exchangerate.dev vs freecurrencyapi.com

Name: exchangerate.dev — FX rate API
Brand: exchangerate.dev

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

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.

At a glance

Feature	exchangerate.dev	freecurrencyapi.com
Free tier	10,000 requests/month	1,000 requests/month; 10/min
Cheapest paid plan	Basic · $10/month	Paid service at currencyapi.com
Update speed	Major pairs about 60s on trading days	Daily end-of-day
History	Daily from 1999; varies by pair	From 1 January 1999
Coverage	31 currencies; any supported base	33 currencies; any base
Interfaces	REST; MCP; WebSocket on Realtime	REST; MCP
SDKs	Not published	Not published
Commercial use on free tier	✗ Non-commercial only	✗ 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 month	exchangerate.dev	freecurrencyapi.com
1,000	Free · $0/month	Free · $0/month
10,000	Free · $0/month	currencyapi.com Small · $9.99/month
100,000	Basic · $10/month	currencyapi.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"

freecurrencyapi.com

// Change: URL and auth
const url = new URL(
  "https://api.freecurrencyapi.com/v1/latest"
);
url.search = new URLSearchParams({
  "base_currency": "USD",
  "currencies": "EUR",
}).toString();
const response = await fetch(url, {
  method: "GET",
  headers: {
    "apikey": "YOUR_API_KEY",
  },
});
if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(String(response.status));
}
console.log(await response.json());

freecurrencyapi.com

import requests

# Change: URL and auth
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.freecurrencyapi.com/v1/latest",
    params={
        "base_currency": "USD",
        "currencies": "EUR",
    },
    headers={
        "apikey": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    },
    timeout=10,
)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json())

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"

exchangerate.dev

// Change: URL and auth
const url = new URL(
  "https://api.exchangerate.dev/v1/latest/USD"
);
url.search = new URLSearchParams({
  "symbols": "EUR",
}).toString();
const response = await fetch(url, {
  method: "GET",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
  },
});
if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(String(response.status));
}
console.log(await response.json());

exchangerate.dev

import requests

# Change: URL and auth
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.exchangerate.dev/v1/latest/USD",
    params={
        "symbols": "EUR",
    },
    headers={
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
    },
    timeout=10,
)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json())

Why teams switch

Room to test a real workload

10,000 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. Commercial use starts on Basic at $10/month.

Rates with a time and a source

Major pairs update about every 60 seconds on trading days. 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

REST and MCP are included on every plan. Daily history begins in 1999 for many pairs, bringing current lookups and dated records into the same service. 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 10,000 calls per month and major-pair updates about every 60 seconds on trading days. 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 is for non-commercial work. Commercial use starts on Basic at $10/month, subject to terms and source rights.

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Sources and review date

Reviewed 2026-10-04.