Ketogenic diets have become increasingly popular due to their ability to encourage the body to burn fat for energy rather than utilizing glucose. This method is accomplished by eating a diet high in healthy fats and low in carbohydrates. It forces the body to break down fat into keto bodies, which can be used for energy.
The typical percentages of calories from macromolecules recommended on a ketogenic diet are 70–75% from fats, 15–25% from protein, and 5–10% from carbohydrates. Macronutrient tracking can be a tedious and difficult task.
Therefore, we have collected our list of the best keto apps for tracking your daily intake. This article will help you decide what is the best keto app for your dietary needs.
Best keto app: shortlist
- Reverse Health — best keto recipes app for menopause
- MyFitnessPal — best app for keto diet
- Verv App — best keto app for overall fitness
- Cronometer Individual — best keto tracker app for tracking nutrients
- Keto Beyond Body — best self-adjusting keto tracking app
- Carb Manager — best keto app for tech-savvy dieters
- Senza — best free beginners keto app
- Keto Cycle — overall best keto meal plan app
How we chose the best keto app
When evaluating apps to find the best app for a keto diet, we considered the following criteria to help identify the top choices.
Compatibility | Ease of use | Ability to personalize | Variety of features | Price |
iOS and Android devices | Easy to navigate interface and ease of uploading data. | Create custom meal plans using dietary preferences and restrictions. | Multiple features for tracking different aspects of health. | Cost of subscription (from free to $36.99/month.) |
- Compatibility. The ability of the app to seamlessly work with iOS and Android operating systems to increase compatibility with a wide range of devices.
- Ease of use. Apps that incorporate intuitive and easy-to-use features can reduce frustration with the app and improve the overall experience using the app.
- Ability to personalize. Tailoring the app to meet your specific needs allows you to individualize your ketogenic diet and keep track of what's important to you.
- Variety of features. Apps with multiple features to help enhance the users' overall well-being are important for those wanting one app for multiple aspects of health.
- Price. The overall cost of an app is an important aspect of the decision, and thus, we included a wide range of apps with different price points.
Best keto apps in 2024: overview
Weight loss can provide several health benefits, including a reduction in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels. The keto diet is designed to help the body shed excess pounds, especially when incorporated with an exercise routine. Using a ketogenic tracker app can empower you to stick to the diet and see the results you desire.
1. Reverse Health — best keto app for menopause
Developed to support the weight loss journey during menopause, Reverse Health offers meal plans for various diets, including the keto diet. According to the brand, their goal was to create an application tailored not only to women experiencing hormonal changes but also to individual lifestyles and dietary preferences.
Before starting to use the app, you will be prompted to take a quiz after which you will receive a plan including meals and exercises that cater to varying goals and fitness levels. As Reverse Health aims to support sustainable weight loss, the app follows a holistic approach to fitness.
The app also includes a professional coach overseeing activity in the app. The coach's role is to give recommendations and answer questions about nutrition, exercise, or other relevant lifestyle habits.
Reverse Health is available in iOS and Android for $30 a month, $62.00 for three months, and $72.00 for six months.
2. MyFitnessPal — best app for keto diet tracking
MyFitnessPal offers a free keto tracker app that allows you to monitor the macronutrient content of your diet by inputting the foods you eat. In addition, they offer a premium version with barcode scanning capabilities that will enable you to upload the food you eat simply by scanning the barcode.
The premium app gives you a breakdown of your macro and micro-nutrient intake and helps you formulate a weight loss plan specifically designed for your needs. The app can track your hydration status, activity levels such as exercises and steps, and your weight. It also has a feature for those wanting to incorporate intermittent fasting into their health routine.
The MyFitnessPal app can be used with iOS and Android devices and syncs with many popular fitness and health apps to help provide a fuller picture of your health and fitness.
This app does offer a one-month free trial, after which it can be purchased for $19.99 per month or as a yearly subscription for $79.99.
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Build healthy habits with the all-in-one food, exercise, and calorie tracker.
3. Verv App — best keto app for overall fitness goals
If, in addition to following a keto diet, you are also interested in reaching your fitness goals, Verv App could be a suitable choice for you. Although this app mainly focuses on fitness and mental well-being, it also offers keto recipes.
For fitness, it includes personalized workout plans, while mental health is supported through guided meditations, relaxing music, ASMR, and sleep stories.
Verv App takes a holistic and personalized approach to fitness and every user receives a unique plan that is tailored to your preferences, goals, and fitness levels.
Once you complete the questionnaire, you will be able to choose your plan: $59.36 for a month, $97.32 for 3 months, or $162.00 for 6 months.
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Get personal actionable recommendations to make your life healthier and more joyful.
4. Cronometer Individual — best keto tracker app for tracking nutrients
Cronometer Individual offers a free version of the app that is ideal for tracking macro and micronutrient consumption with over 1.2 million verified foods. It compares your intake to recommended guidelines for nutritional intake. The Gold version allows customization and greater access to premium features, such as a fasting timer and recipe input functions, with an ad-free experience.
The app allows you to set fitness goals and track your progress toward personalized metrics and weight loss goals. The Cronometer easily syncs with other fitness and health apps to seamlessly track your progress in one location.
This app can be used with iOS and Android devices, providing you with an on-the-go total fitness tracker.
The basic app is free to use, but if you want to unlock the premium features, the Gold version is available for a monthly fee of $9.99 or can be purchased in six-month and one-year subscriptions for $34.99 and $54.99, respectively.
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Track your diet, exercise, and health data.
5. Keto Beyond Body — best keto tracking app with self-adjusting plans
The Beyond Body app is an innovative tracking platform that changes with your body. The app provides 28-day keto-friendly meal plans with multiple substitutions and tracks your weight and activity to adjust these plans as you lose those pesky pounds. Each keto meal plan is customizable to meet your needs and accomplish your individual goals.
The Beyond Body app provides simple, easy-to-follow workout instructions to help boost your activity level, increasing your weight loss potential. Additionally, it provides access to a nutritionist to help answer any questions or concerns you may have along your journey.
This app is available for both iOS and Android devices. It comes with the ability to purchase a customized Keto Beyond Body book in either an electronic PDF or paperback version.
Subscription services are necessary to use the app with a monthly fee of $36.99. However, purchasing a three-month or six-month subscription can help save money by reducing the monthly fee to $17.98 and $12.63, respectively.
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Become healthier by improving overall well-being with a personalized plan.
6. Carb Manager — best app for tech-savvy keto dieters
Carb Manager allows you to generate personalized meal plans from over 360,000 keto, low-carb recipes available on the app and develop a shopping list for the needed items. If you eat food outside these recipes, they provide state-of-the-art logging methods to track macronutrients, such as barcode scanning and snap, where food is logged simply via a picture of the food.
This app integrates with popular fitness and health apps to track multiple health parameters such as your blood pressure, sleep, and body measurements. Using this information can provide advanced reports to help you track your progress.
The Carb Manager is available for iOS and Android devices. It comes in a free basic version that allows you to log foods, log exercise, and track your weight.
To access the full range of features, the premium version is available for a monthly fee of $3.33, billed annually.
7. Senza — best free keto app for beginners
Senza is a free app that guides you through your keto journey one day at a time. The app allows you to track the food you eat and plan keto-friendly meals. For those needing additional guidance, the Senza provides a digital coaching feature to help you achieve your goals.
Using easy-to-follow metrics, Senza allows you to see your progress and identify changes that need to be made to help you accomplish your overall goals. Monitoring your macronutrients helps to maintain a keto diet by keeping your carbohydrate intake to 5–10% of your caloric intake.
The app does offer additional resources for purchase, such as customized meal plans and 1-on-1 or small group health coaching options to help improve your nutrition and boost weight loss.
8. Keto Cycle — best keto meal plan app
Keto Cycle provides an easy-to-use app for the keto diet that allows customization to incorporate specific dietary restrictions, taste palates, and medical conditions. This meal plan app provides over 10,000 recipes specifically designed to follow a ketogenic diet, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snack options. This app provides a weekly meal plan with a list of ingredients necessary to prepare the food.
The Keto Cycle app can track multiple aspects of your weight management journey, including ketosis, weight, steps, and water intake, providing an all-in-one tracking solution.
The app provides effective workouts with simple-to-follow instructional videos and access to a community of fellow keto dieters who can help motivate you during the journey.
This app can be used with iOS and Android operating systems and can be purchased in two-, four-, and six-month subscription packages. Subscription memberships range from $2.54 to $3.81 per week, being cheaper the longer the subscription you choose.
Comparing the top keto apps in 2024
App | Price | Compatability | Macronutrient tracker | Hydration tracker | Workout routines | Free trial |
Reverse Health | $30/month; $62.00/3-months; $72.00/6-month | iOS and Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
MyFitnessPal | $19.99/month; $79.99/year | iOS and Android | Yes | Yes | No | 30-day |
Verv App | $59.36/month; $97.32/3-month; $162.00/6-month | iOS and Android | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Cronometer Individual | Free version available; otherwise, $9.99/month; $34.99/6-months; $54.99/year | iOS and Android | Yes | No | No | No |
Keto Beyond Body | $36.99/month; $53.94/3-months; $75.78/6-months | iOS and Android | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Carb Manager | Free version available; otherwise, $3.33/month | iOS and Android | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Senza | Free | iOS and Android | Yes | No | No | N/A |
Keto Cycle | $30.48/2-months; $42.40/4-months; $60.96/6-months | iOS and Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
While Keto diet apps are aimed at supporting your weight management journey, excessive macronutrient and/or calorie counting, as well as restriction of certain food groups may lead to an unhealthy relationship with food or exacerbate the symptoms of an eating disorder. Please, seek support if you are experiencing obsessive thoughts and behaviors surrounding food and weight, or suspect to have an eating disorder.
How keto apps operate: understanding their functionality
Keto apps obtain data from the user by tracking the foods they eat. Information about food can be uploaded by selecting individual meals, barcode scanning, and pictures, depending on the app's features. The app then breaks down data to provide you with information regarding macronutrient composition, which allows you to compare the data to predetermined goals. Overall, this provides real-time results to better assist your meal planning.
Apps for keto diets often provide educational resources and guidance to help you better follow a ketogenic plan. The tracking features of these apps allow you to see how your decisions affect multiple health parameters such as weight, blood pressure, and hydration.
Key considerations when choosing a keto diet app
When deciding on the best keto app, it is best to determine how you wish to use it and what features are most important to you. For many, this will include some of the following key considerations.
- Available features. Basic tracking functions are common to many apps. However, if you want multiple recipes and meal planning options to help you develop a customized diet without having to search the web, it is important to find apps that offer this feature.
- Price-to-value ratio. Selecting apps that provide you with time-saving options and improve your compliance with the keto diet can provide significant value, making them worth the extra cost.
- Privacy. Apps that protect the user's information and do not sell this information to third parties are important components to maintaining your online privacy.
- Free trials. Completing a free trial can be beneficial for many who are unsure if the app is right for them. Even a free one-week trial gives them first-hand experience with what the app can do for them without affecting their wallet.
Tips on how to use keto apps effectively
Get the most out of the your keto app with these tips:
- Download the app to all mobile devices. This makes it convenient to log a quick snack on the go.
- Set aside time to plan and log. Make time every week to plan your meals. Log them before the week to help reduce the stress of logging during the busy week.
- Choose apps with a large food library. An expansive food library can make logging faster and provide accurate data regarding a wide range of dietary choices.
- Reassess your progress weekly. Spending time evaluating your progress and identifying ways to improve can significantly boost your overall outcomes.
- Ask for help. Many apps have communities of users who are more than willing to provide helpful tips and advice to ensure you are getting the most out of your diet and app.
Keto apps in research: what studies reveal
A ketogenic diet has been shown to help people lose weight. A low-carbohydrate meal plan forces the body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is the breakdown of fat in the body into ketone bodies, which can be used for energy in place of glucose, resulting in fat loss.
This diet has also been shown to reduce hemoglobin A1c and insulin requirements for patients with Type 2 Diabetes. It has also been shown to reduce inflammation, reverse insulin resistance, and improve cholesterol levels.
Like many diets, the effectiveness of the keto diet is partially determined by how well you adhere to its guidelines. The use of diet and exercise apps has been shown to assist users in maintaining diet and exercising more than non-app users.
The use of an app can have positive effects on the health consciousness of the user and improve self-education about nutrition and physical activity.
Closing remarks on the best keto apps
Keto apps can help improve your diet compliance and provide a wealth of information regarding eating healthy. Choosing an app with features and benefits important to you can significantly improve its value in helping you achieve your goals. However, before starting any diet, it is important to talk with your doctor to make sure it is safe for you based on your current health condition.
Please note that a ketogenic diet may not be suitable for everyone and is associated with both initial side effects (e.g., fatigue, headache, etc.) and long-term health risks (e.g., kidney stones, fatty liver, abnormally low protein levels in the blood, etc.). Ketogenic diet may lead to inadequate intake of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, as well as exceedingly high saturated fat content, all of which may have a negative impact on your health. It is not recommended for individuals who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Those with pre-existing medical condition(s) should consult with a healthcare professional before embarking on a ketogenic diet.
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FAQ
What is keto diet?
A keto diet is a carb-restricted diet that limits the number of carbohydrates to 5–10% of your total caloric intake. Healthy fats are the main source of calories, helping to transition the body into a state of ketosis or fat breakdown. The body then uses the ketone bodies for energy rather than glucose, which aids in fat loss.
What is the best and easiest keto app?
When selecting the best and easiest keto app, it is important to consider the food logging capabilities, such as the size of the food library and specialized barcode scanning and picture logging features. Meal planning features, an abundance of recipes, and the ability to track many aspects of your overall health (e.g., hydration, exercise) can improve its functionality.
How much does the keto diet app cost?
Keto diet apps are available for a wide range of price points from free to $36.99 per month. Many apps offer free versions but require a subscription to access premium features. To help reduce the overall cost of app subscriptions, it is often cheaper to purchase subscriptions in 3-month, 6-month, or yearly packages.
3 resources
- Nutrients. The Potential Health Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet: A Narrative Review.
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets.
- JMIR mHealth and uHealth. Diet and Physical Activity Apps: Perceived Effectiveness by App Users.
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