Frequently Asked Questions

AllRatesToday is a fast, reliable exchange rate API that provides real-time and historical currency data for over 160 currencies. Whether you are building a fintech app, an e-commerce platform, or a financial dashboard, our API delivers accurate rates with low latency. Learn more on our documentation page.

Our rates are sourced from leading financial data providers and cross-referenced for accuracy. Mid-market rates are updated frequently throughout the day to reflect live market conditions.

Exchange rates are updated every 60 seconds for paid plans and every 60 minutes for the free plan. Check our pricing page for details on update frequencies per plan, or read our guide on how often exchange rates are updated across the industry.

We support over 160 fiat currencies, including all major pairs like USD, EUR, GBP, and JPY, as well as many exotic currencies. Browse live rates for every supported currency, or see the full list in our API documentation.

Sign up for a free account on our registration page. Your API key will be available immediately in your profile dashboard.

We use API key authentication. Include your key as a query parameter (?apikey=YOUR_KEY) or in the Authorization header. Full details are in our docs.

Yes. Our API supports CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) on all endpoints, so you can call it directly from browser-based JavaScript applications.

Rate limits depend on your plan. The free plan allows up to 100 requests per month. Paid plans offer significantly higher limits. Visit our pricing page for specifics.

Yes. Our API includes endpoints for historical exchange rates going back several years. You can query rates for any specific date. See the API documentation for endpoint details.

All API responses are returned in JSON format. Responses include the base currency, a timestamp, and an object of currency-rate pairs for easy parsing.

Yes. We offer a free plan that is perfect for personal projects and testing. Compare plans.

When you reach your monthly request limit, the API will return a 429 Too Many Requests response. You can upgrade your plan at any time from your profile dashboard to increase your limit.

Absolutely. You can change your plan at any time from your account dashboard. Upgrades take effect immediately, and downgrades apply at the start of your next billing cycle.

We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans. If you are not satisfied, contact us through our contact page and we will process your refund promptly.

An API that returns the official reference exchange rates published by central banks — such as the ECB, Bank of England, or Federal Reserve — as machine-readable JSON. These are the rates auditors, tax authorities, and regulators recognize for invoicing, financial reporting, and customs valuation. AllRatesToday aggregates 30+ central banks into one Central Bank Rates API with a single response format.

Yes. The ECB publishes euro foreign exchange reference rates for ~30 currencies free of charge — as a daily XML feed and through the ECB Data Portal API — updated around 16:00 CET on working days, with history back to 1999. All rates are quoted against EUR only, so cross-rates and JSON conversion are up to you. For ready-to-use JSON with any source/target pair, see our ECB exchange rate API guide.

Central bank reference rates are fixed once per working day (the ECB's at ~16:00 CET) and are averages intended for information and comparison — they don't necessarily match rates of actual transactions. Mid-market rates move continuously with live supply and demand. Use central bank rates for accounting, tax, and compliance; use live mid-market rates for pricing and display. More: Mid-market vs retail exchange rates.

It depends on the jurisdiction. The IRS has no official rate — any reputable source applied consistently is accepted (yearly average for recurring income, spot rate for one-time transactions). HMRC publishes monthly and annual-average rates. Many countries (India, Turkey, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and others) mandate their central bank's published rate. Our compliance guide covers this per country — but confirm with your accountant.

Not directly. The Fed publishes its H.10 release weekly (Mondays at 4:15 p.m. ET, covering the prior business week), and the data is accessible programmatically through the FRED API with a free key. If you need daily official USD rates in plain JSON instead, see our Fed exchange rate API guide.

No. The Reserve Bank of India publishes daily reference rates (via FBIL) on working days, but offers no official public API — most teams scrape the site or use a third-party feed. AllRatesToday serves RBI reference rates as JSON: GET /api/v1/central-bank/rbi/latest. Details in our RBI exchange rate API guide.

Most publish once per working day at a fixed time — the ECB around 16:00 CET, the Bank of England around 16:00 London time, the RBI around 13:30 IST. The US Federal Reserve is weekly (H.10). None publish on weekends or their national holidays, so the "latest" rate on a Saturday is Friday's fixing.

AllRatesToday's Central Bank Rates API covers 30+ central banks (ECB, Fed, BoE, BoJ, RBI, PBoC, SNB, and more) with one JSON format: GET /api/v1/central-bank/ecb/latest for the latest fixing, or /api/v1/central-bank/ecb/2026-06-30?source=USD&target=EUR for a historical date. Historical depth matches each bank's published archive — back to 1999 for the ECB.

A rate a central bank fixes once at a set time each working day, usually as an average of market quotes around that moment. It's a benchmark for contracts, accounting, and comparison — not a rate you can necessarily trade at. Examples: the ECB euro reference rates (~16:00 CET), the PBoC yuan central parity, and the RBI/FBIL reference rate.

The BoE publishes daily spot rates for ~20 currencies against GBP through its Statistical Interactive Database, which can be queried programmatically but returns CSV/XML rather than developer-friendly JSON. For the same official rates as JSON, see our Bank of England exchange rate API guide or GET /api/v1/central-bank/boe/latest.

Each trading day around 9:15 a.m. Beijing time, the People's Bank of China sets a USD/CNY midpoint; onshore trading is allowed within ±2% of it. It's one of the most watched rates in Asian FX. Fetch it as JSON via our PBoC exchange rate API guide.

Japan has no single daily "official" fixing like the ECB's. The BoJ publishes FX statistics through its Time-Series Data portal, and many businesses use the TTM (telegraphic transfer middle) rate from banks for accounting. Our BoJ exchange rate API guide explains what's available and how to query it as JSON.

The Central Bank of Russia sets the official RUB rate on working days, published on its site with an XML web service. It's the rate mandated for Russian accounting and tax. JSON access and history: CBR exchange rate API guide.

PTAX is the Banco Central do Brasil's official daily rate — an average of dealer quotes collected in several windows through the trading day. It's the reference for contracts, taxes, and BRL derivatives settlement. See our BCB / PTAX exchange rate API guide.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye publishes indicative exchange rates each working day at 15:30 local time, used for customs declarations, tax, and official accounting in Turkey. JSON access: TCMB exchange rate API guide.

Yes — the RBA publishes AUD exchange rates each business day at 16:00 Sydney time, based on market quotes around that time. Available as CSV/XLS from the RBA site, or as JSON via our RBA exchange rate API guide.

Yes — the SNB publishes CHF exchange rates through its data portal (data.snb.ch), which offers a public API returning SNB's statistical format. For plain JSON with source/target parameters, see our SNB exchange rate API guide.

30+ and growing: ECB, US Fed, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, PBoC, RBI, Bank of Canada, RBA, RBNZ, SNB, Riksbank, Norges Bank, CBR, TCMB, BCB, SARB, Bank of Korea, HKMA, Bank of Israel, and more. The full list with live data is on the Central Bank Rates API hub, each with its own documentation page.

Generally yes — central bank reference rates are public data, and most banks (like the ECB) allow reuse with attribution. Check each bank's terms for redistribution specifics. Aggregator APIs may add their own plan limits, but the underlying rates themselves are not licensed proprietary market data feeds.

No. Fixings are published on working days only, so the "latest" rate on a Saturday, Sunday, or national holiday is the previous business day's. Your code should expect gaps in daily series — our API's /latest endpoint always returns the most recent published fixing, so you don't have to handle the calendar yourself.

Shortly after each bank's publication time: ~16:00 CET for the ECB, ~16:00 London time for the BoE, 15:30 in Türkiye for TCMB, ~9:15 Beijing for the PBoC fixing. A cron job 30–60 minutes after the fixing time is the standard pattern. If you aggregate several banks, fetch each on its own schedule or let our API do the scheduling for you.

It depends on the bank's published archive: ECB euro reference rates go back to 1999, the Fed's H.10 series to 1971, the BoE's database to the 1970s for some series. AllRatesToday serves each bank's full published archive — millions of historical rows — through the same date endpoint: /api/v1/central-bank/{bank}/{date}.

Cross-rate through the euro: since ECB rates are all quoted against EUR, USD→GBP = (EUR/GBP rate) ÷ (EUR/USD rate). Or skip the arithmetic — our API accepts ?source=USD&target=GBP on any ECB endpoint and computes the cross-rate for you.

The ECB suspended the RUB reference rate on 1 March 2022 because sanctions left the bank unable to source representative market quotes. If you need an official ruble rate, use the Central Bank of Russia's own fixing — available in our CBR guide.

The interbank (mid-market) rate is the live price banks trade at. A central bank reference rate is a once-daily snapshot of that market, published as a benchmark. Retail rates are what consumers actually get — the interbank rate plus a 1–5% margin. Use reference rates for compliance, interbank for display, and expect retail to differ from both.

Customs agencies usually publish their own schedules derived from central bank or market rates: HMRC publishes monthly customs rates, US CBP publishes quarterly and daily rates, Turkish customs uses TCMB rates, Indian customs notifies rates fortnightly (CBIC). Always use the customs authority's published figure for declarations, not a live market rate.

The ECB Data Portal API uses the SDMX standard — powerful but verbose, with dataset keys like EXR.D.USD.EUR.SP00.A and XML/CSV responses. Fine for statisticians; overkill if you just need "latest USD rate as JSON." That's the gap our central bank JSON API fills.

Around 30 currencies against the euro, including USD, GBP, JPY, CHF, CNY, and most European and major Asia-Pacific currencies. It doesn't cover many African, Middle Eastern, or Latin American currencies — for those, use the relevant national central bank (SARB, CBN, BCRP, BCRA, and others in our coverage list).

By mirroring the primary source: rates are ingested directly from each central bank's official publication (XML feed, data portal, or statistical release) shortly after it appears, with the bank and publication date included in every response so figures can be audited against the original. That's how AllRatesToday's central bank endpoints work — no interpolation, no blending.

Yes. In Excel use Power Query ("Get Data → From Web") pointed at a JSON endpoint like /api/v1/central-bank/ecb/latest; in Google Sheets use IMPORTDATA or a small Apps Script fetch. Step-by-step: How to get exchange rates in Excel.

Yes. You can pull live exchange rates directly into Microsoft Excel using our API. We have a step-by-step guide on our blog: How to Get Exchange Rates in Excel.

We provide code examples in JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, and cURL in our documentation. Community-maintained SDKs are also available on GitHub.

Yes. With full CORS support, you can call our API directly from client-side JavaScript. Just be mindful of exposing your API key in front-end code — consider using a lightweight backend proxy for production apps.

Yes — several. Frankfurter is 100% free with no key. ExchangeRate-API offers 1,500 requests/month free. freecurrencyapi.com offers 5,000/month. AllRatesToday's free plan gives hourly updates for production use. Full comparison in our 20 questions guide.

A REST web service that returns exchange rates as JSON. Used in e-commerce checkout, finance dashboards, travel apps, accounting tools, and anywhere software converts or displays money across currencies. More: What is a currency API?

A currency API built for trading — delivers tick-level bid/ask quotes, historical OHLC data, and sometimes order execution. Differs from general currency APIs which return mid-market reference rates for display.

A rate openly accessible through a public API without a private contract. Also the name of a commercial provider (Open Exchange Rates) covering 200+ currencies since 2011.

Yes — 100% free, open-source, no API key. Tracks ~30 currencies from European Central Bank daily reference rates, historical data back to 1999. Best for accounting and display; not for trading.

Free tier of 1,500 requests/month, no credit card required. Paid plans start at $13.99/month for 30,000 requests. Free tier is not intended for production traffic.

Pro: $13.99/mo (30k req), Business: $29/mo (100k req), Volume: $49/mo (1.5M req), Enterprise: custom. See pricing breakdown.

Yes — Xe Currency Data API for 170+ currencies. Enterprise-focused, used by Fortune 500 companies. Read the full breakdown: Does Xe have an API?

No. No public free tier. Pricing starts around $799/month for enterprise customers. For free access, use Frankfurter, AllRatesToday's free plan, or ExchangeRate-API's free tier.

No. Oanda's Exchange Rates Data API is paid-only with no permanent free tier, and the v20 trading API requires a registered fxTrade brokerage account. Full breakdown and free alternatives: Is the Oanda API free?

Google has no official public Currency API (retired in 2012). GOOGLEFINANCE in Sheets is free but not a REST API. Community wrappers exist but lack SLAs — don't depend on them in production.

Yes, within its bounds. Owned by apilayer, running since 2015, SLA-backed on paid plans. Free tier is heavily restricted (100 req/month, HTTP only, EUR base only). Comparison: AllRatesToday vs Fixer, Xe, ExchangeRate-API.

No. MetaTrader 5 APIs require a licensed server and paid MetaQuotes agreement. If you only need rates (not trade execution), a currency API is far simpler and cheaper.

Under 10 lines with requests and Frankfurter: GET /latest?from=USD&to=EUR, pull rates[dst] from JSON, multiply by amount. Full tutorial: How to get live exchange rates in Python.

rate = target_amount / source_amount. Convert by multiplying: 250 USD × 0.85 = 212.50 EUR. Inverse is 1/rate. Real rates include a spread — the gap between buy and sell is the provider's margin.

=GOOGLEFINANCE("CURRENCY:USDEUR") in Google Sheets returns the live rate. Add a date for historical. Delayed ~20 minutes. For Excel, see How to get exchange rates in Excel.

For embedding in software: Frankfurter (free) or AllRatesToday (free plan, hourly updates). For head-to-head comparison see 10 best currency exchange APIs (2026). You can also try a live interactive demo at live-currency-converter, an open-source companion project that runs in the browser with no signup.

Wise (best mid-market rate + real transfers), XE Currency (offline mode for travel), Revolut (multi-currency account), Currency Converter Plus (simple free converter).

Online-first providers — Wise, Revolut, Currencies Direct, OFX — get closest to the mid-market rate. Banks and airport kiosks mark up 2–5%. Avoid "Dynamic Currency Conversion" at card terminals abroad. More: Mid-market vs retail exchange rates.

See our dedicated guide: 20 Currency & Exchange Rate API Questions Answered (2026). A condensed static version is also hosted at cahthuranag.github.io/live-currency-converter/faq.html alongside an open-source converter demo.