CurrencyAPI.net alternative: fxapi vs CurrencyAPI.net

This page is for developers using CurrencyAPI.net or comparing it with fxapi as a CurrencyAPI.net alternative. CurrencyAPI.net is run by House of Apis LTD, a UK company founded in 2019. Its paid plans combine commercial use and historical data from $9.99, 60-second updates from $34.99 and a very high request quota on its top listed plan, plus intraday OHLC candles. fxapi is the better fit when you need historical rates, fluctuation and period averages on the free plan, time series with week-end and month-end accuracy, or an MCP server for AI agents.

fxapi vs CurrencyAPI.net at a glance

Competitor information checked on October 9, 2026 from currencyapi.net, its pricing, documentation, currency list, about and terms pages. Plans change – verify on their site.

Where CurrencyAPI.net is strong

• History and commercial use from $9.99. Essential includes historical rates, conversion, any base currency and commercial use, with 20,000 requests a month.
• High volume at the top. The Professional plan lists 10,000,000 requests a month for $74.99, with 60-second updates.
• Intraday OHLC. Candles from 5 minutes to 1 day for the last 30 days on Professional.
• No rate limits on paid plans. Only the monthly allowance applies.
• XML output and integrations. Responses come as JSON or XML, and there are official SDKs for four languages, a Postman collection and a Magento 2 extension.

Where fxapi is different

A free plan with history and analytics

fxapi’s Free plan includes historical rates back to 1999, fluctuation and period averages, with any base currency. CurrencyAPI.net’s free plan returns live USD-based rates and is limited to personal use.

Averages for accounting

/v1/average returns monthly, quarterly, yearly or total averages with the minimum and maximum daily rate – the numbers IAS 21 and ASC 830 translation needs – in one request, as JSON or CSV. CurrencyAPI.net doesn’t document an averages endpoint.

Longer, more flexible time series

/v1/range returns daily series for up to 366 days, week-end series for up to 1,830 days and month-end series back to 1999 in a single call, plus hourly, 15-minute and minute data for recent periods. CurrencyAPI.net’s timeframe endpoint returns up to 365 days per request.

More currencies, crypto and metals

190+ codes cover active fiat, legacy codes for historical data, 16 cryptocurrencies and four precious metals including platinum and palladium – see the currency list.

MCP and header authentication

The fxapi MCP server gives AI agents tool access to every endpoint, and the key travels in a header rather than the URL.

Migrating from CurrencyAPI.net to fxapi

Endpoint mapping

Response shape

CurrencyAPI.net returns valid, a Unix timestamp in updated, base and a flat rates object. fxapi returns meta.last_updated_at as an ISO 8601 string and a data object keyed by currency code, where each entry has code and value. CurrencyAPI.net signals errors with valid: false and an error code – 405 when the monthly allowance is reached, 416 for an endpoint outside your plan. fxapi uses HTTP status codes for the same cases: 429 and 403, plus 422 with an errors object for invalid parameters.

Before and after

CurrencyAPI.net:

curl "https://currencyapi.net/api/v2/rates?key=YOUR_KEY&base=USD"

fxapi:

curl -G "https://api.fxapi.com/v1/latest" \
  -d base_currency=USD \
  -H "apikey: $FXAPI_KEY"

<?php
$context = stream_context_create(['http' => ['header' => 'apikey: ' . getenv('FXAPI_KEY')]]);
$raw = file_get_contents('https://api.fxapi.com/v1/latest?base_currency=USD', false, $context);
if ($raw === false) {
    throw new RuntimeException('fxapi request failed');
}
$body = json_decode($raw, true);

// CurrencyAPI.net-style payload for existing code
$legacy = [
    'valid'   => true,
    'updated' => strtotime($body['meta']['last_updated_at']),
    'base'    => 'USD',
    'rates'   => array_map(fn ($item) => $item['value'], $body['data']),
];

For Guzzle, Laravel caching and error handling, see the PHP guide.

Verdict

Choose CurrencyAPI.net if you need a very high monthly request volume on one plan, intraday OHLC candles or XML output, and you’ll start on a paid plan anyway. Choose fxapi if you want historical rates, fluctuation and IAS 21 averages on the free plan, time series with week-end and month-end accuracy back to 1999, platinum and palladium alongside gold and silver, or an MCP server for AI agents. Start with fxapi’s free plan and test your own pairs before deciding.

fxapi is a foreign exchange rates API by Everapi GmbH (Austria): live and historical rates for 190+ currencies, time series, conversion, fluctuation and period averages.

Frequently asked questions