Question 1

What counts as a credit?

Accepted Answer

Credit cost depends on the endpoint. Food search and food detail cost 1 credit per call. Batch lookup costs 1 credit per food ID requested. Natural language parsing costs 10 credits per call. Recipe analysis costs 10 credits per ingredient line, since each line runs its own lookup.

Question 2

What happens when I reach my monthly limit?

Accepted Answer

Requests that would exceed your monthly credit limit return a 429 error with code CREDIT_LIMIT_REACHED until your next billing cycle resets your credits. There are no automatic overages or surprise charges.

Question 3

Is there also a limit on how fast I can send requests?

Accepted Answer

Yes, separate from the monthly credit limit. Each account can send a limited number of requests per minute, shared across every API key on the account: 60 for Free, 300 for Starter, 1,000 for Growth, and 6,000 for Pro. Going over this returns a 429 error with code RATE_LIMITED.

Question 4

Can I cache API responses?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Forkbit allows caching responses, and values you derive from them, for as long as your account is active, with no required expiration and no attribution requirement. Cancel in good standing and you keep what you already stored.

Question 5

How much food data does Forkbit cover?

Accepted Answer

Forkbit is built on the USDA FoodData Central Foundation Foods and SR Legacy datasets, covering whole foods and common ingredients. Every food comes from a government nutrition dataset, never from crowdsourced or user-submitted entries. It is not a packaged-goods barcode database.

Question 6

Should I use search or parse?

Accepted Answer

Use GET /v1/foods/search when you already have a clean food name, such as from a search box or autocomplete. Use POST /v1/parse when you have free text, such as a voice note or a conversational log entry like "2 eggs and toast with butter." Parse costs more per call because it runs through an LLM, while search is a direct lookup.

Question 7

Do you have an SDK?

Accepted Answer

@forkbit/js is the official TypeScript SDK and covers every endpoint with typed responses. There is no official SDK for other languages yet, but the REST API works with any standard HTTP client.

Question 8

How often is the food data updated?

Accepted Answer

The current dataset was imported from USDA FoodData Central Foundation Foods and SR Legacy for the v1 launch. New imports and additional data sources will be announced on the changelog page.

Question 9

How do I upgrade, downgrade, or cancel?

Accepted Answer

From the Billing page in your dashboard. Changes take effect immediately, and unused credits are not refunded.

Question 10

Is there a free trial for paid plans?

Accepted Answer

The Free tier is permanent, with 5,000 credits per month, no time limit, and no credit card required.

Question 11

Is annual billing cheaper than monthly?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Annual plans are billed once per year and cost less than twelve monthly payments. Toggle the pricing table to annual to see the exact saving for each plan. Free stays free either way.

How much does the Forkbit nutrition API cost?

Frequently asked questions

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