--- title: "How Much Is CurrencyLayer API? (2026 Pricing Breakdown)" description: "CurrencyLayer pricing explained — free tier, Basic ($13.99), Professional ($52.99), Professional+ ($84.99), and Enterprise plans in 2026, with what each tier actually includes." canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/how-much-is-currencylayer-api/ source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt generated: 2026-10-12T18:50:05.568Z --- ![Pricing and cost analysis](https://images.pexels.com/photos/35230315/pexels-photo-35230315.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940) CurrencyLayer is one of the most recognized exchange rate APIs — part of the APILayer network and used by roughly 250,000 companies. If you're evaluating it, the first question is usually: **how much does it cost?** This guide breaks down every CurrencyLayer pricing tier in 2026, what each plan actually includes, and how it compares to alternatives. ## CurrencyLayer Pricing at a Glance | Plan | Price (monthly) | Requests/month | Update Frequency | Base Currency | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | 100 | Daily | USD only | | Basic | $13.99 | 10,000 | Hourly | Any | | Professional | $52.99 | 100,000 | 10 min | Any | | Professional+ | $84.99 | 500,000 | 60 seconds | Any | | Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | 60 seconds | Any | Annual billing knocks roughly 20% off the monthly rates. ## What Each Plan Actually Gives You ### Free — $0/month - 100 API requests per month - Daily rate updates - **USD base currency only** (you do cross-rate math in code for any other pair) - HTTPS access - Basic endpoints (live rates, historical) **Usable for**: prototypes, tutorials, testing the integration. Not usable for any production traffic — 100 requests is roughly 3 per day. ### Basic — $13.99/month - 10,000 requests/month - Hourly updates - Any base currency - Commercial use allowed **Usable for**: small SaaS products, internal dashboards, low-traffic e-commerce. Hourly updates are fine if the rate doesn't drive pricing decisions customers see. ### Professional — $52.99/month - 100,000 requests/month - 10-minute updates - Time-series and change endpoints - All currencies and metals **Usable for**: production e-commerce, multi-currency SaaS billing, reporting dashboards. ### Professional+ — $84.99/month - 500,000 requests/month - **60-second updates** - Full access to every endpoint **Usable for**: high-traffic apps, fintech products, anything touching payments or trading. ### Enterprise — Custom - Unlimited requests - Dedicated support (platinum tier) - Custom SLAs ## What You Don't Get at Any Price - **Historical rates on the free plan** — paid only. - **Real-time updates on the free plan** — daily only. - **Any base currency on the free plan** — USD only. - **CORS** — no cross-origin requests from the browser on any plan. You must proxy through a backend. The CORS restriction matters more than most teams notice at signup. If your frontend wants to call the API directly (static sites, Jamstack, widgets), you'll need a server-side proxy. ## How CurrencyLayer Compares to Alternatives | Provider | Free tier | 60s updates start at | Historical on free | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **AllRatesToday** | Free tier — any base, historical included | ~$10/mo equivalent | Yes | | **Exchange Rate API** | 300 req/mo, any base, no credit card | EUR 4.99/mo | Yes | | CurrencyLayer | 100 req/mo, USD only | $84.99/mo | No | | Fixer.io | 100 req/mo, EUR only | ~$52.99/mo | No | | ExchangeRate-API | 1,500 req/mo, daily | $10/mo (5min) | No | | Open Exchange Rates | 1,000 req/mo, USD only | $97/mo (5min) | No | CurrencyLayer is priced in the middle of the market. The free tier is tight, the paid tiers are reasonable, but 60-second updates are gated behind the $85 plan. ## When CurrencyLayer Is Worth It - You're already in the APILayer ecosystem and want consolidated billing. - You need the specific currencies and metals CurrencyLayer covers (168 symbols + metals). - You value the long-running brand — the service has been around since 2015. ## When to Look Elsewhere - **You need a real free tier** — AllRatesToday offers historical rates on the free plan, which CurrencyLayer doesn't at any price below Professional. - **You need real-time updates cheaply** — AllRatesToday's 60s tier is significantly cheaper than CurrencyLayer's Professional+ at $85/month. - **You need CORS** — CurrencyLayer doesn't support it. AllRatesToday and ExchangeRate-API do. - **You're building globally and USD-base is inconvenient** — the CurrencyLayer free plan locks you to USD. ## Is CurrencyLayer Free? Technically yes — there's a $0 plan. Practically, the combination of 100 requests/month, USD-only base, and daily updates makes it a trial tier, not a production free tier. ## FAQ ### How many currencies does CurrencyLayer support? 168 fiat currencies plus four precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium). ### Does CurrencyLayer support cryptocurrencies? No. It's a fiat and metals API. For crypto you'd need a dedicated crypto API or a mixed provider like CurrencyFreaks. ### What is the CurrencyLayer update frequency? Daily on free, hourly on Basic, every 10 minutes on Professional, and every 60 seconds on Professional+. Enterprise matches Professional+. ### Does CurrencyLayer have CORS support? No — all plans require server-side calls. ### What's the cheapest real-time currency API? For 60-second updates, AllRatesToday's paid tiers start at a lower price than CurrencyLayer Professional+. Worth comparing if real-time is the main requirement. --- If you need real-time rates, historical data, and CORS on a smaller budget, try [AllRatesToday](https://allratestoday.com/register) — free tier, interbank-sourced, and no credit card required. Try AllRatesToday free ``` npm install @allratestoday/sdk ``` ## Ship With Real-Time Rates Real-time mid-market rates, free historical data, 160+ currencies. No credit card required. [Get Your Free API Key](https://allratestoday.com/register) ## Related Articles - [AllRatesToday vs Currencylayer](https://allratestoday.com/blog/allratestoday-vs-currencylayer/) - [Free vs Paid Exchange Rate APIs](https://allratestoday.com/blog/free-vs-paid-exchange-rate-apis/) - [Fixer Alternative](https://allratestoday.com/compare/fixer-alternative/)