Nutrition API
YMove vs fatsecret: Food Database API Comparison
Feature Comparison
| Feature | YMove | fatsecret |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve signup | ||
| Public pricing | ||
| USDA FoodData Central | ||
| Branded products | ||
| International product coverage (180+ countries) | Strong | |
| Barcode lookup | ||
| AI food logging (text + photo) included | Paid add-on | |
| Recipe search bundled | ||
| Exercise videos bundled | ||
| Workout generation bundled | ||
| Country-aware label localization included | Premier, per market | |
| Starting price | $19/mo | Enterprise |
Self-serve signup
Public pricing
USDA FoodData Central
Branded products
International product coverage (180+ countries)
Barcode lookup
AI food logging (text + photo) included
Recipe search bundled
Exercise videos bundled
Workout generation bundled
Country-aware label localization included
Starting price
fatsecret is enterprise-first, YMove is developer-first
fatsecret's Premier API requires going through sales, signing an MSA, and committing to custom volume pricing. That works for a Fortune 500 health platform; it is friction for indie developers, side projects, and early-stage startups. YMove fixes that: sign up, get an API key, and start calling endpoints. The plan covers nutrition, food database, recipes, and exercise videos at $19/mo.
Database coverage and global reach
fatsecret's database is large (2.3M+ verified foods, per their own count) with localized food data across 50+ markets in 26 languages. The data quality is high, and the barcode database is well-curated. The catch: the non-English country datasets sit in the Premier tier and are quoted per market, so that international reach is premium-priced rather than included.
YMove combines USDA FoodData Central with Open Food Facts (3M+ branded products from 180+ countries). The country-aware boost (country=NL, country=BR, etc.) ranks locale-matched products higher and returns localized labels. For global apps, that locale awareness is the practical difference.
AI food logging included vs metered add-on
YMove ships AI food logging from text (POST /api/v2/foods/log/text) and photo (POST /api/v2/foods/log/photo) on the standard plan, flat at $19/mo. Send a meal description or image, get back identified foods with structured nutrition. fatsecret offers image recognition and natural-language food logging too, but as optional add-ons billed on top of its Premier plans by monthly usage, so photo logging is an extra line item that scales with volume rather than a feature of the base subscription.
When YMove wins, when fatsecret wins
Choose YMove if you are a developer or smaller team that wants a self-serve, bundled API key, transparent pricing, AI food logging, and recipe + exercise content under one subscription.
Choose fatsecret if you are an enterprise health platform that needs a dedicated account team, SLA-backed support, per-market localized datasets, and is already running on their data licensing model.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the fatsecret API free?
fatsecret offers a limited Basic tier (US data, capped daily calls) and a Premier Free edition for startups and students that requires an application. The full Premier platform with international datasets requires an enterprise contract, and the AI features are usage-billed add-ons on top.
Does YMove have as many foods as fatsecret?
YMove + Open Food Facts has 3M+ branded products versus fatsecret's 2.3M+ verified foods. Both are well past the practical coverage threshold for a typical food-logging app.
Can I get fatsecret-style barcode lookup on YMove?
Yes. /api/v2/foods/barcode/{upc} returns full nutrition for the scanned UPC/EAN, with locale-aware serving descriptions and labels via cc=XX.
How does the macro/micronutrient profile compare?
Both APIs return calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sugar, plus vitamins and minerals where available. YMove uses USDA FoodData Central as the canonical source for generic foods, which is the same gold-standard data MyFitnessPal and clinical software use.
Does YMove handle international products as well as fatsecret?
Both cover international markets; the difference is packaging. fatsecret has localized food data in 26 languages, but its non-English country datasets are part of the quote-based Premier tier, priced per market. YMove's Open Food Facts integration plus the country-aware boost covers NL, DE, FR, BR, JP, and 175+ other countries on the flat $19/mo plan.
Ship without an enterprise contract
Self-serve nutrition API, food database, AI food logging, and exercise content for $19/mo.
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