Since sugar promotes inflammation, I rarely use it, but sometimes a little sweetness is needed in sauces, salad dressings, or to pickle vegetables, so, instead, I use an equal amount of either, honey or maple syrup.
I don’t use agave anymore because it’s 90% fructose. Fructose takes scrumptious but it’s more likely to turn those sweet calories to fat. To compare, honey has 40% fructose and maple syrup has between .1-.6%, depending on quality (1).
Source: http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/sugarprof.pdf Sugar Profiles of Maple Syrup Grades