Reviewed by the VitalHabitsHub team · Last reviewed June 2026. We test these apps through real low-carb tracking; recommendations reflect hands-on use. Talk to your doctor before starting a ketogenic diet, especially with a medical condition. VitalHabitsHub may earn a commission from links on this page — it never changes what we recommend.
Keto lives or dies on one number most apps get wrong: net carbs. A general calorie tracker often miscounts them, which is why keto-specific apps exist. Carb Manager is the long-standing leader, Senza is the best for beginners, and KetoDiet App is the recipe-led companion. Here’s how the top keto apps compare in 2026, with real pricing.
Carb Manager: the keto standard
Carb Manager has been the default keto tracker for nearly a decade, and for good reason: it does net carbs right (total carbs minus fiber minus the right portion of sugar alcohols), prominently and without setup. There’s a free tier, with premium at $59.99/year adding 5,000+ recipes, monthly challenges, an intermittent-fasting tracker, and meal plans. For most keto dieters, this is the pick.
Senza: best for beginners
Senza is the most beginner-friendly — a clean platform for tracking macros and building a keto meal plan, with a verified 1.6-million-item food database, barcode scanning, and a fasting timer. Its standout feature is the Keto Radar map for finding keto-friendly restaurants — genuinely useful when eating out derails most people’s diet.
KetoDiet App: the recipe-led companion
KetoDiet App is less a pure tracker and more a keto lifestyle hub, built around a tested library of 2,000+ keto recipes plus a macro calculator and nutrient dashboard. There’s no free tier; subscriptions run in multi-month cycles (around $3.81/week at the shortest). Best if you want cooking inspiration as much as tracking.
MyFitnessPal: the free app you probably already have (with a real catch)
Most people trying keto already have MyFitnessPal installed from a previous diet, which raises the obvious question: why not just use that? The honest answer is that its free tier tracks total carbs, not net carbs — you’d have to manually subtract fiber (and the right portion of sugar alcohols) from every entry yourself, which defeats the point of an app doing it for you. Net carbs, gram-based custom macro targets, and barcode scanning all sit behind MyFitnessPal Premium ($19.99/month or $79.99/year) or Premium+ ($24.99/month or $99.99/year), and even then it’s a general calorie tracker retrofitted for keto, not built around it the way Carb Manager or Senza are. Its one real edge is the food database — the largest and most crowd-sourced of any tracker, useful if you eat a lot of restaurant or packaged food. If you’re keto-committed rather than keto-curious, a keto-specific app will save you the manual math.
Cronometer: the best free keto tracker
If “free keto app” is what you searched, Cronometer is the honest answer, not Carb Manager or Senza. Its free tier already calculates and displays net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) for every logged food, with no paywall — the one thing MyFitnessPal’s free tier can’t do — on top of unlimited logging and up to 84 tracked nutrients (useful for catching micronutrient gaps keto diets are prone to, like magnesium and potassium). Cronometer Gold runs about $49.99/year (~$4.17/month) or $10.99 month-to-month, and mainly adds polish: ad-free browsing, custom charts/reports, a built-in fasting timer, and a recipe importer — none of which are required to track keto correctly, which is why Cronometer, not the apps above, is the pick if a functional free tier matters more than a keto-specific interface. If your main goal is combining keto with intermittent fasting rather than food logging itself, a dedicated fasting timer like Zero (free tier covers 16:8/14:10/custom windows; Zero Plus is $9.99/month or $69.99/year for advanced analytics) pairs well alongside whichever food tracker you pick above — it’s diet-agnostic, not a keto macro tracker on its own.
Side-by-side comparison
| App | Price | Standout | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carb Manager | Free; premium $59.99/yr | Accurate net carbs + fasting | Most keto dieters |
| Senza | Free + paid | Keto Radar restaurant map | Beginners & eating out |
| KetoDiet App | ~$3.81/wk (no free tier) | 2,000+ tested recipes | Recipe-led keto |
| Cronometer | Free (net carbs included); Gold ~$4.17/mo | Free-tier net carbs + 84 nutrients | Best free option |
| MyFitnessPal | Free (total carbs only); Premium $19.99/mo | Largest food database | If you already use it, but expect manual math |
Which should you pick?
Start with Carb Manager — its free tier and accurate net-carb tracking cover most people. New to keto and eat out often? Senza for the restaurant finder. Want recipes to drive your week? KetoDiet App. If you’re not strictly keto, a general tracker from our macro & calorie guide may serve you better.
What to expect realistically
The app makes net-carb tracking easy, but keto results still come from consistency and the right total-calorie balance — tracking just removes the guesswork around hidden carbs. Expect an adjustment period, and check with your doctor if you have kidney, liver, or other conditions.
Frequently asked questions
Best keto app overall?
Carb Manager — accurate net carbs, a solid free tier, plus recipes and fasting tracking.
Why not just use MyFitnessPal for keto?
General trackers often miscount net carbs; keto-specific apps calculate them correctly without configuration.
Free keto app?
Carb Manager and Senza both have functional free tiers; KetoDiet App is subscription-only.
Is there a truly free keto app?
Cronometer’s free tier already calculates net carbs (not just total carbs) for every food you log, with no paywall — the most keto-usable free tier of the apps here. Carb Manager and Senza also have free tiers, but their deepest keto features sit behind a subscription.
Is there a keto calculator app, or do I need a separate calculator?
You don’t need a separate app — Carb Manager, Senza, and Cronometer all calculate your daily net-carb, protein, and fat targets automatically once you enter your stats and goal, and update them live as you log food. A standalone “keto calculator” is really just the setup step built into any of these trackers.
More: see our guides to macro & calorie trackers and the best weight-loss apps.
