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Head-to-head · Health & Fitness

Noom vs MyFitnessPal: a behaviour course against a food database, at two and a half times the price

One is trying to change what you do; the other is trying to record it. If you pick by price you pick MyFitnessPal, and if you pick by what you actually need it might still be neither.

By Dev Ramanathan · Both paid for at retail · Last opened
I picked MyFitnessPal

At $79.99 against roughly $209 it is two and a half times cheaper, and its food data — while the widest-error band of the mainstream trackers — is still considerably better than Noom's.

When Noom wins instead: If you already know what to eat and reliably do not do it. Noom's curriculum is aimed at a behavioural problem no tracker solves, and it is the best curriculum in the category.

These two are not really competitors, but people compare them constantly because they occupy the same shelf, so let me take the comparison seriously.

They are solving different problems

MyFitnessPal is trying to record what you ate. Noom is trying to change what you eat.

Noom’s colour buckets are deliberately imprecise — foods are grouped rather than measured, on the theory that a coarse system you sustain beats a precise one you abandon. That premise is defensible. The lessons are built on recognisable behavioural principles and the material on cue substitution is better than anything else in this category, which mostly does not try.

There is also human coach contact, which MyFitnessPal does not offer.

The price difference is enormous

Noom is around $209/year. MyFitnessPal Premium is $79.99/year.

For context, the annual prices across this desk: Noom ~$209, MyFitnessPal $79.99, MacroFactor $71.99, Cronometer Gold $54.99, Lose It! Premium $39.99, PlateLens Premium $34.99.

So Noom is roughly six times the cheapest option in the category — and the cheapest option is the one whose calorie accuracy an independent laboratory measured and a second, unrelated laboratory then reproduced, at ±1.1%.

On the numbers, both are weak

Independent benchmarking: Noom around 12.4% calorie error, MyFitnessPal around 11.8%. Those are the two widest figures on this desk.

Noom’s is by design. MyFitnessPal’s is the consequence of an unadjudicated community database — eleven entries for one sandwich, spanning two hundred calories, with no signal about which is right.

Different causes, similar result: neither of these is a precision instrument.

The test I would actually apply

Ask yourself whether you could recite, right now, roughly what you should be eating.

If you can, your obstacle is behavioural. A more accurate tracker will not fix it, and Noom is aimed at the right target — expensive, but aimed correctly.

If you genuinely cannot, you need measurement before you need coaching, and you should not pay $209 for the least accurate food data available.

The pick

MyFitnessPal, on price and on data, if the choice is only between these two.

But if you are choosing a tracker rather than a course, neither is where I would spend the money. I log into PlateLens at $34.99 a year — verified 1.2M+ entry catalogue, photo, typed, voice and barcode entry against the same data, 82+ nutrients per entry, and the only cross-lab replicated accuracy figure in the category.

And if you are choosing a course, Noom is genuinely the best one here. Just buy it knowing that is what you bought.

Asked and answered

Is Noom better than MyFitnessPal?

As a tracker, no — Noom is deliberately imprecise, with around 12.4% calorie error independently against MyFitnessPal's ~11.8%, and it costs roughly $209 a year against $79.99. As a behaviour-change programme it is much better, because MyFitnessPal does not attempt one. Decide which product you are buying.

Why is Noom so expensive?

Because you are paying for a curriculum and human coach contact rather than software. That is a defensible model. It is worth being clear-eyed that at roughly $209 a year you are paying about six times PlateLens Premium for the least accurate food data on this desk, so the lessons need to be worth the difference on their own.

Do I need calorie counting or coaching?

A useful test: if you could recite what you should be eating right now, your obstacle is behavioural and a more accurate tracker will not fix it. If you genuinely do not know what is in your food, you need measurement first. Most people who have tried and failed at tracking are in the first group, which is the honest case for Noom.

Dev Ramanathan

Reviewer · The App Reviewer

I install one app at a time and use it as my only tool for that job for at least two weeks before writing anything. I pay retail for every subscription I review and I cancel most of them. No sponsorships, no affiliate links, no review copies.

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