Freemium Model

Saturday’s API is free for partners to integrate. The monetization happens at the athlete level: athletes subscribe to Saturday for full-precision nutrition data.

Partner integrates (free) -> Athletes see teasers (free) -> Athletes subscribe for precision

Teaser vs. full comparison

	Teaser (free)	Full (subscribed)
Carbohydrates	Range: `"carb_range_g_per_hr": "60-90"`	Exact: `"carb_g_per_hr": 62.5`
Hydration	Range: `"fluid_range_ml_per_hr": "500-1000"`	Exact: `"fluid_ml_per_hr": 620`
Sodium	Range: `"sodium_range_mg_per_hr": "200-500"`	Exact: `"sodium_mg_per_hr": 485`
Products	Category only (“gel”)	Specific products + schedule
Product catalog	Taxonomy + CTA	Search, browse, and per-serving carbs, sodium, fluid and caffeine
Safety metadata	Full	Full
Confidence score	Shown	Shown

Safety is never gated. Both teaser and full responses include complete safety metadata. Safety information is always free.

Detecting response type

Both teaser responses and incomplete full-tier profiles carry range fields. Choose the number display from those fields; use tier separately to decide whether to show the subscription CTA. Exact zero values may be omitted, so the exact branch defaults them to zero.

data = response.json()

if "carb_range_g_per_hr" in data:
    show_range(data["carb_range_g_per_hr"])
    show_range(data["sodium_range_mg_per_hr"])
    show_range(data["fluid_range_ml_per_hr"])
else:
    show_exact(data.get("carb_g_per_hr", 0))
    show_exact(data.get("sodium_mg_per_hr", 0))
    show_exact(data.get("fluid_ml_per_hr", 0))

if data["tier"] == "teaser":
    show_upgrade_cta(data["subscription_cta"]["subscribe_url"])

const data = await response.json();

if (data.carb_range_g_per_hr !== undefined) {
  showRange(data.carb_range_g_per_hr);
  showRange(data.sodium_range_mg_per_hr);
  showRange(data.fluid_range_ml_per_hr);
} else {
  showExact(data.carb_g_per_hr ?? 0);
  showExact(data.sodium_mg_per_hr ?? 0);
  showExact(data.fluid_ml_per_hr ?? 0);
}

if (data.tier === "teaser") {
  showUpgradeCTA(data.subscription_cta.subscribe_url);
}

The product catalog

The product routes are gated; Feature Gates covers access. Once open to you, Saturday’s curated product database follows the same rule as the numbers: it opens on the athlete’s subscription, not on your partner account. Every product route (/v1/products/search, /v1/products/{barcode}, /v1/products/curated, /v1/nutrition/products/fit, /v1/nutrition/products/compare) takes an athlete_id, and the answer follows that athlete’s standing:

Subscribed, or inside their 30-day trial: tier: "full". Search and browse return products; a barcode lookup returns a curated product’s per-serving carbs, sodium, fluid and caffeine, or a product_not_found 404.
Anyone else: tier: "teaser". The product arrays come back empty and the response carries the category taxonomy plus the same cta object your teaser prescriptions use. Still a 200, never a 403.

{
  "tier": "teaser",
  "products": [],
  "total": 0,
  "categories": [
    { "id": "gel", "name": "Gels", "description": "Energy gels and gel-like products" },
    { "id": "drink_mix", "name": "Drink Mixes", "description": "Electrolyte and carb drink powders" }
  ],
  "cta": {
    "message": "Subscribe to see the specific products that fit this athlete, not just the categories",
    "subscribe_url": "https://saturday.fit/subscribe?ref=your_partner_id&pst=..."
  }
}

Branch on tier exactly as you do for prescriptions. A teaser is a product picker that shows categories with an upgrade prompt behind them, not an error state. GET /v1/products/categories is the one product route that never gates: the taxonomy is the free tier, so it answers the same for every athlete.

The catalog is stricter here than in the Saturday app, on purpose. In the app a free athlete can browse products and the subscription gates the prescription. An API has no such natural limit, so the catalog itself sits behind the athlete’s subscription. Verified label data for every product in the curated catalog is the asset, and it stays priced.

The athlete’s trial opens the catalog on its 30-day window, independently of the daily full-precision call cap. An athlete who has spent today’s exact calculations can still see the products those calculations point at, and browsing products never debits the cap.

30-day full-precision trial

An athlete-scoped calculation with real profile or optional activity inputs starts a 30-day trial of full-tier responses: 15 calls on the first UTC day (exploration allowance), then 5 calls per athlete per UTC day. Zero-data calls do not start the trial. Complete inputs are still required for exact numbers. During the trial, full responses carry trial metadata so you can build countdown UX:

{
  "tier": "full",
  "tier_source": "trial",
  "trial_ends_at": 1768063200000,
  "trial_calls_remaining_today": 3,
  "carb_g_per_hr": 62.5
}

Over the daily cap, responses degrade to teaser ranges (never an error) and include trial_cap_reached: true plus a human-readable trial_cap_note you can surface directly to the athlete. It carries the apology and the reason. Batch scenarios debit the cap individually. After 30 days, responses are teaser tier until the athlete subscribes.

Subscription flow

When an athlete wants full precision:

Your app shows teaser data with the upgrade CTA
Athlete taps the upgrade link (subscribe_url from the subscription_cta). For athlete-scoped requests it carries a signed token (pst) identifying which athlete is upgrading
The athlete lands on Saturday’s checkout page (partner-branded), pays via Stripe, and is sent back toward your app
Saturday writes the link and fires the subscription.created webhook, and the athlete’s next API call returns full precision

Saturday manages the subscription and the payment. Two important details:

The unlock requires athlete-scoped requests. Only CTAs minted from requests that included an athlete_id carry the pst; identity-less CTAs are attribution-only and cannot auto-unlock anyone.
Subscribed Saturday users are never double-charged. If the athlete has an active Saturday subscription, checkout links their account to your athlete instead of charging, and subscription.created fires with source: "existing_subscription_linked".

Checking entitlement

GET /v1/athletes/{id} returns a computed subscription_status field (full, trial, or teaser) for polling after checkout-return or support lookups.

Return-to-app handoff

Give Saturday a return_url (https or deep link) at partner onboarding and the post-payment success page shows a “Back to your app” button, so athletes land back in your product with full precision flowing.

Automatic linking by email

Some paying Saturday athletes never touch your subscribe CTA: they subscribed inside the Saturday app (Apple/Google in-app purchase) or on saturday.fit before joining your platform. Saturday links these automatically: when the email you set on an athlete exactly matches a Saturday account’s email (case-insensitive; no fuzzy matching), the records are linked and the athlete’s API responses unlock.

Opt in by supplying emails. Set email on your athletes (POST /v1/athletes and PATCH /v1/athletes/{athlete_id}). Matching runs when you write an athlete email, when a Saturday subscription activates, and in a nightly sweep.
You get the same webhook. When a match links an actively paying account, subscription.created fires with source: "email_match". Handle it like a checkout unlock.
Ambiguity never auto-links. Multiple athletes sharing an email, or a conflict with an existing link, goes to Saturday-side human review instead.
No revenue share on matched links. These subscriptions were not driven through your platform (many predate it), so they do not appear on your revenue statement.
Only entitlement is released. The match tells your platform the athlete’s subscription tier, and an expiry when one applies, never payment details, purchase history, or Saturday profile data.

If you have a partner-negotiated offer with Saturday (e.g. member pricing for your annual subscribers), assert eligibility by setting partner_plan: "annual" on the athlete (PATCH /v1/athletes/{id}). Eligible athletes’ CTAs carry the offer claim and checkout prices accordingly. You may advertise the offer anywhere; only asserted athletes can redeem it.

Organization (team) offers

A coach or team on your platform can have a negotiated discount. Record it on the organization (PUT /v1/organizations/{org_id}/offer) and assert each athlete’s affiliation via org_id. See Organizations: Organization offers.

How discounts stack

When an athlete qualifies for more than one discount source (a partner offer and an org offer), the percents combine multiplicatively and the total is hard-capped at 30%:

20% partner + 15% org → 1 − (0.80 × 0.85) = 32% → capped to 30%

Checkout collapses the stack into a single combined discount, and Saturday’s subscribe landing page displays the stacked percent plus which sources contributed, so athletes see the number they will pay rather than a per-source figure.

Testing the loop (test environment)

The test environment has a zero-payment simulator so you can integration-test your webhook handlers and tier handling end to end:

curl -X POST {TEST_BASE_URL}/v1/test/athletes/{athlete_id}/simulate-subscription \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"active": true}'

Your test base URL comes with your sk_test_ key at onboarding. {"active": true} writes the same link fields and fires the same subscription.created webhook as a real purchase; {"active": false} fires subscription.cancelled. The endpoint does not exist in production. You can also run a real test checkout with Stripe’s 4242 4242 4242 4242 card from the CTA link in any test-env teaser response.

iOS partners: opening Saturday’s web checkout from inside your iOS app is an external purchase link for digital content. Review Apple’s current external-link entitlement rules for your app’s situation. The CTA URL works in any browser context.

Attribution

Teaser data must carry the “Powered by Saturday” mark, linked, near the numbers. Full data carries a lighter mark wherever Saturday data appears. That linked mark is how the loop closes: athletes seeing teasers find their way to full precision through it. Full placement rules, marks, sizing, and the per-surface matrix live on the Brand & Attribution page.

Partner value exchange

Partners get: Free nutrition intelligence for their platform
Saturday gets: Distribution to athletes who may subscribe
Athletes get: Personalized nutrition whether they subscribe or not

More partners means more athletes seeing Saturday, and more subscribers.

The trial starts once real profile or optional activity inputs are present. Zero-data calculations never start or burn it. Collect the fueling profile and provide the per-activity inputs so trial calculations can return exact numbers.

Getting Started

Core Guides

Integration Guides

Coach API

Platform

Freemium Model

Freemium Model

Teaser vs. full comparison

Detecting response type

The product catalog

30-day full-precision trial

Subscription flow

Checking entitlement

Return-to-app handoff

Automatic linking by email

Organization (team) offers

How discounts stack

Testing the loop (test environment)

Attribution

Partner value exchange

​Freemium Model

​Teaser vs. full comparison

​Detecting response type

​The product catalog

​30-day full-precision trial

​Subscription flow

​Checking entitlement

​Return-to-app handoff

​Automatic linking by email

​Organization (team) offers

​How discounts stack

​Testing the loop (test environment)

​Attribution

​Partner value exchange

Freemium Model

Teaser vs. full comparison

Detecting response type

The product catalog

30-day full-precision trial

Subscription flow

Checking entitlement

Return-to-app handoff

Automatic linking by email

Organization (team) offers

How discounts stack

Testing the loop (test environment)

Attribution

Partner value exchange