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Why should I use Foodnoms instead of MyFitnessPal?

Many Foodnoms users used to use MyFitnessPal (including the developer himself!), and have happily switched to Foodnoms.

If you're a MyFitnessPal user looking for something better, here's why you should consider Foodnoms: it's a simple, customizable, and privacy-friendly MyFitnessPal alternative.

Foodnoms vs MyFitnessPal comparison: What are the differences?

Focused Food Tracker vs Do-It-All Fitness Tracker

Foodnoms was created with a mission to make food tracking be as painless as possible. This means focusing solely on what's important: helping you quickly log what you eat, track your goals, and that's it.

MyFitnessPal is overwhelming for many people who want to track their food intake. The app is not just about tracking food. It's an exercise tracker, a recipe app, a newsfeed, a community forum, weight logger, and a social network. Some users may enjoy these features, but many Foodnoms users appreciate the simplicity that comes with the absence of these features in Foodnoms. Since Foodnoms focuses just on food tracking, it can offer a simpler UI and focus just on features that are really important to make food tracking easier and more rewarding.

If you want to use Foodnoms but still need some of these features that MFP provides, consider looking for another app that is specialized. Here are some recommendations:

Native App Built Specifically for Apple Platforms

Foodnoms offers apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Each app is 100% native and takes advantage of the latest OS software and hardware features. This means best-in-class Apple Health syncing, iCloud sync, Shortcuts support, widgets, and more.

Free Barcode Scanner

MyFitnessPal recently moved their barcode scanner behind their paywall, which understandably upset many of its users. Foodnoms will continue to offer free barcode scanning.

Quality vs Quantity

MyFitnessPal, having been around for almost 20 years, has a massive food library. This is great if you're hoping to find a result for every item that you scan. However, their strategy comes at a tradeoff. Many foods are duplicates, contain errors, or miss critical components like gram information.

Foodnoms, because it is newer, has a smaller library that focuses more on quality than quantity. Here's how:

  • The foundation of the database, including all generic foods and many branded items, come directly from the USDA, and are updated bi-annually
  • 80% of the foods in the Foodnoms database contain gram, ounce, or milliliter data
  • User-submitted foods are checked for errors
  • Foodnoms requires all user-submitted foods to have a barcode
  • There are no duplicate results per barcode

Super-Customizable Nutrition Goals

The free version of MyFitnessPal can be extremely limiting for people that wish to track macros and other nutrients. Many features for effective macro tracking, like specifying goals in grams, require a paid subscription. Even with a paid subscription, many nutrients are not given the same priority or functionality inside the MyFitnessPal user interface.

Foodnoms enables you to track goals for calories, macros, vitamins, minerals, and more. You have control over what you want to track. (Yes, you don't even have to have a calorie goal if you don't want one!) Goals are highly configurable and you can easily adjust them at any time.

David vs Goliath

MyFitnessPal is one of the most popular fitness apps of all time, and for good reason! Their success has allowed them to grow and build a sustainable product with a very large team.

However, established products often face challenges when it comes to innovation. Foodnoms is one of several new contenders in the food tracking space that are taking new, fresh approaches to the problem.

By downloading and using Foodnoms (and especially by subscribing to Foodnoms+), you will be directly supporting an independent developer who is working hard to build the best food tracking experience possible.

Focus on Privacy

Foodnoms prides itself on its commitment to protect your privacy. It does so in a number of ways:

  • Your personal data is never sold or collected in a way that could potentially be valuable to data collectors
  • Your personal data, including your food log, goals, and settings are stored on your iCloud account, not on Foodnoms servers
  • The app does not show ads or use third-party SDKs that track you
  • The app does not request your name or email address

Why is Foodnoms a great MyFitnessPal alternative?

Foodnoms is a simple and privacy-friendly alternative to MyFitnessPal. It is designed to make food tracking easier and more rewarding by offering a streamlined, focused user experience.

Thinking of making the switch? Why not give Foodnoms a chance. Download the app now and use the app for free or start a 7-day free trial of Foodnoms+, which unlocks all features.