How many free requests does xchanger8 give?

xchanger8 gives 10,000 requests per month on the free tier — 10x more than Open Exchange Rates (1,000) and 33x more than CurrencyAPI (300).

Can I use any base currency on the free plan?

Yes. Unlike Open Exchange Rates which restricts non-USD base currencies to paid plans, xchanger8 allows any of 31 supported base currencies on all tiers including free.

Where does xchanger8 get its exchange rate data?

xchanger8 sources rates from the European Central Bank (ECB eurofxref) and the US Federal Reserve (FRED DEXJPUS series). These are official central bank feeds — authoritative, free, and published. Pro+ tiers add FastForex for 5-minute updates.

LIVE · ECB + FRED sourced · 300+ edge locations

Exchange rates at the
speed of light

The exchange rates API that gives you 10× more free requests than OXR, any base currency for free, and <20ms responses from 300+ Cloudflare edge locations worldwide.

Start free → View docs

No credit card required

10,000

free req/month

<20ms

global latency

currencies

api.xchangr8.com/v1/latest?base=JPY

Response

cURL

// GET /v1/latest?base=JPY&symbols=USD,EUR,AUD,GBP

// X-API-Key: xc8_live_••••••••••••••••••••••

{

"base": "JPY",

"timestamp": 1749291847,

"freshness": "hourly",

"source": "ecb+fred",

"rates": {

"USD": 0.006523 ↑,

"EUR": 0.005981 ↓,

"AUD": 0.009901 ↑,

"GBP": 0.005134 ↑

}

Why xchanger8

Built differently, from the ground up

Every architectural decision was made to serve developers better than existing APIs — faster, cheaper, more transparent.

⚡

<20ms globally

Runs on Cloudflare Workers across 300+ edge locations. Rates are cached at the nearest PoP — your users in Tokyo, London, and São Paulo all get sub-20ms responses.

🆓

10,000 free req/month

10× more than OXR's 1,000 and 33× more than CurrencyAPI's 300. Enough for real projects — not a bait-and-switch free tier.

🌐

Any base currency, free

OXR charges $12/mo before you can use non-USD base currencies. With xchanger8, all 31 base currencies are available on every tier — including free.

🏛️

Central bank sourced

Rates come from the ECB eurofxref feed and US Federal Reserve FRED series — official, authoritative, and published. No opaque "proprietary blend."

🇯🇵

JPY depth

Built by a team operating in Japan. JPY pairs are cross-validated against both ECB and FRED DEXJPUS. Asia-Pacific currencies covered with precision.

🔔

Webhooks on Pro

Get notified when any rate moves beyond your threshold. Signed payloads, automatic retries, HTTPS-only. No polling required.

Comparison

xchanger8 vs the alternatives

See exactly how we stack up against the most popular exchange rate APIs on the market today.

Feature	xchanger8	OXR	CurrencyAPI	ExchangeRate-API
Free tier requests/mo	10,000	1,000	300	1,500
Any base currency — free	✓	✗ paid only	✓	✗
Starter plan price	$9/mo	$12/mo	$10/mo	$10/mo
Global edge delivery	✓ 300+ PoPs	✗ single region	✗	✗
Data source transparency	✓ ECB + FRED	✗ proprietary	✗	✗
Webhooks (rate change alerts)	✓ Pro+	✗	✓ paid	✗
No credit card for free	✓	✓	✓	✓

Integration

Works with everything

A clean REST API returning JSON. If it can make an HTTP request, it works with xchanger8.

cURL

JavaScript

Python

# Latest rates — any base currency
curl -G "https://api.xchangr8.com/v1/latest" \
  -d "base=JPY" \
  -d "symbols=USD,EUR,AUD" \
  -H "X-API-Key: xc8_live_YOUR_KEY"

# Convert between currencies
curl "https://api.xchangr8.com/v1/convert?\
  from=JPY&to=USD&amount=50000" \
  -H "X-API-Key: xc8_live_YOUR_KEY"
        

const res = await fetch(
  'https://api.xchangr8.com/v1/latest?base=JPY',
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'xc8_live_YOUR_KEY' } }
)

const { base, rates, timestamp } = await res.json()
// { base: 'JPY', rates: { USD: 0.006523, EUR: 0.005981 }, ... }

// Convert ¥50,000 to USD
const usd = Math.round(50000 * rates.USD * 100) / 100
// 326.15
        

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.xchangr8.com/v1/latest",
    params={"base": "JPY", "symbols": "USD,EUR,AUD"},
    headers={"X-API-Key": "xc8_live_YOUR_KEY"}
)
data = r.json()
# data["rates"]["USD"] → 0.006523
        

req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET",
    "https://api.xchangr8.com/v1/latest?base=JPY", nil)
req.Header.Set("X-API-Key", "xc8_live_YOUR_KEY")

resp, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
var data struct {
    Base  string             `json:"base"`
    Rates map[string]float64 `json:"rates"`
}
json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&data)
        

📖

Consistent response shape

Every endpoint returns the same JSON envelope. No surprise nested objects or version-dependent fields.

🔑

Header or query param

Pass your key as X-API-Key header or ?apikey= — whichever fits your stack.

🔄

Sandbox keys for testing

Use xc8_test_ keys in CI/CD. They return synthetic rates without hitting upstream sources.

📊

Usage in every response

Standard headers tell you exactly how many requests you have left, so you never hit a wall unexpectedly.

Pricing

Simple, predictable pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you need it. No credit card required to start.

Free

forever

Get free key

✓ 10,000 requests/month
✓ Any base currency
✓ 31 currencies
✓ Daily updates (ECB)
✓ 7-day history
✓ Sandbox key included

Starter

^$9

per month

Get started

✓ 500,000 requests/month
✓ Any base currency
✓ 31 currencies
✓ Hourly updates
✓ 90-day history
✓ Email support

Common questions

How many free requests do I get?

10,000 requests per month — forever free, no credit card required. That's 10× more than Open Exchange Rates (1,000) and 33× more than CurrencyAPI (300). The quota resets on the 1st of each month.

Can I use any base currency on free?

Yes. All 31 supported currencies are available as a base currency on every tier, including the free plan. Open Exchange Rates restricts non-USD base currencies to paid plans ($12/mo+). We don't.

Where does the rate data come from?

Free and Starter tiers use the European Central Bank eurofxref daily feed and US Federal Reserve FRED series — both official central bank sources. Pro tier adds FastForex for 5-minute intraday updates.

How fast is the API?

Responses typically arrive in under 20ms globally. xchanger8 runs on Cloudflare Workers at 300+ edge locations. Rates are served from KV cache at the nearest edge — not round-tripped to a single server.

Is xchanger8 a good Open Exchange Rates alternative?

Yes. xchanger8 offers 10× more free requests, any base currency on the free plan, faster global responses from Cloudflare edge, and transparent central bank sourcing — starting at $9/mo vs OXR's $12/mo.

How do webhooks work?

Pro+ plans can register HTTPS webhook URLs to receive signed JSON payloads when a currency rate moves beyond a threshold. Deliveries are queued with automatic retry (30s → 5m → 30m → 6h). All payloads are HMAC-SHA256 signed.

Exchange rates at the speed of light