CurrencyBeacon (formerly CurrencyScoop)
- Free allowance
- Free plan USD 0 per month: 5,000 API requests per month shared by REST and MCP calls, hourly rate updates, latest, historical and conversion endpoints, community support.
- Verdict
- caveatusable, with a named limit or an unprobed read path
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- emailno card, no phone
- Binding limit
- request-rate5,000 API requests per month on the Free plan, shared by REST and MCP calls
- Evidence
- documented30 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-12-03checked 2026-11-02 (live); stale on 2026-12-03
| Free tier | Free plan USD 0 per month: 5,000 API requests per month shared by REST and MCP calls, hourly rate updates, latest, historical and conversion endpoints, community support. unit requests; metered on request-count; No credit card is needed to start. The Timeseries API and base currency switching are not on Free or Basic, and a request to an endpoint outside the plan answers HTTP 403. Historical rates go back to January 1, 1996. The next plan up is Basic at USD 10 a month with 50,000 requests a month and 15 minute updates. The former name CurrencyScoop: currencyscoop.com and api.currencyscoop.com answer a 301 redirect to the currencybeacon.com hosts. |
|---|---|
| Price | none stated |
| Limits |
Plan gating: Free is hourly updates and the latest, historical and conversion endpoints; the Timeseries API and base currency switching are not on Free or Basic. Bulk path: none; each call is one request. |
| Binding | request-rate The 5,000 requests a month cap is the only limit stated for the Free plan. |
| Identity | email The register page asks for a first name, a last name, an email, a password of at least 12 characters with uppercase and lowercase letters, a number and a symbol, a confirmation and a terms checkbox, or Log in with Google or GitHub; it states that no credit card is required. |
| Egress | not metered in bytes; the 5,000 requests a month bound what a free key can pull |
| Per-object cap | unverified: no per-response cap is stated on the pages read |
| Retention | not applicable: a query API with no stored objects; historical rates go back to January 1, 1996 |
| Interface | rest GET https://api.currencybeacon.com/v1/{endpoint} (latest, convert, historical, timeseries, currencies) with the key as an api_key query parameter or as a Bearer token in the Authorization header; JSON answers. An MCP server on the same account shares the request quota. endpoint: https://api.currencybeacon.com/v1/latest |
| Tooling | any HTTP client; code samples for cURL, JavaScript, Python and PHP; an MCP server |
| Composes with | 5,000 requests a month of hourly fiat and crypto rates with history back to 1996, so a free stack caches the latest rates once an hour and converts locally; UniRateAPI gives a daily quota instead of a monthly one. |
| Reliability | Past the request volume the API answers HTTP 429; an endpoint outside the plan answers HTTP 403; a call with no key answered HTTP 401 auth failed. |
| Notes | Formerly CurrencyScoop: the old site and API hosts redirect to currencybeacon.com; Free is 5,000 requests a month at hourly updates. |
| Evidence note | documented The plan, quota, update rate and endpoint gating are read from the first-party pricing and documentation pages; a keyless call answered HTTP 401 and the old CurrencyScoop hosts answered a 301 redirect. A free key was not exercised, so the answer past 5,000 requests is unverified: behind a sign-up. |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence 30
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | the Free plan is USD 0 a month with 5,000 API requests a month and no credit card to start |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | Free updates rates hourly and REST and MCP calls share the quota |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | Free includes latest, historical and conversion rates |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | Free comes with community support |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | the next plan up, Basic, is USD 10 a month |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/pricing | Basic includes 50,000 API requests a month |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | monthly requests are 5,000 on Free and 50,000 on Basic |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | Free refreshes hourly and Basic every 15 minutes |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | the comparison table lists the Timeseries API as not included on Free and Basic |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | the comparison table lists base currency switching as not included on Free and Basic |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | every plan includes REST access and MCP tool calls count as API requests |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/ | the REST endpoints are latest, convert, historical, timeseries and currencies |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | the API covers over 160 currencies and more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | historical rates go back to January 1, 1996 |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | authentication is required for all API requests |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | the key goes in an api_key query parameter |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | the key may instead go in a Bearer Authorization header |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | the base URL of the API |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | the timeseries endpoint is limited to Startup and Professional plans |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | exceeding the request volume limit answers HTTP 429 |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | part of the text of Reliability, above |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/api-documentation | code samples exist for cURL, JavaScript, Python and PHP |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/register | the register page offers 5,000 free API requests a month with no credit card |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/register | the register form asks for a first name, a last name and an email |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/register | the password needs at least 12 characters with mixed case, a number and a symbol |
| 2026-11-02 | currencybeacon.com/register | the register page offers Google and GitHub sign-in |
| 2026-11-02 | probe: https://currencyscoop.com/ | currencyscoop.com answers a 301 redirect to currencybeacon.com |
| 2026-11-02 | probe: https://api.currencyscoop.com/v1/latest | api.currencyscoop.com answers a 301 redirect to api.currencybeacon.com |
| 2026-11-02 | probe: https://api.currencybeacon.com/v1/latest | a keyless call to the API answers HTTP 401 |
| 2026-11-02 | probe: https://api.currencybeacon.com/v1/latest | the keyless 401 body reports an auth failure |