Documentation

Currency Rates Endpoint

The Currency Rates endpoint provides real-time exchange rates for all supported currencies. This is one of our most popular endpoints, used by applications that need current exchange rate data for financial calculations, e-commerce platforms, and currency conversion features.

Rates are updated every minute and are based on the base currency (USD by default). You can specify a different base currency to get rates relative to that currency instead.

Currency Rates

GET /api/v1/rates
Available on:
All Plans

Request Parameters

key string

Your API key for authentication

base string

The base currency for exchange rates. All rates will be relative to this currency

Default: USD

output string

Response output format. Use `json` (default) or `xml`

Default: json

Response Properties

valid boolean

Indicates whether the request was successful

updated integer

The timestamp when the rates were last updated (Unix timestamp)

base string

The base currency used for all exchange rates

rates object

Object containing all exchange rates, where the key is the currency code and the value is the exchange rate

Base Currency

Base currency change available on:
EssentialStartUpProfessional

By default, all exchange rates are calculated relative to the US Dollar (USD). However, you can change the base currency by passing the base parameter with any supported currency code.

Example: To get rates relative to EUR instead of USD, add/change the base parameter to EUR in your request. This will return rates showing how much of each currency you get for 1 EUR.

Rate Updates

Our refresh rate for exchange rates depends on the plan you are subscribed to.

  • Professional Plan: Rates are updated every 60 seconds
  • StartUp Plan: Rates are updated every 10 minutes
  • Essential and Free Plan: Rates are updated every 60 minutes

Common Use Cases

The Currency Rates endpoint is commonly used for:

  • E-commerce platforms: Display prices in multiple currencies
  • Financial applications: Real-time currency conversion and calculations
  • Travel apps: Show exchange rates for different destinations
  • Investment platforms: Track currency movements and trends
  • Multi-currency dashboards: Display current rates for various currencies
  • Currency conversion tools: Build calculators and conversion widgets

Best Practices

To optimize your use of the Currency Rates endpoint:

  • Cache rates appropriately: Since rates update every minute, cache for 30-60 seconds maximum
  • Use JSON format: JSON is more compact and easier to parse than XML
  • Handle errors gracefully: Always check the valid field and handle error responses
  • Consider your base currency: Choose the most relevant base currency for your users
  • Monitor rate limits: Stay within your plan's request limits