A free MacroFactor alternative for adaptive TDEE

Which one fits you

Pick MacroFactor if:

• you want to log every meal in one app, with a curated food database, photo and voice logging and a label scanner;
• you want a native app on iPhone, Android or Apple Watch;
• you are happy to pay $71.99 a year once the 7-day free trial ends.

Pick the FitnessVolt tracker if:

• you already log food in MyFitnessPal or Cronometer, or you just know your day's total, and want the adaptive part without paying for a second app;
• you want to use it on a laptop as well as a phone;
• you want to see why your target changed, with a button to undo it.

You can also pair it with any food app: log meals there, type the day's total here.

MacroFactor and FitnessVolt side by side

Both work from the same energy balance: what you ate, minus the energy in your weight change, gives your burn. The table shows where they differ.

Where MacroFactor is better

• Food logging. MacroFactor logs from a verified database, a barcode, a photo, a spoken description, a nutrition label or a recipe link. FitnessVolt has no food search. If logging speed decides whether you keep going, this matters more than price.
• Days you skip. MacroFactor's current algorithm estimates what you ate on days you did not log. FitnessVolt leaves those days out, so a patchy week cannot measure your burn. With weigh-ins alone it still checks your pace.
• More in the box. Micronutrient breakdowns, a habit tracker, a period tracker and integrations. It holds a 4.8 rating on both app stores from tens of thousands of reviews.

Where the FitnessVolt tracker is better

• It costs nothing, for good. No trial clock and no subscription. A free FitnessVolt account keeps your log, and you can open it on your laptop as well as your phone.
• Keep your food app. Log in MyFitnessPal, Cronometer or on paper, then enter the day's total. Months of history come across in one import, and your estimate is ready when it finishes (steps under Switching).
• Every change explains itself. When your target moves you get one sentence, for example: "Your weigh-ins and logged calories put your burn at 3,367 cal a day (it was 3,286). Your target moves from 2,736 to 2,817 cal a day." Under it sit your target now and before, and a button to go back.
• You see how sure it is. The estimate shows a likely range and how much of it comes from your own data. Before your first measured week it is the formula's number. It reads "Measured" from 95%.
• Training days and rest days. Pick 3 or more training days in Settings and you get a higher target on training days and a lower one on rest days, both shown beside the weekly average.
• Weigh-ins are enough to start. Skip calorie logging for a week and the tracker checks your pace from your weight trend instead. If you are off plan, it suggests eating 100 cal a day more or less, and nothing changes until you accept.

How the FitnessVolt adaptive estimate works

You give it two things: your morning weight and each day's calorie total. Once a week, with your first weigh-in after the week is ready, it works out your weight trend, your average intake, your burn and your new target.

1. Your weight trend. It fits a straight line through up to 28 days of weigh-ins, so one salty dinner barely moves it. It needs at least 8 weigh-ins across 14 days.
2. Your average intake. It averages your calorie totals over the same days. You need complete totals on at least 4 days, and on at least half the days in that stretch.
3. Your burn. Intake minus the energy in your weight change, at 7,700 cal per kg (about 3,500 per pound). Eat 2,300 a day while losing 0.25 kg (about half a pound) a week and your burn works out at about 2,575 a day.
4. Your new target. The tracker blends that measured burn into your estimate, moving it no more than 200 cal in a week, then applies your goal's deficit or surplus and the safety floor.

Every rule and threshold is on the methodology page.

When you only weigh in

A week with weigh-ins but fewer than 4 calorie days cannot measure your burn, so the tracker does not claim one. It compares your 14-day weight trend with the rate your goal asks for. Off plan by 150 cal a day or more in two checks in a row, it suggests 100 cal more or less. Nothing changes until you accept, and pace changes stop at 200 cal in total.

You can fix your own target

Set your daily target yourself in Settings and it stays until you clear it. A measured update still tells you what your plan now says, and the tracker refuses a fixed target below the safety floor.

Switching to the FitnessVolt tracker

From MyFitnessPal or Cronometer

1. Run the calculator and sign in from the result.
2. Export your data from MyFitnessPal (the Nutrition Summary and Measurement Summary files) or Cronometer (Daily Nutrition and Biometrics).
3. On the tracker's Daily Log page, open Bring in your history and choose the files.
4. The tracker replays up to 26 weeks into weekly check-ins. Older days stay in your log without a check-in.

From MacroFactor

FitnessVolt cannot read a MacroFactor export yet. Run the calculator for your starting number, then log your weight each morning and your day's calorie total. Weigh-ins alone start pace checks within about two weeks. Add calorie totals on 4 or more days a week and the tracker measures your burn.

Leaving later? Settings has a Download button for your data, and a delete option.