Comparison · All comparisons

Protokol Lab
vs MacroFactor.

Serious macro tracker with adaptive TDEE — best-in-class for pure nutrition tracking.

What MacroFactor does well

  • Deterministic adaptive algorithm adjusts macro targets weekly based on actual weight trend and intake — genuinely best-in-class for non-GLP-1 macro tracking.
  • Fastest food logging workflow in the category. Roughly half the taps of MyFitnessPal for equivalent entry.
  • No ads, premium-only pricing model — product-first, not ad-first.
  • Excellent analytics: expenditure, adherence, rate of loss trending.

Where MacroFactor falls short for GLP-1 users

  • Zero GLP-1 awareness. No dose tracking, no half-life curve, no way to represent that your appetite depends on where you are in your weekly injection cycle.
  • Daily resets. MacroFactor calibrates weekly but still expects you to hit daily macros — which the GLP-1 cycle makes impossible without a rolling budget.
  • No symptom tracking whatsoever.
  • Premium-only pricing means no free entry path — roughly $72/year.

Feature matrix

FeatureMacroFactorProtokol Lab
Dose tracking with half-life curves
Rolling 7-day calorie budget
MF recalibrates weekly but still hands out daily targets
Adaptive macro algorithm
MF is best-in-class here; PL recalculates weekly from trend
Food barcode scanning
Logging speed Very fastFast
Symptom tracking
Agentic AI assistant
Ads
Free tier
Pricing ~$72/yr onlyFree + $79/yr

Use MacroFactor if…

You're not on a GLP-1 (or you're long past titration and eating consistently across the week), you want the most sophisticated adaptive macro algorithm on the market, and daily targets work fine for your pattern.

Use Protokol Lab if…

You need macro tracking that treats your week as a week. MacroFactor's weekly recalibration is smart but still hands you a daily number — a number that will be wrong for you three days out of seven on a GLP-1. Protokol Lab's rolling budget solves this explicitly.

FAQ

If I love MacroFactor's algorithm, should I still switch?

If you're on a GLP-1, probably yes — at least for the tracking side. MacroFactor's adaptive algorithm is excellent but was designed for users with consistent day-to-day appetite. On a weekly injection cycle, the assumption breaks. Protokol Lab's weekly rolling budget is built around that pattern.

Can I use both?

Some users do, but it's friction. Logging every meal in two apps gets old fast. If your priority is GLP-1 integration, consolidate on Protokol Lab.

Does Protokol Lab have MacroFactor-style expenditure tracking?

Partial. Protokol Lab computes BMR and adjusts weekly targets based on trend weight, but MacroFactor is more sophisticated on pure expenditure math. Most GLP-1 users find the simpler approach is enough because medication, not exercise, is the dominant variable.

See Protokol Lab for yourself.

Real data. No signup required.