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Should I self-host MyFitnessPal Premium?
wger handles workouts, routines and body metrics well. The moat is MyFitnessPal's food database — decades of crowd-sourced barcodes that no self-hosted app matches. Worth it for lifters tracking training; not for calorie counters living off the barcode scanner.
The math (nothing hidden, including your time)
| MyFitnessPal Premium (Premium) | $19.99/mo |
| VPS share + storage | −$0.50/mo |
| Your maintenance: 20 min/mo at $20/h | −$6.67/mo |
| Net saving | $12.82/mo |
| Setup: 15 min measured (one-time) | $5.00 |
| Break-even | 0.4 months |
| Markup Index (price ÷ real self-host cost) | 2.8× |
Price: source, checked 2026-08-06. Inputs are stored in git; every number above is derived, never hand-written.
What you lose
- The food database — this is the product, and it doesn't come with you
What you're paying MyFitnessPal Premium for
- food & calorie logging
- barcode scanning
- macros
- exercise tracking
Ranked alternatives
A gym log and a food diary on one server: routines, body measurements, and a barcode lookup that asks Open Food Facts instead of a subscription.
A training log on your own server: your .gpx and .fit files, on a map, with the statistics and none of the leaderboard.
Hardware
Runs comfortably on a real VPS (2 GB+).
Verification
Protocol v1 · verified by zernonia on 2026-08-10 · setup measured at 15 min · AI assistant: claude-code (allowed & stated)
Full timed log
# MyFitnessPal Premium — verdict log - **Date:** 2026-08-10 - **Verdict:** KINDA — worth it if… - **Protocol:** v1 (2GB reference env, Docker preinstalled, AI assistant: claude-code) ## Why no compose file - This verdict is decided by economics/capability, not setup effort — the rubric doesn't require a timed install to conclude the subscription should stay (or that the replacement's cost lives elsewhere, e.g. GPUs, egress, or an installer script). ## The call wger handles workouts, routines and body metrics well. The moat is MyFitnessPal's food database — decades of crowd-sourced barcodes that no self-hosted app matches. Worth it for lifters tracking training; not for calorie counters living off the barcode scanner.
Verdict history
- 2026-08-10: unscored → KINDA — Initial verdict: wger handles workouts, routines and body metrics well.