Comparisons
The best meal planner apps for hitting your macros in 2026
· Reviewed by James, Dietitian
Our pick: BiteSync. It's built for exactly this job. It sets your calorie and protein targets for you, plans the week so every day hits them before you shop, turns the week into one shopping list, and checks your vitamins and minerals across it. The weekly planner and shopping list are free.
The other apps people compare it with each lean another way:
- Eat This Much picks meals for you from its own database.
- Cronometer is for tracking every nutrient you've eaten.
- MacroFactor adjusts your targets from your food log.
- Samsung Food is a free recipe organiser.
- MyFitnessPal is for logging everything you eat.
BiteSync is our app, so we're biased. That's why everything about the other apps below comes from their own websites, checked on 11 October 2026.
Planner or tracker? The question that matters most
Most "macro apps" are trackers. You log what you ate, and the app tells you how close you came. A planner works the other way round: you decide the meals in advance, and the app makes sure they add up before you've bought the food.
If you keep missing your protein target, a tracker tells you at the end of the day. A planner stops it happening. That's why we built BiteSync as a planner.
| App | Plans meals for you | Price (as published) |
|---|---|---|
| BiteSync | Pro fills the week; on Free you plan and the totals update | Free; Pro £6.99/month or £59/year |
| Eat This Much | Daily on Free, weekly on Premium | Premium $5/month, billed annually |
| Cronometer | No; you can schedule repeat meals | Free; Gold $10.99/month or $59.99/year |
| MacroFactor | No | $11.99/month or $71.99/year; no free plan |
| Samsung Food | Free planner; tailored weekly plans on Food+ | Free; Food+ $6.99/month or $59.99/year (US) |
| MyFitnessPal | Meal Planner on Premium+ | Varies by country |
1. BiteSync: best for planning meals to your macros
- Targets set for you, safely. Your calorie and protein targets come from your weight, height, age, sex, activity and goal. BiteSync never goes below 1,200 kcal a day for women or 1,500 for men, and won't set a weight-loss target if your BMI is under 18.5. Update your weight or goal and they recalculate, with no daily logging needed.
- A week that adds up before you shop. On the free plan, each day's totals update as you place meals. On Pro, the AI fills the whole week from your recipes in seconds. It aims for every day within 150 kcal of your calorie target, the week's average within 5%, and at least 95% of your protein, and tells you which days fall short instead of hiding it.
- Your own food. Plans are built from your recipes, including ones imported from recipe websites by pasting the link, so it's food you'll actually eat.
- One shopping list. It's merged for the week and leaves out what's already in your pantry.
- Vitamins and minerals across the week. Pro checks 12, such as iron, iodine and vitamin D, against reference values split by sex, and steers the next plan towards whatever you're short on. Why most apps can't do this.
- Built by a dietitian, and it works in any browser on phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install. It's free to start, and Pro is £6.99 a month or £59 a year.
Want to see your numbers first? Our free macro calculator uses the same method, with no sign-up.
Try BiteSync free, no card needed.
2. Eat This Much: if you want meals picked for you
Eat This Much generates meal plans to your calorie and macro targets from its own recipe and food database. The free plan generates a day at a time. Premium ($5 a month, billed annually) adds weekly planning, an automatic grocery list and grocery delivery integration. It has barcode scanning and phone apps. Compared with BiteSync, the plans come from its database, not your own recipes, and weekly planning costs extra. BiteSync vs Eat This Much.
3. Cronometer: if you want to track every nutrient
Cronometer is a detailed tracker. It covers up to 84 nutrients from a database of over a million lab-analysed or verified foods, with custom targets and a barcode scanner on its free plan. Gold costs $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year. It records what you've eaten but doesn't plan a week for you or make a shopping list. BiteSync vs Cronometer.
4. MacroFactor: if you log everything you eat
MacroFactor estimates your calorie burn from your food log and weight trend, and adjusts your targets each week. It works best if you log consistently. It has no free plan ($11.99 a month or $71.99 a year after a 7-day trial), and its website doesn't describe a meal planner or a shopping list. BiteSync vs MacroFactor.
5. Samsung Food: if you want a free recipe organiser
Samsung Food saves recipes from the web, plans them by day or week, and makes a shopping list, all free. Personal nutrition targets and full-week tailored plans need Food+ ($6.99 a month or $59.99 a year in the US). Free users get a generic daily calorie target. BiteSync vs Samsung Food.
6. MyFitnessPal: if you want to log everything you eat
MyFitnessPal is the best-known food log. It has barcode and meal scanning on Premium and syncs with more than 35 apps and devices. Its Meal Planner is on Premium+, the top tier; in the US that's $24.99 a month or $99.99 a year. BiteSync vs MyFitnessPal.
The verdict
If your goal is to hit your calories and protein consistently, plan your week. BiteSync is the app built for that: targets set for you, a week that adds up before you shop, one shopping list, and your vitamins and minerals checked across the week. Start free.
Checked on 11 October 2026 on each company's own website: Eat This Much, Cronometer, MacroFactor, Samsung Food, MyFitnessPal. Prices are as published, in the currency shown, and change, so check before you pay.