enough if you are willing to keep track of your macro targets in your head – comparing your actual macro intake according to the app against the macro targets that you know, rather than expecting the app to have the appropriate macro targets for you.
For example, I knew that I wanted 130 grams of protein per day, so I kept that in mind when I was looking at how much protein I had eaten and I did not rely on the app’s macro target for me (which was only 78 grams, and I could not change in the free version).
If you don’t want to keep track of macros in your head, then you can always upgrade to the Premium version of MyNetDiary. The current price is $59.99/year.
Given the Premium features such as custom macros, meals & recipes, and AI Meal Scans, I think this is a great price.
Limitations of MyNetDiary
I’m going to discuss the top four potential limitations I saw with the free version of MyNetDiary. As you’ll see, these are pretty minor compared to the benefits I described above.
No Custom Macros
As I said above, while the app does track macros, it does NOT allow you to set custom macro targets (either by grams or by percentages) in the free version of the app.
I did not consider this to be a major problem, though. I know what my macro targets are thanks to the TDEE Calculator and Body Recomposition Calculator on our website. I just ignored the macro targets in MyNetDiary and worked toward these numbers each day.
You can still set a custom calorie target to match your desired macros. And if you’re only tracking calories (not macros), then you’re all set.
Set a custom calorie target, and a minimum calorie budget:

No Free Coaching
One of the features that we love at FeastGood is MacroFactor’s built-in coaching – the app uses scientific algorithms to adjust your macro targets each week, based on your actual food logs and actual progress (weight) to keep you on target for your goals. In essence, it’s like having a “nutrition coach in your pocket.”
These dynamic adjustments are a sophisticated feature, and it’s not surprising that they are not available in a free app. MyNetDiary does have something similar in its Premium version, called the Advanced Autopilot:



Honestly, it’s not really fair to call this a limitation, given that it isn’t something I think you can reasonably expect in a free app (it’s not free on Macrofactor either).
Default Exercise Calories
One of the things I didn’t like was that when I logged more calories than my “budget” for the day, the app would suggest that I could burn additional calories through exercise to achieve my recommended deficit.
While true in theory, this approach can perpetuate an unhealthy relationship between diet, exercise, and body image, and reinforces the message that calories should be “earned” through exercise, or that over-exercising can “make up for” overeating.
The good news is that I was able to turn off the setting for adding exercise calories to the calorie budget for the day, and as soon as I did that, the suggestions stopped, as well.
So, this annoyance was easy to overcome – it’s just worth noting that the default setting is for exercise calories to be turned on (meaning the app will add calories to the daily target if you log exercise in the app).
Toggle the slider left, to the “off” position, to stop adding exercise calories to the calorie budget, and this will stop suggestions to exercise more to achieve a daily calorie deficit.

No Meals & Recipes
In the free version of the app, there are no meals & recipes. I didn’t see this as a major drawback, though, given just how many free recipes are available online.
Plus, most of us are creatures of habit and we tend to eat and make the same meals each week – trying too many new recipes, especially while trying to track macros, can be overwhelming and actually make it harder to stick to your goals.
So, I didn’t see this as a major drawback. On the plus side, it was really easy to log my own favourite recipes in the app – this functionality IS included in the free version.
Conclusion: A Tracker Worth Trying
I recommend that if you’re serious about your goals, this app can simplify your journey. Out of the 22 apps we’ve tested, it’s the best free nutrition-tracking app.
If you want a round-up of the best calorie and macro trackers on the market, regardless of price, then check out this video next:
And, if you’d rather work with a real human coach, our 1:1 nutrition coaching services are always available.
References
Effect of age on body composition and resting metabolic rate
N. K. Fukagawa, L. G. Bandini, and J. B. Young
American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism 1990 259:2, E233-E238
Bhasin, S. (2000). The dose-dependent effects of testosterone on sexual function and on muscle mass and function. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 75(1, Supplement), S70–S76. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-6196(19)30647-0
About The Author

Lauren Graham is a Precision Nutrition Level 1 certified nutrition coach. She focuses on helping busy professionals balance healthy eating and purposeful movement. Lauren has a background in competitive swimming and is currently competing as a CrossFit athlete. She has a passion for training, teaching, and writing.
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On Staff at FeastGood.com, we have Registered Dietitians, coaches with PhDs in Human Nutrition, and internationally ranked athletes who contribute to our editorial process. This includes research, writing, editing, fact-checking, and product testing/reviews. At a bare minimum, all authors must be certified nutrition coaches by either the National Academy of Sports Medicine, International Sport Sciences Association, or Precision Nutrition. Learn more about our team here.
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