Last updated: 26 August 2026
Many developers consider Open Exchange Rates when searching for a reliable currency API. However, one important limitation often affects development decisions: the free plan only supports USD as the base currency.
This means developers cannot directly convert from other base currencies unless they upgrade to a paid plan. If your application needs flexible base currency support, this restriction can become a real challenge.
One thing to be clear about before the comparison: the CurrencyFreaks free Developer plan carries the same USD-only restriction. All base currencies unlock on the paid plans, starting at $9.99 per month. On the free tier, the meaningful differences between the two providers are update frequency, currency coverage, and which endpoints you can reach, not base currency.
In this blog, we compare Open Exchange Rates and CurrencyFreaks to understand their pricing, free plan limitations, and which API works better for different development needs.
Why Developers Look for Alternatives to the Open Exchange Rates Free Plan?
Developers rely on exchange rate APIs to get current and accurate currency conversion data for their applications. However, when evaluating the Open Exchange Rates free plan, many developers start looking for alternatives because of certain limitations such as the USD-only base currency and restricted features.
Here is a quick comparison on both options:
CurrencyFreaks Vs. Open Exchange Rates API
| Feature | CurrencyFreaks | Open Exchange Rates API |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan available (1,000 requests/month). Paid plans start at $9.99/month | Free plan available (1,000 requests/month). Paid plans start at $12/month |
| Supported Currencies | Over 1000+ currencies including fiat, metals, and crypto | Over 200 currencies supported |
| Exchange Rate Updates | 24-hour updates on free plan, up to 60-second updates on paid plans | Hourly updates on free plan, faster updates on paid plans |
| Developer Support | Limited support on free plan, priority support on paid plans | Documentation and community support |
| API Access | RESTful API | RESTful API |
| Response Formats | JSON and XML | JSON |
| SSL Security | Secure SSL encryption | HTTPS secure communication |
| Enterprise Solutions | Customizable enterprise solutions available | Enterprise / VIP plans available |
| Data Sources | Aggregates data from various sources | Aggregates data from various sources |
| Rate Limiting | Yes | Yes |
| Supported Languages | Shell, Node JS, Java, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Go, C#, PHP, Swift | Libraries and integrations available for many languages |
| Latest Currency Rates | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Desired Currencies Rates Only | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Change Base Currency | ✔️ Paid plans (free plan restricted to USD) | ❌ Not available on free plan |
| Historical Rates | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Latest Rates Conversion | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Historical Data Limits | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Supported Currency Symbols | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Supported Currencies | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| IP To Currency | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Historical Rates Conversion | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Fluctuation | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Time Series Endpoint | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| OHLC (open/high/low/close) | ❌ No equivalent endpoint | ✔️ Open, high, low and close per period, useful for charting |
| Usage / quota endpoint | ❌ Usage visible in dashboard only | ✔️ Queryable via API, so apps can track their own quota |
Where Open Exchange Rates is stronger. Three rows above are worth reading in its favour. Its free tier updates hourly against CurrencyFreaks' 24 hours, which matters if you need intraday movement without paying. Its OHLC endpoint returns open, high, low and close values per period, which CurrencyFreaks has no equivalent for, so charting applications are genuinely easier to build on Open Exchange Rates. And its usage endpoint lets an application query its own remaining quota programmatically rather than checking a dashboard. If any of those three are central to what you are building, it is the better choice regardless of the rest of the table.
CurrencyFreaks
CurrencyFreaks helps developers determine the value of one currency in another, offering both real-time and historical exchange rates. It supports over 1000+ currencies, including 166 fiat currencies, 4 metals, and 861 cryptocurrencies. The API provides data in JSON and XML formats, making it easy to integrate into applications across multiple programming languages.
This API is ideal for applications that require fast and reliable currency conversion, historical analysis, and accurate currency fluctuation data. With SSL-encrypted requests even on the free plan and geolocation-based routing for low-latency access, CurrencyFreaks ensures both speed and security. Its detailed documentation includes examples in Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Swift, and more, and priority customer support is available for technical integration help.
Open Exchange Rates API
The Open Exchange Rates API provides developers with secure, real-time, and historical exchange rate data for over 200 currencies. It supports easy integration, multiple paid plans with higher request limits, and features like time-series and OHLC data. The free plan is limited to USD as the base currency and 1,000 requests per month, making it important to compare with CurrencyFreaks for multi-currency applications.
Conclusion
Choosing the right exchange rate API depends on your application’s flexibility and scalability needs. Open Exchange Rates provides reliable data, but its free plan limits functionality, especially with USD as the only base currency. This restriction can affect real-world applications that require multi-currency support.
CurrencyFreaks offers a more flexible solution with broader currency coverage, useful endpoints, and competitive pricing. Developers can build and scale applications more efficiently without early limitations. You should evaluate your project requirements carefully and select the API that delivers the best long-term value. Start with the free currency converter API - no credit card required.
FAQs
What Is the Pricing of the Open Exchange Rates API?
Open Exchange Rates offers a free plan with up to 1,000 API requests per month and hourly exchange rate updates. However, the free plan only supports USD as the base currency. Paid plans start at $12 per month and provide additional features such as support for all base currencies, higher request limits, and faster update frequencies.
What Are the Limitations of the Open Exchange Rates Free Plan?
The Open Exchange Rates free plan includes several limitations that developers should consider. It allows up to 1,000 API requests per month and provides hourly exchange rate updates. In addition, the free plan only supports USD as the base currency, meaning developers cannot directly convert from other base currencies unless they upgrade to a paid plan.
Can I Switch From Open Exchange Rates Without Rewriting My Integration?
Mostly, yes. Both APIs are REST endpoints that return JSON with a base currency and a rates object keyed by currency code, so the parsing logic usually carries over. The three things you will need to change are the endpoint URL, the API key parameter (CurrencyFreaks uses apikey), and any code that relies on an Open Exchange Rates endpoint with no CurrencyFreaks equivalent, most notably OHLC. Rates come back as strings in both cases, so keep whatever numeric parsing you already have.
What Happens If I Exceed the Free Tier?
Requests start returning HTTP 429 rather than rate data, so an integration without a fallback will surface errors to users. On 1,000 calls a month you have roughly one call every 45 minutes, which is why caching server-side and serving every visitor from that cache is the standard pattern. Handle 429 by falling back to the last cached response instead of failing the request.
What Is The Best Free Open Exchange Rates Alternative?
CurrencyFreaks is a strong alternative. It offers 1,000 free API calls per month, supports all base currencies on paid plans, and provides SSL encryption on all plans for secure requests. Open Exchange Rates remains the better fit if you need hourly updates on the free tier or the OHLC endpoint.
