Everyday money
Currency Converter
Convert between the major world currencies at the European Central Bank's reference rate, with the exact rate and its publication date shown under every result. Unlike most converters, this one tells you where its number comes from and when it was set, because the gap between the reference rate and whatever a bank, card or kiosk offers you is the true price of exchanging money. Rates load live from this site's own cached API; if the feed is unreachable the tool falls back to a recent built-in snapshot and labels the result accordingly, so you always know what you are looking at.
Convert money
at the ECB reference rate
Mid-market reference rate; banks and cards add their own spread. For general information, not a quote.
How the currency converter works
All rates are stored against one base and every conversion is a cross-rate: the amount is divided by the from-currency's rate and multiplied by the to-currency's rate. That is exactly how the ECB's reference table is meant to be used, and it means any of the listed currencies can convert to any other with one consistent data set.
Cross-rate conversion
result = amount × (rate[to] ÷ rate[from])rates are expressed per 1 US dollar; USD itself has rate 1
Notes & assumptions
- Rates are ECB reference rates, published once per working day; weekends hold Friday's rate.
- Live rates come from this site's /api/rates endpoint, cached one hour on the CDN.
- If the live feed fails, a built-in snapshot (date shown) keeps the tool working offline.
- No spread or fee is added here; what you get from a provider will differ by their margin.
Reference rates for 1 US dollar
The snapshot below is the tool's built-in fallback, from the ECB reference set dated July 9, 2026. The live converter above supersedes it whenever the API is reachable; the table is here so the page still answers the question with the network off.
| Currency | Rate per $1 | $100 becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Euro (EUR) | 0.8745 | €87.45 |
| British pound (GBP) | 0.7465 | £74.65 |
| Japanese yen (JPY) | 162.41 | ¥16,241 |
| Canadian dollar (CAD) | 1.4169 | C$141.69 |
| Australian dollar (AUD) | 1.4410 | A$144.10 |
| Swiss franc (CHF) | 0.8069 | CHF 80.69 |
| Chinese yuan (CNY) | 6.7960 | ¥679.60 |
| Indian rupee (INR) | 95.39 | ₹9,539 |
| Mexican peso (MXN) | 17.5505 | MX$1,755.05 |
Reference rates move daily, so treat the table as a dated snapshot rather than a quote. The pattern it teaches is stable though: the euro, pound and franc trade in the same neighborhood as the dollar, while yen, rupees and pesos are quoted in much smaller units, which changes the look of the number but not the value of the money.
Worked example
Converting $100 to euros at the snapshot rate: 100 × 0.87451 = €87.45. A cross conversion works the same way through the dollar base: €250 to pounds is 250 × (0.74651 ÷ 0.87451) = 250 × 0.85363 = £213.41, and you never need a separately published euro-pound rate.
Now the part that costs real money. Exchange $500 to euros at the reference rate and you would get 500 × 0.87451 = €437.26. A card that hides a 3% markup delivers €424.14 instead, €13.12 less, which is about $15 gone on a single mid-sized exchange. Airport kiosks routinely take 5 to 10%. That is why this page shows the reference rate and its date: compare any quote against it and the provider's cut stops being invisible.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the exchange rates come from?
From the European Central Bank's daily reference rates, fetched through this site's rates API and cached for an hour. The ECB publishes one set of rates each working day around 16:00 Central European Time, based on market data. The tool shows the rate date under every result, and if the live feed is unreachable it falls back to a built-in snapshot and says so.
Why is my bank's rate different from this one?
This tool shows the mid-market reference rate, the midpoint between buy and sell prices. Banks, card networks and exchange kiosks add a spread or fee on top, typically 1 to 3% for cards and often 5% or worse at airport counters. The reference rate is the honest baseline to compare any offer against: the gap between it and what you are quoted is the real cost of the exchange.
What is the mid-market rate?
It is the midpoint between the price at which currency traders are willing to buy and sell a currency pair at a given moment. It is the rate you see on Google and financial news, and no consumer service gives it to you exactly; everyone adds a margin somewhere. Central-bank reference rates like the ECB's are a daily snapshot of that midpoint.
Should I pay in local currency or my home currency abroad?
Always choose the local currency. When a terminal offers to charge your card in your home currency, that is dynamic currency conversion, and the merchant's processor sets the rate with a markup that commonly runs 3 to 8%. Declining it means your own card network converts at a rate much closer to the reference rate shown here.
Do exchange rates update on weekends?
Reference rates do not: the ECB publishes on working days only, so Friday's rate stands until Monday. Global currency markets themselves trade around the clock from Monday morning in Asia to Friday evening in New York, so a card purchase on Saturday settles at a market rate even though the published reference has not moved.
Why does 1 US dollar buy so many yen?
The size of the number says nothing about a currency's strength; it reflects the unit's historical value. Japan simply never redenominated the yen, so prices are quoted in a small unit and one dollar buys around 160 of them. What matters is the change over time: a move from 160 to 150 yen per dollar means the yen strengthened about 6.7%, regardless of how large the numbers look.