Fixer API

Powered by 15+ exchange rate data sources, the Fixer API is capable of delivering real-time exchange rate data for 170 world currencies. The API comes with multiple endpoints, each serving a different use case. Endpoint functionalities include getting the latest exchange rate data for all or a specific set of currencies, converting amounts from one currency to another, retrieving Time-Series data for one or multiple currencies and querying the API for daily fluctuation data.

Throughout this documentation you will learn about API structure, methods, potential errors and code examples. In case there any question is left unanswered, please make sure to contact us and our team will be happy to help out.

Quickstart Tool

No time for long documentation articles? We've got you covered - in the Dashboard section of your control panel you will be able to access our Quickstart tool and test all API endpoints at the click of a button.

Sign up for a free using the button below to use the Fixer Quickstart tool.

Getting Started

Definitions

API Key

Your API Key is the unique key that is passed into the API base URL's access_key parameter in order to authenticate with the Fixer API.

Base URL:

https://data.fixer.io/api/

Append your API Key: Here is how to authenticate with the Fixer API:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/latest
    ? access_key = API_KEY

API Response

Exchange rates delivered by the Fixer API are by default relative to EUR. All data is returned in standard JSON format and can be parsed easily using any programming language.

Example Response: Below you will find an example API response carrying a number of common world currencies, all relative to the currency EUR and time stamped at the exact time they were collected.

{
    "success": true,
    "timestamp": 1519296206,
    "base": "EUR",
    "date": "2024-11-21",
    "rates": {
        "AUD": 1.566015,
        "CAD": 1.560132,
        "CHF": 1.154727,
        "CNY": 7.827874,
        "GBP": 0.882047,
        "JPY": 132.360679,
        "USD": 1.23396,
    [...]
    }
}

As illustrated above, the API's response - when queried for real-time exchange rates - always contains a timestamp object containing a standard UNIX time stamp indicating the time the given exchange rate data was collected, a base object containing the three-letter currency code of the base currency, a date object containing the date the given exchange rate data was collected, and a rates object containing the actual exchange rate data.

Further below, in the Endpoints section, the API response structure will be discussed in detail.

Available Endpoints

The Fixer API comes with X API endpoints, each providing a different functionality. Please note that depending on your subscription plan, certain API endpoints may or may not be available.

• Latest rates endpointReturns real-time exchange rate data for all available or a specific set of currencies.
• Convert endpointAllows for conversion of any amount from one currency to another.
• Historical rates endpointReturns historical exchange rate data for all available or a specific set of currencies.
• Time-Series data endpointReturns daily historical exchange rate data between two specified dates for all available or a specific set of currencies.
• Fluctuation data endpointReturns fluctuation data between two specified dates for all available or a specific set of currencies.

SSL Connection

All paid subscription plans available on Fixer.io come with 256-bit SSL encryption. To connect to the API via SSL, simply use the https protocol instead of standard http.

JSONP Callbacks

The Fixer API comes with support for JSONP Callbacks. This feature enables you to specify a function name, pass it into the API's callback GET parameter and cause the API to return your requested API response wrapped inside that function.

Example Call:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/latest
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & callback = MY_FUNCTION

In the example call above we are requesting the API to use the callback name MY_FUNCTION.

Example Response: Your API response will be wrapped inside your preferred callback function.

({
    "success": true,
    "timestamp": 1519296206,
    "base": "EUR",
    "date": "2024-11-21",
    "rates": {
        "AUD": 1.566015,
        "CAD": 1.560132,
        "CHF": 1.154727,
        "CNY": 7.827874,
        "GBP": 0.882047,
        "JPY": 132.360679,
        "USD": 1.23396,
    [...]
    }
})

Access-Control / CORS

Fixer also supports Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) and Access-Control Headers. This will enable you to use the Fixer API via Cross-Origin HTTP Requests.

Learn more about CORS »

HTTP ETags

HTTP ETags are a way of reducing the load on your back-end by requesting new Fixer data only if rates have changed since the last API response.

What are ETags?

An ETag is a part of the HTTP protocol and one of the several mechanisms used for cache validation. The ETag is an identifier assigned to a data resource in a server, and if that resource is ever updated at the server, the ETag is changed.

Whenever a resource is requested (via its URL), the data and ETag are retrieved and stored in the Web cache, and the ETag is sent along with subsequent requests. If the ETag at the server has not changed, a "Not Modified" message is returned, and the cached data is used. (Definition by pcmag.com)

ETags - Quickstart Guide

Your initial request to the Fixer API will create an ETag object containing a unique ETag key and a Date object containing the exact date and time at which the data was last modified. This data must be cached along with the entire API response in order for ETags to work.

ETag: "202567a75aef2e66a3ebf2366bff048f"
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2018 11:30:01 GMT

Once you make another API request, make sure to include the If-None-Match HTTP header abd set ut to your previously generated ETag value. Moreover, you will need to add the If-Modified-Since HTTP header to your API request containing the date and time data from your last request.

If-None-Match: "1872ade88f3013edeb33decd74a4f947"
If-Modified-Since: Fri, 10 Apr 2015 12:10:04 GMT

Depending on whether or not your result set has updated since your last API request, the API will return either:

• the results from your initial API request along with a 304 – Not Modified HTTP header indicating that no change has occured. In this case, the size of the API response will be as small as 0.2kb;
• or new results with an entirely new set of ETag and Date objects indicating that new data has been accessed. In this case, the size of your API response will be normal.

Potential Errors

Whenever a requested resource is not available or an API call fails for another reason, a JSON error is returned. Errors always come with an error code and a description.

Example Error: The following error is returned if your monthly API request volume has been exceeded.

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": 104,
    "info": "Your monthly API request volume has been reached. Please upgrade your plan."
  }
}

Other Errors:

Endpoints

Supported Symbols Endpoint

The Fixer API comes with a constantly updated endpoint returning all available currencies. To access this list, make a request to the API's symbols endpoint.

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/symbols
    ? access_key = API_KEY

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "symbols": {
    "AED": "United Arab Emirates Dirham",
    "AFN": "Afghan Afghani",
    "ALL": "Albanian Lek",
    "AMD": "Armenian Dram",
    [...]
    }
}

Response Objects:

Symbols Endpoint:

Specify Symbols

To reduce bandwidth you can limit the number of output currencies to a specific set of your choice on most API endpoints. To do so, simply append the Fixer API's symbols parameter to your API request and set it to one or more comma-separated currency codes.

Example:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/latest
? access_key = API_KEY
& symbols = USD,CAD,JPY

The API's response for the request above will be limited to the currencies USD, CAD and JPY.

Latest Rates Endpoint

Depending on your subscription plan, the API's latest endpoint will return real-time exchange rate data updated every 60 minutes, every 10 minutes or every 60 seconds.

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/latest
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & base = USD
    & symbols = GBP,JPY,EUR

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "timestamp": 1519296206,
    "base": "USD",
    "date": "2024-11-21",
    "rates": {
        "GBP": 0.72007,
        "JPY": 107.346001,
        "EUR": 0.813399,
    }
}

Response Objects:

Changing base currency

Provided changing base currency is supported on your subscription plan, you can change the currency to which your output currency rates are relative to by appending the base parameter to your API request URL and setting it to the three-letter code of your preferred base currency.

Example:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/latest
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & base = USD

Please note: The default base currency is EUR.

Change Base Currencies:

You can change the currency to which your output currency rates are relative to by appending the base parameter to your API request URL and setting it to the three-letter code of your preferred base currency.

Latest Rate Single Currency:

Depending on your subscription plan, the API's latest endpoint will return real-time exchange rate data updated every 60 minutes, every 10 minutes or every 60 seconds. Mention which currency rate you want to check in symbols parameter.

Latest Rates of Multiple Currencies:

Similarly you can check the latest rates of multiple currencies by mentioning a list of comma-separated currency codes with symbols parameter.

Historical Rates Endpoint

Historical rates are available for most currencies all the way back to the year of 1999. You can query the Fixer API for historical rates by appending a date (format YYYY-MM-DD) to the base URL.

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/2013-12-24
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & base = GBP
    & symbols = USD,CAD,EUR

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "historical": true,
    "date": "2013-12-24",
    "timestamp": 1387929599,
    "base": "GBP",
    "rates": {
        "USD": 1.636492,
        "EUR": 1.196476,
        "CAD": 1.739516
    }
}

Response Objects:

Historical Rates Endpoint:

Convert Endpoint

The Fixer API comes with a separate currency conversion endpoint, which can be used to convert any amount from one currency to another. In order to convert currencies, please use the API's convert endpoint, append the from and to parameters and set them to your preferred base and target currency codes.

It is also possible to convert currencies using historical exchange rate data. To do this, please also use the API's date parameter and set it to your preferred date. (format YYYY-MM-DD)

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/convert
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & from = GBP
    & to = JPY
    & amount = 25

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "query": {
        "from": "GBP",
        "to": "JPY",
        "amount": 25
    },
    "info": {
        "timestamp": 1519328414,
        "rate": 148.972231
    },
    "historical": ""
    "date": "2018-02-22"
    "result": 3724.305775
}

Response Objects:

Convert Historical Rates:

Using convert endpoint, you can convert any amount from one currency to another based on the historical rates by specifying a date (format YYYY-MM-DD).

Convert Latest Rates:

Using convert endpoint, you can convert any amount from one currency to another based on the latest rates.

Time-Series Endpoint

If supported by your subscription plan, the Fixer API's timeseries endpoint lets you query the API for daily historical rates between two dates of your choice, with a maximum time frame of 365 days.

NOTE: Because the trading/markets are closed over the weekend, weekend days are not included in the response data.

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/timeseries
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & start_date = 2012-05-01
    & end_date = 2012-05-25

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "timeseries": true,
    "start_date": "2012-05-01",
    "end_date": "2012-05-03",
    "base": "EUR",
    "rates": {
        "2012-05-01":{
          "USD": 1.322891,
          "AUD": 1.278047,
          "CAD": 1.302303
        },
        "2012-05-02": {
          "USD": 1.315066,
          "AUD": 1.274202,
          "CAD": 1.299083
        },
        "2012-05-03": {
          "USD": 1.314491,
          "AUD": 1.280135,
          "CAD": 1.296868
        },
        [...]
    }
}

Response Objects:

Time-Series Endpoint:

Fluctuation Endpoint

Using the Fixer API's fluctuation endpoint you will be able to retrieve information about how currencies fluctuate on a day-to-day basis. To use this feature, simply append a start_date and end_date and choose which currencies (symbols) you would like to query the API for. Please note that the maximum allowed timeframe is 365 days.

API Request:

Sign Up to Run API Requesthttps://data.fixer.io/api/fluctuation
    ? access_key = API_KEY
    & start_date = 2015-12-01
    & end_date = 2015-12-24

Request Parameters:

API Response:

{
    "success":true,
    "fluctuation":true,
    "start_date":"2018-02-25",
    "end_date":"2018-02-26",
    "base":"EUR",
    "rates":{
        "USD":{
            "start_rate":1.228952,
            "end_rate":1.232735,
            "change":0.0038,
            "change_pct":0.3078
        },
        "JPY":{
            "start_rate":131.587611,
            "end_rate":131.651142,
            "change":0.0635,
            "change_pct":0.0483
        },
        [...]
    }
}

Response Objects:

Fluctuation Endpoint:

Sample Code

PHP (cURL)

Real-time rates: Find below a simple PHP example for getting exchange rate data via the Fixer API's latest endpoint.

// set API Endpoint and API key
$endpoint = 'latest';
$access_key = 'API_KEY';

// Initialize CURL:
$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/'.$endpoint.'?access_key='.$access_key.'');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

// Store the data:
$json = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

// Decode JSON response:
$exchangeRates = json_decode($json, true);

// Access the exchange rate values, e.g. GBP:
echo $exchangeRates['rates']['GBP'];

Convert currencies: Here is how to convert currencies using PHP cURL.

// set API Endpoint, access key, required parameters
$endpoint = 'convert';
$access_key = 'API_KEY';

$from = 'USD';
$to = 'EUR';
$amount = 10;

// initialize CURL:
$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/'.$endpoint.'?access_key='.$access_key.'&from='.$from.'&to='.$to.'&amount='.$amount.'');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

// get the JSON data:
$json = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

// Decode JSON response:
$conversionResult = json_decode($json, true);

// access the conversion result
echo $conversionResult['result'];

JavaScript (jQuery.ajax)

Real-time rates: Find below a simple jQuery.ajax example for getting exchange rate data via the Fixer API's latest endpoint.

// set endpoint and your access key
endpoint = 'latest'
access_key = 'API_KEY';

// get the most recent exchange rates via the "latest" endpoint:
$.ajax({
    url: 'https://data.fixer.io/api/' + endpoint + '?access_key=' + access_key,
    dataType: 'jsonp',
    success: function(json) {

        // exchange rata data is stored in json.rates
        alert(json.rates.GBP);

        // base currency is stored in json.base
        alert(json.base);

        // timestamp can be accessed in json.timestamp
        alert(json.timestamp);

    }
});

Convert currencies: Here is how to convert currencies using jQuery.ajax.

// set endpoint and your API key
endpoint = 'convert';
access_key = 'API_KEY';

// define from currency, to currency, and amount
from = 'EUR';
to = 'GBP';
amount = '10';

// execute the conversion using the "convert" endpoint:
$.ajax({
    url: 'https://data.fixer.io/api/' + endpoint + '?access_key=' + access_key +'&from=' + from + '&to=' + to + '&amount=' + amount,
    dataType: 'jsonp',
    success: function(json) {

        // access the conversion result in json.result
        alert(json.result);

    }
});

Business Continuity - API Overages

Ensuring our customers achieve success is paramount to what we do at APILayer. For this reason, we will be rolling out our Business Continuity plan guaranteeing your end users will never see a drop in coverage. Every plan has a certain amount of API calls that you can make in the given month. However, we would never want to cut your traffic or impact user experience negatively for your website or application in case you get more traffic.

What is an overage?

An overage occurs when you go over a quota for your API plan. When you reach your API calls limit, we will charge you a small amount for each new API call so we can make sure there will be no disruption in the service we provide to you and your website or application can continue running smoothly.

Prices for additional API calls will vary based on your plan. See table below for prices per call and example of an overage billing.

Why does APILayer have overage fees?

Overage fees allow developers to continue using an API once a quota limit is reached and give them time to upgrade their plan based on projected future use while ensuring API providers get paid for higher usage.

How do I know if I will be charged for overages?

When you are close to reaching your API calls limit for the month, you will receive an automatic notification (at 75%, 90% and 100% of your monthly quota). However, it is your responsibility to review and monitor for the plan’s usage limitations. You are required to keep track of your quota usage to prevent overages. You can do this by tracking the number of API calls you make and checking the dashboard for up-to-date usage statistics.

How will I be charged for my API subscription?

You will be charged for your monthly subscription plan, plus any overage fees applied. Your credit card will be billed after the billing period has ended.

What happens if I don’t have any overage fees?

In this case, there will be no change to your monthly invoice. Only billing cycles that incur overages will see any difference in monthly charges. The Business Continuity plan is an insurance plan to be used only if needed and guarantees your end users never see a drop in coverage from you.

What if I consistently have more API calls than my plan allows?

If your site consistently surpasses the set limits each month, you may face additional charges for the excess usage. Nevertheless, as your monthly usage reaches a certain threshold, it becomes more practical to consider upgrading to the next plan. By doing so, you ensure a smoother and more accommodating experience for your growing customer base.

I would like to upgrade my plan. How can I do that?

You can easily upgrade your plan by going to your Dashboard and selecting the new plan that would be more suitable for your business needs. Additionally, you may contact your Account Manager to discuss a custom plan if you expect a continuous increase in usage.

Introducing Platinum Support - Enterprise-grade support for APILayer

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What does Platinum Support include?

	Standard Support	Platinum Support
General review on the issue
Access to knowledge base articles
Email support communication
Regular products updates and fixes
Dedicated account team
Priority Email Support with unlimited communication
Priority bug and review updates
Option for quarterly briefing call with product Management
Features requests as priority roadmap input into product

Priority Email Support: Experience unrivaled responsiveness with our priority email support. Rest assured that your inquiries receive top-priority attention, ensuring swift resolutions to any issues.

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Quarterly Briefing Call with Product Team: Stay in the loop with the latest updates and insights from our Product team. Engage in a quarterly briefing call to discuss new features, enhancements, and upcoming developments.

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