# fatsecret Platform API vs LogMeal

> LogMeal scores 49.1 (D) to fatsecret Platform's 42 (E) for cooking nutrition. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-logmeal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-logmeal.md (~4,600 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-03

LogMeal scores 49.1 (D) on agent readiness against fatsecret Platform API's 42 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. fatsecret Platform API leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do cooking nutrition.

- fatsecret Platform API: grade E, 42/100, rank #1193 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fatsecret.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fatsecret.json
- LogMeal: grade D, 49.1/100, rank #1045 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/logmeal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/logmeal.json
- Best recipe, nutrition and meal planning APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/cooking/index.md
- All 28 cooking comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cooking/index.md

## Which one, for what

### fatsecret Platform API (E)

Good for: Agents logging foods and reading serving-level nutrients, allergens and barcodes for a person, with diaries written back; strongest outside the US on Premier with 62 regional datasets.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 64 against 54
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20

Watch for: Natural language, image recognition, autocomplete, barcode scanning and foods.search v5 are Premier Exclusive, priced on request by market

### LogMeal (D)

Good for: Agents that log meals from photos for a person and keep a nutrition history with goals, plans and manager oversight, within the EU.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 42 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 52
- Security & auth, 58 against 51
- Maintenance & community, 31 against 13
- Transparency & trust, 57 against 34

Watch for: No plan price is published; the pricing pages describe credits and limits and leave figures to the account


## Why the edge

### Transparency & trust: LogMeal +23

- fatsecret Platform API (34): Closed service with terms that are clear on caching, attribution, rate limits and termination, but undated, naming the provider only as Fatsecret.com, and changeable with or without notice (12 of 30). The privacy policy on foods.fatsecret.com could not be read, because that host's robots.txt disallows our reader, so no data-handling statement was scored; the terms require content to be removed within 24 hours (0 of 30, unchecked). Older method versions stay documented alongside v5 and foods.search v4 is still served, but the terms allow any aspect of the API to be changed or discontinued at any time with no notice period (6 of 20). No subprocessors or data locations found (0 of 20). 12 + 0 + 6 + 0 = 18.
- LogMeal (57): Closed service with terms dated 10 March 2025 that name AIGecko Technologies S.L., Spanish law and 30 days' notice for prices and termination (15 of 30). The privacy policy of 9 May 2025 names the controller, a DPO address, Google Cloud in the EU and standard contractual clauses, and states that images and nutrition data are kept without a time limit for developing models; its introduction limits it to the website while its first section covers the API, and the terms' training clause and the policy's retention agree on substance (14 of 30). Deprecated endpoints are marked with replacements, the terms promise reasonable prior notice for documentation changes, but no dates or notice period for removals (8 of 20). Google Cloud named as the main processor with EU storage by default and replication elsewhere on request, with no fuller sub-processor list (12 of 20). 15 + 14 + 8 + 12 = 49.

### Schema & documentation: LogMeal +19

- fatsecret Platform API (52): No OpenAPI or similar document was found; the official Postman collection is the only machine-readable contract (8 of 25). No llms.txt (a redirect) and no Markdown docs (0 of 10). Each method page states purpose, parameters, response fields and Premier status, with little on when not to use a method (12 of 20). Parameters are typed with defaults and allowed values, `max_results` is capped at 50, but the field tables mistype allergen names as Long and leave food_images out of the food-level fields (11 of 15). Example responses in XML and JSON on each method, a central error code list with the body shape, and per-method error codes (13 of 15). Methods carry versions (v1 to v5) and older versions stay documented, but no changelog is on the platform site and the blog's 'What's new' could not be read (8 of 15). 8 + 0 + 12 + 11 + 13 + 8 = 52.
- LogMeal (71): The reference is generated from an OpenAPI specification and each endpoint page shows its schema, but no specification file is linked or served at a known path (15 of 25). llms.txt with a Markdown twin of every page (10). Endpoint descriptions state purpose, token type, limits and plan, with recommendations such as using the quantity variant on a Recommend plan (15 of 20). Enums for language codes and Nutri-Score categories, required flags, but coordinates are described two ways and the plan needed for nutri_score fields is stated inconsistently (11 of 15). Examples on every endpoint, error codes per endpoint and a numeric code with message in the 400 body (12 of 15). v2 in the path, deprecated endpoints marked with replacements, version endpoints for live APIs and models, but no dated changelog (8 of 15). 15 + 10 + 15 + 11 + 12 + 8 = 71.

### Maintenance & community: LogMeal +18

- fatsecret Platform API (13): Read as a closed service. No dated API change could be read first-hand. The blog that carries the 'What's new' notes sits behind a robots.txt that answered 403, the method pages are undated, and the official Postman repository's last push is 1 July 2025, more than 180 days before 3 November 2026 (0 of 30). No three dated changes in 90 days established (0 of 20). A developer forum on Google Groups, a contact form, and email, phone, Slack and video support on Premier, with no public changelog on the platform site (8 of 15). No official SDK; an official Postman collection (5 of 15). No package to assess (0 of 10). 0 + 0 + 8 + 5 + 0 = 13.
- LogMeal (31): Read as a closed service. The welcome and feature overview pages carry an updatedAt of 7 October 2026, within 30 days of 3 November, and the credential rotation endpoints are documented; no dated API change exists beyond that, so the docs update stands in (25 of 30). No dated changelog, so three changes in 90 days are not established (0 of 20). Email support within 24 to 48 hours on weekdays and a contact form, no public changelog or community channel (6 of 15). No official SDK and no MCP registry entry (0 of 15). No package to assess (0 of 10). 25 + 0 + 6 + 0 + 0 = 31.

### Agent ergonomics: fatsecret Platform API +10

- fatsecret Platform API (64): `max_results` up to 50 (default 20), `format=json`, and `include_*` switches add sub-categories, images and attributes only when asked, but there is no field selection and each food carries every serving (15 of 25). Zero-based `page_number`, `food_type` generic or brand, region and language filters (18 of 20). Numeric error codes with messages, for OAuth, parameters and application errors, but limit errors come as codes 11 and 12 with no HTTP status or retry hint (13 of 20). Food and recipe methods are reads and safe to repeat; diary and saved-meal writes have no idempotency key (10 of 20). No parameter is required on foods.search, but there is no official SDK in any language (8 of 15). 15 + 18 + 13 + 10 + 8 = 64.
- LogMeal (54): Recognition responses carry polygons, bounding boxes and recursive subclasses for every segment with no field selection; the language parameter is the only shaping control (10 of 25). History by date range, daily and weekly summaries, a batch endpoint for up to five users, no pagination on lists (12 of 20). Numeric codes with messages, such as 708 naming the valid languages, and troubleshooting guidance per status (15 of 20). Reads are safe to repeat; each recognition POST logs a new intake and spends a credit with no idempotency key (8 of 20). One required field (the image) with defaults from the user's profile, but no official SDK; the 'ready-to-use code in 35+ languages' is generated snippets (9 of 15). 10 + 12 + 15 + 8 + 9 = 54.

### Reliability: LogMeal +7

- fatsecret Platform API (35): Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found on the platform site, the guides, the editions page or the about page (0), so there is no incident history to read (5). The limit is published with a number, 5,000 calls a day on Basic in the terms and on the editions page, and Premier is unlimited (15). Limits surface as error codes 11 and 12 in the body; no HTTP 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found, and diary writes have no idempotency key (5 of 15). Premier carries a month-by-month SLA with service credits, named on the editions page without figures, and every edition claims more than 99.9 per cent uptime (5 of 10). The API is generally available, with versioned methods (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 5 + 10 = 35.
- LogMeal (42): Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found on logmeal.com, the docs or llms.txt, and a search found none (0), so there is no incident history to read (5). Limits are published with numbers, 20 images a day and 1 a second per APIUser on standard plans, monthly credits per company, and 200 queries on the trial (15). HTTP 429 is documented with RateLimit-Reset, troubleshooting says to back off exponentially and respect Retry-After, but intake writes have no idempotency key (12 of 15). No SLA; the pricing page promises email answers within 24 to 48 hours on weekdays (0 of 10). The v2 API is generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.

### Security & auth: LogMeal +7

- fatsecret Platform API (51): OAuth 2.0 client credentials with seven scopes gating capabilities (`basic`, `premier`, `barcode`, `localization`, `nlp`, `image-recognition` and `feedback`), tokens of 86,400 seconds, a Client Secret that stays on the server, and token requests limited to IP addresses or CIDR ranges registered on the key; OAuth 1.0 with HMAC-SHA1 remains for delegated calls. The scopes gate capabilities rather than read or write, and no rotation procedure was found (26 of 30). Per-user data is reached only through a delegated profile token, and the shared data methods are reads, but there is no read-only scope and no confirmation step for diary writes (14 of 20). Food and brand names are verified by fatsecret and recipes are its own content, with no guidance on treating them as untrusted (8 of 15). No request log or per-call visibility was found beyond the dashboard (3 of 15). The security.txt path answered the site's generic error page, and no disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0 of 20). 26 + 14 + 8 + 3 + 0 = 51.
- LogMeal (58): Three bearer token types scoped by role (company, end user, manager), one token per end user, a rotation endpoint that needs a fresh password proof, and instant disabling of an end user; the tokens are JWTs with no stated expiry and no finer scopes (24 of 30). Per-user tokens cannot reach other users, managers see only the users they are granted, and deletion of intakes is a separate endpoint, but there is no read-only token and no confirmation step (15 of 20). Food names come from LogMeal's own model and dataset, with custom recipe names from the customer (10 of 15). GET /v2/info/usages returns request history per APIUser and credit headers show spend per call (9 of 15). No security.txt (404 on three hosts), disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found (0 of 20). 24 + 15 + 10 + 9 + 0 = 58.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | fatsecret Platform API | LogMeal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 42 | LogMeal +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 71 | LogMeal +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 54 | fatsecret Platform API +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 58 | LogMeal +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 20 | fatsecret Platform API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 31 | LogMeal +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 34 | 57 | LogMeal +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **42 · E** | **49.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | fatsecret Platform API | LogMeal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | fatsecret | AIGecko Technologies S.L. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Tools exposed | 0 | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 25 stars | none |

## Verdicts

**fatsecret Platform API.** OAuth 2.0 client credentials with feature scopes, IP-restricted tokens, a free 5,000-call day with no card, and per-serving nutrients with allergen flags on branded and generic foods. The newest search and image methods need the sales-priced Premier edition, there is no status page, OpenAPI file or official SDK, and the privacy policy and blog could not be read.

**LogMeal.** Photo recognition that returns dishes, ingredients, grams and nutrients, with per-user tokens, rate-limit headers, backoff guidance and a 30-day trial with no card. No price is published, there is no status page, SLA or security programme, and submitted images are kept indefinitely and used to develop models unless the user asks for deletion.

## Before you call either

### fatsecret Platform API

1. Request a token with `grant_type=client_credentials` and only the scopes the task needs; a token request from an IP not registered on the key fails, so run from a fixed address
2. Use `foods.search` v1 on Basic, since v5, autocomplete, barcode and image methods answer with a scope error without Premier
3. Pass `format=json` and keep `max_results` at or below 50 with a zero-based `page_number`; treat error code 11 or 12 in the body as the rate limit, since no 429 is documented
4. Store only food_id and serving_id between sessions and re-request other values within 24 hours, as the terms require
5. Use a delegated profile token for diary writes and keep the profile's oauth_token and oauth_secret, since fatsecret does not return them again

### LogMeal

1. Create one APIUser per person with the company token, set the user's country and language first, and call recognition with that user's token only
2. Send JPEG images resized before upload; a 429 may mean the per-second, daily or, on the trial, monthly limit, so wait for RateLimit-Reset or Retry-After and back off exponentially
3. Read GET /v2/info/limitations before a batch, since it reports credits and daily limits without spending any
4. Do not retry a recognition call blindly; each successful POST to /v2/image/segmentation/complete logs an intake and uses a credit, so check for the imageId first
5. Tell the person that uploaded photos are kept and used to develop LogMeal's models unless deletion is requested

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, fatsecret Platform API or LogMeal?

LogMeal scores 49.1 (D) on agent readiness against fatsecret Platform API's 42 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. fatsecret Platform API leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.

### Do fatsecret Platform API and LogMeal need an API key?

fatsecret Platform API uses an OAuth sign-in. LogMeal needs an API key.

### Can an agent call fatsecret Platform API and LogMeal without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for fatsecret Platform API. No hosted endpoint is listed for LogMeal.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-logmeal.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-logmeal.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "fatsecret", "b": "logmeal"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare fatsecret logmeal`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fatsecret.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/logmeal.json

## Other comparisons with fatsecret Platform API or LogMeal

- [Eat This Much Partner API vs fatsecret Platform API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eat-this-much-vs-fatsecret.md)
- [fatsecret Platform API vs Nutritionix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-nutritionix.md)
- [fatsecret Platform API vs spoonacular](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-spoonacular.md)
- [LogMeal vs Nutritionix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/logmeal-vs-nutritionix.md)
- [Edamam vs fatsecret Platform API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/edamam-vs-fatsecret.md)
- [Edamam vs LogMeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/edamam-vs-logmeal.md)
- [Eat This Much Partner API vs LogMeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eat-this-much-vs-logmeal.md)
- [LogMeal vs spoonacular](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/logmeal-vs-spoonacular.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp