Python Exchange Rate API

Quick Start

Install the official Python SDK and fetch your first exchange rate in under a minute.

pip install exchangerateapi

from exchange_rateapi import ExchangeRateAPI

client = ExchangeRateAPI(api_key="era_live_YOUR_API_KEY")

# Get the latest USD to EUR rate
rate = client.get_rate("USD", "EUR")
print(f"1 USD = {rate['rate']} EUR")
# Output: 1 USD = 0.9215 EUR

Using the SDK

The exchange-rateapi Python package wraps every API endpoint and handles authentication, retries, and response parsing for you.

Get Exchange Rate

from exchange_rateapi import ExchangeRateAPI

client = ExchangeRateAPI(api_key="era_live_YOUR_API_KEY")

# Single currency pair
rate = client.get_rate("USD", "EUR")
print(f"1 USD = {rate['rate']} EUR")

Convert an Amount

# Convert 1000 USD to EUR
result = client.convert("USD", "EUR", 1000)
print(f"$1,000 = {result['result']} EUR")

Historical Rates

# Get 30-day historical data
history = client.get_historical_rates("USD", "EUR", "30d")
for point in history["data"]:
    print(f"{point['date']}: {point['rate']}")

List Supported Currencies

# Get all supported currency codes
symbols = client.get_symbols()
for currency in symbols["currencies"]:
    print(f"{currency['code']}: {currency['name']}")

Without SDK (Using requests)

If you prefer to call the API directly without the SDK, use Python's requests library.

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://exchange-rateapi.com/api/v1/rates",
    params={"source": "USD", "target": "EUR"},
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer era_live_YOUR_API_KEY"}
)
data = response.json()
print(f"1 USD = {data[0]['rate']} EUR")
# Output: 1 USD = 0.9215 EUR

Multiple Targets

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://exchange-rateapi.com/api/v1/rates",
    params={"source": "USD", "target": "EUR,GBP,JPY"},
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer era_live_YOUR_API_KEY"}
)

for rate in response.json():
    print(f"1 USD = {rate['rate']} {rate['target']}")
# Output:
# 1 USD = 0.9215 EUR
# 1 USD = 0.7891 GBP
# 1 USD = 151.42 JPY

Error Handling

import requests

try:
    response = requests.get(
        "https://exchange-rateapi.com/api/v1/rates",
        params={"source": "USD", "target": "EUR"},
        headers={"Authorization": "Bearer era_live_YOUR_API_KEY"},
        timeout=10
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    data = response.json()
    print(f"Rate: {data[0]['rate']}")
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
    if e.response.status_code == 401:
        print("Invalid API key. Check your Authorization header.")
    elif e.response.status_code == 429:
        print("Rate limit exceeded. Try again later.")
    else:
        print(f"HTTP error: {e}")
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
    print(f"Request failed: {e}")

Response Format

[
  {
    "rate": 0.9215,
    "source": "USD",
    "target": "EUR",
    "time": "2026-05-15T12:00:00Z"
  }
]

[
  { "rate": 0.9215, "source": "USD", "target": "EUR", "time": "2026-05-15T12:00:00Z" },
  { "rate": 0.7891, "source": "USD", "target": "GBP", "time": "2026-05-15T12:00:00Z" },
  { "rate": 151.42, "source": "USD", "target": "JPY", "time": "2026-05-15T12:00:00Z" }
]