exchangerate.devA store needs few requests and a clear licence. Rates cached every 15 minutes use about 2,900 requests a month, and hourly use is 720. That puts the licence, the base currency and the update speed ahead of the quota. For most small stores the choice is between a free plan that allows commercial use and a $10 to $15 paid plan.
Who wrote this
We sell exchangerate.dev, so it is on this list and we know its numbers best. Every other row comes from that provider's own pages, read on 2 Nov 2026. Where the pages do not say, the table says "not stated". Each provider has a review page with its sources.
What an online store needs
- A licence that covers a shop. Free plans differ on commercial use. Fixer marks its free plan non-commercial, currencyapi limits its free plan to private use and ExchangeRate-API's open endpoint asks for attribution.
- A base currency that matches the catalogue. A catalogue priced in euros needs EUR as the base. Open Exchange Rates gives USD only on its free plan.
- Rates fresh enough to price from. A displayed price can use an hourly rate. A payment captured at checkout usually settles at the processor's rate anyway.
- Low request counts. A store caches. Even a refresh every 15 minutes is under 3,000 requests a month.
Side by side
| Provider | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Update speed | Free plan and a shop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| exchangerate.dev | 5,000 requests a month | $19 a month, 100,000 requests | 15 minutes late on Free, about 60 seconds on paid plans | Allowed with a visible, linked credit |
| Fixer | 100 calls a month | $14.99 a month, 10,000 calls | Hourly on Free and Basic | Free is non-commercial; Basic is commercial |
| Open Exchange Rates | 1,000 requests a month, USD base only | $12 a month, 10,000 requests, all bases | Hourly | Not stated on the pricing page |
| ExchangeRate-API | 1,500 requests a month, daily | $10 a month, 30,000 requests | Hourly on Pro, daily on Free | Open endpoint needs attribution |
| currencyapi | 300 requests a month, daily | $9.99 a month, 15,000 requests | Hourly on Small | Free is for private use |
| Xe Currency Data | None; trial terms not published | $599 a year, 10,000 requests a month | Daily on Core, hourly on Intermediate | Not stated |
The shortlist
exchangerate.dev
The Free plan returns 144 currencies, any base, and allows a shop to use it with a visible link back. Free rates are 15 minutes late, which is fine for a price list. Basic at $19 a month moves to rates about 60 seconds old and 365 days of history for order lookups. Every plan includes an MCP server. The gap: 144 currencies is fewer than Fixer's 170 or Open Exchange Rates' 200.
Fixer
Fixer's Free plan is for non-commercial use, so a store starts at Basic, $14.99 a month for 10,000 calls at hourly updates, with all base currencies and conversion. Hourly is enough to price a catalogue. It lists 170 currencies and a long history. Overage fees apply instead of a hard stop, which keeps a store running through a spike. Read the Fixer review.
Open Exchange Rates
Developer at $12 a month gives 10,000 requests and all base currencies at hourly updates. The free plan is workable for a store priced in US dollars, since it allows 1,000 requests and a USD base. It covers over 200 currencies. Its docs publish llms.txt and Markdown pages, which helps if an assistant writes your integration. Read the Open Exchange Rates review.
ExchangeRate-API
The lowest entry price here: Pro is $10 a month for 30,000 requests at hourly updates. The free plan updates daily, and the open endpoint needs no key but requires attribution and rate-limits callers. Its pages say its rates are indicative midpoint rates and unsuitable for cross-currency settlement, which suits price display. Read the ExchangeRate-API review.
currencyapi
Small is $9.99 a month for 15,000 requests at hourly updates, and the free plan of 300 requests a month is too small to refresh hourly. It offers a hosted MCP server, an OpenAPI document and history back to 1999 on all plans. Read the currencyapi review.
Xe Currency Data
Xe prices for large organisations: $599 a year for Core at daily updates and 10,000 requests a month, $1,799 for Intermediate at hourly updates. It lists 170+ currencies on the feature list and 220+ in the headline, SOC 2, and support by email and phone. For a small store it costs several times the others. For a company with procurement rules it may be the one that passes. Read the Xe review.
Pick by need
| If you need | Start with |
|---|---|
| A free plan a shop may use | exchangerate.dev, with a visible link back |
| The lowest paid price | ExchangeRate-API Pro at $10 or currencyapi Small at $9.99 |
| A catalogue priced in US dollars on a free plan | Open Exchange Rates, with the terms checked |
| A named support desk and security attestation | Xe |
| The widest currency list | Open Exchange Rates or Xe |
| Rates about a minute old without a $99.99 plan | exchangerate.dev Basic at $19, or currencyapi Medium at $39.99 with 60-second updates |
| No hard stop at the quota | Fixer, which bills overage |
How we chose
We picked providers that sell a general-purpose exchange rate API and publish prices. For each one we read the pricing page, the FAQ or documentation and the licence terms, and we compared the facts a store depends on: licence, base currency, update speed, price at store volume and history. We did not test uptime or accuracy for rivals, since that needs an account with each. Our own freshness figures are in the freshness and accuracy test.
Sources
Checked 2 Nov 2026. Prices and limits change, so confirm them on the provider's page before you buy.