Open Exchange Rates Alternative: 60-Second Updates from €4.99
Open Exchange Rates updates hourly on its free and $12 plans, and 5-minute updates cost $97/mo. AllRatesToday refreshes every 60 seconds on every plan, from €4.99/mo, with any base currency and CSV/XML/XLSX output.
Open Exchange Rates (OXR) is a long-standing, developer-friendly currency API. Its pricing ties freshness to plan size: the Free and Developer ($12/mo) plans update hourly, Enterprise ($47/mo) every 30 minutes, and Unlimited ($97/mo) every 5 minutes. AllRatesToday refreshes mid-market rates every 60 seconds on every plan, starting at €4.99/mo.
At a glance
| AllRatesToday | Open Exchange Rates | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 300 requests (one-time), 60-second updates | 1,000 requests/mo, hourly |
| Free tier base currency | Any of 160+ | USD only |
| Entry paid plan | €4.99/mo, 5,000 requests, 60-second updates | $12/mo, 10,000 requests, hourly |
| Fastest updates | 60 seconds, all plans | 5 minutes at $97/mo; faster on VIP (by quote) |
| Historical data | From €4.99 plan | All plans, including free |
| Output formats | JSON, CSV, XML, XLSX | JSON |
| Official central bank rates | 121 central banks + 3 tax authorities, same key | Not offered |
OXR details from openexchangerates.org/signup as of October 2026. Verify the latest details before making a purchasing decision.
Why teams switch from OXR to AllRatesToday
1. Minute-level rates at the entry price
Hourly rates are fine for a static report but visibly stale for user-facing conversion. With OXR, getting below 30 minutes means the $97 Unlimited plan. Every AllRatesToday plan refreshes every 60 seconds.
2. Pick your own base currency
OXR's free plan is fixed to USD, so EUR- or GBP-based apps cross-divide on the client. Any
AllRatesToday key, free included, can request any base:
/api/v1/rates?source=EUR&target=USD,GBP.
3. Files, not just JSON
Add format=csv, format=xml or format=xlsx and the same
request returns a file for Excel, an ERP importer or an audit pack. See the
Excel guide.
Official central bank rates, which no market feed offers
Beyond live market rates, AllRatesToday serves the official published rates of 121 central banks and 3 tax authorities (including HMRC and the US Treasury) under the same API key, each under the bank's own publication date. A market feed tells you what a pair trades at. Invoicing, customs and audit rules usually tell you which publisher's rate you must use. (Our central bank API comparison covers the options.)
Code example
// Before: Open Exchange Rates (USD base only on free)
fetch('https://openexchangerates.org/api/latest.json?app_id=APP_ID')
// After: AllRatesToday (any base, any targets)
fetch('https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=EUR&target=USD,GBP', {
headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' }
})
.then(r => r.json())
.then(rows => console.log(rows));
// => [{ rate: 1.1255, source: 'EUR', target: 'USD', time: '...' }, ...]Honest pros and cons
Where AllRatesToday wins
- 60-second updates on every plan
- Base currency choice on the free key
- Lower entry price
- CSV, XML and XLSX output
- SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go, Rust and React
Where OXR may still suit you
- You need a recurring free quota (OXR: 1,000 a month; ours is a one-time 300)
- You need historical data on a free plan
- You need bid/ask or OHLC prices (OXR VIP)
{rate, source, target, time}
rows rather than OXR's rates object. Map it once in your client and the rest of
your code stays the same.
FAQ
Will my OXR code work with minor changes?
Mostly. You change the URL, send the key as Authorization: Bearer (or ?api_key=), and read rows instead of a rates object.
Do you support historical rates?
Yes, on all paid plans from €4.99/mo, by date or as a daily series.
Same data quality as OXR?
Both serve mid-market rates. Ours are aggregated from institutional foreign exchange market data with no retail markup.
Try AllRatesToday free
Minute-level rates on the free key, no credit card required.
Get free API key See pricing