DietlyAPI vs FatSecret
DietlyAPI and FatSecret both return food and nutrition data over a JSON API, but they are built for different jobs. This is an honest side-by-side to help you pick — including where FatSecret is the better choice.
At a glance
| DietlyAPI | FatSecret | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Free tier; Pro €27/mo; Scale €92/mo | Basic free tier; Premier by quote |
| Rate limit | Free ~30 req/min per IP; Pro 500 req/min; Scale 3,000 req/min (per account) | Per-minute limit not publicly specified (Basic) |
| Included quota | No monthly call cap on paid plans (rate-limited only) | 5,000 calls/day (Basic) |
| Underlying data | Open Food Facts + USDA FoodData Central | Proprietary database; 58+ country datasets on Premier |
| Best at | High-throughput fuzzy food search, barcode lookup, stable IDs, per-100g nutrients, MCP server | Free tier, free Premier for eligible startups/nonprofits/students, many localized country datasets |
| Trade-offs | No recipe analysis, no natural-language meal parsing, no image recognition | Basic capped at 5,000 calls/day; verification/attribution required; US-focused unless on Premier |
How capacity is metered
FatSecret's free Basic tier caps at 5,000 calls/day; higher volume moves you to quote-based Premier. DietlyAPI's paid plans lift throughput to a fixed per-minute rate at a published price.
Which should you choose?
Choose FatSecret
FatSecret is the stronger pick if you qualify for its free Premier programme, or specifically need verified country-specific datasets across many markets.
Choose DietlyAPI
DietlyAPI is the stronger pick when you need more than 5,000 calls/day without a verification process, at a predictable flat price and a single global catalog.
Neither is a universal winner. If your workload is high-volume food search and barcode lookup with predictable pricing, DietlyAPI fits. If you need FatSecret’s specialist features above, use FatSecret.
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