Best Calorie Tracker for Keto and Low-Carb Diets (2026)

A keto or low-carb diet changes which number matters. On an ordinary calorie plan, calories decide whether a day went well. Here the carbs do, and the gap between total and net carbs can decide whether a meal fits. That changes what you need from an app: carb detail on every meal, a macro split you can set yourself, and logging quick enough that restaurant food and packaged snacks still get recorded.

What should a keto or low-carb calorie tracker do?

Five things matter most:

• Total carbs and net carbs on every meal, with fiber and sugar in view, so you can read whichever number your plan uses.
• A macro split you control, whether a keto ratio or looser percentages for a general low-carb plan.
• Fast logging for food with a barcode and food without one.
• A nutrient view that goes beyond calories and macros.
• Room for the extras some people on keto use: ketone and glucose readings, a fasting timer, a meal planner.

The next section sets the main apps against that list.

Which calorie tracker is best for keto and low-carb diets?

PlateLens is the best fit for most people. Cronometer, MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal each suit a narrower kind of user. Prices below are in US dollars and can change.

PlateLens shows net carbs on every meal, with fiber and sugar alcohols already subtracted, beside total carbs, fiber, sugar and sodium. The macro view reads in grams and percentages, so a very low carb share is easy to check, and goals can follow a Keto split or percentages you choose. One photo logs a plate, and voice, search and barcode feed the same diary. The verified database holds 1.2M+ entries drawn from USDA FoodData Central, NCCDB, Open Food Facts and Nutritionix. There is a full web app alongside iOS and Android, a meal planner with low-carb ideas and a grocery list, and an AI coach that answers from your own diary. The interface is, in editorial opinion, the cleanest of the category.

Cronometer tracks up to 95 nutrients, and the keto section of its diet-tracking page highlights a Ketogenic Nutrition Score (Gold) and a ketone-meter integration. The free plan carries ads and covers manual entry and a barcode scanner; Gold adds photo logging, voice logging and the Crono Coach assistant. Choose Cronometer if nutrient detail comes first.

MacroFactor is built around adaptive targets: it recalculates your calorie and macro goals every week from your own weight and intake, and it offers low-carb and keto diet plans. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Choose MacroFactor if you want targets that move with your results and are happy to pay from day one.

MyFitnessPal has one of the largest food databases, including many entries added by users, which helps when a brand or restaurant item is obscure. Barcode scanning, Meal Scan, Voice Log, custom macro goals and intermittent fasting all sit behind Premium. Choose MyFitnessPal if database breadth is your priority or your food history already lives there.

How do you track net carbs?

Net carbs are total carbohydrate minus fiber and, in many keto plans, minus sugar alcohols. The Nutrition Facts label lists total carbohydrate and dietary fiber, not net carbs (see the FDA's guide to the label), so the number is one you work out or an app works out for you. That is the case for an app that shows both figures on each meal. PlateLens does, and it handles the subtraction for you. If you are managing diabetes, the American Diabetes Association recommends counting total grams of carbohydrate rather than net carbs, so ask your care team which number to use.

How many carbs should your daily goal be?

There is no single keto number. Harvard's Nutrition Source says there is no one standard ketogenic diet. It reports that the diet typically cuts total carbohydrate to under 50 grams a day, and can go as low as 20, and that popular keto resources generally suggest about 70-80% of calories from fat, 5-10% from carbohydrate and 10-20% from protein. A looser low-carb plan sits above that. For a tracker, the practical point is flexibility: you want to set a Keto split or your own percentages and read the result in grams and percentages, which PlateLens lets you do. Where your own number should land is a question for your doctor or a registered dietitian.

Do you need to track nutrients other than carbs on keto?

It is worth doing. Harvard's Nutrition Source warns that nutrient deficiencies may arise if you do not eat a variety of the allowed foods, and it names fiber, B vitamins and minerals such as iron, magnesium and zinc as intakes to check, because whole grains and other food groups are restricted. A tracker that stops at calories and macros cannot show any of that. PlateLens tracks 82+ nutrients, including sodium, potassium and magnesium, so those intakes sit next to your carbs.

Can a calorie tracker log ketones, glucose and fasting?

Some can. PlateLens records blood glucose and ketone readings, syncs with Apple Health and Google Health Connect, and includes an intermittent fasting timer. For progress beyond the scale, its 3D Body Scan uses 12 photos to build a 3D model you can rotate, then compares scans region by region. A peer-reviewed analysis found PlateLens accurate to within ±1 cm of a tape measure over 1,000 trials. Cronometer lists a ketone-meter integration and a fasting timer (Gold), and MyFitnessPal keeps intermittent fasting in Premium.

How do you log restaurant meals and packaged keto foods?

A restaurant plate has no barcode, so a photo does the work: PlateLens logs the plate from one picture. For packaged keto products, a barcode scan logs the product with its total and net carbs; the barcode apps guide covers how the main scanners differ. To check a product's additives as well, Yuka scans barcodes and scores products from 0 to 100 on nutritional quality and additives. It is free with an optional premium, but it is not a calorie diary, so it sits alongside a tracker rather than replacing one. If you batch-cook low-carb meals, the meal prep guide covers how trackers handle portions.

What does a keto-friendly tracker cost?

PlateLens has a free plan that never expires and needs no card: unlimited manual and barcode logging, 3 photo scans a day, 5 coach messages a day and the web app. Premium, with unlimited scans and messages, is $34.99 a year or $9.99 a month, the lowest paid tier among the big trackers. Cronometer Gold is $59.99 a year or $10.99 a month, MacroFactor is $71.99 a year or $11.99 a month, and MyFitnessPal Premium is $79.99 a year or $19.99 a month. The free tiers also differ in what they include: PlateLens gives you barcode logging and three photo scans a day for nothing, while MyFitnessPal charges for its barcode scanner and Meal Scan, and Cronometer for photo logging.

Frequently asked questions

So which calorie tracker should you pick for keto?

For keto and low-carb diets, PlateLens is the best choice for most people: total and net carbs on every meal, a Keto split or custom percentages, photo, voice, search and barcode logging, glucose and ketone logging, a fasting timer, a meal planner with low-carb ideas and a grocery list, and a free plan that never expires. Pick Cronometer if nutrient detail comes first, MacroFactor for adaptive targets and MyFitnessPal for database breadth. For how these apps compare outside keto, see the wider calorie tracker roundup.