MyFitnessPal vs. Levels: Which is the Best Food Tracking App for You?
While MyFitnessPal is one of the original food loggers and sports an extensive database, it’s still best at the basics, while Levels food logging adds an opinion and guidance.
When it comes to improving your health and hitting your nutritional and fitness goals,meal logging is one of the most powerful tools available. Tracking what you eat keeps you accountable, can make you more mindful, and helps you connect the dots between the meals you eat and how you feel.
One of the oldest and most popular food-tracking apps is MyFitnessPal, launched in 2005. One of the newest is Levels. While each app allows you to log meals, monitor daily progress, and track your food intake, they take different approaches.
In short, MyFitnessPal focuses on calories and weight management, while Levels takes a broader focus on overall health, connecting your diet to other biomarkers and incorporating exercise and sleep data.
Here's how the pros and cons of each food-tracking app stack up.
The pros of MyFitnessPal
Giant database
The MyFitnessPal app has a vast database of more than 13 million foods, so you'll likely find just about any food---especially packaged and chain-store goods. And if you can't find something, you can create and save it as a custom food. You can also save your go-to recipes.
Free tier
You can start using the basic meal logging and calorie-tracking features for free (with some notable downsides [below]).
Calorie, macro, and micro tracking
When you sign up, you'll input your weight, goal weight, and weekly weight target, whether that means losing, gaining, or maintaining your weight. MyFitnessPal then calculates a daily calorie budget for you.
The app shows you calories as well as macronutrients like carbs, fat, and protein. The in-app nutrition dashboard gives an overview of specific micronutrients---like vitamin A, calcium, and iron---in the foods you've eaten throughout the day. You can record how you feel after each meal in the app's basic built-in diary.
Large community
MyFitnessPal also has active community forums for fitness and exercise, recipes, specific weight goals, success stories, challenges, and more.
Built-in nutrition and movement plans
The app has diet and activity plans related to mindfulness, protein intake, gut health, and other topics. For instance, the "6,000 Steps a Day Plan" is a four-week program that gradually builds up a robust baseline walking habit. The "Ultimate High Protein Plan" provides resources outlining the importance of protein and how to get enough. It also suggests recipes in line with your calorie budget.
Built-in workouts
Although MyFitnessPal is first and foremost a calorie-counting app, it provides some simple built-in workout routines, from bodyweight circuits and stretching to HIIT and kettlebell workouts.
Fitness app integrations
MyFitnessPal integrates with dozens of other apps---including Apple Health, Fitbit, Strava, and MapMyFitness---to log steps and calories burned during workouts and physical activity.
The cons of MyFitnessPal
Confusing, overwhelming database
The downside of letting users add foods to MyFitnessPal's extensive food database is that it can be confusing. You'll encounter several similar or duplicate versions of the same food or meal.
Tedious logging
Logging a meal is also very manual. Even if you opt for the photo-logging feature, you still have to select suggested foods the app provides based on your picture and then input the amount you ate. The recognition capabilities can also miss: the app mistook a bag of mozzarella cheese for cooked white rice, for example.
Limited free tier
The free version of the app not only lacks features like macronutrient meal tracking, meal time stamps, and goal-setting but is also covered in annoying banner-style ads. The Premium version costs $79.99 a year.
No integration of other health data, like glucose or blood labs
MyFitnessPal is primarily food-focused and doesn't support other biomarkers, so it's more difficult to understand how diet impacts health.
Lacks meal scoring and insights into food or meal quality
MyFitnessPal doesn't really have an opinion about what you eat. Its primary focus is calories and weight, and even the macronutrient breakdown is generic. You don't really get customized scoring or insights that go beyond the numbers.
Plans are hard to choose from
Without a more nuanced, holistic view of how your body works and responds to certain foods and activities, it can be challenging to determine which workouts, calorie budgets, or macro ratios are optimal for you. As a result, you're faced with many decisions but little informed data to drive your choices.
Basic workouts
The in-app workouts are geared more toward beginners. If you train regularly or have a routine dialed in, the app's fitness resources will likely add little value to your existing regimen.
The pros of Levels
Because Levels DNA is in metabolic health and its ability to tie blood glucose to your diet, it takes a holistic, data-driven approach to nutrition beyond the "calories-in, calories-out" model. Its goal is to help users improve overall metabolic fitness and make food and lifestyle choices that will enhance overall health.
Super-fast AI-logging via voice memo or photo
Like MyFitnessPal, Levels allows you to easily log meals, either by searching their database, using the built-in barcode scanner, describing or taking a photo of a meal (which an AI engine then itemizes for you), or saving custom meals.
Continuous glucose monitor (CGM) integration
What sets Levels apart is its integration with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), which allows you to see how your meals impact your blood sugar in real-time. CGM takes a more nuanced approach to nutrition, offering a window into your biology. Certain foods affect people differently, even if the number of calories or carbohydrates is identical. CGM gives you data specific to you and your body.
Meal scoring
Levels analyzes and scores each meal on a 1-10 scale based on its nutrient density and observed glucose response. For instance, you'll be able to see which ingredients are especially rich in fiber. This analysis allows you to understand the quality of what you're eating, not just the quantity of calories. You can still see at a glance how your macros---particularly protein and fiber---are stacking up for the whole day.
Insights about healthier swaps, recipes, and trends
Levels uses your health data to generate insights and suggestions to help you construct meals that work best for your biology and goals. Healthy eating is about more than the caloric and even nutrient density of a single ingredient. For instance, food combining and the order in which you eat your food can significantly reduce blood sugar spikes. Levels recipe suggestions are from vetted nutritionists and doctors like Dr. Mark Hyman and are focused on supporting metabolic health.
In-app health education
Levels in-app library features more than 600 deeply reported and research-backed articles that get you up to speed on metabolic health and why it matters, along with dozens of helpful pieces on what to buy and how to order for optimal health.
Habit Loops setting goals and tracking progress
The Levels app'sHabit Loops feature allows you to set and track daily and weekly goals aroundh health-supporting habits like macros, step count, mindful minutes, and water intake. Long-term data shows your progress up to 90 days.
Levels Labs blood testing
An in-app blood-testing service called Levels Labs allows you to either schedule an at-home blood test or upload your past labs so you can track and get guidance on improving critical health markers like fasting insulin and ApoB cholesterol.
The cons of Levels
Smaller database
Levels' food database is considerably smaller than MyFitnessPal's, so some foods may be missing when you log your meals.
No micronutrient breakdown
Levels doesn't provide a micronutrient analysis after you've logged a meal. Meals and foods are only broken down by calories, fiber, sugar, protein, fat, and carbs.
No built-in workouts or fitness plans
The Levels app primarily focuses on nutrition. Although you can log your workouts, there are no in-app workout videos, programs, or curated plans.
No macro ratio targets
Unlike MyFitnessPal, Levels doesn't allow you to set a ratio target for your macros, like 40% carbs, 40% fat, 20% protein. However, you'll still see a breakdown of your macros in the app.
No free tier
There is no free tier with Levels. To access the Levels app, you must be a member (memberships start at $199 a year or $40 a month). If you want to monitor your glucose, you'll also need to get a CGM kit which, including shipping, costs an additional $186 for a month.
Which food-tracking app is right for you?
Both MyFitnessPal and Levels can be effective tools for improving your diet, achieving personal goals, and leading a healthier life, but each health app serves different use cases.
If your primary concern is your weight and you're more interested in a cheap calorie-counter app, MyFitnessPal might be worth trying. The app's calorie tracker, comprehensive food database, engaged community and corresponding social support, and focus on macronutrients will help keep you accountable. It also provides an intentional framework to help you lose, maintain, or gain weight.
If you want more than just a basic calorie log, and want to learn more about how your diet connects to your overall health, choose Levels. The app's integration with CGM lets you understand how meals affect your blood sugar. Even if you forgo the CGM feature, you can still access detailed, personalized information on overall meal quality and how specific ingredients support metabolic health. Plus, you can track other biomarkers like HbA1c and triglycerides with the Levels Labs feature.
Both apps serve their intended purposes well, but they target different needs. Your choice will depend on your health goals, the level of health-tracking detail you need, and the guidance you want in optimizing your overall health.
Try Levels Today
Join Levels now to see how its fast AI-powered food logging, personalized insights, and biomarker tracking can take you beyond basic calorie counting and help you reach and maintain your health goals. Learn more here.
