exchangerate.dev vs Yahoo Finance

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 Yahoo Finance if you need its Python tools for research within the stated data terms.

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At a glance

Featureexchangerate.devYahoo Finance
Free tier5,000 requests/monthFree Python library; quota not published
Cheapest paid planBasic · $19/monthNot published
Update speed144 currencies ~60s on trading days; Free 15m lateNot published
HistoryFree 30 days; Basic 1 year; Plus/Pro to 1999Depth not published
Coverage144 currencies; any supported baseCurrency count not published
InterfacesREST; MCP; WebSocket on Plus and ProPython; WebSocket classes
SDKsNot publishedyfinance (unofficial Python)
Commercial use on free tier✓ With a linked credit✗ Personal data use only

Price at your usage

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

Requests a monthexchangerate.devYahoo Finance
1,000Free · $0/monthNot published
10,000Basic · $19/monthNot published
100,000Basic · $19/monthNot published

yfinance is free to install; Yahoo publishes no API request allowance for these monthly volumes.

Switch in a few minutes

Replace the yfinance daily-close lookup with an authenticated USD-to-EUR request on your server.

Yahoo Finance

import yfinance as yf

# Change: ticker to HTTP
history = yf.Ticker("EURUSD=X").history(
    period="1d",
)
print(1 / history["Close"].iloc[-1])  # EUR per USD

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

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

yfinance is a better fit for Python research that needs its library interface or WebSocket classes. It is open source under Apache 2.0. That license covers the library, not rights to Yahoo data.

Questions

Is there a free Yahoo Finance alternative for FX?
Yes. exchangerate.dev includes 5,000 free calls per month, 30 days of daily history, and MCP on every plan. No credit card is required.
Is yfinance an official Yahoo Finance API?
No. yfinance is an unofficial Python library using Yahoo public endpoints. It is not affiliated with Yahoo. Its Apache 2.0 license covers the library, while the data remains subject to Yahoo rights.
When is yfinance a better fit?
Choose yfinance for Python research or educational work that fits its stated terms. It includes WebSocket and AsyncWebSocket classes. Its repository says the Yahoo Finance API is intended for personal use only.
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