---
title: "Cheapest Exchange Rate API 2026: Real Monthly Cost Compared"
description: "The cheapest exchange rate API depends on how often you refresh. Every paid plan from 10 providers, priced per 1,000 calls and by refresh interval (60 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, hourly, daily), checked against each vendor's pricing page in October 2026."
canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/cheapest-exchange-rate-api-2026/
source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt
generated: 2026-10-25T00:38:44.001Z
---

**Short answer:** the cheapest exchange rate API is the cheapest plan that covers *how often you refresh*, not the one with the lowest price per call. Daily rates cost nothing. Rates every 5 or 10 minutes cost €4.99 to €9.99 a month with AllRatesToday. A true 60-second feed around the clock is cheapest on CurrencyAPI Medium at $39.99. The tables below price every paid plan from ten providers, as listed on their own pricing pages on 24 October 2026.

**Disclosure:** AllRatesToday publishes this guide and is one of the providers compared. Where another provider is cheaper, the tables say so. Prices are monthly billing before VAT; most vendors offer about two months free on yearly billing. AllRatesToday prices in euros, the others in US dollars.

## Why price per call is the wrong number

Most integrations call the API from a server, cache the result, and refresh on a timer. Every visitor then reads the cached rates, so the number of calls depends on the timer, not on your traffic. A latest-rates call also returns every currency for its base, so converting into 5 or 150 currencies costs the same.

| Refresh every | Calls per 30-day month | Feed must update at least |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 60 seconds | 43,200 | Every 60 seconds |
| 5 minutes | 8,640 | Every 5 minutes |
| 10 minutes | 4,320 | Every 10 minutes |
| 1 hour | 720 | Hourly |
| 1 day | 30 | Daily |

Refreshing every 60 seconds from a feed that updates hourly just buys 59 identical answers an hour. So the fair comparison is: for each refresh interval, which plan covers the calls *and* updates at least that often?

## Cheapest plan for each refresh interval

| Provider | Every 60 s | Every 5 min | Every 10 min | Hourly | Daily |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AllRatesToday | €49.99 | **€9.99** | **€4.99** | €4.99 | Free (open ECB endpoint) |
| CurrencyAPI | **$39.99** | $39.99 | $39.99 | $9.99 | Free, private use only |
| ExchangeRate-API | No listed plan | $30 | $30 | $10 | Free |
| Open Exchange Rates | VIP, custom | $97 | $97 | $12 (free if USD base works for you) | Free, USD base |
| CurrencyFreaks | $99.99 | $99.99 | $49.99 | $9.99 | Free, USD base |
| Fixer | $99.99 | $99.99 | $59.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 for commercial use |
| currencylayer | $99.99 | $99.99 | $59.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 for commercial use |
| ExchangeRatesAPI.io | $99.99 | $99.99 | $59.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 for commercial use |
| XE Currency Data | Custom | Custom | Custom | $1,799/yr | $599/yr |
| Frankfurter | No plan | No plan | No plan | No plan | Free |

Reading the table:

- **Every 5 or 10 minutes** is where most price displays, checkouts and dashboards land, and where the gap is widest: €4.99 to €9.99 with AllRatesToday against $30 to $99.99 elsewhere. Every AllRatesToday plan updates every 60 seconds, so the plan size only sets how often you can afford to refresh.
- **Every 60 seconds, around the clock** needs about 43,200 calls. CurrencyAPI Medium (600,000 calls, 60-second updates, $39.99) is the cheapest plan that does it. AllRatesToday Large (100,000 calls, €49.99) is next.
- **Hourly** is cheap everywhere. Open Exchange Rates' free plan covers it if a USD base is enough; check its licence for commercial use. For paid hourly plans, CurrencyAPI and CurrencyFreaks are $9.99 and ExchangeRate-API $10.
- **Daily** should cost nothing. Frankfurter and AllRatesToday's `/api/open/latest/USD` both serve ECB reference rates keyless and may be used in commercial products (AllRatesToday asks for a visible attribution link). Several other free tiers forbid commercial use, which is why Fixer and its siblings show $14.99.

## Every paid plan, priced per 1,000 calls

If you do need raw volume, for example to fetch rates on every request without a cache, this is what each plan costs per 1,000 included calls.

| Provider and plan | Price / month | Calls / month | Updates | Per 1,000 calls |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AllRatesToday Small | €4.99 | 5,000 | 60 s | €1.00 |
| AllRatesToday Medium | €9.99 | 10,000 | 60 s | €1.00 |
| AllRatesToday Large | €49.99 | 100,000 | 60 s | €0.50 |
| CurrencyAPI Small | $9.99 | 15,000 | Hourly | $0.67 |
| CurrencyAPI Medium | $39.99 | 600,000 | 60 s | $0.07 |
| CurrencyAPI Large | $79.99 | 1,700,000 | 60 s | $0.05 |
| ExchangeRate-API Pro | $10 | 30,000 | Hourly | $0.33 |
| ExchangeRate-API Business | $30 | 125,000 | 5 min | $0.24 |
| Open Exchange Rates Developer | $12 | 10,000 | Hourly | $1.20 |
| Open Exchange Rates Enterprise | $47 | 100,000 | 30 min | $0.47 |
| Open Exchange Rates Unlimited | $97 | Unlimited | 5 min | n/a |
| CurrencyFreaks Starter | $9.99 | 15,000 | Hourly | $0.67 |
| CurrencyFreaks Growth | $49.99 | 150,000 | 10 min | $0.33 |
| CurrencyFreaks Professional | $99.99 | 550,000 | 60 s | $0.18 |
| Fixer / currencylayer / ExchangeRatesAPI.io Basic | $14.99 | 10,000 | Hourly | $1.50 |
| Fixer / currencylayer / ExchangeRatesAPI.io Professional | $59.99 | 100,000 | 10 min | $0.60 |
| Fixer / currencylayer / ExchangeRatesAPI.io top self-serve tier | $99.99 | 500,000 | 60 s | $0.20 |
| XE Core | $599/yr | 10,000 | Daily | $4.99 |
| XE Intermediate | $1,799/yr | 50,000 | Hourly | $3.00 |
| XE Prime | $4,499/yr | 150,000 | 15 min | $2.50 |

Fixer, currencylayer and ExchangeRatesAPI.io are all apilayer products with the same price ladder and the same overage charges (about $6 per 1,000 extra calls on Basic). XE prices are yearly; the per-1,000 figure divides the yearly price by twelve.

## Cost traps to check before you pay

- **Base currency.** Open Exchange Rates and CurrencyFreaks lock the free plan to a USD base, and apilayer's free plans to one base too. Converting from another base then needs extra maths or a paid plan.
- **Commercial use.** A free tier that bans commercial use is not free for a business. That applies to Fixer, currencylayer, ExchangeRatesAPI.io, CurrencyAPI and AllRatesToday's free key.
- **Overages.** apilayer bills each call over the allowance. ExchangeRate-API says it will contact you before cutting you off. Know which one you are buying.
- **History.** Fetching a time series can count as many calls, or need a higher tier. AllRatesToday bills history as one call per currency per month of data on paid plans.
- **The kind of rate.** Invoices, VAT and customs usually need a named central bank's published rate, not a market rate. For that, see the [central bank exchange rate API ranking](https://allratestoday.com/blog/best-central-bank-exchange-rate-api-2026/).

## Try it before choosing a plan

No key, no account: the latest ECB rates for any base, the same data a daily integration would use.

```
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/latest/USD"
```

Live market rates updated every 60 seconds need a free key; this call returns several currencies and counts as one request:

```
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=EUR,GBP,JPY" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
```

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is the cheapest exchange rate API?

For daily rates it costs nothing: Frankfurter and AllRatesToday's open ECB endpoint are free, keyless and allowed in commercial products. For rates that refresh every 5 or 10 minutes, AllRatesToday is the cheapest paid option at €9.99 and €4.99 a month. For a full 60-second refresh around the clock, CurrencyAPI's Medium plan at $39.99 a month is the cheapest. For hourly rates, ExchangeRate-API Pro at $10 a month gives the most calls for the money.

### What is the cheapest exchange rate API per request?

Among plans checked in October 2026, CurrencyAPI Medium works out lowest at about $0.07 per 1,000 calls (600,000 calls for $39.99, 60-second updates). Open Exchange Rates Unlimited ($97, 5-minute updates) has no request cap. Per-request price only matters if you actually use the volume; most server-side integrations need far fewer calls than they buy.

### How many API calls does a currency converter need per month?

If your server caches the latest rates and refreshes on a fixed timer, the number of calls depends on the timer, not on your traffic. One refresh every 60 seconds is about 43,200 calls in a 30-day month, every 5 minutes about 8,640, every 10 minutes about 4,320, hourly 720 and daily 30. One latest-rates call returns every currency for the chosen base, so adding currencies does not add calls.

### Can I use a free exchange rate API commercially?

Some free tiers forbid it. Fixer, currencylayer and ExchangeRatesAPI.io mark their free plans non-commercial, and CurrencyAPI's free plan is for private use only. AllRatesToday's free key is also for personal projects and testing. Frankfurter allows commercial use, and AllRatesToday's keyless /api/open/latest endpoint (daily ECB rates) may be used commercially as long as the attribution link stays visible.

### Is a cheaper API less accurate?

Not necessarily. Price mostly buys refresh frequency and volume. What differs between providers is the source: some blend several feeds, some serve one central bank's reference rate, and some serve a live market mid-rate. Check what the rate actually is before comparing prices.

## Real-time rates from €4.99 a month

Every plan updates every 60 seconds. Start on the free key, upgrade when you ship.

 [Get Your Free API Key](https://allratestoday.com/register)

## Related Articles

- [Best exchange rate API 2026: 10 compared on free tier and price](https://allratestoday.com/best/best-exchange-rate-api/)
- [10 best free currency APIs in 2026](https://allratestoday.com/blog/best-free-currency-exchange-api-2026/)
- [Best currency API 2026: buyer's guide](https://allratestoday.com/best/best-currency-api-2026/)
- [Free currency API without a key](https://allratestoday.com/blog/free-currency-api-without-key/)
- [AllRatesToday pricing](https://allratestoday.com/pricing)