To be reviewed in this chart, a program must 1) function as a personal electronic diary that helps you manage your eating and exercise to reach specific weight and nutrition goals, and 2) be well known (we rule out products of Google rank three or lower).
To minimize bias, we report only verifiable facts except in "Best Feature," "Worst Flaw," ratings, and good/bad color codes.
To open a bigger chart reviewing these and 16 other contenders, click the See More Competitors button. (Comments? .)
(To read details, point to cells with red triangles in their corners.)
Diet Power 4.4 | CalorieKing 4.0 | FitDay PC 1.0 | Perfect Diet Tracker 1.4 | Self Diet Club | SparkPeople | Weight-By-Date 2.95 | |
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To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.) | |||||||
OVERALL RATING | |||||||
VERSATILE? | |||||||
ACCURATE? | |||||||
EASY TO USE? | |||||||
ONBOARD HELP | |||||||
EMAIL SUPPORT | |||||||
PHONE SUPPORT | |||||||
COMPANY ATTITUDE | |||||||
BEST FEATURE | Personalization | Food variety | User interface | User interface | Ease | Nutrients | Calorie graph |
WORST FLAW | First 5 minutes | Nutrient data | Nutrient data | Nutrient history | Portioning | Support | Trust |
Price ($US) | $49.99 | $45.00 | $29.95 | $29.95 | $16/yr | FREE | $37.00 |
# Buyers/Members | Undisclosed | ? | ? | Undisclosed | ? | 250,000? | Undisclosed |
Current Release (Year) | 2008 | 2004 | 2004 | 2007 | ~2007 | ~2007 | 2006 |
First Release (Year) | 1992 | ? | ? | 2007 | ? | 2002 | 2000 |
Operating Systems | Windows | Windows/Mac | Windows | Windows/Mac | Web-based | Web-based | Windows |
Vista? | YES | no | no | YES | n/a | n/a | YES |
Download Size | 7-64 MB | 12 MB | 5 MB | 3 MB | n/a | n/a | 9 MB |
Drive Space Needed | 1000 MB | 30 MB | 20 MB | 6 MB | n/a | n/a | 20 MB |
RAM Needed | 256 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB | 256 MB | n/a | n/a | 16 MB |
Free Updates? | YES | no | no | YES | n/a | n/a | YES |
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.) | |||||||
Free Trial? | 15 days | 7 days | no | 7 days | no | n/a | 15 days |
$$$-Back Guarantee? | 1 year | no | 30 days | no | no | n/a | 30 days |
Who Can Use? | Anyone 14+ | Non-preg 13+ | ? | Non-preg 18+ | Anyone | Non-preg 18+ | Anyone |
Installations Allowed | ∞ | 1 | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a | ∞ |
Users per Installation | 4 | 5 | ∞ | ∞ | 1 | 1 | 10 |
Portable? | Travel Bag | PDA sync | no | no | n/a | n/a | PDA sync ($) |
# Foods | 11,000 | 50,000 | 9,000 | 7,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 11,000 |
# Nutrients in Foods | 33 | 10 | ? | 6 | 24 | 31 | 28 |
# Your Nutrients Tracked | 33 | 5 | 31 | 6 | 4 | 75 | 10 |
Foods x Nutrients Tracked | 363,000 | 250,000 | 279,000 | 42,000 | 48,000 | 750,000 | 110,000 |
Trans Fat? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Nutrients Updated (Year) | 2006-2007 | 2007 | ? | 2006 | ? | 2008 | 2006 |
# Recipes | 101 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0? | 0 | 0 |
Add/Analyze Your Recipes? | YES | no | no | no | ? | no | YES |
# Exercises | 1000 | 120 | 507 | 250 | 145 | 200 | 130 |
Calorie Budget Personalized? | YES | YES | ? | YES | YES | YES | YES |
Budget Tracks Metabolism? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Budget Corrects for Sodium? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Corrects for Menstruation? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Nutrition Quotient? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.) | |||||||
Real-Time Food Coach? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Logging Time (min/day) | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
Ideal Weight? | YES | YES | YES | no | no | no | no |
Meal Plans? | no | $ | YES | no | no | YES | YES |
Meal Planner? | YES | YES | YES | no | YES | YES | YES |
Track Your Key Ratio? | da/wk/mo/qtr/yr | ml/da/wk | YES | YES | YES | da | no |
Track Your Other Nutrients? | da/wk/mo/qtr/yr | da/ft/mo | da-∞ | no | wk/mo/∞ | da/wk/mo/yr | da-∞ |
Allowances Personalized? | YES | no | ? | YES | YES | ? | YES |
Allowances Editable? | YES | YES | ? | YES | ? | YES | YES |
Track Actual Water Intake? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | ? |
Create Custom Variables? | YES | no | YES | no | no | YES | YES |
Portion Estimator? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Allow Metric Entries? | Usually | YES | YES | YES | no | YES | YES |
Animated Tutorials? | YES | no | no | no | no | YES | YES |
Personalized Tips? | YES | no | no | no | no | no | no |
User Forums? | YES | $ | YES | no | YES | YES | no |
Daily News? | YES | no | no | no | no | YES | no |
Newsletters? | YES | no | no | no | YES | YES | no |
Feature Articles? | YES | YES | no | no | YES | YES | no |
Make Money? | YES | no | YES | no | no | no | YES |
Special Editions? | YES | YES | no | no | no | no | YES |
To visit a product's website, click its logo. (Some logos are abbreviated, to save space.) | |||||||