Exchange Rate API offers real-time currency rates from Reuters and interbank feeds via a REST API, with a free tier and paid plans starting at 4.99 EUR/month.
Exchange Rate API is a currency conversion data service that gives developers programmatic access to mid-market foreign exchange rates. The company sources its data from Reuters (Refinitiv) and interbank market feeds and states that rates refresh roughly every 60 seconds, more frequent than many budget-tier currency APIs that update once a day.
The service covers more than 160 currencies and is delivered through a straightforward REST API, backed by official SDKs for languages including JavaScript, Python, and PHP. It also provides historical exchange rate data, useful for financial reporting, backtesting, or auditing past transactions at the rate that applied on a given date.
The API's headline feature is its update frequency, refreshing rates roughly every minute rather than daily, which matters for use cases like point-of-sale currency conversion or trading-adjacent tools where stale rates create real financial risk. It also supports flexible base currencies even on lower-tier plans, letting developers request conversions relative to any supported currency rather than being locked to a single default.
Exchange Rate API publishes a public status page and offers direct support, and it markets a rate-lock promise, meaning existing subscribers keep their signed-up price even if the company raises prices for new customers later. The company also positions itself directly against competitors like Fixer, Open Exchange Rates, and CurrencyLayer on pricing and update frequency.
The free tier allows 300 API requests per month with no credit card required, making it usable for prototypes, personal projects, or very low-traffic applications. Paid plans start at 4.99 euros per month, which raises the request allowance to 5,000 per month.
Because pricing is quoted in euros rather than dollars, businesses budgeting in other currencies should account for exchange-rate fluctuation on their own subscription cost. The company's rate-lock policy means the price paid at signup is guaranteed not to increase later, which can make budgeting easier for long-term customers compared to providers that periodically reprice existing plans.
The company states that rates are updated roughly every 60 seconds, using data from Reuters and interbank market feeds.
Yes, the free tier includes 300 API requests per month with no credit card required.
Paid plans start at 4.99 euros per month for 5,000 requests, with the company promising the price won't increase after signup.
It supports rate data for more than 160 currencies.
Yes, the API provides historical rate data in addition to current rates.