FastForex alternative: fxapi vs fastFOREX.io

This page is for developers using fastFOREX.io (FastForex) or evaluating a FastForex alternative. fastFOREX.io is operated by Wham Software Limited in London. Every plan includes 1,000,000 calls a month and 60-second midpoint updates, higher tiers add bid/ask quotes, one-second updates and WebSocket streaming, and some currency pairs go back to 1970. fxapi is the better fit when you want a permanent free plan, a lower entry price for moderate volumes, or analytics endpoints such as fluctuation and IAS 21 period averages.

fxapi vs FastForex at a glance

Competitor information checked on October 9, 2026 from fastforex.io (plans, trial and FAQ), its documentation, MCP server docs and terms. Plans change – verify on their site.

Where FastForex is strong

• A million calls on every plan. One price point covers high request volumes, and extra blocks of 1,000,000 calls cost $18.
• 60-second updates from the entry plan, and one-second updates on Premium.
• Trading-grade extras. Bid/ask quotes from Extra, OHLC series on Premium and WebSocket streaming on Premium + WebSockets.
• Deep history. Daily rates as far back as 1970 for some pairs.
• Named contributors. Its site names inter-dealer brokers and bank dealing rooms among more than 100 FX contributors.
• Flexible authentication and usage tracking. Four ways to send the key, a /usage endpoint and a remote MCP server.

Where fxapi is different

A permanent free plan

fxapi’s free plan has no time limit: 300 requests a month with latest and historical rates, fluctuation and averages – enough for prototypes, internal tools and daily jobs. fastFOREX.io offers a 7-day trial instead.

A lower entry price for moderate volumes

If you need tens of thousands of requests rather than a million, fxapi Basic costs $9.99 a month for 15,000 requests with hourly updates, and Professional $34.99 for 600,000 with 60-second updates – see all plans on the pricing page.

Fluctuation and IAS 21 averages

/v1/fluctuation returns start rate, end rate and percentage change per currency, and /v1/average returns monthly, quarterly or yearly averages with min and max – one request instead of downloading and averaging a daily series yourself.

CSV and month-end series

/v1/range, /v1/fluctuation and /v1/average accept format=csv, and /v1/range returns week-end and month-end series back to 1999 for reporting.

Official SDKs in seven languages

JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go, Ruby, C# and Rust – plus step-by-step integration guides.

Migrating from FastForex to fxapi

Endpoint mapping

Response shape

fastFOREX.io’s /fetch-all returns base, a flat results object, updated and ms. fxapi returns meta.last_updated_at and a data object keyed by currency code, where each entry has code and value. Errors use HTTP status codes in both APIs; fxapi adds 422 with an errors object per invalid parameter and 403 for endpoints outside your plan.

Before and after

fastFOREX.io:

curl "https://api.fastforex.io/fetch-all?from=USD" -H "X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY"

fxapi:

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

import os
import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.fxapi.com/v1/latest",
    params={"base_currency": "USD"},
    headers={"apikey": os.environ["FXAPI_KEY"]},
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()
body = resp.json()

# fastFOREX-style payload for existing code
legacy = {
    "base": "USD",
    "results": {code: item["value"] for code, item in body["data"].items()},
    "updated": body["meta"]["last_updated_at"],
}

More patterns in the Python guide and caching exchange rates.

Verdict

Choose fastFOREX.io if you need a million or more calls a month, bid/ask quotes, one-second updates or WebSocket streaming, or history before 1999 for specific pairs. Choose fxapi if you want a free plan without a time limit, a lower monthly price for tens of thousands of requests, or fluctuation and IAS 21 period averages in one call – and try it with your own pairs on the free plan.

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

Frequently asked questions