What Do You Get with MFP Premium?
Upgrading your MyFitnessPal account to the Premium tier unlocks a robust set of features that transform the app from a basic tracker into a powerful and highly personalized tool for managing your nutrition and fitness goals. These features address many of the limitations found in the free version, providing a more detailed, flexible, and distraction-free experience.
Faster and Smarter Food Logging
The Premium subscription significantly enhances the food-logging process, making it quicker and less tedious, which helps improve tracking consistency.
- Barcode Scanner: This highly popular tool, now exclusive to Premium, allows you to instantly scan the barcode on any packaged food item to pull its nutritional information from MyFitnessPal's extensive database.
- Meal Scan: This innovative feature uses your phone’s camera to recognize and log entire meals from a single photo, providing logging suggestions for each item and ingredient.
- Voice Log: For hands-free logging, Premium users can simply speak the foods and portion sizes they consumed, and the app will log them.
Advanced Nutritional Insights
For those who want to move beyond simple calorie counting, Premium offers deeper insights into your diet.
- Custom Macronutrient Goals: Instead of just a daily calorie target, Premium allows you to set specific goals for protein, carbohydrates, and fat, either by gram or percentage.
- Macros By Meal: Track your macros in greater detail by seeing a breakdown for each meal right inside your food diary. This provides immediate feedback on how each meal contributes to your daily goals.
- Net Carbs Mode: A convenient feature for those on low-carb or Keto diets, this setting automatically calculates your net carbs by subtracting fiber from your total carbohydrate count.
- Food Analysis: See which foods are best and worst for you based on your logged entries, helping you make more informed decisions.
Enhanced Customization and Goal Setting
Premium provides the flexibility to tailor the app to your unique fitness and eating habits.
- Different Goals By Day: Set custom calorie and macronutrient targets for any day of the week. This is especially useful for varying your intake on workout days versus rest days.
- Exercise Calorie Settings: Premium members can choose whether to 'eat back' the calories they burn from exercise, giving them more control over their daily calorie budget. In the free app, these calories are automatically added back.
- Intermittent Fasting Tracking: Use the built-in intermittent fasting tracker to monitor your daily fasts and track your progress over time.
The Ad-Free Experience
One of the most noticeable benefits of a Premium subscription is the removal of all third-party advertisements. This creates a cleaner, faster, and more focused user interface, allowing you to concentrate on your goals without distractions.
Comparison: MFP Free vs. MFP Premium
To help you decide if the upgrade is right for you, here is a comparison of the key differences between the free and Premium versions.
| Feature | MFP Free | MFP Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free with ads | Monthly or Annual fee, ad-free |
| Food Logging Speed | Manual search only | Includes Barcode Scanner, Meal Scan, and Voice Log |
| Macro Tracking | View macro percentage breakdown | Custom macro goals by gram or percentage, and macros per meal |
| Goal Flexibility | Basic daily calorie goal | Custom calorie and macro goals for different days |
| Intermittent Fasting | Not available | Dedicated tracker and guidance |
| Exercise Calories | Automatically added back | Option to turn off 'eat back' feature |
| Data Export | No | Export history for analysis |
| Support | Standard support team | Priority customer support |
Should You Upgrade to MFP Premium?
Whether MFP Premium is a worthwhile investment depends on your personal health goals and tracking style.
- You rely on the barcode scanner: If the primary reason for tracking is convenience, the barcode scanner alone may justify the cost, as it was a major feature moved behind the paywall.
- You follow specific macro targets: Athletes, bodybuilders, or those on diets like Keto will find the customizable macro goals and net carb tracking essential for success.
- You need a more focused experience: If the ads and limitations of the free version are a constant source of frustration, the ad-free interface provides a smoother experience.
- You have varying goals: For those who adjust their intake based on workout schedules or daily routines, the ability to set different goals for different days is a game-changer.
Note on Premium+: MyFitnessPal also offers a Premium+ tier which includes all Premium features plus a personalized Meal Planner, with customized weekly plans and automated grocery lists. This is designed for those who need more structured meal guidance, but for many, the standard Premium offers all the tools necessary for advanced tracking.
Conclusion
While the free version of MyFitnessPal is a perfectly functional tool for basic calorie counting, MFP Premium elevates the experience with speed, customization, and deeper nutritional insight. It is especially valuable for users with specific macro goals, those who want a more streamlined interface, or anyone who finds the convenience features, like the barcode scanner, to be essential. By comparing your tracking needs to the features offered, you can determine if the investment in Premium will provide the extra value you need to succeed. For a deeper look at the various options available, you can check the MyFitnessPal blog for more information on their membership tiers.
