How the Currency Calculator Works
When you travel, shop from another country or send money abroad, you need to know what an amount is worth in another currency. The Currency Calculator converts an amount from one currency to another using up-to-date exchange rates, and shows what a bank or money changer would take off in fees.
What you enter
- Amount: how much money you want to convert.
- From and To: the two currencies, chosen from the list of currencies the rate source covers, which is around 160 for the main source, and about 30 for the backup. The "Swap currencies" button reverses them.
- Bank or exchange margin (optional): the extra cost built into the rate you are offered. Use 0 to see the plain exchange rate.
- Your own rate (optional): a rate you have been quoted. It replaces the live rate. It is also handy if the live rates cannot be loaded.
Where the rates come from
The calculator asks this website for the latest rates. The site gets them from a rate provider, ExchangeRate-API, and keeps a copy for an hour, so the provider is not asked again for every visitor. If that provider is not available, the site uses the European Central Bank's reference rates, which cover about 30 major currencies. The provider updates its rates once a day, so the rates shown may be up to a day old. The calculator shows the source and the time of the update under the result.
These are mid-market rates, also called interbank rates. They are the middle point between the price that dealers buy at and the price they sell at. They are the fair reference rate, but ordinary customers rarely get exactly this rate.
How the conversion is worked out
The rates are all measured against one currency, the US dollar. To go from any currency to any other, the calculator divides the two rates:
rate from A to B = (value of B per 1 US dollar) / (value of A per 1 US dollar) converted amount = amount x rate
The reverse rate is 1 divided by the rate. If you enter a margin, it is taken off the converted amount:
you receive = converted amount x (1 - margin / 100)
An example
The numbers below are only an illustration, not today's rates. Suppose 1 US dollar is worth 0.90 euros. Then $1,000 converts to 1,000 x 0.90 = 900 euros at the exchange rate. The reverse rate is 1 / 0.90, or about 1.11 dollars per euro.
What a margin costs you
Banks, card companies, airport kiosks and some transfer services do not use the plain exchange rate. They build a margin into the rate they give you, and sometimes charge a fee too. On the $1,000 in the example:
| Margin | Euros you receive | Euros lost to the margin |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | 900.00 | 0.00 |
| 1% | 891.00 | 9.00 |
| 2% | 882.00 | 18.00 |
| 3% | 873.00 | 27.00 |
| 5% | 855.00 | 45.00 |
Chart: what the margin takes
The same illustrative $1,000. The longer the bar, the more you lose:
0% (nothing lost) 1% ████████ 9 euros 2% ████████████████ 18 euros 3% ████████████████████████ 27 euros 5% ████████████████████████████████████████ 45 euros
Tables in the calculator
- Your amount in other currencies: the same amount in the most popular currencies, with the rate for each.
- Quick amounts: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 in your chosen pair, after your margin.
Tips for getting a better deal
- Compare the rate you are offered with the mid-market rate. The gap is your real cost, on top of any fee.
- Avoid airport kiosks and hotel desks, which usually have the biggest margins.
- When a card machine offers to charge you in your home currency, it is often the worse deal. Paying in the local currency usually costs less.
- For larger transfers, compare a few specialist transfer services, since a small difference in the margin adds up.
Good to know
- Exchange rates move all the time. The rate you get when you actually exchange money can differ from the one shown here.
- Some currencies have restrictions on trading, and their real-world rates can differ from the official one.
- The calculator cannot show the fees a particular bank or service charges. Use the margin box, or your own rate, to include them.
Rates by Exchange Rate API.
This tool gives an estimate for general information only. It is not financial advice. The rate at the moment of your transaction is the one that counts.