Currencylayer API
The Currencylayer API is a RESTful JSON-based service offering accurate real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 world currencies and precious metals — fully compatible with any modern tech stack. Delivered via secure HTTPS, it supports powerful features while remaining affordable, making it ideal for startups, fintechs, e‑commerce platforms, and enterprise applications.
API Documentation
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 worldwide.
API Endpoints Summary
| Endpoint | Purpose | Key Parameters |
|---|---|---|
/live | Fetch real-time rates | access_key, source, currencies |
/historical | Retrieve FX rates on a specific date | access_key, date, optional filters |
/convert | Convert amounts between currencies | access_key, from, to, amount, date? |
/timeframe | Get rates over date range | access_key, start_date, end_date, source?, currencies? |
/change | Retrieve change/margin info | access_key, start_date?, end_date?, currencies? |
Data Reliability & Accuracy
- Spot rates are aggregated from multiple commercial sources and banking data streams.
- A validation and fallback algorithm ensures data precision up to six decimal places. If one provider fails, another is used to maintain completeness.
- The API maintains a 12-month average uptime of approximately 99.9%, with a public status page available separately
Why Choose Currencylayer?
- Scalable & Affordable: from free-tier prototyping to high-volume enterprise use.
- Accurate & Reliable: robust, validated data with real‑time refresh options.
- Developer‑friendly: simple JSON format, clear endpoints, broad language support, and detailed docs.
- Trusted: used by hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide