ExchangeRate API Has a Free Tier — Convert 161 Currencies in Real-Time (No Key Needed)

#python #api #tutorial #beginners

Currency Data Without the Price Tag

Most currency APIs charge for real-time rates. ExchangeRate-API gives you 1500 requests/month free with no API key needed for the open endpoint.

No-Key Endpoint (Open Access)

import requests

def get_rates(base="USD"):
    r = requests.get(f"https://open.er-api.com/v6/latest/{base}")
    data = r.json()
    return data["rates"]

rates = get_rates("USD")
print(f"1 USD = {rates[EUR]:.4f} EUR")
print(f"1 USD = {rates[GBP]:.4f} GBP")
print(f"1 USD = {rates[JPY]:.2f} JPY")

Currency Converter

def convert(amount, from_currency, to_currency):
    rates = get_rates(from_currency)
    result = amount * rates[to_currency]
    return round(result, 2)

print(f"$100 = {convert(100, USD, EUR)} EUR")
print(f"$100 = {convert(100, USD, JPY)} JPY")
print(f"100 GBP = {convert(100, GBP, USD)} USD")

Historical Rates (With Free Key)

API_KEY = "your_free_key"  # Get at exchangerate-api.com

def historical_rate(base, target, year, month, day):
    r = requests.get(f"https://v6.exchangerate-api.com/v6/{API_KEY}/history/{base}/{year}/{month}/{day}")
    return r.json()["conversion_rates"][target]

rate = historical_rate("USD", "EUR", 2025, 1, 15)
print(f"USD/EUR on 2025-01-15: {rate}")

Supported Currencies

161 currencies including all major ones plus crypto-adjacent stablecoins.

Free vs Paid

Feature	Free (no key)	Free (with key)	Paid
Requests	Unlimited*	1500/mo	100K/mo
Update frequency	Daily	Daily	Every 60s
Historical rates	No	Yes	Yes
Pair conversion	No	Yes	Yes

*Open endpoint has no hard limit but is rate-limited.

Alternatives

API	Free Tier	Real-time?
ExchangeRate-API	1500/mo	Daily
Frankfurter	Unlimited	Daily
Fixer.io	100/mo	Hourly (paid)
CurrencyAPI	300/mo	Daily

Frankfurter (api.frankfurter.app) is fully free and open-source if you need unlimited calls.

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