Currency Converter — Live Exchange Rates
Convert any amount between 160+ world currencies using live, market-based exchange rates updated in real time. Enter an amount, pick your two currencies, and see the converted value along with the exact mid-market rate and the timestamp it was last updated.
The Rate You See Is Not the Rate You Get
Look up an exchange rate anywhere and you will be shown the mid-market rate — the midpoint between what buyers are offering and what sellers are asking on the wholesale market. It is the honest reference rate, and almost nobody transacts at it.
What you actually receive is that rate plus a margin. The margin is frequently presented as a favourable rate rather than as a fee, which is why an exchange advertised as commission-free can still be the more expensive option.
Mid-market rate: 1 unit = 1.1000 Rate offered to you: 1 unit = 1.0670 Margin: 3% — charged as a rate, not shown as a fee
The way to see it is to compare the rate you were given against the mid-market rate for that moment. The gap is the true cost, whatever the fee line says.
Where the Cost Hides
| Method | Typical shape of the cost |
|---|---|
| Airport exchange desks | Very wide margin, often with a fixed fee on top |
| High street bureaux | Narrower margin; better rates for larger amounts |
| Bank card abroad | A card scheme rate plus a foreign transaction fee |
| Cash withdrawal abroad | Transaction fee, plus a cash advance charge on credit cards |
| Specialist transfer services | An explicit fee against a rate near mid-market |
The last row is worth noting because it looks worse and is often cheaper. A visible fee alongside a near-mid-market rate is usually better value than no fee and a rate quietly moved three percent, and it has the advantage of being comparable — you can add it up.
Always Decline Conversion at the Terminal
When a card machine or cash dispenser abroad offers to charge you in your home currency rather than the local one, that is dynamic currency conversion, and it is essentially always the worse choice.
The offer sounds helpful — you see the amount in familiar money and avoid uncertainty. What you are agreeing to is letting the merchant's payment provider set the exchange rate, and they set it in their favour. Declining lets your own card issuer convert instead, usually at a materially better rate.
The rule is simple: always pay in the local currency. If a terminal shows you two amounts and one is in your home currency, choose the other one.
Rates Move, and Quotes Go Stale
Currency rates change continuously during trading hours, so any rate you look up is a snapshot rather than a fixed price. For a small conversion the movement between checking and transacting is negligible. For a large transfer it can exceed the fee you were comparing.
Two consequences follow. A quote is only valid for as long as the provider says it is, and a rate that looked good yesterday tells you nothing about today. And converting an amount for a document — an invoice, an expense claim, a tax return — should use the rate for the date the transaction occurred rather than today's, since that is the figure any audit will check against.
Working Out the True Cost of a Transfer
Comparing two providers means putting both on the same footing, which takes one calculation.
Amount actually received ÷ Amount sent = your effective rate Compare that against the mid-market rate at the time
Sending 1,000 and having 1,062 arrive when the mid-market rate was 1.1000 means the effective rate was 1.0620, against a possible 1,100 — a cost of 38, or about 3.5%, regardless of how the provider described its charges.
Do this once for each provider you are considering and the comparison becomes trivial. It also reveals the common case where a provider charging an explicit fee delivers more money than one charging nothing.
Practical Habits
- Compare against the mid-market rate rather than against another provider's retail rate, so you are measuring the cost rather than choosing between two versions of it.
- Pay in local currency every time a terminal offers you a choice.
- Avoid exchanging at airports and stations, where the margin reflects the absence of alternatives rather than the cost of the service.
- For anything documented, record the rate and the date you used. Later reconstruction is much harder than noting it at the time.
- Check whether your card charges a foreign transaction fee before travelling, since the difference between cards is often larger than the difference between exchange methods.
Rates shown here are indicative and intended for estimating rather than for settlement. For working out tax on a converted amount, the VAT calculator and income tax calculator handle those separately.