exchangerate.dev vs freecurrencyapi.com

exchangerate.dev brings intraday FX, daily history, and MCP together in one API.

exchangerate.devReviewed October 2026

Verdict

Choose exchangerate.dev when intraday freshness, per-value provenance, MCP-native access, and free-tier headroom matter. Keep freecurrencyapi.com if its four endpoints and daily rates cover your personal project.

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At a glance

Featureexchangerate.devfreecurrencyapi.com
Free tier5,000 requests/month1,000 requests/month; 10/min
Cheapest paid planBasic · $19/monthPaid service at currencyapi.com
Update speed144 currencies ~60s on trading days; Free 15m lateDaily end-of-day
HistoryFree 30 days; Basic 1 year; Plus/Pro to 1999From 1 January 1999
Coverage144 currencies; any supported base33 currencies; any base
InterfacesREST; MCP; WebSocket on Plus and ProREST; MCP
SDKsNot publishedNot published
Commercial use on free tier✓ With a linked credit✗ Hobby and personal only

Price at your usage

The lowest published plans for each monthly request volume, with traffic spread across the month.

Requests a monthexchangerate.devfreecurrencyapi.com
1,000Free · $0/monthFree · $0/month
10,000Basic · $19/monthcurrencyapi.com Small · $9.99/month
100,000Basic · $19/monthcurrencyapi.com Medium · $39.99/month

The larger volumes use currencyapi.com’s paid service, with 15,000 requests on Small and 600,000 on Medium.

Switch in a few minutes

Change the endpoint, target parameter, and authentication header in your server request.

freecurrencyapi.com

# Change: URL and auth
curl -G \
  "https://api.freecurrencyapi.com/v1/latest" \
  --data-urlencode "base_currency=USD" \
  --data-urlencode "currencies=EUR" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY"

exchangerate.dev

# Change: URL and auth
curl -G \
  "https://api.exchangerate.dev/v1/latest/USD" \
  --data-urlencode "symbols=EUR" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Why teams switch

Room to test a real workload

5,000 free monthly calls give you room to build around your own traffic pattern, from a small currency converter to a recurring rate lookup. No card is required, and any supported currency can be the base. The usage table maps three monthly volumes to the lowest qualifying plan, making the next step clear as requests grow. Free permits commercial display with linked credit; paid plans need no credit.

Rates with a time and a source

All 144 currencies update about every 60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free. Responses include source and market-session fields alongside observation timestamps, so your application can show where a value came from and when it was observed. Daily references remain identifiable as daily data. That context belongs beside the number in a customer interface, an internal report, or an agent answer that explains the rate it used.

One account for apps and agents

Every plan includes REST and MCP. Plus and Pro daily history reaches 1999 for majors; pair starts vary, combining current and dated records. A developer can start with the HTTP examples above, then use MCP for agent queries without adding another subscription. The same base and target currencies carry through the workflow, from fetching a current rate to looking up a historical observation.

When they are the better pick

freecurrencyapi.com is a better fit for personal projects already using its four endpoints: latest, historical, currencies, and status. Failed requests do not count toward quota. It offers 1,000 requests per month and history from 1 January 1999.

Questions

What is a free alternative to freecurrencyapi.com?
Yes. exchangerate.dev includes 5,000 calls per month and updates for all 144 currencies about every 60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free. freecurrencyapi.com includes 1,000 requests per month, daily end-of-day updates, and 33 currencies, any usable as the base.
Can I use freecurrencyapi.com commercially?
Its free service is for hobby and personal projects. Commercial use requires a paid currencyapi.com plan. freecurrencyapi.com is the free-tier brand of currencyapi.com.
When is freecurrencyapi.com a better fit?
Choose it for a personal project that needs its four endpoints: latest, historical, currencies, and status. History starts on 1 January 1999. Failed requests do not count toward its quota, and the rate limit is 10 requests per minute.
Can I use exchangerate.dev Free commercially?
Free: commercial display with visible linked credit near rates. Basic: no credit required, $19/month.

Sources and review date

Reviewed