---
title: "Open Exchange Rates Pricing vs AllRatesToday: Which Exchange Rate API Is Cheaper in 2026?"
description: "Open Exchange Rates charges $12/month for Developer, $47 for Enterprise, $97 for Unlimited. AllRatesToday delivers features at every tier that OXR gates behind upgrades. Here's the real-world cost comparison."
canonical: https://allratestoday.com/blog/openexchangerates-pricing-vs-allratestoday/
source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt
generated: 2026-10-19T20:02:38.061Z
---

![Pricing plans comparison](https://images.pexels.com/photos/3305/numbers-money-calculating-calculation.jpg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940)

Open Exchange Rates' pricing is straightforward on the surface: **$12/month Developer, $47/month Enterprise, $97/month Unlimited**, plus a Forever Free plan with 1,000 requests/month. The trick is reading what each tier gates.

Several features that most apps need — non-USD base currency, the conversion endpoint, 10-minute updates — are only available starting at Developer or Unlimited. By the time you've unlocked the basics, the monthly cost can exceed what you'd pay for a fully-featured tier elsewhere.

This article compares the two providers' pricing dollar-for-dollar and explains which tier you'd actually land on for common use cases.

## Open Exchange Rates' plan breakdown

| Plan | Price | Requests / month | Updates | Base currency | Conversion endpoint |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 1,000 | Hourly | **USD only** | No |
| Developer | $12/mo ($120/yr) | 10,000 | Hourly | Any | Yes |
| Enterprise | $47/mo ($470/yr) | 100,000 | Hourly | Any | Yes |
| Unlimited | $97/mo ($970/yr) | Unlimited | **10 min** | Any | Yes |

Key things to notice:

- Real-time-ish data (10-minute updates) only appears on the $97/mo tier.
- Every tier is hourly except Unlimited. There is no "true real-time" tier.
- The conversion endpoint is paid-only — $12/mo minimum.
- Any non-USD base currency requires paid — $12/mo minimum.

## What Open Exchange Rates' tiers actually cost to unlock basic features

If your product needs any of these:

- Non-USD base currency (EUR, GBP, INR, AUD, etc.)
- The `/api/convert.json` endpoint
- Faster than hourly updates

...then the effective floor is:

- $12/month for Developer (non-USD base, conversion endpoint, hourly updates).
- $97/month for Unlimited (10-minute updates).

## AllRatesToday's pricing approach

AllRatesToday bundles the same core features into every plan, with two exceptions on the free tier (historical data and commercial use):

| Feature | Free | Paid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Update frequency | **60 seconds** | 60 seconds |
| Base currency | **Any** | Any |
| Historical data | No | Yes (billed per month of data) |
| Commercial use | No | Yes |
| Conversion endpoint | **Yes** | Yes |
| HTTPS, CORS | **Yes** | Yes |
| Official SDKs | **Yes** | Yes |
| MCP / DeepSeek | **Yes** | Yes |

The free tier is 300 one-time requests (no monthly reset) for personal, non-commercial use. Paid tiers start at €4.99/mo for 5,000 requests/month (Medium €9.99/mo for 10,000, Large €49.99/mo for 100,000) and add historical data and commercial use.

## Dollar-for-dollar: three real scenarios

### Scenario 1: European SaaS pricing display (EUR base, 5,000 lookups/month)

**OpenExchangeRates requires Developer plan ($12/mo).**

- Free plan fails: USD-only base currency.
- Developer plan: $144/year, 10,000 req/month, hourly updates, any base.

**AllRatesToday needs a paid plan too.**

- Free plan: 300 one-time requests for personal, non-commercial use, so a production SaaS needs a paid plan regardless of volume.
- 5,000 lookups/month uncached fits Small (€4.99/mo, 5,000 requests), with no headroom.
- With server-side caching (one hourly fetch serves all pageviews): 720 req/month, comfortably inside Small.
- With 5-minute caching: 8,640 req/month, which needs Medium (€9.99/mo, 10,000 requests).

Verdict: **AllRatesToday Small (€4.99/mo) costs less than OXR Developer ($12/mo) and ships 60-second updates vs OXR hourly**.

### Scenario 2: US e-commerce checkout (USD base, 2,000 lookups/month)

**OpenExchangeRates Free works.**

- USD-only base is fine for a US product.
- 1,000 req/month limit → either cache aggressively or upgrade to Developer ($12/mo).

**AllRatesToday's free tier doesn't fit this.**

- 300 one-time requests, non-commercial only, so a store checkout needs a paid plan.
- Small (€4.99/mo, 5,000 requests/month) covers 2,000 lookups with room to spare.

Verdict: OXR Free is cheaper here *if* you can fit in 1,000 req/month and don't care about hourly vs 60-second. Otherwise AllRatesToday Small (€4.99/mo) undercuts OXR Developer ($12/mo).

### Scenario 3: Analytics dashboard with year-to-date historical (1 year × 5 pairs, reloaded 50x/day)

**OpenExchangeRates:**

- `time-series.json` counts 1 request per day returned.
- 365 days × 5 pairs × 50 loads/day × 30 days = **2,737,500 requests/month**.
- This is well beyond Unlimited's "unlimited" threshold in practice (expect throttling/pricing conversation).

**AllRatesToday:**

- Historical data needs a paid plan. `historical-rates?period=1y` is billed as 12 requests (one per month of data), not 365.
- 5 pairs × 50 loads/day × 30 days × 12 = **90,000 requests/month**, which fits Large (€49.99/mo, 100,000 requests).
- Cache each series once a day and it drops to 5 × 30 × 12 = 1,800 requests/month, inside Small (€4.99/mo).

Verdict: about 30x less quota consumption for the same user experience (12 requests per year of data vs 365).

## Per-feature cost rollup

For each feature, here's the minimum monthly cost to unlock it:

| Feature | OpenExchangeRates | AllRatesToday |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 60-second rate updates | Not available at any tier | **Free** |
| 10-minute rate updates | $97/mo | **Free** |
| Hourly updates | Free | **Free** |
| Non-USD base currency | $12/mo | **Free** |
| Conversion endpoint | $12/mo | **Free** |
| Historical time-series (365 days) | $0 at 365 reqs or $12/mo for comfort | **€4.99/mo (12 requests)** |
| Official SDK | Not available | **Free** |
| MCP server | Not available | **Free** |

"Free" means available on the free tier, which is 300 one-time requests for personal, non-commercial use. Commercial use starts at €4.99/mo.

## When Open Exchange Rates' pricing is competitive

- You're building a USD-only product (US e-commerce, US SaaS, US fintech).
- Hourly data is acceptable.
- You don't need the conversion endpoint.
- You already have an Open Exchange Rates integration and churn isn't worth a few dollars saved.

## When AllRatesToday is the clear price winner

- Any product whose home currency isn't USD.
- Anything where fresher-than-hourly data matters.
- Analytics/dashboards that pull historical ranges.
- Teams that use AI coding assistants and want MCP integration.

## Start free, upgrade from €4.99

60-second rates and any base currency on 300 free requests. Historical data and commercial use from €4.99/mo. No credit card required.

 [Get your free API key](https://allratestoday.com/register/)

## Related Articles

- [Open Exchange Rates Free Tier vs AllRatesToday](https://allratestoday.com/blog/openexchangerates-free-tier-vs-allratestoday/)
- [OXR Conversion Endpoint Paywall](https://allratestoday.com/blog/openexchangerates-conversion-endpoint-paywall/)
- [Free vs Paid Exchange Rate APIs](https://allratestoday.com/blog/free-vs-paid-exchange-rate-apis/)
- [Open Exchange Rates Alternative](https://allratestoday.com/compare/openexchangerates-alternative/)