Compare the options
Price from identifies a verified paid entry plan or the stated access model. TraderMade’s figure is its published business offer; individual pricing is not assumed. Personal-use subscriptions are labelled. Free trials are not recurring free tiers. History depth and live access depend on the symbol, interval, and plan.
| Provider | Price from | Free tier | Update frequency | History | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OANDA v20 | Eligible v20 account; check account terms | Free demo account; not an unrestricted data licence | Stream sends at most 4 prices/second per instrument | Historical pricing advertised from 2005 | Tradeable instruments available to the account |
| Twelve Data | $29/month Grow entry option; individual use | 8 API credits/minute; 800/day; trial WebSocket credits | At least once per minute; tick streaming available by plan | 20+ years advertised; depth depends on plan and interval | 1,300+ pairs across 140 currencies and precious metals |
| TraderMade | £599/month published FX & Crypto business offer | Demo offered; current recurring allowance not verified | Live tick rates; WebSocket included in the business offer | Timeseries docs: up to 20 years daily, 8 hourly, 5 minute-level; licence-dependent | FX and crypto pairs; confirm the required symbol list |
| Massive | $49/month Currencies Starter; individual use | 5 calls/minute; end-of-day data; 2 years of history | End-of-day Basic; real-time Starter with WebSockets | 10+ years on Starter; aggregate records from September 25, 2009 | All forex and crypto tickers in the currencies plan |
| Finage | $599/month published real-time forex feed | 3-day trial; no recurring allowance verified | Real-time feed advertised; WebSocket delivery | 13 years advertised in the forex offer; confirm interval depth | Major, minor, and exotic pairs; exact count omitted |
| Alpha Vantage | $0 standard access; paid price not verified | 25 requests/day for standard access; intraday FX is premium | FX series documented as updated in real time; exact cadence unstated | Full daily series available; no universal start date verified | Currencies in the published forex symbol list |
| exchangerate.dev | $10/month Basic; WebSocket on $80/month Realtime for new accounts | 10,000 REST requests/month; non-commercial; no WebSocket | About 60 seconds for actively traded currencies on trading days; reference cadence otherwise | Daily series from 1999 where available; market collection began September 14, 2026 | 31 currencies; intraday and stream subsets differ |
The shortlist
OANDA v20
| Best fit | Broker-connected pricing and order workflows |
|---|---|
| Price from | Eligible v20 account; check account terms |
| Free tier | Free demo account; not an unrestricted data licence |
| Update frequency | Stream sends at most 4 prices/second per instrument |
| History | Historical pricing advertised from 2005 |
| Coverage | Tradeable instruments available to the account |
| Candles and streaming | Bid, ask, or midpoint candles; HTTP pricing stream |
OANDA v20 leads when an application connects pricing with a broker workflow. Its documentation covers account prices, orders, and historical candles. Access requires an eligible v20 account; availability differs by OANDA division. The stream can omit intermediate prices within each 250-millisecond window, which matters when evaluating a strategy or comparing connections. Start in the demo environment, then check the live account’s instruments and conditions. Broker quotes are relevant to execution, but a received price should not be described as a guaranteed future fill.
Twelve Data
| Best fit | A broad forex data API for research and charts |
|---|---|
| Price from | $29/month Grow entry option; individual use |
| Free tier | 8 API credits/minute; 800/day; trial WebSocket credits |
| Update frequency | At least once per minute; tick streaming available by plan |
| History | 20+ years advertised; depth depends on plan and interval |
| Coverage | 1,300+ pairs across 140 currencies and precious metals |
| Candles and streaming | Intraday time series and WebSocket price stream |
Twelve Data suits research needing broad symbols and a path from requests to streaming. Its forex page distinguishes minute refreshes from tick streaming; trial WebSocket credits do not establish production entitlements. Symbol counts and endpoint weights affect credit consumption, while archive depth varies by subscription. Specify the pair, interval, and oldest required date before choosing a plan. Individual pricing covers personal, internal, non-commercial use; customer-facing charts need the appropriate business arrangement. Twelve Data describes itself as a data provider rather than a broker, so execution is separate.
TraderMade
| Best fit | Business streaming and separate bid/ask data |
|---|---|
| Price from | £599/month published FX & Crypto business offer |
| Free tier | Demo offered; current recurring allowance not verified |
| Update frequency | Live tick rates; WebSocket included in the business offer |
| History | Timeseries docs: up to 20 years daily, 8 hourly, 5 minute-level; licence-dependent |
| Coverage | FX and crypto pairs; confirm the required symbol list |
| Candles and streaming | Daily, hourly, and minute OHLC; live bid/ask via REST or WebSocket |
TraderMade merits evaluation when separate bid and ask values and a business agreement are central requirements. Its published business offer combines REST, live ticks, history, and WebSockets. Archive limits differ for daily, hourly, and minute observations, with licence conditions. Pricing and documentation use different plan descriptions, so obtain the exact historical and redistribution entitlements in writing. We omit an older free-call allowance and a universal coverage count because current sources do not consistently establish either. The demo provides an evaluation route, not a promised free production plan.
Massive
| Best fit | Quote-derived forex candles and historical research |
|---|---|
| Price from | $49/month Currencies Starter; individual use |
| Free tier | 5 calls/minute; end-of-day data; 2 years of history |
| Update frequency | End-of-day Basic; real-time Starter with WebSockets |
| History | 10+ years on Starter; aggregate records from September 25, 2009 |
| Coverage | All forex and crypto tickers in the currencies plan |
| Candles and streaming | Quote-derived OHLC; minute and second aggregates on Starter |
Massive suits candles, backfills, and streaming quotes. Free access is end-of-day; Starter adds real-time delivery. The forex documentation explains that bars derive from quoted bid and ask prices, not executed trades, and intervals without new quotes have no bar. Preserve that distinction in backtests: a candle does not prove an order could fill at every price within it. Individual pricing is separate from a business licence. Check the requested symbols and dates before a large download, keeping missing intervals explicit.
Finage
| Best fit | Evaluating an OTC quote and aggregate feed |
|---|---|
| Price from | $599/month published real-time forex feed |
| Free tier | 3-day trial; no recurring allowance verified |
| Update frequency | Real-time feed advertised; WebSocket delivery |
| History | 13 years advertised in the forex offer; confirm interval depth |
| Coverage | Major, minor, and exotic pairs; exact count omitted |
| Candles and streaming | Quotes and OHLCV aggregates advertised |
Finage publishes a dedicated forex offer with quotes, aggregates, history, and streaming. However, coverage totals differ between sections, so we omit a single count. Its disclaimer also says data is informational and should not be relied on for trading decisions, despite the live-feed marketing. Treat it as an analytics candidate and resolve intended use before selecting it for a trading system. Inspect the required pair and interval during the trial. Real-time delivery alone establishes neither execution suitability nor permission to redistribute.
Alpha Vantage
| Best fit | Request-based daily FX research and premium intraday series |
|---|---|
| Price from | $0 standard access; paid price not verified |
| Free tier | 25 requests/day for standard access; intraday FX is premium |
| Update frequency | FX series documented as updated in real time; exact cadence unstated |
| History | Full daily series available; no universal start date verified |
| Coverage | Currencies in the published forex symbol list |
| Candles and streaming | Daily OHLC; premium 1, 5, 15, 30, and 60-minute OHLC via REST |
Alpha Vantage suits small research workflows requesting a few currency series. Daily and intraday functions return OHLC values, but intraday FX is explicitly premium: the free daily allowance is not free intraday access. Full output requests the available series rather than only the compact window; the documentation does not establish one start date for every pair. We leave that depth unspecified and omit a premium price that could not be verified in the selector. Check entitlements before choosing it for a request-based workflow.
exchangerate.dev
| Best fit | Indicative FX API for application displays |
|---|---|
| Price from | $10/month Basic; WebSocket on $80/month Realtime for new accounts |
| Free tier | 10,000 REST requests/month; non-commercial; no WebSocket |
| Update frequency | About 60 seconds for actively traded currencies on trading days; reference cadence otherwise |
| History | Daily series from 1999 where available; market collection began September 14, 2026 |
| Coverage | 31 currencies; intraday and stream subsets differ |
| Candles and streaming | Timestamped rate observations, not full OHLC candles; paid WebSocket delivery |
exchangerate.dev fits dashboards and conversion displays, not trading feeds. REST results identify source, session, and observation times. Daily reference history and the recent intraday archive are separate; a 1999 daily start does not imply decades of minute data. New accounts need Realtime at $80 per month for WebSockets. Streaming still carries indicative rates. Pick a trading-grade feed or broker interface when placing orders, modelling spreads, tracking tick changes, or reconstructing full candles. Inspect pair coverage and timestamps before relying on a result.
Match the feed to the decision
A live forex data API can deliver a broker price, a sampled quote, or a newly published candle. Those are different inputs. Pick the one your application actually consumes, and make its timestamp, price side, and missing-data rules visible to the code that uses it.
| Order placement | Start with the execution venue’s pricing and order interface. Validate account eligibility, instrument availability, spread, and quote validity. An independent data subscription does not by itself provide an executable offer. |
|---|---|
| Intraday research | Specify bid, ask, midpoint, or quote-derived candles before downloading history. Request the oldest required period at the actual interval. Daily archive depth cannot establish the depth of minute or tick history. |
| Live charts | Check streaming entitlements, reconnect behaviour, and gap recovery. Distinguish event-driven ticks from sampled updates. A responsive WebSocket connection can still carry observations that are too coarse for your intended analysis. |
| Indicative displays | Use a clearly labelled reference or market observation and its timestamp. If the screen only estimates a converted balance, it may not need a broker feed, a tick archive, or an execution workflow. |
How we chose
The ordering prioritises documented execution integration, intraday delivery, historical granularity, and clarity of entitlements. It is an editorial shortlist for different jobs, not a measured latency ranking. Sources were reviewed on October 3, 2026. We have not certified any feed for a trading strategy. Provider claims are attributed, conflicting counts are omitted, and unknown limits remain unknown. exchangerate.dev publishes this comparison and is placed last because its indicative application rates do not meet the trading use case. Confirm symbol, interval, and usage rights before purchasing.
Sources checked . Prices and entitlements can change.
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