--- title: "Free Currency API" description: "Get a free currency API key in 30 seconds — no credit card. Real-time mid-market exchange rates for 160+ currencies from institutional foreign exchange market data, updated every 60 seconds." canonical: https://allratestoday.com/free-currency-api/ source: AllRatesToday (https://allratestoday.com/) — Markdown mirror of the page above; index of all pages at https://allratestoday.com/llms.txt generated: 2026-10-24T03:29:45.337Z --- # Free Currency API Get a free currency API key in 30 seconds — no credit card. Real-time mid-market exchange rates for 160+ currencies from institutional foreign exchange market data, updated every 60 seconds. By [Madhushan](https://allratestoday.com/authors/madhushan/), Founder & Lead Developer **The short version:** free API key in 30 seconds, no credit card. 160+ currencies, real-time mid-market rates from institutional foreign exchange market data, updated every 60 seconds. [Get your free key](https://allratestoday.com/register). ## Quick start One endpoint, one key. Send the key as an `Authorization: Bearer` header (or, for a quick browser test, as `?api_key=`). Replace `art_live_your_key` with the key from your [dashboard](https://allratestoday.com/profile): ``` curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=EUR" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key" ``` Response — an array, one entry per pair, so the same call can quote several targets at once (`target=EUR,GBP,JPY`): ``` [ { "rate": 0.864566, "source": "USD", "target": "EUR", "time": "2026-08-28T14:00:00Z" } ] ``` From JavaScript: ``` const res = await fetch( "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=EUR", { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer art_live_your_key" } } ); const [quote] = await res.json(); console.log(`1 USD = ${quote.rate} EUR`); ``` From Python: ``` import requests res = requests.get( "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates", params={"source": "USD", "target": "EUR"}, headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"}, ) quote = res.json()[0] print(f"1 USD = {quote['rate']} EUR") ``` Prefer a client library? There are official [SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP, and Rust](https://allratestoday.com/docs/), and you can try every endpoint in the [API playground](https://allratestoday.com/playground/) without writing code. ## The two responses to handle Success is always `200` with the array above. Only two other responses matter in practice — check for them and you have covered the free tier: **`401` — missing or invalid key.** The header was not sent, or the key is wrong. ``` { "error": "Authentication required. Provide an API key via Authorization header or log in." } ``` **`429` — quota used up.** The request is refused, never billed. The body tells you where you stand, and the same figures are sent as `X-Monthly-Limit`, `X-Monthly-Used` and `X-Monthly-Resets` headers on every response, so you can watch the quota without waiting to hit it: ``` { "error": "Request limit exceeded", "plan": "free", "resets_at": "never", "upgrade_url": "https://allratestoday.com/pricing" } ``` Bursts are capped at 10 requests per minute. The whole error reference, including the `400` for a malformed pair, is in the [docs](https://allratestoday.com/docs/#errors). ## Beyond the first call - **Which codes can I use?** [`/api/v1/symbols`](https://allratestoday.com/docs/#symbols) lists every supported currency — 160+ ISO codes with names. - **Several targets in one request** — comma-separate them: `target=EUR,GBP,JPY`. That is still one request against your quota, so it is the cheapest way to quote a basket. - **A rate as at a date** — add `&time=2026-08-01` to the same endpoint ([historical rates](https://allratestoday.com/docs/#historical), paid plans). - **Official central-bank rates** — [`/api/v1/central-bank/ecb/latest?source=USD&target=EUR`](https://allratestoday.com/docs/#central-bank): the published reference rate from any of [122 central banks and 4 tax authorities](https://allratestoday.com/central-bank-rates-api/institutions/), included on the free tier. - **CSV, XML or Excel instead of JSON** — append `&format=csv` (or `xml`, `xlsx`) to any table endpoint. ## What the free plan includes - **Free tier** — enough to prototype and test an integration - **160+ currencies** — every major and most exotic pairs - **Real-time mid-market rates** — Institutional FX market data, updated every 60 seconds - **1 API key**, 10 requests/minute, HTTPS only - **No credit card** — sign up with email, Google, or GitHub Historical rates, time-series endpoints, commercial use, and higher volumes are part of the [paid plans](https://allratestoday.com/pricing/) (from a few euros per month, with 5,000–100,000 requests). ## Free tiers compared Most "free currency API" tiers trade away freshness: you get a few hundred or thousand requests against rates cached hourly or daily. AllRatesToday's free tier is smaller on volume but serves the same 60-second real-time feed as its paid plans: | Provider | Free requests | Update frequency (free) | Credit card? | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **AllRatesToday** | Free | Real-time (60s) | No | | ExchangeRate-API | 1,500/month | Daily | Yes (for upgrades) | | Open Exchange Rates | 1,000/month | Hourly | Yes | | CurrencyLayer | 100/month | Daily | Yes | | Fixer.io | 100/month | Daily | Yes | | Frankfurter | Unlimited | Daily (ECB, 30+ currencies) | No | Want the full 10-provider breakdown? See the [best free currency exchange APIs in 2026](https://allratestoday.com/blog/best-free-currency-exchange-api-2026/) comparison. ## What you can build on the free tier - **Currency converters** — fetch a pair on demand, or [cache rates](https://allratestoday.com/blog/how-to-cache-exchange-rates-avoid-rate-limits/) to serve many conversions per fetch - **Price display prototypes** — test localized prices before launch; a live hourly refresh (about 720 requests/month) needs a paid plan - **Dashboards and alerts** — poll a handful of pairs a few times a day - **Embeddable widget** — a [one-line converter widget](https://allratestoday.com/open-api/) for any site ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there a truly free currency API? Yes. AllRatesToday has a free tier with real-time mid-market rates for 160+ currencies, and no credit card required to sign up. ### Do I need a credit card? No. Sign up with email, Google, or GitHub and generate a free API key immediately, without entering any payment details. ### How fresh are the rates on the free plan? The free plan uses the same real-time data as paid plans: mid-market rates aggregated from institutional foreign exchange market data, updated every 60 seconds. Most competing free tiers serve daily or hourly caches. ### Can I use it commercially? The free plan is for personal, non-commercial projects and testing. Commercial use comes with the [paid plans](https://allratestoday.com/pricing/), which start at €4.99/month. ### What happens when I use up my free requests? Requests beyond your quota are rejected with a clear error rather than billed. The free tier does not reset, so [caching](https://allratestoday.com/blog/how-to-cache-exchange-rates-avoid-rate-limits/) stretches them a long way, and paid plans give 5,000 to 100,000 requests per month. ## Get your free currency API key 30 seconds to sign up. No credit card. Real-time rates from the first request. [Get Free API Key](https://allratestoday.com/register) [Try the Playground](https://allratestoday.com/playground/) ## Related [Exchange Rate APIMarket and official rates, endpoint reference](https://allratestoday.com/exchange-rate-api/) [Currency APIConvert and localize in your app](https://allratestoday.com/currency-api/) [Best Free Currency Exchange APIs 202610 providers ranked and compared](https://allratestoday.com/blog/best-free-currency-exchange-api-2026/) [API DocumentationEndpoints, SDKs, and examples](https://allratestoday.com/docs/) [Embeddable Converter WidgetOne line of HTML, live rates](https://allratestoday.com/open-api/) [Free Historical Rate APIsTime-series and backtesting](https://allratestoday.com/blog/best-free-historical-exchange-rate-api-2026/) [Plans & PricingFrom free to 100k requests/month](https://allratestoday.com/pricing/) [Is There a Free Conversion API?Free options explained](https://allratestoday.com/blog/is-there-a-free-api-for-currency-conversion/)