RBA Exchange Rates API

About RBA Exchange Rates API

ExchangeRatesAPI.com.au is a REST API providing historical and real-time foreign exchange rate data sourced from the Reserve Bank of Australia. Rates are published daily at 4 PM AEST, with historical data available from January 2018 onward. The API supports 21 currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and CNY, plus SDR and TWI index values, and offers endpoints for current rates, time-series data (up to 365 days per call), and currency conversion. Responses are returned as JSON, and the service is hosted on Cloudflare's network with a target response time under 100ms.

The product is aimed at Australian businesses needing compliant, accurate exchange rate data for use cases such as e-commerce price conversion, accounting software integration, financial reporting, import/export invoice calculations, and tax compliance reporting. It offers a free tier (300 requests, current rates only, no card required) and paid plans ranging from Starter to Enterprise, which add historical data access, higher rate limits, webhooks for rate-publish notifications, and varying support levels. Webhooks are available from the Professional plan upward and are signed with HMAC-SHA256 for verification.

Authentication uses API keys with unique prefixes, and requests are rate-limited by plan tier, returning an HTTP 429 error when limits are exceeded. The service states it is not affiliated with or endorsed by the RBA, does not provide financial advice, and is not licensed under the AFSL regime. It includes a fallback mechanism to serve the previous day's rates with staleness indicators if current RBA data is unavailable, and reduced-cost arrangements are available for non-profit organizations on request.

Key features

• REST API delivering official Reserve Bank of Australia foreign exchange rates
• Historical daily rates back to January 2018 (36,000+ records)
• Time-series endpoint returning up to 365 days of rates in one call
• Real-time signed webhooks notifying on new RBA rate publication
• Sub-100ms responses via Cloudflare's global network
• Coverage of 21 currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CNY

Frequently asked questions