About this tool
Rates are fetched from a free public exchange rate API and updated roughly once a day — suitable for general reference, not for time-sensitive trading decisions.
How to use the Currency Converter
- Enter an amount and choose the currency you're converting from.
- Pick the target currency — the converted amount updates instantly using the latest fetched rate.
- Check the "last updated" note if you need to know how fresh the rate is.
Common use cases
- Estimating the cost of a purchase or trip in your home currency
- Getting a rough quote for a freelance invoice priced in another currency
- Comparing prices across international online stores
- Sanity-checking a currency figure quoted in a news article or report
Worked example
Say a freelance contract is priced at €2,500 and you're paid in USD. Enter 2500, set "From" to EUR and "To" to USD, and you'll get the current mid-market conversion — useful for estimating what the payment is roughly worth before it lands. The figure shown is the reference exchange rate, not what a bank or payment processor will actually give you: PayPal, wire transfers, and card networks usually add their own exchange-rate markup or fees on top of the mid-rate shown here, so the real amount received is usually somewhat lower than this tool's raw output.
Things to watch out for
Because rates refresh roughly once a day rather than in real time, this tool isn't suitable for anything where a fraction of a percent matters — day trading, arbitrage, or time-stamped invoicing that needs to match an exact settlement rate. For everyday use (trip budgeting, comparing a price tag, rough invoice estimates) a day-old rate is more than close enough, since major currency pairs rarely move more than a percent or two in 24 hours outside of unusual market events. If you're converting a less common currency pair, also double check that the currency code is correct — some currencies share similar three-letter codes (for example, several countries use variations of "dollar" with different ISO codes). And if the amount you're converting is unusually large — a property purchase or a business transaction rather than a coffee-shop-sized expense — get an actual quote from your bank or transfer provider before committing to anything, since even a small percentage spread becomes a meaningful dollar amount at that scale.
For a deeper look at why exchange rates lag real markets and what actually moves them, see How Currency Conversion Actually Works.
How the conversion is calculated
The converter downloads one set of rates quoted against the US dollar, so every rate means “how many units of this currency one USD buys.” To convert between two other currencies it goes through the dollar: result = amount ÷ rate(from) × rate(to). This is called a cross rate.
A worked example with made-up round numbers: if 1 USD = 0.85 EUR and 1 USD = 1.38 CAD, then 100 EUR ÷ 0.85 × 1.38 = 162.35 CAD. To flip any rate, divide 1 by it: 1 ÷ 0.85 = 1.1765, so in that example 1 EUR buys about 1.1765 USD. The result is shown rounded to at most two decimal places.
Currencies included
The converter lists twelve widely used currencies by their ISO 4217 three-letter codes:
- USD US dollar, CAD Canadian dollar, MXN Mexican peso, BRL Brazilian real
- EUR euro, GBP pound sterling, CHF Swiss franc
- JPY Japanese yen, CNY Chinese yuan renminbi, INR Indian rupee, SGD Singapore dollar, AUD Australian dollar
ISO 4217 codes usually combine a two-letter country code with a letter for the currency name, which is how US + D gives USD. The euro is an exception, since it belongs to many countries. Codes are the safest way to avoid mixing up the many currencies called dollar, peso or franc.
How to check the markup on a bank or card rate
The rate shown here is a reference mid-market figure. A bank or card provider quotes its own rate, and you can measure the difference yourself: markup % = (mid rate − rate you got) ÷ mid rate × 100, using both rates quoted the same way. For example, if the mid rate is 1.10 USD per EUR and you are offered 1.07, the markup is (1.10 − 1.07) ÷ 1.10 × 100 = 2.73%. Some providers also charge a separate fixed fee, so compare the final amount you receive, not only the rate. The Percentage Calculator can do the last step for you.
What is and is not sent anywhere
When the page loads, it makes one request to a public exchange-rate service to download the latest USD rates. The amount you type and the currencies you pick are never included in that request, because the conversion is worked out in your browser after the rates arrive.
Frequently asked questions
Rates are pulled from a public exchange-rate feed and typically update once every 24 hours — suitable for general reference, not for time-sensitive trading or invoicing decisions.
Banks and payment processors add their own margin on top of the market mid-rate shown here, so the rate you're actually charged is usually a bit less favorable than the reference rate.
Multiply the amount by the rate for the direction you want. If 1 USD buys 1.38 CAD, then 50 USD is 50 × 1.38 = 69 CAD. For the reverse direction, divide instead: 69 CAD ÷ 1.38 = 50 USD. Always check which currency the rate is quoted in, because the two directions give very different numbers.
The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the price buyers are bidding and the price sellers are asking for a currency in the wholesale market. It is a reference figure that does not include a provider margin, which is why the rate a bank or card offers you is usually a little less favorable.
The converter keeps a short list of widely used currencies so the menus stay quick to scan. They cover the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the eurozone, the UK, Switzerland, Japan, China, India, Singapore and Australia. Each is listed by its ISO 4217 code, so the code on a bank statement matches the one you choose here.