Forex Feed vs ExchangeRate-API
ExchangeRate-API is known for simplicity and a generous free tier with daily rates. Forex Feed's free tier is similar in spirit — the paid tiers are where the two diverge: sub-minute freshness and deep OHLC history.
What Forex Feed brings
20-second refresh at $50/month
Forex Feed's Unlimited plan serves rates refreshed every 20 seconds with unlimited fair-use requests for a flat $50/month. Sub-minute freshness is typically an enterprise-tier feature elsewhere — check what your shortlist charges for it.
10 years of history with real OHLC
Every plan queries the same 10-year daily archive (window depth varies by plan), and USD pairs include true open/high/low computed from intraday snapshots — not candles synthesized from closes.
An unhappy path you can program against
One JSON envelope, machine-readable error codes, Retry-After headers, and a /quota endpoint that works even when your quota is exhausted. Compare error-handling docs before you choose any rate API — it's where integrations live or die.
Forex Feed at a glance
| Rate freshness | 20 seconds (Unlimited) · 5 min (Developer) · daily (Free) |
| Historical depth | ~10 years daily, back to July 2016 |
| OHLC candles | Yes — real intraday aggregates on USD pairs |
| Pricing model | Flat plans: $0 / $19 / $50 per month |
| Top-tier requests | Unlimited (fair use, 1,000/min) |
| Usage observability | /quota endpoint, free to call, works when exhausted |
| Error handling | One envelope, machine-readable codes, Retry-After |
ExchangeRate-API's current pricing, limits, and freshness are listed on their site — plans change often enough that a hard-coded table here would mislead you within months. Compare the two side by side for your volume.
Where ExchangeRate-API may fit better
- • ExchangeRate-API's simplicity is genuinely nice for daily-rate use cases where freshness doesn't matter.
- • Its free tier is a great fit for hobby projects that only need day-level accuracy across many currencies.
The fastest way to compare: run both
A free key takes 30 seconds — quickstart · other comparisons: Fixer · Open Exchange Rates · currencyapi.com