Terms of service

Last updated 29 September 2026

These terms cover your use of the kcal nutrition data API, the console at kcal.elbantli.com and any credits you buy. By creating an account or calling the API you accept them. If you accept on behalf of a company, you confirm you can bind it.

Who can use kcal

kcal is a service for developers and businesses. You must be old enough to form a binding contract where you live, and you must give accurate account and billing details. You are responsible for everything done with your account and API keys, so keep keys secret and revoke any key you think is exposed.

Credits and payment

  • Each new account gets 10 free successful queries. After that, queries are paid from prepaid credits, bought through Stripe in US dollars from $5.
  • Each successful query costs the price listed on the pricing table at the time of the request. Requests that fail are not charged.
  • Credits expire 12 months after your most recent top-up. A new top-up moves the expiry date for your whole balance. The console shows the date.
  • Credits are not money, cannot be transferred and are not refunded, except where the law requires it or we made a billing error. If a payment is refunded or disputed, we remove the matching credits.
  • We may change prices. A new price applies only to queries made after it is published and never reduces credits you already hold.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • Resell raw API access, or rebuild and redistribute the catalog as a competing dataset.
  • Get around rate limits, free query limits or billing, including by opening several accounts.
  • Send content you have no right to send, or photos of people when the request is not about food.
  • Probe, overload or disrupt the service or other customers.

We may suspend an account that breaks these rules or puts the service at risk. Where we reasonably can, we tell you first.

Nutrition data

Results come from USDA FoodData Central, Open Food Facts and automated matching of your text or photos. They can be incomplete or wrong, especially for estimated portions and photo recognition. kcal is not medical or dietary advice. Do not rely on it where an error could harm someone, for example allergen checks or insulin dosing, without your own verification.

Open Food Facts data is available under the Open Database License. If you show it to your users, you must credit Open Food Facts and follow that license. USDA FoodData Central data is in the public domain.

Availability and changes

We work to keep kcal available but do not promise uptime. We may change or retire endpoints. Changes to the API or to these terms are posted in the changelog. Using kcal after a change means you accept it.

Warranty and liability

kcal is provided as is, without warranties of accuracy, fitness for a purpose or availability, to the extent the law allows. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as lost profits or data. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Ending your account

You can stop using kcal at any time and ask us to delete your account by emailing legal@elbantli.com. Deleting your account ends access to any credits left. We may close an account for serious or repeated breaches of these terms.

Contact

Questions about these terms: legal@elbantli.com. How we handle personal data is described in the privacy policy.