9 Best Food and Nutrition Databases of 2026

1. 1

   fatsecret Platform API

   A food and nutrition API with more than 2.3 million verified foods across more than 62 countries and 26 languages.

   9.0overall

   A food and nutrition API with more than 2.3 million verified foods across more than 62 countries and 26 languages.

   Best forApp builders who need verified branded and generic foods in many countries

   Adoption data

   65,000fatsecret says more than 65,000 developers use its Platform API, which handles more than 700 million calls a month.

   fatsecret, The Largest Global Nutrition Database, Recipe and Food API (2026): “Utilized by more than 65,000 developers supporting in excess of 700 million API calls every month for over 2.3 million verified food items, fatsecret’s Platform API is the largest data set of global food nutrition information for more than 62 countries.”

   fatsecret has run a consumer diet app since 2006 and sells the same verified data through its Platform API. The company lists more than 2.3 million foods, covering generic items, branded and supermarket products, restaurant meals and 19,000+ recipes, and it reports more than 65,000 developers and over 700 million API calls a month. The Basic edition is free after self sign-up and allows 5,000 calls a day on the US dataset with attribution. Startups earning less than US$1 million in revenue with less than US$1 million in funding, plus non-profits and students, can apply for Premier Free, which unlocks barcode scanning, autocomplete, allergens and caching permissions on US data. Paid Premier adds more than 62 country datasets in 26 languages, white labeling without attribution and an SLA, but its price depends on the markets you buy and is quoted only on request. Image recognition and natural language parsing are add-ons on top. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Free Basic edition needs only self sign-up, with no cap on active users
   • +Premier Free gives startups under US$1 million in revenue and funding the full Premier feature set on US data
   • +Premier customers can drop the attribution requirement

   Limitations

   • −Premier pricing is not published and depends on the number of markets
   • −Basic and Premier Free are limited to the US dataset
   • −Image recognition and NLP cost extra on every tier

   Summaryfatsecret Platform API is the best choice for most app builders because its free Basic edition allows 5,000 calls a day and its paid data spans more than 62 countries. Teams that need a published paid price should compare Edamam or Spoonacular.

2. 2

   Open Food Facts

   A non-profit, crowd-built database of packaged food products with a free API and nightly open data exports.

   8.6overall

   A non-profit, crowd-built database of packaged food products with a free API and nightly open data exports.

   Best forDevelopers who need free barcode and packaged-food data they can store

   Adoption data

   100,000Open Food Facts says more than 100,000 contributors from 150+ countries have cataloged its products.

   Open Food Facts, Open Food Facts (2026): “Over 100,000 contributors from 150+ countries have cataloged millions of products using our Android and iOS apps.”

   Open Food Facts is a non-profit, volunteer-built database of packaged foods, and its homepage counts about 4.8 million products. Each record can include ingredients, allergens, nutrition facts, packaging and traceability codes, and the project computes Nutri-Score, NOVA and Eco-Score ratings. The whole database is published under the Open Database License, so commercial apps can reuse it with attribution and must share improvements back. Developers get two routes: a real-time JSON API meant for one call per real user scan, and nightly exports as a MongoDB dump, a CSV of about 0.9 GB compressed, or Parquet on Hugging Face. The API is rate limited to 15 product reads and 10 searches per minute per IP, and scraping through the API gets blocked, so bulk users should load the dumps. Data is crowd-sourced, which means coverage is strongest for scanned retail products and weaker for generic foods and home recipes. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Free for commercial and non-commercial use, with no paid tier
   • +Full nightly exports let you build a local copy instead of calling the API
   • +Strong coverage of packaged foods across 150+ contributor countries

   Limitations

   • −API reads are limited to 15 requests per minute per IP for product queries and 10 for search
   • −ODbL share-alike terms apply when you redistribute improved data
   • −Crowd-sourced entries vary in completeness, and generic foods are not its focus

   SummaryOpen Food Facts is the best choice for barcode scanning apps on a zero budget because its 4.8 million product database and API are free under the ODbL. Pair it with USDA FoodData Central for generic foods.

3. 3

   Cronometer Pro

   Dietary analysis software for dietitians and coaches, built on Cronometer's verified food database and client tracking app.

   8.4overall

   Dietary analysis software for dietitians and coaches, built on Cronometer's verified food database and client tracking app.

   Best forDietitians and nutrition coaches who track clients' intake

   Adoption data

   19 millionCronometer says it has more than 19 million users worldwide.

   Cronometer, Cronometer Pro: Dietary Analysis Software (2026): “19M+ users worldwide”

   Cronometer Pro is the practitioner version of the Cronometer tracking app, aimed at dietitians, nutritionists, personal trainers and health coaches. It costs $39.99 a month with 10 client seats included, and each additional seat is $2.50 a month, after a 30-day free trial. Clients log meals in the Cronometer app, which upgrades them to the ad-free Gold tier, and the practitioner sees their diaries, targets and biometrics in real time. The database holds 1.1 million verified foods drawn from more than 10 sources, including the Nutrition Coordinating Center and USDA FoodData Central, and reports cover up to 95 nutrients and compounds. Cronometer says a 24-hour recall takes about 10 minutes on average. The platform states HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA compliance and offers a standard BAA. It is not sold as an API, so developers building their own app should look at fatsecret, Edamam or Nutritionix instead. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Published USD price with 10 client seats included
   • +Clients log food themselves in a consumer app with 19M+ users
   • +30-day free trial

   Limitations

   • −Not an API product, so app builders cannot embed the database
   • −Each seat past 10 adds $2.50 a month
   • −Built for practitioner workflows rather than menu or label production

   SummaryCronometer Pro is the best choice for dietitians who want clients to log their own food because $39.99 a month covers 10 client seats with up to 95 nutrients tracked. Developers who need an API should look elsewhere.

4. 4

   USDA FoodData Central

   The US Department of Agriculture's public food composition database, with a free REST API and public domain data.

   8.4overall

   The US Department of Agriculture's public food composition database, with a free REST API and public domain data.

   Best forDietitians, researchers and developers who need lab-based generic food data at no cost

   FoodData Central is the US Department of Agriculture's food composition system, run by the Agricultural Research Service. It combines several data types: Foundation Foods with analytical data, the older SR Legacy set whose final update was in 2018, FNDDS foods used to analyze the What We Eat in America survey, experimental foods from published research, and Branded Foods from label data supplied by the food industry. The API has two main endpoints, Food Search and Food Details, and needs a free data.gov key. The default limit is 1,000 requests per hour per IP address, and USDA asks heavy users to contact it for more. All data is published under CC0 1.0, so it can be stored, modified and resold, with a requested citation. There is no natural language parser, photo logging or autocomplete, so most consumer apps either build those layers or buy them from a commercial vendor that starts from USDA data. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +No cost and no license fee, with no permission needed to reuse the data
   • +Foundation Foods and FNDDS are the reference sources many commercial databases build on
   • +Higher rate limits are available on request

   Limitations

   • −No natural language parsing, image recognition or autocomplete
   • −SR Legacy had its final update in 2018
   • −Branded Foods covers US label data only

   SummaryUSDA FoodData Central is the best choice for dietitians and researchers who need reference values at no cost because its data is public domain under CC0 1.0. App builders should expect to add their own search and parsing layer.

5. 5

   Spoonacular API

   A recipe and food API with nutrition analysis, meal planning, grocery products and restaurant menu items.

   8.3overall

   A recipe and food API with nutrition analysis, meal planning, grocery products and restaurant menu items.

   Best forRecipe, meal planning and grocery apps

   Adoption data

   253,000Spoonacular says more than 253,000 developers have joined its API.

   spoonacular, Food API and Recipe API (2026): “Join 253,000+ successful developers”

   Spoonacular is a recipe-first food API with a food ontology that links ingredients, recipes, nutrition and allergens. It lists 2,600+ ingredients, 5,000+ recipes, 600K+ grocery products and 115K+ menu items from more than 800 American restaurant chains, and says over 253,000 developers have signed up. Pricing is published in USD: Free at $0 with 50 points a day and a required backlink, Cook at $29 with 1,500 points a day, Culinarian at $79 and Chef at $149, all month to month, plus Enterprise from $300. Students and hackathon teams can get up to 5,000 requests a day for $10 a month. Spoonacular says its ingredient data comes primarily from the USDA database, with gaps researched manually, and that computed nutrition may contain errors. Caching is limited to one hour, so apps must keep calling the API. It suits recipe and meal planning products more than clinical work. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Clear published USD tiers from $29 to $149 per month, month to month
   • +Recipe search, meal plans and grocery data in one API
   • +Paid plans drop the backlink requirement and add a 99% uptime SLA

   Limitations

   • −Cached data must be deleted after 1 hour
   • −Ingredient data comes primarily from the USDA database rather than lab analysis of its own
   • −Nutrition is computed automatically and the vendor warns it may contain errors

   SummarySpoonacular API is the best choice for recipe and meal planning apps because one subscription from $29 a month covers recipe search, nutrition analysis and shopping lists. Its one-hour caching limit makes it a poor fit for offline apps.

6. 6

   Edamam Food Database API

   A food and grocery database API with natural language parsing, barcode lookup, image recognition and a Food MCP server.

   8.2overall

   A food and grocery database API with natural language parsing, barcode lookup, image recognition and a Food MCP server.

   Best forApp builders who want low-cost natural language food logging

   Edamam's Food Database API is built around natural language processing: a string such as a typed meal is parsed into foods with quantities attached, which suits chat and voice logging. The database holds close to 900,000 basic foods, restaurant items and packaged products, with 790,000 unique UPCs for barcode lookup and 70+ automatically generated diet and allergy labels. Pricing is published in USD: Enterprise Basic is $14 a month prepaid for 100,000 calls with a 30-day trial, Enterprise Core is $69 for 750,000 calls and Enterprise Plus is $299 for 5,000,000 calls. A Vision API reads meal photos, and the Edamam Food MCP server, free on all plans, exposes the API as tools for AI agents. The terms are strict: attribution is required on every plan, requests must be driven by a human end user, and caching is limited to food IDs, labels and four macros. Edamam does not publish a customer count, so we score adoption conservatively. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Lowest verified paid entry price here at $14 a month for 100,000 calls
   • +All plans are month to month
   • +Food MCP server is included free on every plan

   Limitations

   • −Attribution to Edamam is required on every plan
   • −Caching is limited to food ID, label and four macros on eligible plans
   • −Basic foods return 28 nutrients, fewer than USDA-based professional tools

   SummaryEdamam Food Database API is the best choice for budget natural language logging because $14 a month buys 100,000 calls with text parsing and barcode lookup. Its attribution and caching rules need careful review before launch.

7. 7

   Nutritionix API

   A nutrition and exercise API from Syndigo with dietitian-verified data on grocery, restaurant and common foods.

   8.1overall

   A nutrition and exercise API from Syndigo with dietitian-verified data on grocery, restaurant and common foods.

   Best forFunded health apps that need US grocery and restaurant coverage

   Adoption data

   20k+Nutritionix says more than 20,000 health apps make more than 250 million queries to its API every month.

   Nutritionix, Nutritionix: Largest Verified Nutrition Database (2026): “20k+ health apps make 250m+ queries to the Nutritionix API every month.”

   Nutritionix, owned by Syndigo, sells one of the largest US nutrition datasets through an API and as a bulk license. Its database page lists 1,266,570 food items: 1,053,256 grocery items from 48,317 brands, 202,837 restaurant items from 860 restaurants, and a curated common foods set built from USDA data by its registered dietitians. The company claims coverage of over 92% of grocery items in the US and Canada and says 20k+ apps make 250m+ queries a month. Features include a natural language engine, autocomplete, barcode scanning and derived wellness claims. The price is the main drawback: after a free Business Trial for up to 2 users, Starter is $499 a month for up to 200 monthly active users and the next tier is $999, both billed annually, with custom pricing for freemium apps or more than 100K users. Nutritionix no longer offers free non-commercial access. The main website was partly offline during our check, though the API and database pages loaded. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Deepest US restaurant coverage here, with 202,837 items from 860 restaurants
   • +Bulk licensing lets you store the full database locally
   • +Paid plans include a 99.9% uptime guarantee

   Limitations

   • −Most expensive published API entry price at $499 a month, billed annually
   • −Starter caps usage at 200 monthly active users
   • −No free access for students or non-commercial projects

   SummaryNutritionix API is the best choice for funded apps that need US restaurant data because it lists 202,837 restaurant items from 860 restaurants. At $499 a month billed annually, small teams will find better value with fatsecret or Edamam.

8. 8

   Trustwell Food Processor (ESHA)

   Cloud-based nutrition analysis software for dietitians, built on the ESHA food database that has been sold since 1984.

   7.4overall

   Cloud-based nutrition analysis software for dietitians, built on the ESHA food database that has been sold since 1984.

   Best forDietitians and educators doing recipe, menu and intake analysis

   Food Processor is ESHA Research's nutrition analysis program, now sold under the Trustwell brand as cloud software for dietitians, nutritionists and educators. The database holds more than 146,000 items, including popular foods, restaurant items, ingredients and recipes. Practitioners can build client profiles with age, weight, activity and medical notes, compare dietary intake against recommended nutrient standards, and design exercise plans with MET values drawn from American College of Sports Medicine information. Food service teams can build cycle menus for hospitals, schools and cafeterias and analyze recipes with automatic serving size recalculation. The price is published in USD: $599 a year for the first license and $399 a year for each additional one, which works out to about $49.92 a month for a single user. There is no developer API, and Trustwell does not publish user numbers, so we score adoption conservatively. It fits institutional and academic work more than client messaging. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Long track record: used by dietitians since 1984
   • +Cycle menu tools suit institutional food service
   • +Separate education edition for university nutrition programs

   Limitations

   • −No API for app builders
   • −Annual license only, at $599 for the first seat
   • −Trustwell does not publish a user count

   SummaryTrustwell Food Processor is the best choice for institutional dietitians because it combines a 146,000-item database with cycle menu planning for $599 a year. Practices focused on remote client tracking will get more from Cronometer Pro.

9. 9

   Passio Nutrition AI

   An AI nutrition platform with APIs for photo, voice and barcode food logging, meal plans and a nutrition advisor.

   7.2overall

   An AI nutrition platform with APIs for photo, voice and barcode food logging, meal plans and a nutrition advisor.

   Best forProduct teams adding AI photo logging and meal plans

   Passio sells nutrition AI as a set of API routes rather than a raw database. Apps send a photo, voice note, barcode or typed meal and get back structured foods, portions and nutrients, and further routes return meal plans, food ratings, alternatives and nutrition advisor replies. In the US, a separate call can turn a list into an Instacart link. Billing is by tokens: Starter is $99 a month with 1M tokens and $25 refills, Growth is $599 with 5M tokens and $10 refills, and Pro is $2,999 with 100M tokens. Plain food search, barcode and nutrition lookups cost a flat 75 tokens per call, while photo logging runs about 5,857 tokens per call on the default model, according to Passio's own production medians. Calls can exceed the period cap by up to 10%, then return HTTP 429. A free demo account lets teams test every route on their own food. Passio does not publish customer numbers, so we score adoption conservatively. We compared documented features and published prices.

   Strengths

   • +Published token costs per route and a cost calculator
   • +Free demo account runs every route on your own photos
   • +Growth and Pro let you choose the AI model per request

   Limitations

   • −Token billing makes monthly cost harder to predict than per-call plans
   • −Growth costs $599 a month and Pro $2,999
   • −Passio does not publish customer or user counts

   SummaryPassio Nutrition AI is the best choice for teams that want photo logging and meal plans without training models because every route is available from $99 a month. Teams that only need food lookups will pay less with fatsecret or Edamam.

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