OpenNutrition – A Free, Public Nutrition Database

TL;DR

TL;DR: OpenNutrition is a free, ODbL-licensed nutrition database covering 320K+ foods with an LLM-powered search engine that browses the web to import new items, bundled with a free iOS macro tracking app.

Source and Accuracy Notes

⚠️ This section is MANDATORY. All links must be verified from actual source, not guessed.

• Project page: opennutrition.app ← verified via direct visit
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43569190 ← 311 pts, 150 comments
• iOS app: apps.apple.com/us/app/opennutrition-macro-tracker/id6670272666
• Dataset: opennutrition.app/download ← free download
• License: ODbL (Open Database License) — confirmed in HN launch post
• Data sources cited: USDA, AUSNUT, FRIDA, CNF (per launch post)

What Is OpenNutrition?

OpenNutrition is a nutrition data project built by joshdickson (ex-YC startup founder) after exiting his previous company. It aims to solve a long-standing problem in the nutrition tracking space: commercial databases are expensive and restrictive, free databases are outdated and incomplete, and user-generated ones lack reliability.

The core offering is a free, public nutrition database licensed under ODbL — meaning the data itself is open and can be reused. On top of the database, the team built an iOS app and a web search interface.

The database contains:

• 5,287 common everyday foods with standardized naming, serving sizes, and micronutrient profiles
• 3,836 prepared and generic restaurant foods with citations to USDA, AUSNUT, FRIDA, CNF
• 4,182 distinct menu items from roughly 50 popular US restaurant chains
• 313,442 branded grocery products with standardized naming, parsed serving sizes, and additive/allergen data — grounded in branded USDA data; the most popular 1% have estimated micronutrient data with full coverage as an explicit goal

The LLM-Powered Search Problem

Even the largest commercial nutrition databases frustrate users when searching for highly customized foods or items outside their coverage. OpenNutrition’s solution is a real-time web browsing search engine driven by LLMs.

When a food isn’t in the database, the search engine can browse the web to learn about it and import the nutritional data — for example, a highly customized Starbucks order. Foods discovered through these searches are fed back into the database, expanding coverage over time.

The author describes this as using “the same approach used to build the core database” applied in real time — an LLM agent that browses and structures nutrition information from public sources.

iOS App Features

The iOS app bundles the database and search as a free macro tracking application. Key features:

• Text search — search the database directly
• Barcode scan — look up packaged foods by UPC
• Image capture — photograph food and the app searches for a match (with web browsing fallback)
• Expenditure tracking — log calories and spending
• Diet recommendations — ongoing personalized suggestions
• Agentic searches — a limited number of AI-powered searches included in the free tier

The paid tier costs $49/year and unlocks additional agentic searches, data backup, and prioritized micronutrient coverage for logged foods.

Dataset and Open Data

The dataset is available as a free download from opennutrition.app/download. The ODbL license means anyone can use, share, and build on the data — as long as attribution is maintained and any derivative databases are also shared openly.

This makes OpenNutrition a genuine public good in the nutrition data space, where comparable commercial databases charge per-seat licensing fees.

FAQ

Q: Is the data accurate? A: Common foods are grounded in USDA, AUSNUT, FRIDA, and CNF sources. Branded products use USDA branded data; the most popular 1% have estimated micronutrient profiles with a stated goal of full coverage. The author acknowledges accuracy limitations openly in the launch post.

Q: Is the iOS app free to use? A: Yes — the app includes free essential logging and a limited number of agentic searches. The $49/year paid tier adds more searches, data backup, and prioritized coverage.

Q: Can I use this data in my own project? A: Under ODbL, yes — with attribution and share-alike requirements for derivative databases. Check the full ODbL terms at opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/.

Q: Is there an API or developer integration? A: A third-party MCP server for OpenNutrition exists at github.com/deadletterq/mcp-opennutrition, providing a Model Context Protocol interface to the nutrition database.

Conclusion

OpenNutrition is a serious attempt at building a free, comprehensive nutrition database — the kind of public infrastructure that the health and fitness app ecosystem has long lacked. With 320K+ foods, LLM-powered web search, and an ODbL license, it covers use cases that would otherwise require expensive commercial subscriptions.

The project is relatively young (launched April 2025) and coverage is still expanding — particularly for micronutrient data on branded products. But the architecture of feeding web-discovered foods back into the database means coverage grows with every user search.

If you’re building any health, fitness, or nutrition-related application, OpenNutrition’s dataset is worth evaluating as a free alternative to commercial nutrition APIs.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Project page: opennutrition.app
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43569190 — 311 points, 150 comments, April 3 2025
• iOS app: apps.apple.com/us/app/opennutrition-macro-tracker/id6670272666
• Dataset download: opennutrition.app/download
• MCP server: github.com/deadletterq/mcp-opennutrition
• License: ODbL (verified via HN launch post)
• Source last checked: 2026-07-20 (HN launch post + website verified)