Review

Cronometer review

By Eric Parker, founder of TrueCal. Updated October 3, 2026.

Our take on tracking the smaller nutrients

We recommend the Cronometer app for people who want to follow vitamins and minerals alongside calories and macros. Its lab-analyzed government databases and university food data give that detail a traceable source. Basic keeps the full food database and unlimited barcode scans, with reports and charts limited to 7 days. Gold costs $59.99 a year or $10.99 a month.

Nutrient totals need a completeness check

The free feature page says up to 95 nutrients and compounds, while the Gold page lists up to 84 nutrients and other compounds under Basic. These Cronometer pages give different counts. Neither count means every food entry contains that much information.

You can set your own macro and micronutrient targets. Basic also lets you record exercise, weight and heart rate, and sync exercise and health metrics from other apps and devices.

Data Confidence measures how complete the information for a nutrient is. Cronometer explains that American food labels usually report about 15 nutrients. A daily total can therefore leave out nutrients that the foods contain but their labels do not list.

In Cronometer's granola bar example, the NCCDB entry for Quaker, Chewy Granola Bar, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip lists 76 nutrients. The label entry for Quaker, Chewy Granola Bars, Raspberry Fruit Crumble lists 16. After logging both, magnesium confidence is 50% because one bar has no magnesium data. That percentage describes missing information, not the amount of magnesium you ate.

Follow the database name and the food icon

Cronometer names these sources publicly. Its database page describes the nutrition as lab-analyzed, not crowd-sourced guesses.

Nutrition Coordinating Center Food & Nutrient Database, NCCDB
Cronometer Food Composition Database, CFCD
USDA SR28
The Canadian Nutrient File, CNF 2015
Irish Food Composition Database, IFCDB
The Dutch Food Composition Database, NEVO
McCance and Widdowson's, CoFID
Australian Food Composition Database, NUTTAB
Nutritionix
Food Data Central Global Branded Food Products Database, FDC UPC

The help center says NCCDB makes up the bulk of the database. Curated by the University of Minnesota, it contains over 17,000 foods with data on 70 nutrients. USDA SR28 has over 8,000 foods with data on over 70 nutrients.

FDC UPC branded entries lack the full nutrient profile of USDA and NCCDB foods. Nutritionix supplies barcode data from over 400,000 product labels. CRDB is a separate set of user-submitted foods, usually copied from labels. Cronometer says its curation team reviews every submitted food before adding it to the public database.

Symbols in food search identify different kinds of data. A red laboratory beaker marks lab-analyzed foods, while a barcode icon marks label-based entries. The Common tab contains the highest-quality databases, while Brands results often have fewer nutrients. For detailed entries, Cronometer recommends NCCDB or USDA SR28 in Common Foods.

Cronometer says photo and voice logging match foods to the same scientific data sources rather than generate nutrition values with AI. Its database page calls Cronometer the most accurate nutrition tracker, but links no study to support that claim. Named sources let you inspect the data. They do not establish that accuracy ranking.

What the subscription buys and costs

Basic has no forced upgrade. Its free features and the Gold additions are listed below.

Feature	Basic	Gold
Food database	Full access	Full access
Barcode scans	Unlimited	Unlimited
Custom meals and recipes	Included	Included
Exercise and health metrics	Included with device sync	Included with device sync
Basic charts	Weight and energy consumption	Weight and energy consumption
Reports and chart history	7-day window	Unlimited history
Ads	Shown	Ad-free
Photo Log and Voice Log	Not included	Included
Recipe Importer	Not included	Included
Macro Scheduler and Fasting Timer	Not included	Included
Nutrition Scores and Custom Charts	Not included	Included
Oracle Nutrient Search	Not included	Included
Print Reports and Crono Coach	Not included	Included

All prices here are US dollars. The annual Gold bill is $59.99, displayed as $4.99 per month. Monthly billing is $10.99. Multiplying 12 monthly payments by $10.99 gives $131.88 for a year. Cronometer advertises Save 54% for annual billing.

No Gold free trial is published on the Gold page.

From finding a food to adding the meal

For search logging, tap the plus button in the diary, choose Add Food and type a food name. Cronometer ranks results using name match and popularity. To add several foods together, open the filter icon, enable Multi-Add and select the foods.

The barcode camera reads the code automatically. If it fails, use Type Barcode to enter the number. If the product is missing, submit photos of the nutrition label and package front for curation. Scanning is free without a scan limit.

With Gold photo logging, take a picture or upload one from your library, then review the matched foods. Cronometer offers ingredient suggestions under Do you also have. Its instructions say to check the matches before adding them to the diary.

With Gold voice logging, speak or type a description of the meal, then tap Match Foods. This is another way to request food matches from a description.

The ratings readers left in each store

On October 3, 2026, the US App Store listing had a rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 98,876 ratings. The listing rounds the count to 99K.

The US Google Play listing showed 4.5 out of 5, with 58,842 ratings in its page data. The displayed count was 58.8K reviews, alongside 5M+ downloads. Both store figures were checked October 3, 2026.

Research gives conflicting answers about accuracy

These studies point in opposite directions for Cronometer. They used different foods and reference records.

Canadian athlete records in the 2025 study

Morello and colleagues had two raters enter 43 three-day food records from Canadian endurance athletes into Cronometer and MyFitnessPal. The reference was the 2015 Canadian Nutrient File in ESHA Food Processor.

The study found good to excellent agreement between Cronometer raters for all nutrients, and good validity against the reference for all nutrients except fibre and vitamins A and D. This was a sample of 43 records from athletes only. The authors declared no conflicts.

Standardized Turkish menus in the 2026 study

Bayram and Ozturkcan examined 17 apps from the Turkish App Store, comparing energy and macros against standardized three-day food records. The study found Cronometer among the apps with the greatest discrepancies from the reference records.

The study used Turkish foods and standardized menus, which the authors identify as a limit. Its finding does not describe every food someone could log in Cronometer. Neither study settles the accuracy of every entry in the current app.

Reasons we value its approach to food data

Nutrient tracking is available without paying, so Basic is worth considering when vitamins and minerals are the reason you log.
The database sources are named, and NCCDB has published nutrient coverage. You can look beyond a generic accuracy claim.
Food icons and Data Confidence reveal incomplete data. The granola bar example makes a missing nutrient visible.
User-submitted foods receive curation review before entering the public database.
The entire database and unlimited barcode scans belong to Basic. Packaged-food search does not require Gold.
Annual Gold billing costs substantially less than a year of monthly payments, at $59.99 versus the calculated $131.88.

Limits that matter before you subscribe

Basic reports and charts only cover 7 days, which restricts longer comparisons.
Photo logging and voice logging both require Gold.
No Gold free trial is published on the Gold page.
The free plan shows ads. Cronometer sells Gold as the ad-free option.
Branded entries have thinner nutrient profiles. Missing label data can cause daily micronutrient totals to undercount.
The most accurate nutrition tracker claim has no linked study.
The 95-nutrient free-page count differs from the 84-nutrient Basic count on the Gold page.
The 2026 study placed Cronometer among the apps furthest from its reference records. That result belongs alongside the more favorable study.

Choose it for the detail you will actually use

We would shortlist Cronometer for someone who wants to follow micronutrients and see where the food data came from. The free nutrient tracking and named databases give that person something concrete to use before paying. If you work with a dietitian, Gold Print Reports can produce a PDF to share.

It suits you less well if free photo logging or free voice logging is a requirement. Both need Gold. If your priority is a long reporting history without paying, the Basic 7-day report window is a reason to look elsewhere.