Currency Converter

About this currency converter

Reference exchange rates are the mid-market rates banks see — the midpoint between buy and sell. They are useful for budgeting, comparing prices across countries, and understanding currency movements. They are NOT the rates you pay when you actually transfer money: banks and services add a margin on top.

The calculator fetches live rates from a free public API on each visit. If the API is unreachable, it falls back to recent snapshot rates baked into the page so the converter still works offline. Rates may be a few hours out of date in the worst case — fine for planning, not for real-time trading.

For real transfers (remittances, business invoices), expect to pay 1–4% above the reference rate depending on the service. Specialist services like Wise, Revolut and OFX typically have smaller markups than retail banks. Always compare the total received amount, not just the headline rate.

How to use it

1. Enter the amount you want to convert.
2. Pick the source currency.
3. Pick the target currency.
4. Read the converted amount and the per-unit rate.

Tips & notes

• For large transfers, compare 2–3 services. The difference between bank rate and best-rate service can be hundreds of dollars on a 10,000 transfer.
• Watch for "no fees" claims that include a margin on the rate. The real cost is the gap between the reference rate and what they actually give you.
• Pay in the local currency at point-of-sale terminals when traveling. Letting the terminal convert for you ("Dynamic Currency Conversion") almost always costs more than letting your bank do it.

Frequently asked questions