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

Currency and forex API comparison

Feature	exchangerate.dev	Open Exchange Rates
Free-tier limit	5,000 calls/mo	Limited · hourly
Intraday refresh (all 144 currencies)	144 currencies ~60s; Free 15m late	✗ hourly (free) / daily
Per-value source + market_session
MCP server (every plan, incl. free)
Historical daily series	Free 30 days; Plus/Pro to 1999	✓ (large archive)
No credit card to start
Endpoint adaptation

exchangerate.dev

All 144 currencies update about every 60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free. Every response includes source and market_session fields. MCP is included on every plan.

From $0 · free tier, 5,000 calls/mo, no card

Open Exchange Rates

Long-established USD-base FX API with a large historical archive. Standard responses omit per-value source provenance.

Free → paid tiers

Where exchangerate.dev wins

exchangerate.dev includes 5,000 free calls per month, 30 days of daily history, and MCP on every plan. All 144 currencies update about every 60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free. Every response includes source and market_session fields. No credit card is required.

Where Open Exchange Rates leads

Open Exchange Rates has a long track record and a deep historical archive trusted by many teams. exchangerate.dev differentiates on intraday ~60s freshness, a per-value source field, market_session labelling, and a built-in MCP bridge on every plan.

Verdict

Choose exchangerate.dev when intraday freshness, per-value provenance, MCP-native access, and free-tier headroom matter. Keep Open Exchange Rates if you depend on its historical archive and hourly/daily cadence suffices.

Related comparisons

Questions

How does exchangerate.dev differ from Open Exchange Rates?

Both are REST APIs returning JSON FX rates. exchangerate.dev adds a source field on every response (indicating whether the value comes from live market data or a public reference rate), a market_session field, all 144 currencies updating about every 60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free, and an MCP stdio bridge. Open Exchange Rates does not expose per-value source provenance in its standard response.

Is Open Exchange Rates free?

Open Exchange Rates offers a free tier with hourly updates and a limited number of pairs. The paid tiers add more-frequent updates and broader coverage. exchangerate.dev's free tier covers 10296 pairs with market data 15 minutes late and ECB reference rates at 5,000 calls per month.

How does intraday freshness compare between exchangerate.dev and Open Exchange Rates?

All 144 currencies on exchangerate.dev update every ~60 seconds on trading days, 15 minutes late on Free. A once-a-day ECB fix means any API relying solely on it can be 16–24 hours stale by the next business morning. exchangerate.dev uses ECB fixes as daily fallback, and each response labels its source.

Open Exchange Rates alternative: vs exchangerate.dev