Software Alternatives & Startups

Currencylayer VS Exchange-RateAPI

Compare Currencylayer VS Exchange-RateAPI and see what are their differences

Currencylayer logo Currencylayer

Free and startup-friendly currency converter JSON API for real-time and historical exchange rates - reliable and accurate, supporting 168 world currencies.

Exchange-RateAPI logo Exchange-RateAPI

Free exchange rate API with real-time mid-market rates for 160+ currencies. Official SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP. Sourced from Reuters. Start free.
  • Currencylayer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-27

Currencylayer provides a simple REST API with real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 world currencies, delivering currency pairs in universally usable JSON format - compatible with any of your applications.

Spot exchange rate data is retrieved from several major forex data providers in real-time, validated, processed and delivered hourly, every 10 minutes, or even within the 60-second market window.

Providing the most representative forex market value available ("midpoint" value) for every API request, the currencylayer API powers currency converters, mobile applications, financial software components and back-office systems all around the world.

  • Exchange-RateAPI
    Image date //
    2026-06-09

## Exchange Rate API — Real-Time Currency Data for Developers

Exchange-RateAPI is a developer-first currency API delivering real-time, mid-market exchange rates for 160+ currencies. Rates are sourced from Reuters and interbank feeds and updated continuously — accurate, unbiased pricing with no retail markup.

### Key features - Real-time rates for 160+ currencies, any base currency - Historical data with flexible date ranges - Currency conversion in a single request - Official SDKs for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP - Low latency via Cloudflare's global edge network - Simple integration — bearer-token auth, CORS support, clean JSON responses

### Built for Fintech apps, SaaS platforms, e-commerce, invoicing, accounting, travel/booking, and any global app needing reliable FX data.

### Pricing A perpetual free tier lets you start with no credit card. Paid plans scale from €4.99/month (5,000 requests) to high-volume tiers (100,000+ requests), monthly or yearly (save ~17% annually).

Get your API key at exchange-rateapi.com.

Currencylayer

$ Details
freemium $14.99 / Monthly (10,000 Requests / Monthly)
Release Date
-

Exchange-RateAPI

$ Details
freemium €4.99 / Monthly
Release Date
2025 December
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
State
London
City
London

Currencylayer features and specs

  • Advanced Data Coverage
    168

Exchange-RateAPI features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis of Exchange-RateAPI

Overall verdict

  • Exchange-RateAPI appears to be a lightweight, budget-friendly currency conversion API suitable for basic exchange rate needs, though it lacks the extensive track record and advanced features of more established providers like Open Exchange Rates or XE.

Why this product is good

  • Offers straightforward REST API access to currency exchange rates
  • Generally simple integration with minimal setup required
  • Pricing tends to be competitive for basic use cases
  • Supports common currency pairs needed for most standard applications

Recommended for

  • Small projects or startups needing basic currency conversion
  • Developers testing or prototyping applications requiring exchange rate data
  • Low-volume applications where cost is a primary concern
  • Simple e-commerce sites needing occasional rate lookups rather than real-time high-frequency data

Currencylayer videos

CurrencyLayer | Reliable Exchange Rates & Currency Conversion for your Business

Exchange-RateAPI videos

No Exchange-RateAPI videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Currencylayer and Exchange-RateAPI)
APIs
86 86%
14% 14
Currency Exchange API
78 78%
22% 22
Currency Exchange
100 100%
0% 0
Currency Converter
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Currencylayer and Exchange-RateAPI.

What makes your product unique?

Exchange-RateAPI's answer:

Exchange-RateAPI fetches live mid-market rates on every request rather than serving a once-a-day snapshot, so you always get current pricing. Rates come from Reuters and interbank feeds, cover 160+ currencies with any base currency, and are delivered with very low latency from Cloudflare's global edge network. It pairs institutional-grade data with a developer-friendly REST API, official SDKs, and a genuinely usable free tier.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Exchange-RateAPI's answer:

Many currency APIs update only once or twice a day, lock real-time data behind expensive tiers, or are awkward to integrate. Exchange-RateAPI gives real-time mid-market rates (no retail markup), simple bearer-token auth, CORS support, and clean JSON responses, plus official SDKs for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP. Pricing is transparent and affordable — a perpetual free tier with no credit card, and paid plans from €4.99/month — backed by low-latency edge delivery.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Exchange-RateAPI's answer:

Developers and product teams who need reliable foreign-exchange data: fintech and payment apps, SaaS platforms, e-commerce checkout and pricing, invoicing and accounting tools, travel and booking products, and any global application that displays prices or converts currencies. It suits both solo developers starting on the free tier and businesses scaling to high request volumes.

What's the story behind your product?

Exchange-RateAPI's answer:

Exchange-RateAPI was built by developers frustrated with exchange-rate APIs that refreshed only once a day, charged heavily for real-time access, or were awkward to integrate. By building on modern edge infrastructure, the team set out to offer accurate, real-time mid-market rates that are fast, simple to integrate, and affordable enough to start for free — making institutional-grade FX data accessible to any developer.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Exchange-RateAPI's answer:

Exchange-RateAPI runs on Cloudflare Workers (serverless edge compute) with Workers KV for storage, written in TypeScript. It exposes a REST/JSON API with official SDKs for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and PHP. Exchange-rate data is sourced from Reuters and interbank feeds. Billing is handled via Stripe and transactional email via Resend.

User comments

Share your experience with using Currencylayer and Exchange-RateAPI. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Currencylayer seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Currencylayer mentions (3)

Exchange-RateAPI mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Exchange-RateAPI yet. Tracking of Exchange-RateAPI recommendations started around Jun 2026.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Currencylayer and Exchange-RateAPI, you can also consider the following products

Fixer.io - Fixer provides a free, simple, and lightweight API for current and historical foreign exchange rates and currency conversion. The API tracks rates published daily by the European Central Bank.

Exchangeratesapi.io - Simple API for Global Currency Exchange Rates

Open Exchange Rates - Free, hourly-updated exchange rates - a simple, accurate, open-source JSON API. Free for personal use, a bargain for everybody else.

ExchangeRate-API - An easy to use, free & reliable Exchange Rate API trusted by tens of thousands of developers since 2010!

Currencyapi.com - Currencyapi.com is a free, reliable & feature complete currency exchange rates API. 170+ world currencies & 60 second update rate.

BankExchange - Exchange rates JSON API, for historical exchange rates from 53 central banks from around the world...