Currency Conversions Made Easy With This Free API

by ahmet | Feb 15, 2023 | API, Category

Currency API is one of the most important products of the technology era. It is the most basic way of obtaining currency data. Moreover, access to this service is free. API for currency conversion free is mostly preferred by businesses and developers. Businesses and developers using the free currency API often provide their users with a unique experience and time savings.

The exchange rate information provided by the free currency API has guided many businesses. In addition, it directly impacts the functional growth of many businesses. In this article, we will talk about the importance of the currency API, and then we will perform a code integration with the API.

What is the Importance of Using Currency API?

A currency API that businesses and developers use doesn’t just provide currency data or exchange rates. They were developed to provide more. This API directly increases efficiency and accuracy. As a result, time and money can be saved.

Businesses that prefer this API can offer real-time currency conversion with the provided currency data. And at high speed. There are also many ways to use the currency API.

Here are some advantages of using the currency API:

Real-time Exchange Rates

First of all, an exchange rates API provides up-to-date exchange rates. Thus, users using this data can make informed decisions about foreign exchange transactions.

Automation

With an exchange rates API, exchange rate information can be automatically retrieved and integrated into applications. This allows automating transactions to be made with exchange rate information.

Historical Foreign Exchange Rates

This is a very important service that almost all of these APIs provide. With historical foreign exchange rates, businesses offer multiple services to their users at the same time with historical rates. Obtaining exchange rate information on a specific date with API requests is a pretty quick step.

Guaranteed Availability

An exchange rates API allows businesses and individuals to access exchange rate information from anywhere in the world. The high availability of real-time and historical rates is an important criterion for businesses.

Cost-effectiveness

Lastly, the API can save businesses money by reducing the need for manual data entry. In addition, the cost can be minimized by choosing a free service for exchange rates from the market. A free service is usually suitable for the development phase.

The fixer Currency API for Currency Conversion Free

The fixer API is the best free currency converter API that we can obtain exchange rate data among many web services. So, big companies like Microsoft, Bershka, Samsung, and Kranken use the API to retrieve exchange rate data.

First of all, the most important feature of this currency converter API is that it provides accurate rates. The fixer API obtains the exchange rates information it provides from important financial data providers such as European Central Bank.

This API provides real time exchange rate data for 170 official currencies around the world. Besides, this exchange rate data is updated every minute. In this way, businesses using this currency converter API will have the most up-to-date and accurate exchange rates.

In addition to all these, another thing that makes the fixer API stand out from other currency converter APIs is fast support. Thanks to fast support, developers and users who need support about this API can get support quickly. In addition to other currency converter APIs, the fixer API promises a comfortable use with advanced features such as maximum high uptime and constantly monitored.

What are the Available API Endpoints in the fixer API?

The fixer API provides users with multiple endpoints, each more useful than the other. Time series data, historical rates, and the latest rates are just a few of them. It is possible to access these API endpoints and their details from the API documentation.

What are the Potential Errors while Retrieving Exchange Rate Data in the fixer API?

First of all, one of the biggest problems in the integration processes of an API into the code is the error handling process. The response the fixer API provides in case of an error is pretty self-explanatory. Error code and error message are in the same context.

An example error message from fixer API:

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

The fixer API’s error codes and their explanation are as follows.

Integration of Free Currency Conservion API in PHP

In this section, we will integrate the free currency conversion API provided by the fixer into the PHP programming language. We need an API key to use the free currency conversion API. To get this API key, let’s sign up for one of the flexible subscription plans provided by the fixer.

Now we are ready to integrate the fixer reliable JSON API into the code. We will create a PHP project and paste the following codes into the project we have created.

$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/timeseries?access_key=API_KEY&start_date=2012-05-01&end_date=2012-05-25');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$json = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$fluctionResult = json_decode($json, true);

echo $fluctionResult['result'];

With this code, we will obtain the time series data between the dates we have set. The response we will get after running the application is as follows:

{
    "success": true,
    "timeseries": true,
    "start_date": "2012-05-01",
    "end_date": "2012-05-25",
    "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
        },
        [...]
    }
}

Historical Currency Data

Now we will get historical data using fixer’s free currency conversion API. Let’s update the relevant part of the code we created with the following code and run it.

$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/2013-12-24?access_key=API_KEY&base=GBP&symbols=USD,CAD,EUR');

Then, we have obtained the following historical data as the response of the fixer API service.

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

Convert Endpoint

We can convert currencies with the fixer API that provides data from European Central Bank easily. For this, let’s just update the query.

$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/convert?access_key=API_KEY
&from=EUR&to=GBP&amount=2');

We quickly carried out the conversion process from EUR currency to GBP currency in the amount we determined. As a result, the response we got is as follows.

{
    "success": true,
    "query": {
        "from": "EUR",
        "to": "GBP",
        "amount": 2
    },
    "info": {
        "timestamp": 1675182663,
        "rate": 0.8832002
    },
    "historical": ""
    "date": "2023-01-31"
    "result": 1.7664004
}

Supported Symbols Endpoint

Finally, we will get the symbols of the currencies on the fixer API. Let’s update and run the code as follows.

$ch = curl_init('https://data.fixer.io/api/symbols?access_key=API_KEY');

Then, some of the resulting currency symbols are as follows.

{
    "success": true,
    "symbols": {
        "AED": "United Arab Emirates Dirham",
        "AFN": "Afghan Afghani",
        "ALL": "Albanian Lek",
        "AMD": "Armenian Dram",
        "ANG": "Netherlands Antillean Guilder",
        "AOA": "Angolan Kwanza",
        "ARS": "Argentine Peso",
        "AUD": "Australian Dollar",
        "AWG": "Aruban Florin",
        "AZN": "Azerbaijani Manat",
        "BAM": "Bosnia-Herzegovina Convertible Mark",
        "BBD": "Barbadian Dollar",
        "BDT": "Bangladeshi Taka",
        "BGN": "Bulgarian Lev",
        "BHD": "Bahraini Dinar",
        "BIF": "Burundian Franc",
        "BMD": "Bermudan Dollar",
        "BND": "Brunei Dollar",
        "BOB": "Bolivian Boliviano",
        "BRL": "Brazilian Real",
        "BSD": "Bahamian Dollar",
        "BTC": "Bitcoin",
        "BTN": "Bhutanese Ngultrum",	
	[...]
	}
}

Conclusion

In conclusion, the fixer API is a powerful and reliable tool for currency conversions. If you’re a developer or a business looking for a convenient solution for your project, this is for you.

Explore the fixer API with affordable subscription plans.

FAQs

Q: Does the fixer API provide real-time exchange rates?
A: The fixer API provides real-time exchange rates.

Q: Can businesses use the fixer API for commercial purposes?
A: They can. Businesses can use paid plans for this.

Q: Does the fixer API integrate with other platforms and tools?
A: Yes, It does. The fixer API easily integrates with other platforms. It has a flexible technological infrastructure. It is fast to integrate into many of today’s popular programming languages. Java, JavaScript, Nodejs, Go, and .Net are just a few of them.

Q: How do I get started with the Fixer API?
A: To get started with the Fixer API, sign up for an account on their website, select a pricing plan, and retrieve your API key. Then, you can start making API requests to retrieve exchange rate data.