Currency-api

Overview

Currency-api offers a dedicated API for retrieving current and historical foreign exchange rate data. The service is designed for developers building financial applications, e-commerce platforms requiring dynamic currency conversion, and systems that display real-time exchange rates. Founded in 2010, Currency-api focuses on providing up-to-date data for over 170 global currencies with refresh intervals as frequent as 60 seconds, depending on the subscription plan. This enables applications to reflect market fluctuations with minimal delay.

Developers can access a range of data types, including live rates, historical exchange rates for specific dates, and timeseries data to analyze currency trends over periods. The API endpoints are structured to provide direct access to these datasets, supporting various integration patterns across different programming languages. For instance, an e-commerce platform might use the live rates to convert product prices instantly for international customers, while a financial dashboard could plot historical data to visualize currency performance over the last quarter. The API also provides conversion capabilities, allowing direct calculation between specified amounts and currencies.

Currency-api offers comprehensive documentation with code examples in multiple languages, aiming to streamline the integration process. This includes client libraries for popular languages such as PHP, Python, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Java, and C#. The platform emphasizes developer experience, providing straightforward API endpoints for accessing various currency data sets. This design principle is intended to reduce the learning curve and accelerate development cycles for applications requiring reliable currency data. Adherence to GDPR compliance is also noted, addressing data privacy considerations for users within the European Union.

Beyond current exchange rates, the API supports querying historical data, which is essential for reporting, auditing, and analytical applications. Timeseries data provides a structured way to retrieve rates over a period, enabling trend analysis and backtesting strategies in financial modeling. This breadth of data allows Currency-api to serve a diverse set of use cases, from simple currency display widgets to complex financial systems requiring detailed historical market context.

Key features

• Real-time Exchange Rates: Provides current exchange rates for over 170 currencies, with refresh rates configurable down to 60 seconds based on subscription levels.
• Historical Rates: Access exchange rate data for any specific date in the past, useful for reporting, analysis, and auditing.
• Timeseries Data: Retrieve currency exchange rates over a specified period to analyze trends and market movements.
• Currency Conversion: Directly convert amounts between any two supported currencies using current or historical rates.
• Extensive Currency Support: Covers more than 170 world currencies, allowing broad international application development.
• Developer SDKs: Client libraries available for PHP, Python, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Java, and C# to simplify integration.
• GDPR Compliance: Adheres to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards for data processing and privacy.
• Comprehensive Documentation: Offers detailed API documentation with code examples in multiple programming languages, as outlined in the Currency-api documentation portal.

Pricing

Currency-api offers a free tier and several paid subscription plans, structured to accommodate varying request volumes and feature requirements. Pricing details are subject to change and are current as of May 2026. For the most up-to-date information, refer to the official Currency-api pricing page.

Common integrations

Currency-api can be integrated into various systems and platforms to provide currency exchange functionality. Common integration scenarios include:

• E-commerce Platforms: Displaying product prices in multiple currencies for international customers, converting order totals at checkout.
• Financial Dashboards: Building real-time currency converters or displaying live exchange rate tickers within financial analysis tools.
• Banking Applications: Providing FX rates for internal operations, international transfers, or customer-facing currency tools.
• Travel Booking Systems: Converting prices for flights, hotels, and rentals based on the user's preferred currency.
• Analytics and Reporting Tools: Incorporating historical exchange rates to analyze financial performance across different geographical markets.
• Data Warehouses: Ingesting currency data for long-term storage and use in business intelligence applications.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: Automating currency conversions for international transactions and financial reporting.

Alternatives

For developers seeking currency exchange rate APIs, several alternatives offer similar functionality with varying features and pricing models. These include:

• Open Exchange Rates: Provides exchange rate data with a focus on ease of use and broad currency coverage.
• fixer.io: Offers real-time and historical exchange rates, catering to both individual developers and enterprise solutions.
• ExchangeRate-API: Delivers exchange rate data with flexible plans and high refresh rates.
• AWS Data Exchange: While not a dedicated currency API, it offers various third-party financial data products, which can include currency exchange datasets from different providers.

Getting started

To begin using Currency-api, you typically need to sign up for an API key and then make HTTP requests to the designated endpoints. The following example demonstrates how to fetch the latest exchange rates using JavaScript, a primary language for the API.

First, obtain your API key from your Currency-api dashboard after registration. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual key.

async function getExchangeRates() {
  const apiKey = 'YOUR_API_KEY'; // Replace with your actual API key
  const baseCurrency = 'USD';
  const targetCurrencies = 'EUR,GBP,JPY';

  try {
    const response = await fetch(`https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/latest?apikey=${apiKey}&base_currency=${baseCurrency}¤cies=${targetCurrencies}`);
    
    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
    }

    const data = await response.json();
    console.log('Latest exchange rates:', data);
    // Example of accessing a specific rate:
    // console.log(`1 ${baseCurrency} = ${data.data.EUR.value} EUR`);

  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching exchange rates:', error);
  }
}

getExchangeRates();

This JavaScript code snippet performs an asynchronous fetch request to the /latest endpoint of the Currency-api. It specifies a base currency (USD) and requests conversion rates for Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), and Japanese Yen (JPY). The API key authenticates the request. Upon a successful response, the JSON data containing the latest rates is logged to the console. For detailed instructions on using other endpoints, such as historical data or timeseries, consult the official Currency-api developer documentation.