CurrencyFreaks is the ExchangeRate-API alternative for developers who need crypto, precious metals or pre-2021 history from the same API as their fiat rates. It covers 1,000+ currencies including crypto and precious metals, serves daily historical rates back to 28 November 1984 for major fiat currencies from the $9.99 Starter plan, and has a free plan of 1,000 calls a month with no credit card. ExchangeRate-API wins on its free tier and on price per request: the free key gives 1,500 requests a month with any base currency, and $10 buys 30,000 requests on Pro.
What the ExchangeRate-API free key doesn't include is historical data, intraday updates or relaxed quota enforcement. Those start on Pro.
ExchangeRate-API figures below were checked against its pricing page, supported currencies list and historical data docs on 15 October 2026. CurrencyFreaks figures come from our pricing page.
CurrencyFreaks vs ExchangeRate-API: Key Numbers
| CurrencyFreaks | ExchangeRate-API | |
|---|---|---|
| Free calls per month | 1,000 | 1,500 |
| Base currency on free plan | USD only | Any |
| Update interval, free plan | Every 24 hours | Once a day |
| Fastest update interval | Every 60 seconds (Professional, $99.99) | Every 5 minutes (Business, $30) |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9.99/month (Starter, 15,000 calls) | $10/month (Pro, 30,000 requests) |
| History starts | 28 November 1984 for major fiat (Starter and up) | 1 January 1990 for 35 currencies, 1 January 2021 for all 165 (Pro and up) |
| Currencies | 1,000+ | 165 |
| Crypto | Yes | No |
| Precious metals | Yes | No |
| Response formats | JSON and XML | JSON |
ExchangeRate-API Pricing Plans (2026)
Yearly billing on any ExchangeRate-API plan costs 10 months' price.
| Plan | Monthly price | Yearly price | Requests/month | Update frequency | Historical data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | - | 1,500 | Once a day | ❌ |
| Pro | $10 | $100 | 30,000 | Every 60 minutes | ✔ |
| Business | $30 | $300 | 125,000 | Every 5 minutes | ✔ (plus enriched data) |
A fourth plan, Volume, appears only in the pricing FAQ at $700 a year. Its request limit and update interval aren't published on the pricing page.
Every ExchangeRate-API plan covers the same 165 currencies. Paying more buys you requests and refresh speed, not coverage.
CurrencyFreaks Plans for Comparison
| Plan | Monthly price | Yearly price | Requests/month | Update frequency | Historical data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | $0 | - | 1,000 | Every 24 hours | ❌ |
| Starter | $9.99 | $99.99 | 15,000 | Hourly | ✔ |
| Growth | $49.99 | $499.99 | 150,000 | Every 10 minutes | ✔ (plus IP to currency) |
| Professional | $99.99 | $999.99 | 550,000 | Every 60 seconds | ✔ (plus time series, fluctuation) |
On raw cost per request, ExchangeRate-API wins. Pro works out to about $0.33 per 1,000 requests, against $0.67 for CurrencyFreaks Starter. If you only need fiat rates refreshed hourly and nothing else, that gap is real and you should take it. The case for CurrencyFreaks rests on what you get per request: 1,000+ currencies instead of 165, 60-second updates on Professional, and endpoints ExchangeRate-API doesn't have at any price.
ExchangeRate API Free Tier: Limits and What's Missing
There are two free options, and people often mix them up.
Free API key (v6.exchangerate-api.com). You sign up, get a key and 1,500 requests a month. Rates refresh once a day. You can set any base currency in the URL, which is better than the CurrencyFreaks free plan (USD base only).
Open access (open.er-api.com). No key at all. Same daily refresh, but you must show a "Rates By Exchange Rate API" attribution link in your app. ExchangeRate-API asks you to poll at most once an hour, and hammering it returns HTTP 429 for 20 minutes.
What the free key leaves out, per ExchangeRate-API's own plan list:
- Historical data (the
/historyendpoint returns a plan error) - Enriched data such as country codes and currency symbols
- Relaxed quota enforcement, so requests stop when you hit 1,500
- Email support
- The LTS commitment that endpoints won't be retired
- Pricing lock for existing customers
None of the free options include crypto, precious metals, XML responses or IP-based currency lookup. Those don't exist on paid plans either.
ExchangeRate-API v6 Historical Endpoint vs CurrencyFreaks Historical Data
ExchangeRate-API's v6 history endpoint takes the date as path segments:
GET https://v6.exchangerate-api.com/v6/YOUR-API-KEY/history/USD/2026/08/20
Add an amount as a fifth segment (/2026/08/20/500) and it returns converted amounts too. One call returns one day, for one base currency, against every currency it has on file for that day.
The coverage has a cut-off that's easy to miss. Full currency coverage only starts on 1 January 2021. From 1990 to the end of 2020, the history endpoint returns just 35 currencies (AUD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CNY, DKK, EUR, GBP, JPY, USD and others). Ask for PKR in 2015 and you won't get it.
The CurrencyFreaks historical endpoint looks like this:
GET https://api.currencyfreaks.com/v2.0/rates/historical?date=2026-08-20&base=gbp&symbols=usd,eur,pkr,cad&apikey=YOUR_APIKEY
Differences that change what you can build:
| CurrencyFreaks | ExchangeRate-API v6 history | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan with history | Starter, $9.99/month | Pro, $10/month |
| How far back | Back to 28 November 1984 | 1990 for 35 currencies, 2021 for the full list |
| Per-currency start dates | Queryable via /v2.0/historical-data-limits |
Not exposed by an endpoint |
| Filter to specific currencies | ✔ (symbols parameter) |
❌ (returns all rates for the day) |
| Historical conversion | ✔ (/v2.0/convert/historical) |
✔ (amount path segment) |
| Date range in one call | ✔ (time series endpoint, Professional plan) | ❌ (one call per day) |
| Fluctuation between two dates | ✔ (Professional plan) | ❌ |
The one-call-per-day limit adds up quickly. A year of daily EUR rates from ExchangeRate-API costs 365 requests, which is 1.2% of a Pro month. On CurrencyFreaks Professional it's a single time series request. For a chart or a backtest, that difference matters more than the $0.01 between the entry prices.
ExchangeRate-API also says its history data shouldn't be used for cross-currency settlements or for backtesting day-trading models. Check that against your use case before you build on it.
Feature Comparison: CurrencyFreaks vs ExchangeRate-API
| Feature | CurrencyFreaks | ExchangeRate-API |
|---|---|---|
| Currencies | 1,000+ (fiat, crypto and precious metals) | 165 (fiat only) |
| Free plan requests | 1,000/month | 1,500/month |
| Fastest update | 60 seconds (Professional) | 5 minutes (Business) |
| Base currency on free plan | USD only | Any |
| Response format | JSON and XML | JSON only |
| Latest rates conversion | ✔ (paid plans) | ✔ (pair endpoint) |
| Historical rates | ✔ (paid plans, back to 1984) | ✔ (paid plans, full list from 2021) |
| Time series endpoint | ✔ (Professional plan) | ❌ |
| Fluctuation endpoint | ✔ (Professional plan) | ❌ |
| IP to currency endpoint | ✔ (Growth plan+) | ❌ |
| Authorization | API key | API key (or keyless open access) |
Switch From ExchangeRate-API in 5 Minutes
Three things change: the key moves from the URL path to an apikey query parameter, the base currency moves from the path to a base parameter, and the rates object is called rates instead of conversion_rates. One more catch: CurrencyFreaks returns rate values as strings, so parse them before doing maths.
Latest rates, curl
ExchangeRate-API:
curl 'https://v6.exchangerate-api.com/v6/YOUR-API-KEY/latest/USD'
CurrencyFreaks:
curl 'https://api.currencyfreaks.com/v2.0/rates/latest?apikey=YOUR_APIKEY&symbols=EUR,GBP,PKR'
CurrencyFreaks response:
{
"date": "2026-08-25 13:26:00+00",
"base": "USD",
"rates": {
"EUR": "0.9278605451274349",
"GBP": "0.8172754173817152",
"PKR": "281.6212943333344"
}
}
Latest rates, Python
ExchangeRate-API:
import requests
r = requests.get("https://v6.exchangerate-api.com/v6/YOUR-API-KEY/latest/USD")
data = r.json()
eur = data["conversion_rates"]["EUR"]
CurrencyFreaks:
import requests
r = requests.get(
"https://api.currencyfreaks.com/v2.0/rates/latest",
params={"apikey": "YOUR_APIKEY", "symbols": "EUR,GBP,PKR"},
)
data = r.json()
eur = float(data["rates"]["EUR"])
On the free Developer plan the base stays USD. If your ExchangeRate-API code calls /latest/EUR, either move to Starter and add base=EUR, or divide the USD rates yourself.
Response fields
| ExchangeRate-API | CurrencyFreaks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
base_code | base | |
conversion_rates | rates | CurrencyFreaks values are strings |
time_last_update_utc / time_last_update_unix | date | CurrencyFreaks uses "2026-08-25 13:26:00+00" |
time_next_update_utc / time_next_update_unix | none | |
result: "success" / "error" | HTTP status code | Errors return status, error and message fields |
error-type | message |
Endpoints
| ExchangeRate-API | CurrencyFreaks |
|---|---|
/v6/KEY/latest/USD | /v2.0/rates/latest?apikey=KEY&base=USD |
/v6/KEY/pair/EUR/GBP/500 | /v2.0/convert/latest?apikey=KEY&from=EUR&to=GBP&amount=500 (Starter and up) |
/v6/KEY/history/USD/2026/08/20 | /v2.0/rates/historical?apikey=KEY&date=2026-08-20&base=USD (Starter and up) |
| no equivalent | /v2.0/timeseries (Professional) |
| no equivalent | /v2.0/iptocurrency (Growth and up) |
The pair endpoint returns conversion_rate and conversion_result. The CurrencyFreaks convert endpoint returns rate and convertedAmount, plus givenAmount. Full parameter lists are in the CurrencyFreaks documentation.
Which One Should You Pick?
Pick ExchangeRate-API if:
- you only need major fiat currencies and hourly refresh is enough
- you want a non-USD base currency without paying
- cost per request is the deciding number
Pick CurrencyFreaks if your app needs crypto or metals next to fiat, pre-2021 history for currencies outside ExchangeRate-API's 35, date ranges in one request, or a visitor's currency from their IP. ExchangeRate-API has no answer for those at any tier, so you'd end up running a second API next to it.
FAQs
Is ExchangeRate-API Free?
Yes. The free ExchangeRate-API key gives 1,500 requests a month, updated once a day, with any base currency. A keyless open access endpoint is also free if you show an attribution link. Historical data starts on Pro at $10 a month. CurrencyFreaks also has a free plan: 1,000 calls a month, updated every 24 hours, USD base, no credit card.
What Is the Best Alternative to ExchangeRate-API?
CurrencyFreaks is the closest alternative if you need more than fiat. It covers 1,000+ currencies including crypto and precious metals, has daily historical rates back to 28 November 1984 for major fiat currencies, and starts paid plans at $9.99 a month. If you only need fiat rates and want them free with no key, Frankfurter is the other option to look at.
ExchangeRate-API vs CurrencyFreaks: Which Is Cheaper?
ExchangeRate-API is cheaper per request. Its Pro plan gives 30,000 requests for $10 a month, against 15,000 calls for $9.99 on CurrencyFreaks Starter. CurrencyFreaks gives more per call: 1,000+ currencies instead of 165, updates every 60 seconds on the Professional plan, and time series, fluctuation and IP-to-currency endpoints that ExchangeRate-API doesn't offer.
How Far Back Does ExchangeRate-API Historical Data Go?
To 1 January 1990, but only for 35 currencies. All 165 currencies are covered from 1 January 2021. CurrencyFreaks history goes back to 28 November 1984 for major fiat currencies, and its historical-data-limits endpoint returns the first available date for each currency.
Is ExchangeRate-API the Same as exchangeratesapi.io?
No. ExchangeRate-API (exchangerate-api.com) is run by AYR Tech. exchangeratesapi.io is a different product from APILayer, the company behind Fixer and currencylayer. CurrencyFreaks is a third, independent provider. This post compares CurrencyFreaks with exchangerate-api.com only.
Related reading: Open Exchange Rates pricing and alternative and 10 best currency exchange APIs.
