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About Currencylayer
What Does Currencylayer Do?
Currencylayer provides a reliable, easy-to-integrate Forex and exchange rate API. It delivers real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 world currencies and precious metals in lightweight JSON format, making it ideal for developers and businesses building currency converters, mobile apps, or back-office financial systems.
Who Is It For?
Currencylayer is built for developers, SaaS companies, e-commerce platforms, and financial applications that need accurate, frequently updated exchange rates. It is NOT for casual users needing a simple currency converter widget — it's a developer-focused API requiring basic API integration skills.
Use Cases & Problems Solved
With updates ranging from every 60 minutes down to 60 seconds, Currencylayer solves the problem of stale or unreliable forex data. Use cases include: powering real-time currency conversion in an e-commerce store, building a multi-currency accounting tool, or adding historical rate analysis to a fintech app. Advanced features like source currency switching, time-frame queries, and currency-change parameters give developers flexible control.
Key Integrations & Compatibility
The API works with any programming language (Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, etc.) and can be integrated anywhere using simple HTTP requests. It supports 256-bit HTTPS encryption and includes interactive documentation for quick testing.
Key features
- 168 World Currencies — Access real-time and historical exchange rates for 168 fiat currencies and precious metals.
- Multiple Update Frequencies — Choose rates updated every 60 minutes, 10 minutes, or 60 seconds depending on your plan.
- JSON Format — Lightweight, portable JSON responses for easy integration with any application.
- Historical Data — Query exchange rates back to 1999 using the historical endpoint.
- Currency Conversion — Have the API convert single amounts automatically.
- Source Currency Switching — Change the base currency for your API requests.
- 256-bit HTTPS — Secure, encrypted data streams for all API calls.
