Noom vs MyFitnessPal: a program or a tracker

Noom vs MyFitnessPal (or MyFitnessPal vs Noom) isn’t really a contest between two trackers. Noom is a weight-loss program: daily lessons on habits, an AI coach with human coaches behind it on paid plans, and food logging as one part of it.

MyFitnessPal is a tracker: a big food database, a free plan, and paid tools that make logging faster.

So the question is what you want help with. If you want a structure to follow and lessons on why you eat the way you do, Noom is built for that. If you want to count calories and macros, and maybe never pay, MyFitnessPal is.

Every feature and price below comes from each company’s own site and official app store listings, read on November 2, 2026. We didn’t test either app ourselves.

Key takeaways

Noom describes its program as “designed by psychologists”, with 5 to 15 minutes of lessons a day. MyFitnessPal is a food and exercise tracker, with no lessons on the pages we read.

As of November 2, 2026, Noom Weight costs $70 for one month or $209 for a year, billed upfront. Its 7- or 14-day trial lets you choose the price. MyFitnessPal has a free plan, and Premium costs $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year.

Both log food by photo, voice and barcode. Noom also reads a typed description; MyFitnessPal’s free plan is a food search, and its faster tools are Premium.

In separate trials, Noom with coaching led to more weight loss than usual care in people with prediabetes, while handing patients MyFitnessPal didn’t change weight compared with usual care. Those were different trials, not a head-to-head.

In the one MyFitnessPal trial, use dropped sharply after the first month, and research on food logging finds that logging more often goes with better results. The better choice is the one you’ll still use in month three.

Noom or MyFitnessPal: which one should you pick?

If you…	Lean toward
Want daily lessons on habits and a coach to message (on paid plans: AI first, with human coaches behind it)	Noom
Want to start free and maybe never pay	MyFitnessPal
Want to see calories and macros as numbers, with a large food database	MyFitnessPal
Want a simple color guide to calorie density instead of numbers alone	Noom
Want to sync a long list of watches and scales	MyFitnessPal
Have a history of disordered eating	Neither, until you’ve talked to a professional; see below

The rest of the post gives the reasons, so you can check them against what you need.

How do Noom and MyFitnessPal differ at a glance?

As of November 2, 2026, this is what each company says about its own product.

	Noom (Noom Weight)	MyFitnessPal
What it is	A weight-loss program “designed by psychologists”, with daily lessons and food logging	A calorie and macro tracker with a large food database
Free version	“Select app features”: some lessons, movement tracking, and meal logging depending on where you live	Yes: food search, calories and nutrition, weight, exercise and water
Trial	7 or 14 days, at a price you choose (one example on Noom’s site is $0.50)	7 days free, for first-time Premium or Premium+ users
Price (US, before tax)	$70 for 1 month up to $209 for 12 months, billed upfront	Premium $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year; Premium+ $24.99 a month or $99.99 a year
Food logging	Photo, voice or text with AI, a barcode scanner, and a color system	Food search free; Barcode Scan, Meal Scan (photo) and Voice Log in Premium
Food database	“1M+ food items”	“20.5M Foods” (stats block); “over 18 million” (FAQ on the same page)
Coaching	Welli, an AI chat, with escalation to a team of human coaches; a 1:1 coach is a separate paid add-on	An AI Coach; no human coaching on the pages we read
Lessons	Daily, 5 to 15 minutes	None on the pages we read
Meal plans	“Meal plans & dietitian-backed recipes” (App Store)	Meal planner in Premium+ only
Devices	Syncs “step and weight data” only, from Fitbit, Garmin, Withings and others (iOS syncing page)	“40+ apps and devices” (home page); “more than 35” (Premium page)
Platforms	“Mobile-only”, no desktop version	iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (App Store), and Android

Sources: Noom’s home page, plan pricing, free features, cost guide, coaching and device pages, and its US App Store listing; MyFitnessPal’s home page, Premium and Premium+ pages and its US App Store listing. Where a company’s own pages disagree, the table shows both figures.

Is Noom a program and MyFitnessPal a tracker?

Yes, and that’s the difference that matters most. Everything else follows from it.

Noom: lessons first, logging second

Noom’s home page describes its weight program as one that “focuses on behavioral changes, daily lessons, and food logging”. Its cost guide says you start each day with “5 to 15 minutes” of lessons that draw on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) techniques.

You begin with a quiz of about 15 minutes. Noom says you then get a plan, usually for around 16 weeks, with a suggested daily calorie range.

Food logging uses a color system based on calorie density, meaning calories per gram. For solid foods, Noom’s help center labels foods green below 1.0, yellow from 1.0 to 2.4, and orange above 2.4.

Noom also says it doesn’t believe in “good” or “bad” foods. The colors are a guide to calorie density, not a verdict on the food.

MyFitnessPal: numbers first

MyFitnessPal is built around the food diary. You search for what you ate, or in Premium you scan a barcode, take a photo or say it out loud, and it adds up calories, macros and nutrients.

Its home page says it sets your goal with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then adds or subtracts “500 calories per pound of weight change per week desired”. It has an AI Coach that gives advice based on your diary. We found no lessons, courses or human coaching on the pages we read.

So Noom tries to change how you think about eating, and MyFitnessPal gives you the numbers and leaves the rest to you.

How does logging food compare?

Closer than you might expect. Both now log by photo and voice, and both scan barcodes. Noom also reads a typed description; MyFitnessPal’s free plan is a food search.

Noom’s help center says you can “log meals using a photo, voice, or typed description”, and “Noom’s AI will identify ingredients and portion sizes”. You review and adjust before it saves.

It’s available to most users in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK on the latest app version.

In MyFitnessPal, the free plan is a food search. Barcode Scan, Meal Scan and Voice Log are Premium tools.

The database is where they differ most. Noom’s listing says “1M+ food items”. MyFitnessPal’s home page says “20.5M Foods”, and its own FAQ on the same page says “over 18 million”. Either way, it’s many times larger.

A bigger database helps with branded and restaurant foods. It also means more entries to choose between, and we covered how those are built in is MyFitnessPal accurate?.

Every photo estimate is an estimate, in either app. Oils, butter and sauces are the usual blind spot; see how AI calorie counters work, and where they miss.

What does each one cost?

MyFitnessPal is cheaper, and it has a free plan that does the core job. As of November 2, 2026:

MyFitnessPal Premium: $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year.
MyFitnessPal Premium+: $24.99 a month or $99.99 a year. It adds a meal planner, more than 1,500 recipes and grocery lists that sync with grocery apps (US only).
Noom Weight: from $70 for one month to $209 for a year. Noom’s support page says “all plans are billed upfront” and auto-renew, and you can cancel anytime.

Noom Weight plan prices in US dollars, before tax and discounts, as listed on Noom’s pricing page, read November 2, 2026. Noom lists a price for every length from 1 to 12 months.

Two things to know about Noom’s price. It says your final plan “is personalized based on your quiz results”, and prices “may vary slightly” with promotions or where you sign up. Its App Store listing shows in-app prices from $44.99 to $199.99 without naming the plan lengths, so check the price you’re shown before you pay.

The trial works differently too. Noom’s cost guide says the trial lasts “7 or 14 days” and lets you choose its price, with $0.50 as one example. MyFitnessPal’s 7-day trial is free for first-time trial users.

Noom also offers a 1:1 human coach as a “Premium” add-on, “charged separately” and open to new US users. Its page doesn’t give the price. Noom sells a separate medication program, Noom Med, which this post doesn’t cover.

What does research say about each one?

We found no study that put Noom and MyFitnessPal head to head. Each has been tested on its own, in very different setups, so read these side by side with care.

Noom

A 2020 randomized trial in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (PMID 32459631) randomized about 200 adults with prediabetes at Stony Brook Medicine clinics to Noom’s coach-guided Diabetes Prevention Program or to usual care with a paper curriculum. It tested that program, not today’s Noom Weight.

At 6 months, weight was lower in the Noom group than with usual care, a statistically significant gap that held at 12 months. Blood sugar (HbA1c) didn’t differ. Two authors worked for Noom.
A 2026 randomized trial in Obesity Research and Clinical Practice (PMID 42957555, abstract only) compared two Noom apps in 600 adults: one with coaching and one without. At 6 months the difference wasn’t significant. Over 30 months, the coached group did better on self-reported BMI.

Noom sponsored it, and two authors own equity in Noom. It tests coaching, not Noom against other apps.
A 2016 study in Scientific Reports (PMID 27819345) looked back at 35,921 people who used the older Noom Coach app at least twice a month for six months. Of those, 77.9% reported weight loss. Noom supplied the data.

It had no control group, used self-reported data, and included only engaged users, so it can’t show the app caused the change. People who logged dinner more often were more likely to lose weight, an association only.

MyFitnessPal

A 2014 randomized trial in Annals of Internal Medicine (PMID 25402403) gave 105 primary care patients at UCLA help installing MyFitnessPal, against 107 on usual care. After 6 months, weight change didn’t differ between groups.

Use fell fast: 94 people used the app in the first month and 34 in the sixth. It was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the NIH, not MyFitnessPal.

The pattern isn’t “Noom works and MyFitnessPal doesn’t”. The 2020 Noom trial added coaching and a structured program; the MyFitnessPal trial handed people an app and let them go. The authors of the 2014 trial concluded that apps may help people “who are ready to self-monitor calories”.

Which one is easier to keep using?

Neither, if logging feels like work. Research on food logging finds that logging more often goes with better results. In one MyFitnessPal trial, use also fell sharply after the first month.

A 2011 systematic review in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (PMID 21185970) found that a link between self-monitoring and weight loss was “consistently found”, though it rated the evidence weak.

In a 2019 study in Obesity (PMID 30801989), people in a 24-week online program spent 23.2 minutes a day logging in month one and 14.6 minutes in month six. The authors concluded that the time needed to be successful went down over the program.

That’s why the time a log takes matters. A few habits help in either app:

Log at the table, not at night from memory.
Estimate when you’re unsure. A rough entry beats a blank day.
Save the meals you repeat, so breakfast takes one tap.

Tracking isn’t right for everyone. Noom’s own home page says you can’t use it if you’re under 18, pregnant, underweight or have an eating disorder. If you have a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before you start counting anything.

The better choice is the one you still open on a busy Thursday in week five.

Where does Getfiit fit?

We make Getfiit, so weigh this section with that in mind. It’s an AI nutrition and fitness coach that lives in WhatsApp, so there’s no new app to install. You send a photo, a voice note or a sentence, and it replies with calories, protein, carbs and fat.

It sits between the two. Like MyFitnessPal, it gives you the numbers and daily calorie and macro targets set from your goal and profile. Like Noom, it talks back: you can ask about food or training, and it checks in at a time you pick. It isn’t a program or a curriculum.

Here’s an illustration of a log, not a measured result:

0:06

Greek yogurt with berries and some granola

Greek yogurt with mixed berries and granola. Roughly how much granola, a small handful or a full bowl?

small handful

Logged with a small handful of granola. Your calories, protein, carbs and fat for the day are updated. Reply to the entry or tap Edit if anything's off.

It doesn’t scan barcodes or sync with a watch or a scale, and there are no lessons. The coach is AI, not a person, and there are no meal plans. If you want a structured program with daily lessons, Noom is built for that. If you want a free tracker with the bigger database, that’s MyFitnessPal.

As of November 2, 2026, Getfiit costs $19.99 a month after a 3-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime. See how it works.

Frequently asked questions

Is Noom better than MyFitnessPal?

It depends on what you need. Noom suits someone who wants lessons, a structure and a coach to message (on paid plans: AI first, with human coaches behind it). MyFitnessPal suits someone who wants a free plan, a much larger food database and more device syncs. We found no study that compared the two directly.

Is Noom more expensive than MyFitnessPal?

Yes, on the prices each lists. As of November 2, 2026, a year of Noom Weight is $209 billed upfront, against $79.99 for a year of MyFitnessPal Premium. MyFitnessPal also has a free plan; Noom’s free version covers only select features.

Does Noom count calories?

Yes. Noom gives you a suggested daily calorie range after its quiz, and it labels foods green, yellow or orange by calorie density, meaning calories per gram. You can log by photo, voice, text or barcode.

Can I use Noom and MyFitnessPal together?

You can, but it means logging twice, and logging is usually the step that slips. If you want both lessons and a detailed tracker, pick the one whose missing piece you can live without.

What if I’m weighing other trackers too?

See MyFitnessPal alternatives for a wider list, or the head-to-heads for Lose It, Cronometer, MacroFactor and Cal AI. For what to look for in any logging app, see food diary apps.

Your next step

Decide what you’re missing. If it’s a reason and a routine, try Noom’s trial. If it’s the numbers, start with MyFitnessPal’s free plan and log an ordinary week, not your best one. If logging is what keeps stopping you, browse our other tracker comparisons or see a faster way to log.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat, especially if you have a health condition, are pregnant, or have a history of disordered eating.