Global Balance FX Rates

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next refresh in —

Live Exchange Rate Comparison

Find the best rate.
Every time.

Click any cell in the matrix to compare banks, fintechs, remittance services, and crypto rails — including Buda, Bitso, Stellar, and Ripple ODL.

Live cross-rate matrix — click any cell to compare providers

mid-market rates · open.er-api.com · rows = you send, columns = they receive

Developer Portal

Global Balance API

Live exchange rates and provider comparison data, available as a REST API. No API key required. Deploy the included server to any Node.js host.

Base URL edit to match your deployment

Quick Start

Make a request — no API key needed. All endpoints are public and return JSON.

curl "https://globalbalance.dev/api/rates?from=USD&to=EUR"

Rates are cached for 15 minutes and refreshed by a background cron job. Every response includes a checkedAt field with the cache timestamp.

To embed in your own app, clone the repo, run npm install, then npm run dev to start on localhost:3000.

Deploy to Vercel in one command: vercel --prod. A vercel.json is included for zero-config deployment.

Endpoints

GET /api/rates Live mid-market rate

Param	Type	Description
fromrequired	string	ISO 4217 source currency code — e.g. USD, EUR, GBP
torequired	string	ISO 4217 target currency code — e.g. INR, MXN, BRL

Response Schema

Field	Type	Description
ok	boolean	Always `true` on success
from	string	Source currency code
to	string	Target currency code
rate	number	Mid-market exchange rate (1 unit of from in to)
source	string	Data provider that returned this rate — e.g. `open.er-api.com`
timestamp	string	UTC timestamp of the underlying source data
checkedAt	string	UTC timestamp when this response was generated / served from cache

Try it

from

const res = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/rates?from=USD&to=INR`);
const data = await res.json();
// { ok: true, from: "USD", to: "INR", rate: 83.42, source: "open.er-api.com", timestamp: "...", checkedAt: "..." }

import requests
res = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/api/rates", params={"from": "USD", "to": "INR"})
data = res.json()
# data["rate"]  →  83.42

curl "${API_BASE}/api/rates?from=USD&to=INR"

GET /api/compare Provider comparison

Param	Type	Description
fromrequired	string	ISO 4217 source currency
torequired	string	ISO 4217 target currency
amountoptional	number	Amount to send in source currency. Default: 1000
sortoptional	string	Sort order: `rate` \| `fee` \| `spread`. Default: rate

Response Schema

Field	Type	Description
ok	boolean	Always `true` on success
from / to	string	Currency pair
amount	number	Send amount used for calculations
midRate	number	Interbank mid-market rate used as baseline
providers	array	List of provider result objects (see below)
bestProvider	string	Name of the top-ranked provider for this pair
maxSavings	number	Difference in destination amount between best and worst provider
checkedAt	string	UTC timestamp when this response was generated

Provider Object

Field	Type	Description
rank	number	1 = best
id / name	string	Provider identifier and display name
type	string	Category — Fintech, Bank, Crypto, etc.
receiveAmount	number	Destination currency amount recipient receives
effectiveRate	number	All-in rate after fees and spread
spreadPct	number	FX markup percentage (0 = mid-market)
totalFee	number	Total fee in source currency units
network / source	string	Transfer network and data source label
dataNote	string	Fee data provenance and date

Try it

from

amount

sort

const res = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/compare?from=USD&to=MXN&amount=1000&sort=rate`);
const { providers, bestProvider, maxSavings } = await res.json();
// providers[0] = { rank: 1, name: "Stellar / USDC", receiveAmount: 17324.5, ... }

import requests
res = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/api/compare", params={
    "from": "USD", "to": "MXN", "amount": 1000, "sort": "rate"
})
data = res.json()
# data["providers"][0]["receiveAmount"]  # best rate result

curl "${API_BASE}/api/compare?from=USD&to=MXN&amount=1000&sort=rate"

GET /api/matrix Cross-rate matrix

Param	Type	Description
currenciesoptional	string	Comma-separated ISO 4217 codes. Max 10. Default: USD,EUR,GBP,JPY,CAD,MXN,INR,BRL

Response Schema

Field	Type	Description
ok	boolean	Always `true` on success
base	string	Pivot currency used to compute cross-rates
rates	object	Nested object — `rates[from][to]` gives the exchange rate
source	string	Data provider for the base rates
timestamp	string	UTC timestamp of the underlying source data

Try it

currencies

const res = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/matrix?currencies=USD,EUR,GBP,INR,MXN`);
const { rates } = await res.json();
// rates["USD"]["INR"]  → 83.42
// rates["EUR"]["MXN"]  → 19.87

import requests
res = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/api/matrix", params={"currencies": "USD,EUR,GBP,INR,MXN"})
rates = res.json()["rates"]
# rates["USD"]["INR"]  # 83.42

curl "${API_BASE}/api/matrix?currencies=USD,EUR,GBP,INR,MXN"

GET /api/providers Provider metadata

Returns all supported providers with fee structures, network info, and data source metadata. No parameters required.

Response Schema — Provider Object

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Machine-readable identifier — e.g. `wise`, `paypal`
name	string	Display name
type	string	Category — Fintech, Bank, Crypto, Crypto/Stablecoin
network	string	Transfer rail — e.g. SWIFT, SEPA, Blockchain
spreadPct	number	FX markup as a decimal (0.005 = 0.5%)
feeFixed	number	Fixed fee in source currency units
feePct	number	Percentage fee (0.01 = 1%)
feeUrl	string	URL to the official fee schedule page
dataNote	string	Fee data provenance, corridor, and collection date
supportedFrom	string \| array	`"any"` or list of supported source currency codes
supportedTo	string \| array	`"any"` or list of supported destination currency codes

Try it

const res = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/providers`);
const { providers } = await res.json();
// [{ id: "wise", name: "Wise", type: "Fintech", spreadPct: 0, feeUrl: "...", ... }]

providers = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/api/providers").json()["providers"]

curl "${API_BASE}/api/providers"

GET /api/history Historical rates

Returns stored historical mid-market rates for a currency pair, sampled every 15 minutes. History is accumulated from the first /api/refresh call and stored in Redis — up to 30 days of data.

Param	Type	Description
fromrequired	string	ISO 4217 source currency code
torequired	string	ISO 4217 target currency code
daysoptional	number	Number of days of history to return. Default: 7. Max: 30

Response Schema

Field	Type	Description
ok	boolean	Always `true` on success
from / to	string	Currency pair
days	number	Days of history requested
data	array	Chronological list of rate snapshots
data[].ts	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of this snapshot
data[].rate	number	Mid-market rate at this timestamp

Try it

from

days

const res = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/history?from=USD&to=EUR&days=7`);
const { data } = await res.json();
// data = [{ ts: "2026-04-06T14:00:00Z", rate: 0.9214 }, ...]
data.forEach(d => console.log(d.ts, d.rate));

import requests
res = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/api/history", params={"from": "USD", "to": "EUR", "days": 7})
data = res.json()["data"]
# [{"ts": "2026-04-06T14:00:00Z", "rate": 0.9214}, ...]

curl "${API_BASE}/api/history?from=USD&to=EUR&days=7"

Rate Limits

The Global Balance API is currently open with no enforced per-client rate limits. All responses are served from a 15-minute Redis cache to protect upstream data providers.

Limit	Value	Notes
Cache TTL (fiat)	15 min	Rates are refreshed by cron; stale data may be served until the next refresh cycle
Cache TTL (crypto)	2 min	Coinbase BTC/ETH rates refresh more frequently
Matrix currencies	10 max	The `/api/matrix` endpoint caps the `currencies` param at 10 codes
History window	30 days	Redis list is trimmed to the last 2,880 snapshots (30d × 96 per day)
Vercel Hobby	~100 req/s	Vercel's edge limits apply to the serverless functions; contact Vercel for higher tiers

Error Codes

All errors return a JSON body with { "error": "..." } and an appropriate HTTP status code.

Status	Code	Description
400	Bad Request	Missing or invalid required parameters — e.g. missing `from` or `to`
404	Not Found	Unknown route. Check the path and method.
500	Upstream Error	All upstream rate providers failed to respond. Retry after a few seconds.
503	Service Unavailable	Rate cache is cold (Redis not yet warmed). Try again after the first cron run.

// Error response shape
{
  "error": "Missing required param: from"
}

Changelog

Apr 2026

v1.3 — History endpoint & dynamic providers Added /api/history for time-series rate data (Redis-backed, 30d window). Provider list is now dynamic per currency corridor — only relevant providers appear.

Mar 2026

v1.2 — Twelve Data + Redis caching Integrated Twelve Data for intraday fiat rates on pair lookups. Switched to Upstash Redis for persistent 15-minute cache across serverless invocations. External cron via cron-job.org.

Mar 2026

v1.1 — Custom domain & fee data refresh Published to globalbalance.dev. Updated provider fee schedules for Revolut, Remitly, Western Union, MoneyGram, and PayPal from current published tariffs.

Feb 2026

v1.0 — Initial release Exchange rate comparison across 17 providers. Mid-market rates from open.er-api.com and Coinbase. Static HTML frontend + Express API on Vercel.

Resources

Download the machine-readable API specification or import directly into Postman.

OpenAPI 3.0 Spec Postman Collection v2.1

Deploy the API

The API server is in api/index.js. Run npm install then choose a host:

Vercel recommended

Free tier, zero config. vercel.json is included — just connect your repo or drag the folder.

↗ vercel.com/new

Railway

Connect your GitHub repo. Set start command to node api/index.js. Free tier available.

↗ railway.app

Local

Run locally for development. npm install && npm run dev starts the server with auto-reload.

npm install
npm run dev

Find the best rate.Every time.

Global Balance API

Quick Start

Rate Limits

Error Codes

Changelog

Resources

Vercel recommended

Railway

Local

Find the best rate.
Every time.