# fatsecret Platform API vs Nutritionix API (slim)

> fatsecret Platform scores 42 (E) to Nutritionix's 33.6 (F) for cooking nutrition. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-nutritionix.md (~3,950 tokens) · this version ~2,380 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-nutritionix.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fatsecret-vs-nutritionix
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-04
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

fatsecret Platform API scores 42 (E) on agent readiness against Nutritionix API's 33.6 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Nutritionix API leads on transparency & trust. Both do cooking nutrition.

- fatsecret Platform API: E 42, rank #1185 of 1349 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fatsecret.min.md
- Nutritionix API: F 33.6, rank #1257 of 1349 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutritionix.min.md
- fatsecret Platform API, 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 Reliability, 35 against 15; Schema & documentation, 52 against 45; Agent ergonomics, 64 against 51; Payments & pricing, 25 against 0. Also Free to start without a card.
- Nutritionix API, good for Agents that log meals from free text for a US or UK audience and need branded grocery and restaurant nutrition with UPCs, under a sales contract. Ahead on Transparency & trust, 57 against 34.

| Category | fatsecret Platform API | Nutritionix API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 35 | 15 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 52 | 45 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 64 | 51 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 51 | 52 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 25 | 0 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 13 | 10 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 34 | 57 |

| Fact (where they differ) | fatsecret Platform API | Nutritionix API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | fatsecret | Syndigo LLC |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2024-03-14 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2019-01-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-03-25 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 25 stars | 192 stars |

Why the edge:
- Payments & pricing, fatsecret Platform API +25: fatsecret Platform API 25 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0 of 40). Basic is free and Premier is priced on request by market, with add-ons billed in tiers of 25,000 inputs and no price given, so the paid prices are contact sales (5 of 20). Basic is free on self sign-up with no card, and the platform page says Premier needs no upfront payment or card (20 of 20). A person registers in a browser and Premier goes through sales; no key API was found (0 of 20). 0 + 5 + 20 + 0 = 25.); Nutritionix API 0 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0 of 40). No price is published on any page read; the pricing page on www.nutritionix.com is closed to our reader and the developer portal routes to sales (0 of 20, unchecked). The developer portal says the public free-access tier has ended and a limited trial is granted by sales (0 of 20). A person files a form and waits for a sales follow-up (0 of 20). Total 0.)
- Transparency & trust, Nutritionix API +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.); Nutritionix API 57 (Closed service whose API terms are shown at signup and on www.nutritionix.com, which could not be read; Syndigo's website terms of 2019 do not cover the API (5 of 30, unchecked). Syndigo's privacy notice, effective 25 March 2026, states deletion within 30 days once purposes end, names EU and UK representatives and a DPO, and relies on standard contractual clauses and the Data Privacy Framework, but does not name Nutritionix and gives no category-level retention periods (15 of 30). No deprecation policy or notices found (0 of 20). Sub-processors for the Nutritionix API are named with locations (Amazon Web Services, Red Hat 3scale, Cloudflare, all in the United States) in a list effective 13 April 2026 (16 of 20). 5 + 15 + 0 + 16 = 36.)
- Reliability, fatsecret Platform API +20: 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.); Nutritionix API 15 (Read with the hosted lines. The docs name a status page at status.nutritionix.com, but that host's robots.txt disallows our reader, so it is scored as unread (0 of 20) with no incident history (5). No rate limit figure appears anywhere in the docs (0 of 15). No 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance; the error page files 'usage limits exceeded' under 401 (0 of 15). No SLA found (0). The v2 API is generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 15.)
- Agent ergonomics, fatsecret Platform API +13: 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.); Nutritionix API 51 (Instant returns at most 20 common and 20 branded items and premium `detailed_nutrients` picks up to three nutrients, but natural nutrients returns every food with a full nutrient array and there is no general field selection (12 of 25). No pagination; filters by branded, common, brand id, brand type and region (10 of 20). Six statuses with a line each, no codes in the body, and limit errors folded into 401 (7 of 20). Every endpoint is a read and safe to repeat (14 of 20). One required parameter per endpoint and sensible defaults, but no official SDK on the developer page beyond a label widget, and the organisation's Python library was last pushed in 2022 (8 of 15). 12 + 10 + 7 + 14 + 8 = 51.)
- Schema & documentation, fatsecret Platform API +7: 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.); Nutritionix API 45 (No OpenAPI or similar document was found (0 of 25). Syndigo's docs portal serves an llms.txt index and a Markdown twin of every Nutritionix page (10). Each endpoint page states its purpose with usage guidance, such as debouncing instant searches and using the right follow-up endpoint for common and branded foods (13 of 20). Parameters are typed with defaults, but the only required column reads 'Required for Authentication', taxonomy_node_id is typed boolean while described as an id, and claims values sit in prose (8 of 15). Request and response examples on each endpoint; six error statuses with one line each and no body format (9 of 15). v2 in the path, no changelog, and the API guide last updated on 14 March 2024 (5 of 15). 0 + 10 + 13 + 8 + 9 + 5 = 45.)