--- title: "AllRatesToday vs Fixer.io vs XE.com vs ExchangeRate-API (2026)" description: "A side-by-side comparison of AllRatesToday, Fixer.io, XE.com, and ExchangeRate-API — update frequency, latency, HTTPS, CORS, historical rates, and free-tier limits in 2026." canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-fixer-xe-exchangerate-api/ source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt generated: 2026-10-14T01:07:15.439Z --- ![API provider comparison](https://images.pexels.com/photos/7947846/pexels-photo-7947846.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940) Choosing an exchange rate API is a boring decision with expensive consequences. Pick one with stale data and your checkout shows prices 2% off the market. Pick one with a tight free tier and you hit a wall the day you launch. Pick one with EUR-only base currencies and you spend the next sprint rewriting conversion logic. This article compares the four most-searched exchange rate APIs of 2026 — **AllRatesToday**, **Fixer.io**, **XE.com**, and **ExchangeRate-API** — across the criteria that actually matter: update frequency, latency, HTTPS, currency coverage, historical data, CORS, and free-tier limits. **Verdict:** For most developers in 2026, **AllRatesToday** is the best default — it matches XE on real-time freshness while beating it on price and free-tier access, ships official SDKs, and includes free historical data. Choose **XE** for enterprise procurement, **ExchangeRate-API** if daily rates are fine and you want raw free-tier volume, and avoid **Fixer**'s free tier (HTTP-only, EUR base lock-in). ## TL;DR — Quick Comparison Table | Feature | AllRatesToday | Fixer.io | XE.com | ExchangeRate-API | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Real-time updates | Every 60s | Every 60min | Every 60s | Every 24h | | Average latency | ~214ms | ~342ms | ~471ms | ~134ms | | HTTPS | Yes | No (free) | Yes | Yes | | Currencies | 160+ | 170+ | 170+ | 160+ | | Base currency | Any | EUR only | Any | Any | | Free tier | Yes | Limited | Trial only | Yes | | Historical rates | Free | Paid only | Paid only | Paid only | | CORS support | Yes | No | No | Yes | | Uptime SLA | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.95% | 99.9% | | Free plan | Free forever | Free | Trial only | Free | ## Real-Time Updates: How Fresh Is the Data? Update frequency is the first question to ask about any exchange rate API, because it determines whether the data is usable for real-money decisions. - **AllRatesToday** refreshes every **60 seconds** from institutional interbank market data. - **XE.com** also runs 60-second updates, backed by 30+ years of FX aggregation. - **Fixer.io** updates **hourly** on most tiers, sourced from the European Central Bank. - **ExchangeRate-API** updates **daily** on the free plan. For trading, payments, or any flow where the rate affects the amount charged, hourly or daily updates are not enough. During volatile sessions, a major pair can move 1% in minutes — and that gap comes out of your margin or your customer's pocket. Winner: AllRatesToday and XE tie on freshness. AllRatesToday has the edge on price and free-tier access. ## Latency: How Fast Does the API Respond? - **ExchangeRate-API** ~134ms — fastest overall, thanks to aggressive CDN caching of daily snapshots. - **AllRatesToday** ~214ms — fastest among real-time providers. - **Fixer.io** ~342ms. - **XE.com** ~471ms — slowest in the group. ExchangeRate-API wins on raw speed, but it's apples-to-oranges: cached daily data will always respond faster than live data. Among APIs serving **real-time** rates, AllRatesToday is the fastest by a clear margin. Winner: AllRatesToday for real-time. ExchangeRate-API if you don't need fresh rates. ## HTTPS and Security HTTPS should be table stakes in 2026. It isn't, quite. - **AllRatesToday, XE, ExchangeRate-API** — HTTPS on every plan. - **Fixer.io** — HTTP-only on the free tier. HTTPS is a paid feature. If you're on Fixer's free plan and your app runs on HTTPS (which it should), you'll hit mixed-content errors the moment you try to fetch rates from the browser. You'll either pay to upgrade or proxy requests through your backend. Winner: Three-way tie. Fixer's HTTPS paywall is a 2012-era decision that hasn't aged well. ## Currency Coverage - **Fixer, XE**: 170+ currencies. - **AllRatesToday**: 160+ currencies plus precious metals. - **ExchangeRate-API**: 160+ currencies. Coverage differences are marginal unless you need exotic pairs or crypto. For everyday FX (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, major emerging markets), all four are equivalent. Winner: Effectively a tie. XE has a slight edge if you need crypto + metals + FX in one API. ## Base Currency Flexibility This is where Fixer.io falls apart for non-European use cases. - **AllRatesToday, XE, ExchangeRate-API** — any base currency on any plan. - **Fixer.io** — **EUR only** on the free tier. Switching base currency is a paid feature. If you're building a US, Asian, or LATAM product, Fixer's free tier forces you to fetch EUR-based rates and do the cross-rate math in application code. It works, but it's an unnecessary source of rounding bugs. Winner: AllRatesToday, XE, and ExchangeRate-API. Fixer's EUR-only free tier is a dealbreaker for global products. ## Historical Rates Historical rates are needed for accounting, tax reporting, backtesting, and trend analysis. - **AllRatesToday** — **free** on every plan. - **Fixer, XE, ExchangeRate-API** — paid plans only. This is AllRatesToday's biggest free-tier differentiator. Every other provider gates historical data behind a subscription, typically starting at $10–$15/month. If you're building a dashboard, a monthly P&L converter, or anything that touches past rates, that's a real cost difference. Winner: AllRatesToday, by a wide margin. ## CORS Support If you're calling the API directly from the browser — landing pages, SPAs without a backend, embedded widgets — CORS support matters. - **AllRatesToday, ExchangeRate-API** — CORS enabled. - **Fixer, XE** — no CORS. Browser calls fail without a proxy. XE and Fixer assume a server-side integration. For static sites, Jamstack projects, or anywhere a backend feels like overkill, AllRatesToday and ExchangeRate-API are the only workable options of the four. Winner: AllRatesToday and ExchangeRate-API. ## Uptime SLA All four providers publish 99.9%+ SLAs. 99.95% vs 99.9% is 4 hours of extra uptime per year on paper. In practice, real outages usually beat the SLA numbers anyway, and what matters more is how the provider handles incidents — status page, postmortems, response times. Check status page history rather than the marketing-page SLA. Winner: Technical tie. XE edges on paper at 99.95%. ## Free Tier: What You Actually Get - **AllRatesToday** — free forever. All endpoints (including historical), all base currencies, HTTPS, CORS. - **ExchangeRate-API** — free forever. 1,500 requests/month, daily updates, no historical on free. - **Fixer.io** — free but constrained. 100 requests/month, hourly updates, **EUR base only**, **HTTP only**. - **XE.com** — trial only. Permanent use requires a paid annual plan. ExchangeRate-API wins on raw request quota (1,500/mo, daily snapshots). AllRatesToday's free tier includes real-time rates, historical data, and flexible base currencies — a different kind of generosity. Winner: Depends on your needs. AllRatesToday for features. ExchangeRate-API for volume. ## When to Use Each API ### Use AllRatesToday when - You need real-time rates without paying for them. - You need historical data on a free tier. - You're calling from the browser (CORS). - You want flexible base currencies. ### Use ExchangeRate-API when - Daily rates are good enough. - You need high request volume on the free tier. - You want the fastest response times. ### Use Fixer.io when - You're a European product and EUR-base is natural. - You need ECB-aligned data for regulatory reasons. - You're already on a paid plan and the ecosystem fits. ### Use XE.com when - You're an enterprise with an annual budget. - You need XE's brand recognition or ERP integrations (SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics). - Multi-asset coverage (FX + metals + select crypto) matters. ## The Bottom Line For most developers in 2026, **AllRatesToday** is the best default: - Real-time rates (60-second updates from institutional interbank market data). - Historical data on the free tier. - Any base currency, HTTPS, CORS out of the box. - 99.9% uptime and sub-250ms latency. Fixer remains viable if you're already in its ecosystem. XE is for enterprises with budgets. ExchangeRate-API is the right call when you only need daily rates and want the highest free quota. ## FAQ ### Which exchange rate API is the most accurate? Accuracy tracks the data source. Providers using institutional interbank feeds (AllRatesToday, XE) deliver tighter mid-market rates than providers using ECB end-of-day snapshots (Fixer, ExchangeRate-API on the free tier). ### Which exchange rate API has the best free tier? Depends on the axis. ExchangeRate-API has the highest request cap (1,500/month). AllRatesToday has the richest feature set: real-time, historical, any base, CORS, HTTPS. ### Can I use these APIs from the browser? AllRatesToday and ExchangeRate-API support CORS out of the box. Fixer and XE do not — you'll need a server-side proxy. ### Do these APIs support cryptocurrency? XE covers select cryptocurrencies. The other three are fiat-focused. For crypto-heavy use cases, consider a dedicated crypto API. ### Which API is cheapest for historical rates? AllRatesToday — historical rates are included on the free tier. Every other provider in this comparison charges for historical data. Ready to switch? ``` npm install @allratestoday/sdk ``` ## Get Real-Time Rates and Free Historical Data interbank-sourced rates, 160+ currencies, any base, HTTPS and CORS out of the box. [Get Your Free API Key](https://allratestoday.com/register) ## Related Articles - [AllRatesToday vs Currencylayer](https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-currencylayer/) - [AllRatesToday vs ExchangeRate-API](https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-exchangerate-api-com/) - [Does XE Have an API?](https://allratestoday.com/blog/does-xe-have-an-api/) - [Fixer Alternative](https://allratestoday.com/compare/fixer-alternative/) - [XE API Alternative](https://allratestoday.com/compare/xe-api-alternative/)