MyFitnessPal Alternatives in 2026
MyFitnessPal is the gold standard for calorie and macro tracking, built on one of the world's largest food databases. But it's a solo diet tool: it retired its challenges feature in 2022 and has no fair, social competition. If you want fun, effort-based group play instead of counting calories, here's an honest comparison and when Motion is the better fit.
What is MyFitnessPal, and who is it for?
MyFitnessPal is one of the longest-established names in digital health. Founded in 2005 and now owned by Francisco Partners (after a stint inside Under Armour, which completed the sale in December 2020),[1] it has built its reputation on one core job done extremely well: food logging. You search a database of over 20 million foods, scan barcodes, log your meals, and the app tallies your calories and macronutrients against a personalized daily goal calculated from your weight, target pace, and activity level.
Credit where it's due: for accurate nutrition tracking, it's hard to beat. Its strengths are real:
- The largest food database on the market. MyFitnessPal cites over 20 million foods, with deep barcode coverage, so logging what you eat is faster than on almost any rival.[2]
- Modern AI logging conveniences. Recent releases added voice logging and meal/photo scanning, on top of the long-standing barcode scanner.
- Strong personalization. Calorie and macro goals are calculated from your weight, pace, and activity, and Premium lets you customize macros precisely.
- A wide integration ecosystem. It connects with 35–50+ apps and devices (Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Strava, Peloton, Samsung Health, Withings, Google Health), so steps and workouts feed your calorie budget automatically.
- Mature and trusted. With a community of over 280 million members across more than 120 countries,[3] plus lightweight, non-punitive streaks and badges for daily logging, it's a credible, well-known product.
If your goal is detailed calorie, macro, and nutrition tracking for weight or body-composition results (and you're willing to log food consistently), MyFitnessPal is an excellent choice. It is fundamentally a diet and nutrition tool: it measures what you eat and adjusts a personal budget. It is not built around fun, fair, social activity competition. That's the distinction that matters when choosing between it and an activity app like Motion.
MyFitnessPal vs Motion: side-by-side
Both are good apps with completely different jobs. MyFitnessPal is a solo nutrition and calorie tracker. Motion is a social, effort-based fitness game built around friends, families, and teams. Here's how they line up on the dimensions that usually decide it (pricing as of 2026).
| Dimension | MyFitnessPal | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Freemium (as of 2026): Free (limited); Premium ~$19.99/mo or ~$79.99/yr; Premium+ ~$24.99/mo or ~$99.99/yr [4] | Free to download and play; optional Premium |
| Friend / group challenges | No. The Challenges feature was retired in early March 2022; only personal streaks and badges remain [5] | Built around them: weekly activity battles, step challenges, solo/competitive/team Get Fit Bingo |
| How competition is scored | N/A: no head-to-head competition; tracking is absolute (calories/macros) against your own diet goal | Effort-based: the percentage of your own adaptive goal you hit, so a beginner can out-compete an athlete |
| Fairness for mixed-ability groups | Not applicable. It has no competition model to make fair | Designed for it: handicapped scoring keeps everyone in the race |
| Trackers supported | Apple Watch/Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung Health, Google Health, Strava, Peloton, Withings + 35–50 more (steps/workouts feed the calorie budget) | Phone plus most major wearables. See full tracker compatibility |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web | iOS & Android |
| Rating | Broadly highly rated (4.7 stars from 2.3M+ ratings on the US App Store; exact figure varies by store and date) [6] | 4.6/5 App Store |
| Best for | Individuals who want detailed calorie, macro, and nutrition tracking for weight or body-composition goals | Mixed-ability friend, family, and workplace groups who want fair, fun, motivating competition |
The two aren't mutually exclusive. They solve different halves of "getting healthier": MyFitnessPal handles what you eat, Motion handles staying active and motivated with other people. Plenty of people happily run both.
When is Motion the better choice than MyFitnessPal?
If your goal is calorie and macro tracking, stay with MyFitnessPal. It's the best at that. Motion is the better fit when what you actually want is fair, fun activity competition with other people, not counting calories, especially in a group where fitness levels vary. Here's where it pulls ahead.
Beginners can actually win
MyFitnessPal has no head-to-head competition at all, so a beginner and a marathon runner can never meaningfully compete there. Motion scores the percentage of YOUR OWN adaptive goal you hit, so a beginner walking 4,000 steps can genuinely out-compete a seasoned athlete. That's why it works for mixed-ability friend, family, and workplace groups. More on this in our guide to effort-based fitness goals.
The challenges MyFitnessPal retired
MyFitnessPal admitted its Challenges feature was little used and removed it in early 2022; today its gamification is limited to solo streaks and badges. Motion is built the opposite way: around weekly activity battles, step challenges, and Get Fit Bingo with friends. If you want competition, not a calorie ledger, this is where it lives.
Encouraging, not anxiety-inducing
A calorie-and-macro focus can encourage an anxious relationship with food and numbers, and MyFitnessPal's free tier leans on ads and restrictions. Motion leans the other way: no-punishment Motmot pets that cheer you on, and a supportive, moderated community that celebrates 500 steps as much as 50,000. No money-staking, no rewards churn. Just motivation that's actually fun.
Built for people easing back in
For women 40+, beginners, families, and anyone restarting after a break (a core Motion audience), staring at a calorie deficit every day can be discouraging rather than motivating. Motion's adaptive goals meet you where you are and celebrate progress, not totals, which is exactly what helps a new habit stick when motivation is fragile.
Motivation to move
MyFitnessPal pulls in your steps mainly to adjust your calorie budget. Movement is an input to the diet math, not the point. In Motion, getting active IS the game. Try solo, competitive, or team Get Fit Bingo, or set up a quick challenge with friends and watch the live leaderboard.
Get a group going fast
Want to start a fair competition with friends, family, or coworkers right now? Use the free step challenge builder: no sign-up, no install. It calculates each person's target from their own baseline so the playing field is level from day one.
MyFitnessPal alternatives: FAQs
If you have anything else you want to ask, reach out to us.
Is MyFitnessPal free?
Yes, there's a free tier, but it has meaningful limits. The free plan covers basic food and calorie logging but locks the barcode scanner, custom macros, voice/meal scan, and ad-free use. Multiple sources also report a restrictive cap of around five food entries per day on free logging (introduced in late 2022), though one 2026 source disputes that the cap still applies, so treat the exact free limit as uncertain. Premium runs about $19.99/month or $79.99/year, and Premium+ about $24.99/month or $99.99/year, adding meal planning, automated grocery lists, diet customization, and curated dietitian recipes.
Can I do step challenges with friends on MyFitnessPal?
No. MyFitnessPal retired its Challenges feature in early 2022, so there's no friend-vs-friend activity competition in the app today. Its gamification is limited to personal streaks and badges for consecutive days of logging. If group step challenges are what you want, a dedicated social fitness app serves you far better. See Motion's step challenges, built for friends, families, and teams.
What's the best MyFitnessPal alternative?
For fun, fair, social activity competition instead of solo calorie counting, Motion is the closest fit, with weekly activity battles and Get Fit Bingo. For a cross-device step-challenge platform for a workplace, Stridekick is worth a look. For another big all-in-one health dashboard that also tracks nutrition, Samsung Health is comparable. For pure calorie and macro tracking, MyFitnessPal itself is still excellent.
How is Motion different from MyFitnessPal?
MyFitnessPal is a solo nutrition and calorie tracker with no head-to-head competition. Motion is a social fitness game that scores the percentage of your own adaptive goal you hit, so beginners can out-compete athletes. It has weekly activity battles, Get Fit Bingo, and no-punishment Motmot pets, with no money-staking. Many people happily use both: MyFitnessPal for diet, Motion for staying active and motivated.
Does MyFitnessPal have competition or leaderboards?
No active head-to-head competition. After retiring Challenges in early 2022, the only gamification left is personal streaks and badges. There's no leaderboard pitting you against friends, and no model for scoring effort fairly across different fitness levels. Motion is the opposite: it's designed around competition, and it uses effort-based, handicapped scoring so a beginner can legitimately top a fitter friend.
Can I use MyFitnessPal and Motion together?
Yes, and many people do. They solve different problems: MyFitnessPal handles your nutrition and calories, while Motion handles staying active and motivated with other people through fair, fun challenges. Because both connect to the same underlying trackers (Apple Health, Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung Health and more, see full tracker compatibility), your steps and workouts can feed both apps without extra effort.
Related comparisons and features
Samsung Health alternatives
Another big all-in-one health platform that tracks nutrition too, and adds social step challenges via Together. See how it compares and when Motion's fair, fun competition wins.
Read moreFitbit (Google Health) alternatives
Best-in-class passive tracking and AI coaching, but it wound down its fun social side. Here's how it stacks up against Motion.
Read moreStridekick alternatives
A cross-device step-challenge platform for workplaces and mixed-tracker groups. Compare it with Motion's effort-based approach.
Read more
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