Official PHP client for the UniRate API — free, real-time and historical currency exchange rates plus VAT rates.
- Real-time exchange rates between 170+ currencies (fiat + crypto)
- Historical rates back to 1999
- Time-series ranges up to 5 years
- Currency conversion (current and historical)
- VAT rates for countries worldwide
- Free tier, no credit card required
- PHP 8.1+ with strict types and readonly value objects
- Guzzle 7 under the hood; swappable PSR-18 HTTP client for tests
- PHP 8.1+
- ext-json
- Composer
composer require unirate-api/unirate-api<?phprequire'vendor/autoload.php';
useUniRate\Client;
$client = newClient(apiKey: 'your-api-key');
// Current rate$rate = $client->getRate(from: 'USD', to: 'EUR');
echo"USD -> EUR: $rate\n";
// Convert an amount$euros = $client->convert(to: 'EUR', amount: 100, from: 'USD');
echo"100 USD = $euros EUR\n";
// All supported currencies$currencies = $client->getSupportedCurrencies();
echocount($currencies) . " currencies supported\n";Get a free API key at https://unirateapi.com.
// Single pair -> float$rate = $client->getRate(from: 'USD', to: 'EUR');
// All rates for a base -> array<string, float>$rates = $client->getRate(from: 'USD');
// Convert an amount -> float$result = $client->convert(to: 'EUR', amount: 100, from: 'USD');
// Supported currencies -> list<string>$codes = $client->getSupportedCurrencies();// Rate on a specific date$rate = $client->getHistoricalRate(
date: '2024-01-01',
from: 'USD',
to: 'EUR',
);
// All rates on a date for a base$rates = $client->getHistoricalRates(date: '2024-01-01', base: 'USD');
// Convert using a historical rate$amount = $client->convertHistorical(
amount: 100,
from: 'USD',
to: 'EUR',
date: '2024-01-01',
);
// Time series$series = $client->getTimeSeries(
startDate: '2024-01-01',
endDate: '2024-01-07',
base: 'USD',
currencies: ['EUR', 'GBP'],
);
// Available historical coverage per currency$limits = $client->getHistoricalLimits();
echo$limits->totalCurrencies;// All countries -> VatRates$vat = $client->getVatRates();
foreach ($vat->vatRatesas$code => $entry) {
echo"$code: {$entry->vatRate}%\n";
}
// Single country (ISO-3166 alpha-2) -> VatCountry$de = $client->getVatRates(country: 'DE');
echo"Germany VAT: {$de->vatData->vatRate}%\n";All methods throw exceptions inheriting from UniRate\Exception\UniRateException:
| HTTP status | Exception class |
|---|---|
| 400 | InvalidDateException |
| 401 | AuthenticationException |
| 403 | ApiException (Pro-gated endpoint on free tier) |
| 404 | InvalidCurrencyException |
| 429 | RateLimitException |
| other 4xx/5xx | ApiException |
| network / transport | UniRateException (base) |
useUniRate\Exception\AuthenticationException;
useUniRate\Exception\ApiException;
useUniRate\Exception\InvalidCurrencyException;
useUniRate\Exception\RateLimitException;
try {
$rate = $client->getRate(from: 'USD', to: 'ZZZ');
} catch (AuthenticationException$e) {
// invalid API key
} catch (InvalidCurrencyException$e) {
// unknown currency code
} catch (RateLimitException$e) {
// back off and retry
} catch (ApiException$e) {
printf("HTTP %d: %s\n", $e->getStatusCode(), $e->getBody());
}The constructor accepts any Guzzle ClientInterface or PSR-18 ClientInterface in the optional httpClient argument. The test suite uses Guzzle's MockHandler to exercise every method without touching the network:
useGuzzleHttp\ClientasGuzzleClient;
useGuzzleHttp\Handler\MockHandler;
useGuzzleHttp\HandlerStack;
useGuzzleHttp\Psr7\Response;
useUniRate\Client;
$mock = newMockHandler([newResponse(200, [], '{"rate": "0.9"}')]);
$guzzle = newGuzzleClient(['handler' => HandlerStack::create($mock)]);
$client = newClient(apiKey: 'test', httpClient: $guzzle);- Currency endpoints: standard rate limits apply
- Historical endpoints: 50 requests/hour on the free tier
- VAT endpoints: 1800 requests/hour on the free tier
composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit --testsuite mock # mock suite (no network)
UNIRATE_API_KEY=... vendor/bin/phpunit --testsuite live # free-tier live suite- unirate-api-python (PyPI:
unirate-api) - unirate-api-nodejs (npm:
unirate-api) - unirate-api-swift
UniRate ships official integrations for 40+ ecosystems, all maintained under the UniRate-API org.
Core clients (9 languages)Python · Node.js / TypeScript · Go · Rust · Java · Ruby · PHP · .NET · Swift
JavaScript / TypeScriptReact · Next.js · Remix · SvelteKit · Vue · Angular · Nuxt · NestJS · tRPC
Static-site generatorsAstro · Eleventy · Hugo · Jekyll
CMS & e-commerceWagtail · WordPress · WooCommerce · Drupal · Strapi · Medusa · Symfony · Laravel · Directus
Data, AI & backendLangChain (Python) · LangChain.js · FastAPI · Flask · Django REST Framework · Apache Airflow · dbt
Platform & toolsMCP server · CLI · Cloudflare Workers · Home Assistant · n8n · Google Sheets · VS Code · Obsidian
Money library bridgesmoney gem (Ruby) · NodaMoney (.NET)
Get a free API key at unirateapi.com.
MIT — see LICENSE.