--- title: "AllRatesToday vs APILayer Currency Data API (2026)" description: "AllRatesToday vs APILayer's Currency Data / Exchange Rates Data API in 2026 — pricing, latency, real-time updates, base-currency lock-in, HTTPS, historical rates, and migration cost." canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-apilayer/ source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt generated: 2026-10-23T08:50:45.970Z --- ![Business comparison analysis](https://images.pexels.com/photos/7947846/pexels-photo-7947846.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940) APILayer is a marketplace, not a single product. Under one subscription it operates Fixer, Currencylayer, Exchange Rates Data API, Currency Data API, and a few overlapping rate offerings. For developers searching for a "best currency API," that aggregation is convenient billing — but it also means the limitations of each underlying product become the limitations of the marketplace as a whole. This comparison covers **AllRatesToday** vs APILayer's currency products in 2026 across the criteria that drive integration decisions: data freshness, base currency flexibility, HTTPS, historical rates, authentication, and DX. ## What APILayer Actually Sells APILayer's currency stack includes: - **Fixer** — ECB-aligned, hourly updates on the free tier, EUR-only base on lower plans. - **Currencylayer** — aggregated feeds, hourly updates on free, USD-only base on free. - **Currency Data API** — rebadged Currencylayer with a different schema. - **Exchange Rates Data API** — rebadged Fixer with a Bearer-token auth flow. All four share data sources, infrastructure, and the marketplace's pricing model. Picking between them is mostly a question of which schema your code already speaks. ## TL;DR — Quick Comparison Table | Feature | AllRatesToday | APILayer (currency APIs) | | --- | --- | --- | | Update frequency (free) | Real-time (60s) | Hourly | | Data source | institutional foreign exchange market data | ECB / aggregated | | Base currency on free | Any | USD or EUR (locked) | | HTTPS on free | Yes | No (paid only on Currencylayer/Fixer) | | Historical rates | Paid plans (from €4.99/mo) | Paid only | | Authentication | Bearer token (header) | access_key (query) or apikey (header) | | CORS | Browser: keyless endpoints; keyed API server-side | Varies by product | | Currencies | 160+ fiat + metals | 168+ fiat + metals | | Free tier | 300 requests (one-time), real-time | 100–250 calls/month, hourly | ## Update Frequency: Real-Time vs Hourly None of APILayer's currency products serve real-time data on the free tier. Currencylayer refreshes hourly; Fixer is also hourly on the free plan. To get sub-minute updates you need to upgrade — typically to the Professional or Business tier. AllRatesToday delivers **60-second** refreshes on every plan, drawn from institutional foreign exchange market data. For checkouts, payment splits, real-time conversion, or trading dashboards, this is the tier where staleness stops being a tax on your margin. Winner: AllRatesToday. Hourly updates aren't real-time; they're just less stale than daily. ## Base Currency: Locked vs Free APILayer's currency APIs lock the base currency on lower plans: - Currencylayer / Currency Data API — **USD only** on free. - Fixer / Exchange Rates Data API — **EUR only** on free. If you're building anything that converts to or from non-USD/EUR amounts, the base lock forces you to fetch one set of rates and divide your way to others. The math works, but it pushes precision-sensitive logic into application code. AllRatesToday accepts any base currency on every plan: ``` curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=GBP&target=USD,EUR" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" ``` Winner: AllRatesToday. Base flexibility removes a class of cross-rate bugs. ## HTTPS: Why Free Browser Use Is Hard on APILayer Currencylayer and Fixer both serve the free tier over **HTTP**. Modern browsers refuse mixed-content requests from HTTPS pages, so any free-tier integration that runs in the browser fails out of the box. The Bearer-token Exchange Rates Data API does serve HTTPS, but it inherits Fixer's other constraints (EUR-only base on lower tiers, paid historical). AllRatesToday is HTTPS-only on every plan. Static sites, Jamstack landing pages, and SPAs without a backend can call its keyless endpoints (official central-bank rates, IP-to-currency, symbols) or embed the widget directly; for live market rates, one small serverless function holds your key and the page calls that. Winner: AllRatesToday. HTTPS isn't a premium feature in 2026. ## Historical Rates: Both Paid Every APILayer currency product gates historical (timeseries / specific-date) endpoints behind a paid plan. You pay for them indirectly — the cheapest paid tier exists primarily to unlock historical access. AllRatesToday also puts historical rates on paid plans, starting with Small at €4.99/mo. Daily market rates cover the past year, and official central-bank archives go back decades: ``` curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=EUR&from=2026-01-01&to=2026-03-31&group=day" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" ``` Tie on access: both need a paid plan for history. AllRatesToday's entry plan is €4.99/mo. ## Authentication and DX APILayer products mix two auth styles: - Currencylayer / Fixer — `access_key` in the query string. Logged everywhere. - Currency Data / Exchange Rates Data — `apikey` in headers. Cleaner. AllRatesToday standardises on `Authorization: Bearer`, the same convention used by Stripe, GitHub, OpenAI, and most modern APIs: ``` curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=EUR" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" ``` ## Latency APILayer routes requests through its marketplace gateway, which adds a hop. Independent measurements typically put Currencylayer/Fixer in the 300–400ms range from US edges. AllRatesToday averages ~214ms thanks to direct Cloudflare-edge serving with no marketplace gateway in the path. Winner: AllRatesToday. The gateway hop is real overhead. ## Migration Cost Migrating from any APILayer currency product takes <1 hour: 1. Replace the host (`api.apilayer.com/...` or `api.currencylayer.com`) with `allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates`. 2. Move the API key from `access_key` / `apikey` to `Authorization: Bearer`. 3. Pass the base as `source` (Fixer's `base` maps here too) and the target list as `target` instead of `currencies` / `symbols`. 4. Read an array of rows (`{ rate, source, target, time }`) instead of `quotes` (concatenated keys like `USDEUR`) or a flat `rates` object. ## When APILayer Still Wins APILayer is the right call if: - You consume multiple non-currency APIs on apilayer.com and want one bill. - You explicitly need ECB-snapshot data for regulatory alignment. - Hourly updates and a fixed base currency are sufficient for your use case (display widgets, end-of-day reporting). ## The Bottom Line For developers in 2026, AllRatesToday is the better default for currency data: - Real-time (60s) on the free tier — not a paid upgrade. - Historical rates from €4.99/mo on the Small plan. - Any base currency, HTTPS, header auth; keyless endpoints for the browser, keyed API on your server. - ~214ms latency vs ~350ms through the APILayer gateway. APILayer's marketplace model is convenient if you already buy multiple APIs from them. As a single-purpose currency API choice, the underlying Currencylayer/Fixer constraints come along for the ride. ## FAQ ### What is APILayer? APILayer is a marketplace operator that resells third-party APIs under one billing account. Its currency products include Fixer, Currencylayer, Currency Data API, and Exchange Rates Data API. ### Is APILayer's Currency Data API the same as Currencylayer? Functionally yes — same operator, overlapping data, shared limitations. ### Why would I pick AllRatesToday over an APILayer currency API? Real-time (60s) updates on every plan including free, historical rates from €4.99/mo, any base currency, HTTPS on every plan, keyless endpoints for browser use, header-based authentication, mid-market rates aggregated from institutional foreign exchange market data, and lower latency. ### Can I use APILayer's currency API from the browser? HTTPS is paid-only on Currencylayer and Fixer's free tiers, so direct browser calls fail mixed-content checks. AllRatesToday is HTTPS on every plan; its keyless endpoints (official rates, IP-to-currency, symbols) allow browser calls, and the keyed API is meant to be called from your server so your key stays private. ### How does pricing compare? APILayer's free tiers cap at 100–250 calls/month with hourly updates and a locked base currency. AllRatesToday's free tier gives 300 one-time requests with real-time updates and any base currency; historical data and commercial use start at €4.99/mo for 5,000 requests/month. Ready to switch? ``` npm install @allratestoday/sdk ``` ## Skip the Marketplace Gateway Direct Cloudflare-edge serving, real-time rates, any base currency. 300 free requests, no card. [Get Your Free API Key](https://allratestoday.com/register) ## Related Articles - [AllRatesToday vs Currencylayer](https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-currencylayer/) - [AllRatesToday vs Fixer, XE, ExchangeRate-API](https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-fixer-xe-exchangerate-api/) - [Fixer Alternative](https://allratestoday.com/compare/fixer-alternative/)