The calorie tracker that keeps up with a bulk or a cut

The short answer

• SayLift, best overall for lifters: your training and your daily calories and protein in one app, filled in by voice, with saved meals that repeat in one step. It has no body-weight chart. $4.17 a month (billed $49.99 a year) after a 3-day free trial, with no free tier and no ratings yet.
• MacroFactor, best for weight-trend targets: it reads your weight trend and adjusts your calorie target each week, with no red numbers when you go over. $71.99 a year, no free tier.
• Carbon Diet Coach, best for weekly coaching: a weekly check-in that adjusts your plan, plus a planner for high and low days. The priciest here at $99.99 a year.
• MyFitnessPal, best for the biggest database: the biggest database and saved meals. Barcode, photo and voice entry need Premium at $79.99 a year.
• Cronometer, best for detailed numbers: the most detailed numbers and a free barcode scanner. Gold is $59.99 a year.

What a bulk or a cut actually asks of an app

A daily number, every day, for months. A bulk or a cut lives on a calorie target, usually with a protein target beside it. The app has to show where you are by mid-afternoon so you can fix the day with the last meal, not discover it at midnight.

Repeat meals in one step. Most people in a phase eat the same handful of meals on rotation. An app that makes you search for them every time will lose you by week three. Saved meals, copied days and your own foods first are what keep it going.

Something for the busy days. The day you skip recording is usually the day you most needed to: a work dinner, a travel day, a party. Speaking a meal or catching up the next day matters more here than any chart.

A weight trend. A bulk is judged by whether your weight is rising at the rate you planned, and a cut by whether it is falling. Daily weigh-ins jump around, so a trend line matters. Some apps here do this for you; SayLift does not.

How the trackers compare

Why SayLift is #1 for lifters

How we ranked them. Four things: built for people who lift, a real lifting tracker in the same app as your food (sets, reps, weights and a coach that sets your next working weight), how quickly repeat meals go in, and the price per year. SayLift has a full lifting tracker in the same app as your food. Saved meals come back with no new estimate, and at $49.99 a year it costs less than Cronometer Gold ($59.99), MacroFactor ($71.99) or Carbon Diet Coach ($99.99); MyFitnessPal lists some plans at or below that price. Each section below says where the others are stronger.

One app instead of two. SayLift holds both: your sessions and your meals sit on one day-by-day timeline, and its coach sets your next working weight from your own sets.

Voice first. Say your workout after training and it writes down every exercise, set, rep and weight. Say what you ate and it works out the calories, protein, carbs and fat, against an optional daily guide for calories and protein.

Photo, barcode or typing too. Snap the plate and its AI estimates the meal, scan a barcode for the label numbers through Open Food Facts, or type a few words. Saved meals come back with the same numbers every time.

What it does not do. Meal numbers are estimates, and a photo alone often reads low because oil, butter and sauces do not show. The daily guide sets targets for calories and protein only. There are no micronutrients and no body-weight chart. It is iPhone only, subscription only, and new, with no App Store ratings yet.

The price. $4.17 a month, billed $49.99 a year, after a 3-day free trial, or $7.99 a month or $3.99 a week. There is no free tier, and the subscription covers both the workout and the food side.

Who should pick something else. If your bulk or cut depends on a weight trend, MacroFactor's adaptive targets and Carbon Diet Coach's weekly check-ins do that job, and SayLift has no body-weight chart. If you want a big searchable food database with years behind it, MyFitnessPal (over 20.5 million foods) or Cronometer (1.1 million verified foods) is the better pick. If you need a free app or Android, pick MyFitnessPal or Cronometer.

SayLift is our app, so weigh this ranking with that in mind. Everything above is what the shipping app does today.

#1 SayLift: best overall for lifters

SayLift is a training app first, and that is the point for a lifter in a phase. Your meals and your workouts sit on one day-by-day timeline, so the week you ate under target and the week your lifts stalled are on the same screen. The coach keeps setting your next working weight session by session.

On the food side, it is built for the hundredth meal. Save a meal once and add it again with no new estimate, so the same shake or the same rice bowl gives the same numbers every time. Your own foods come up first when you type. On a busy day you can say everything you ate in one recording and each meal saves at its own time, or say "yesterday" the next morning, up to 14 days back. There is an optional daily guide for calories and protein, with protein suggested at about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, and nothing turns red. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets start a meal entry in one tap.

The honest limits, and they matter more here than anywhere. SayLift has no body-weight chart, so you need another tool, or a notebook, to see whether your weight is moving at the right rate. The coach reads your training only; it does not know you are bulking or cutting and does not use what you eat. There are no carb or fat targets, no micronutrients and no water log. Meal numbers are estimates, not medical advice, and a photo alone often comes out too low because oil, butter and sauces do not show. Estimates need a connection and are capped at 10 an hour and 20 a day; entering a meal by hand, with your own numbers, is uncapped and works offline. There is no Apple Health sync. It is iPhone only, on iOS 17 or later, subscription only at $4.17 a month billed $49.99 a year, $7.99 a month or $3.99 a week after a 3-day trial, and new, with no App Store ratings yet.

That is why it is our #1 for lifters: saved meals come back with the same numbers and no new estimate, and food sits next to a full lifting tracker with a coach. If your phase depends on a weight trend and targets that move, MacroFactor or Carbon Diet Coach does that job and SayLift does not, so pair SayLift with a notebook for weigh-ins or pick one of them.

#2 MacroFactor: built for long phases

MacroFactor is the closest thing to a coach for a bulk or a cut. You set a goal to gain, lose or maintain, and it estimates your energy expenditure from your intake and your weight trend, then adjusts your calorie target at a weekly check-in. Its weight trend smooths out the daily jumps, which is exactly what a long phase needs. It also promises no warnings or red numbers when you go over, and its listing says the adjustments do not depend on hitting targets perfectly.

Entry is quick for repeat meals, with copy and paste, custom foods and recipes and a barcode scanner. It costs $11.99 a month, $47.99 for six months or $71.99 a year after a 7-day trial, with no free tier.

#3 Carbon Diet Coach: a check-in every week

Carbon Diet Coach works the same way at heart: enter your food, weigh in, check in each week, and it adjusts the plan if you stall. It charts your weight, body fat and lean mass, reads body weight from Apple Health, and explains each change it makes. The diet planner lets you set high and low-calorie days across the week, which suits anyone who eats more on training days.

It is the most expensive app here, at $11.99 a month, $59.99 for six months or $99.99 a year.

#4 MyFitnessPal and #5 Cronometer

MyFitnessPal has the largest database here, more than 20.5 million foods, and lets you set goals for losing, gaining or maintaining weight, save meals and recipes, and plan meals. Barcode scanning, meal scanning and voice entry are in Premium, at $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year, with some lower prices also listed. It does not adjust your target for you.

Cronometer gives the most detailed numbers, including vitamins and minerals, and shows weight trends over time. The barcode scanner is free. Gold adds repeat items, photo and voice entry for $10.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Like MyFitnessPal, it leaves the target to you.

How to run a bulk with an app

1. 1Pick your daily calorie number and give it time before judging it. Daily weight jumps around; a trend over weeks does not.
2. 2Set a protein number too. SayLift suggests about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight; if you have a coach or a doctor, use their number.
3. 3Save your most common meals on day one. They will be most of what you eat, and each should take one tap from then on.
4. 4Check the day's total in the afternoon, not at night, so the last meal can close the gap.
5. 5Weigh in on the same days, at the same time, and write it down, in your app or a notebook if your app has no chart.
6. 6Change the number based on the trend, not on one weigh-in, and change it in small steps.
7. 7Keep training on a plan with progressive overload. A bulk without heavier lifts is just eating more.

How to pick

• You lift, eat the same meals on repeat, and want food and training together: SayLift, if you accept $4.17 a month (billed $49.99 a year) after the 3-day trial, keep your weigh-ins somewhere else, and accept the lack of ratings.
• You want the app to read your weight trend and adjust your target: MacroFactor.
• You want weekly coaching and high and low days: Carbon Diet Coach.
• You want a free version and the biggest database: MyFitnessPal or Cronometer.
• You care most about hitting one daily number for muscle: see trackers built around that one number.
• You follow exact carb and fat numbers: see apps that set targets for every macro.
• You are on Android: MacroFactor, Carbon Diet Coach, MyFitnessPal and Cronometer all have Android versions. SayLift is iPhone only.