With a growing population of fitness freaks craving a healthy lifestyle, there’s a high surge of entrepreneurs and businesses stepping into the fitness app development market.
Based on a Statista study, the fitness app development industry is expected to hit $66.08 billion by the end of 2027, growing to a market size of $25,450 million by 2027, with an impressive CAGR of 29.46%.
MyFitnessPal, being among the most popular apps in the fitness industry, has 200 million users and has generated over $310 million in revenue till now.
With such remarkable figures, many founders are eager to know how much it costs to make an app like MyFitnessPal.
In this guide, we’ll give you complete knowledge about the overall costs and factors influencing the cost to develop an app like MyFitnessPal, but before we get down to that, let us start our discussion by understanding MyFitnessPal and the reason behind its hype in the fitness industry.
Understanding MyFitnessPal and Its Success
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What Is MyFitnessPal?
MyFitnessPal is the leader in the fitness industry. The mind-boggling features of the app are what make it so appealing to a wide audience. The app makes it easy for the users to track footsteps, manage diet, and learn yoga, helping fitness enthusiasts to take control of their overall health. According to experts, MyFitnessPal’s popularity is not just for today but also for the future, considering the increasing number of health-conscious people.
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MyFitnessPal Design System
Thinking about what makes MyFitnessPal so unique that it hit $16.1 million just in January 2025?
You’re not alone.
It’s the user-centric design of the app that makes it the top-performing app in the fitness world.
Let’s look deep into the features and design of the app so you can also make an app like MyFitnessPal.
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Personalized Fitness Profiles
It’s important to know about each profile and suggest unique features to them. MyFitnessPal allows users to input data about their age, height, weight, fitness level, and goals. Once this info is added, it will give personalized recommendations to the freak based on the data provided. For instance, if someone has hypertension, the app suggests low-sodium diet plans for that individual.
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Food Intake Monitoring
One of the reasons for MyFitnessPal’s popularity is its huge food database with over seven million foods logged as of 2020. This helps users log their meals easily without hassle. The app also enables users to make their own or home-cooked recipes. To save its users time and effort, it also provides barcode scanning, which gives all the nutrition details of a product just after a simple scan.
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Physical Activity & Workout Tracking
Fitness is as important as dieting. That’s why MyFitnessPal lets users log in a variety of exercises. Be it weightlifting, cardio, or just simple meditation. It also offers advanced features, like recording reps and sets for strength training or even offering videos and tutorials for different workouts.
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Push Alerts & Reminders
If you want to keep your users engaged, then learn from MyFitnessPal by giving reminders and push alerts. This helps them log in their meals daily, stay hydrated through the day, and take time for exercise in their busy schedules. Instead of giving generic boosts, the app sends personalized messages to the users to keep them motivated through their fitness journey.
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Wearables and App Connectivity
As many fitness freaks rely on smartwatches and wearables, the app syncs with popular devices like Fitbit, Apple Watch, and even Garmin. MyFitnessPal makes this happen by connecting with third-party apps like Google Fit or Apple HealthKit, so users don’t have to manually update their workout or activity stats. Doing this, you’ll give users real-time updates about their fitness, making the app more useful and relevant to them.
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Fitness Community & Social Interaction
Fitness is a lot more fun when you do it with your friends. The app provides a platform for like-minded people to share their goals and compete against each other in a friendly manner. It also offers badges and app-specific rewards for those who achieved milestones on their fitness journey. This not only builds a community but also makes the user keep coming back to the app daily.
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App Upgrades & Premium Options
If you can’t earn money from your app, then what’s so good about investing dollars into the app development? MyFitnessPal monetizes the app by offering free basic features, but for advanced features, it offers a premium version. Paid features include detailed workout routines, personalized meal plans, direct consultation with fitness trainers, ad-free access, and more.
Key Factors That Influence The Cost Of Making Apps Like MyFitnessPal
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Features Complexity
The very first factor that affects the development of apps like MyFitnessPal to improve a user’s overall health status is the complexity of features. You need almost $4000-$90000 on average to build a fitness app with basic features like registration, push notifications, activity tracking, and social sharing.
When you go for advanced features, it greatly affects the final costs as developers spend more time and effort in building, testing, and integrating complex features into the basic app.
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Design & User Experience
Visuals are essential to grab and retain the user’s attention. If you’re satisfied with the pre-built design templates, feel free to proceed, as they can save you both money and your developers time and effort.
However, if you want a truly unique design that represents your brand, you’ll need to factor in the cost of custom UI/UX design. The more personalized your design, the higher the associated costs.
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Platform Choice
The cost of fitness app development also depends on the platform choice. You’ll likely target iOS if your audience primarily uses iPhones. It’s always good to launch your product on both platforms (Android & iOS) to tap into the maximum reach right away. But if you’re a startup and have a limited budget, then it’s advisable to start with a single platform and then gradually shift towards another.
However, if you want something that runs smoothly on both web and mobile platforms, then you can think about cross-platforms like using PWAs.
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Backend Infrastructure
Your app requires a backend engine to run smoothly. Whether you want a basic server or a scalable infrastructure, you need to hire backend developers. Pricing can vary depending on the complexity and effort that developers are going to put into your app.
We suggest you contact our fitness app development company, so you can get the estimated cost idea before the project starts.
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Tech Stack
Using a high-yield tech stack and tools also contributes to the overall development costs. If you want to develop an app like MyFitnessPal, which gives you a large user base, high traffic, and scales easily as you grow, then it’s time to invest in a tech stack.
Here are the technologies you need to make an app like MyFitnessPal:
| Aspect | Tech Stack/Tools |
| Analytics Tools | Mixpanel, Google Analytics, Firebase Analytics |
| API Integration | RESTful APIs, OAuth, Google Fit API, Apple HealthKit |
| Backend Development | Node.js, Python (Django/Flask), Ruby on Rails |
| Cloud Services | AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure |
| Database Management | MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB |
| Payment Gateways | Stripe, PayPal, Square |
| Programming Languages | Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android), JavaScript, React Native (for cross-platform) |
| Push Notifications | Firebase Cloud Messaging, Twilio |
| UI/UX Design Tools | Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch |
| Wearable Integration | Apple HealthKit, Google Fit SDK, Fitbit API |
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Development Team
The overall cost for making a fitness app also depends on the location of the development team. The hourly rates of developers based in the US, UK, and Canada are much higher than in the countries present in Asia, where living expenses are low compared to the western world. Check out the comparison below:
| Country | Hourly Rates |
| India, Pakistan | $20 |
| China | $30 |
| Ukraine | $50 |
| United Kingdom | $80-100 |
| United States | $100-150 |
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Maintenance
Things don’t end after the launch of a product; instead, it’s the beginning. Ongoing support and maintenance is another variable to increase the costs of app development.
To keep your app secure and competitive, you must fix bugs and regularly update the app as per the changing market requirements.
Average Cost To Develop An App Like MyFitnessPal
Wondering how much does making an app cost?
Well, the cost changes as per your project requirements, but to provide you with an estimate, the average cost to develop an app like MyFitnessPal is between $30k and $100k for the MVP and $100k to $300k for an app with advanced features.
Build An App Like MyFitnessPal With Geeks Of Kolachi
The fitness industry is on the rise, and every fitness entrepreneur dreams of creating a unique and innovative app. With over 7 years of experience delivering healthcare software solutions, we are here to help you in achieving this milestone.
We will not only help you break down the costs but also in developing custom mobile apps that people will love to use every day.
