Comparison

FDL vs Elevate

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FDL

Discover a vast collection of low-calorie, high-protein recipes with detailed macro and calorie information. Easily track your favorites, manage ingredient lists, and follow step-by-step video guides. Includes a macro calculator to help you meet your fitness goals.

Highlights
  • Searchable recipe database
  • Macro and calorie information
  • Favorites tab
  • Checkable ingredient lists
  • Step-by-step video instructions
  • Macro calculator
Features
Read full description

You know the moment. It's 6pm, you're starving, and nothing that sounds good fits your macros. So you make the same sad chicken and rice for the fourth time this week. Or you order the pizza and feel bad about it after. That's the whole reason this app exists. I'm Zach. I've spent 12 years turning the food people actually crave (pizza, burgers, tacos, cheesecake, orange chicken ramen, and more) into versions with more protein and fewer calories. Not "healthy" versions. Good ones. The kind you make again because you want to, not because you're supposed to. Open the app, type in whatever's in your fridge, and you get real meals with the macros already figured out. No tracking. No math. No standing there deciding. WHAT'S INSIDE - 823+ macro-friendly recipes, new ones added every week - Full macros and calories on every single recipe - Step-by-step video for each one, so it comes out right the first try - Search by ingredient, filter by calories, protein, or equipment - Meal planner and a grocery list that builds itself - Favorites, folders, and your own private notes on recipes you tweak - Mark what you've made and build your own rotation You don't have to cook separate meals for everyone else either. One dinner, the family's happy, and yours still fits. WHAT IT COSTS Free to download and look around. Full access is $19/month or $149/year, billed through your Apple account and cancelable anytime in Settings. Terms of use: https://recipes.macrofriendly.com/terms-and-conditions Privacy policy: https://recipes.macrofriendly.com/privacy-policy

About

Elevate

This app simplifies strength training by allowing users to log workouts, create personalized plans, and track progress. It offers pre-built or custom routines with exercise demos, and visualizes strength gains over time. Users can also connect with a community for support and motivation.

Highlights
  • Effortless workout logging
  • Personalized 8-week training plans
  • Customizable routines
  • Exercise demo videos
  • Progress tracking with graphs
  • Community support and motivation
Features
Read full description

Elevate: Simple, powerful workout tracking for real results Whether you’re lifting at home or in the gym, Elevate helps you train smarter with effortless workout logging, personalised plans, and progress tracking - all in one place. 8-Week Plans Built Around You - Get a training plan tailored to your goals, experience, and weekly schedule - Adjusts to how many days you can train and which muscle groups you want to prioritise - Choose from Push/Pull/Legs, Upper-Lower, Full Body, and more - Or build your own custom routine from scratch - Demo videos included for every exercise - New workout plans added regularly to keep things fresh - Add warm-up sets, drop sets, rest-pause sets - whatever your training style needs Track Progress Like a Pro - See your personal bests for every exercise - Visualise strength gains with clean, easy-to-read progress graphs - Always know what you lifted last time - and what to beat today Join the Elevate Community - Get support, feedback, and motivation from others - Celebrate your wins and stay accountable

Screenshots

FDL4 screens
Elevate4 screens

Verdict

The call

FDL and Elevate both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Elevate's written reviews are positive against 73% of FDL's. FDL's advantage is ratings volume (511 vs 9) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. FDL sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.00 per month and Elevate sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Elevate holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FDL has 511 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of FDL's written reviews are positive against 100% of Elevate's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FDL ships an update every 3 weeks, Elevate every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
FDL versus Elevate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFDLElevate
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (511 ratings)5.0 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings511 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size93 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFlexible Dieting Lifestyle LLCJ CLARKE FITNESS LIMITED

Customer experience

FDL

All ratings511 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews102 reviews
Positive72.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative21.6%

Elevate

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

FDL

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App fails to load or opens to white screen
  • Login authentication issues and password reset codes not working
  • Recipes missing ingredients or have duplicate instruction sections
  • Favorites tab displays only gray lines with zero recipes
  • App crashes when clicking on new recipes
Show 7 more
  • Back button inconsistency requiring app restart
  • Scrolling issues forcing users to scroll back down after selecting recipes
  • App freezes and shuts down unexpectedly
  • Search function not working properly
  • Incompatibility with older recipe book versions (4.0)
  • Inconsistent category filtering on main page
  • Long load times and performance lag

Requested features

12 requests
  • No-cook recipe filter option
  • Video tutorial links within recipes
  • Ability to input custom serving sizes with auto-adjusted ingredients
  • Better recipe categorization (meat category, etc.)
  • User-submitted recipe variations and substitutions
Show 7 more
  • Recipe completion tracking and feedback history
  • More active community forum or discussion board
  • Substitute ingredient suggestions for recipes
  • Direct product links (protein powder, cookie butter) within recipes
  • Table of contents for digital cookbooks
  • Dark mode option
  • Offline recipe access

Elevate

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

FDL

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$19.001 Month
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$149.001 Year
1 purchases

Elevate

One-time1
  • One-off purchase$79.99

Questions

Is FDL free?
FDL is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Elevate free?
Elevate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FDL or Elevate?
Elevate is rated higher. FDL averages 4.8 out of 5 from 511 ratings, while Elevate averages 5.0 from 9 ratings.
Do FDL or Elevate have ads?
Neither FDL nor Elevate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FDL or Elevate?
FDL ships an update every 3 weeks, and Elevate every 2 months. Most recently, FDL was updated on October 13, 2026 and Elevate on October 18, 2026.

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