Unirate Python API Client

A comprehensive Python client for the Unirate API - providing free, real-time and historical currency exchange rates, plus VAT rates.

Features

• 🔄 Real-time exchange rates - Get current currency conversion rates
• 📈 Historical data - Access historical exchange rates for any date (1999-2025)
• ⏰ Time series data - Retrieve exchange rate data over date ranges (max 5 years)
• 💰 Currency conversion - Convert amounts between currencies (current and historical)
• 🏛️ VAT rates - Get VAT rates for countries worldwide
• 📊 Multiple output formats - JSON, XML, CSV, TSV support
• 🌍 170+ currencies supported - Including cryptocurrencies
• 🆓 Completely free - No credit card required
• 🚀 Easy to use - Simple, intuitive API

Installation

pip install unirate-api

Quick Start

from unirate import UnirateClient

# Initialize the client
client = UnirateClient('your-api-key-here')

# Get current exchange rate
rate = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR')
print(f'USD to EUR rate: {rate}')

# Convert currency (note: to_currency is first parameter)
amount = client.convert('EUR', 100, 'USD')
print(f'100 USD = {amount} EUR')

# Get supported currencies
currencies = client.get_supported_currencies()
print(f'Supported currencies: {len(currencies)}')

API Methods

Current Rates & Conversion

get_rate(from_currency='USD', to_currency=None, format='json', callback=None)

Get current exchange rates. If to_currency is omitted, returns rates for all currencies.

# Single currency rate
rate = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR')

# All rates for base currency
all_rates = client.get_rate('USD')

# Get rates in CSV format
csv_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', format='csv')

convert(to_currency, amount=1, from_currency='USD', format='json', callback=None)

Convert an amount from one currency to another using current rates.

# Convert with default amount (1)
converted = client.convert('EUR', from_currency='USD')

# Convert specific amount
converted = client.convert('EUR', 100, 'USD')

# Get conversion result in XML format
xml_result = client.convert('EUR', 100, 'USD', format='xml')

get_supported_currencies(format='json', callback=None)

Get a list of all supported currency codes.

currencies = client.get_supported_currencies()

# Get currencies in CSV format
csv_currencies = client.get_supported_currencies(format='csv')

Historical Data

get_historical_rate(date, amount=1, from_currency='USD', to_currency=None, format='json', callback=None)

Get historical exchange rates for a specific date. If to_currency is omitted, returns rates for all currencies.

# Single currency historical rate
rate = client.get_historical_rate('2024-01-01', from_currency='USD', to_currency='EUR')

# All historical rates for base currency
all_rates = client.get_historical_rate('2024-01-01', from_currency='USD')

# Historical conversion with amount
converted = client.get_historical_rate('2024-01-01', amount=100, from_currency='USD', to_currency='EUR')

get_historical_rates(date, amount=1, base_currency='USD', format='json', callback=None)

Alias for get_historical_rate to get all exchange rates for a base currency on a specific date.

rates = client.get_historical_rates('2024-01-01', base_currency='USD')

convert_historical(amount, from_currency, to_currency, date, format='json', callback=None)

Convert an amount using historical exchange rates for a specific date.

converted = client.convert_historical(100, 'USD', 'EUR', '2024-01-01')

get_time_series(start_date, end_date, amount=1, base_currency='USD', currencies=None, format='json', callback=None)

Get time series exchange rate data over a date range (max 5 years).

# Time series for specific currencies
time_series = client.get_time_series(
    '2024-01-01', 
    '2024-01-07',
    base_currency='USD',
    currencies=['EUR', 'GBP']
)

# Time series for all currencies
all_series = client.get_time_series('2024-01-01', '2024-01-07', base_currency='USD')

# Time series with amount conversion
converted_series = client.get_time_series(
    '2024-01-01', 
    '2024-01-07',
    amount=100,
    base_currency='USD',
    currencies=['EUR']
)

New Features

get_historical_limits(format='json', callback=None)

Get information about available historical data limits per currency.

limits = client.get_historical_limits()
print(f"Total currencies with historical data: {limits['total_currencies']}")

for currency, info in limits['currencies'].items():
    print(f"{currency}: {info['earliest_date']} to {info['latest_date']}")

get_vat_rates(country=None, format='json', callback=None)

Get VAT rates for all countries or a specific country.

# Get all VAT rates
all_vat = client.get_vat_rates()
print(f"Total countries: {all_vat['total_countries']}")

# Get VAT rate for specific country
germany_vat = client.get_vat_rates('DE')
vat_info = germany_vat['vat_data']
print(f"Germany VAT rate: {vat_info['vat_rate']}%")

# Get VAT rates in CSV format
csv_vat = client.get_vat_rates(format='csv')

Output Formats

All methods support multiple output formats:

• json (default) - Returns Python dict/list
• xml - Returns XML string
• csv - Returns CSV string
• tsv - Returns TSV string

# JSON (default)
json_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR')

# XML format
xml_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', format='xml')

# CSV format
csv_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', format='csv')

# TSV format
tsv_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', format='tsv')

JSONP Support

For JSON responses, you can specify a JSONP callback function:

jsonp_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', callback='myCallback')

Complete Example

from unirate import UnirateClient

def main():
    client = UnirateClient('your-api-key-here')
    
    try:
        print('=== Current Rates ===')
        
        # Current exchange rate
        rate = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR')
        print(f'Current USD to EUR: {rate}')
        
        # All rates for USD
        all_rates = client.get_rate('USD')
        print(f'EUR: {all_rates["EUR"]}, GBP: {all_rates["GBP"]}')
        
        # Currency conversion
        converted = client.convert('EUR', 1000, 'USD')
        print(f'1000 USD = {converted} EUR')
        
        print('\n=== Historical Data ===')
        
        # Historical rate
        historical_rate = client.get_historical_rate('2024-01-01', from_currency='USD', to_currency='EUR')
        print(f'USD to EUR on 2024-01-01: {historical_rate}')
        
        # Historical conversion
        historical_converted = client.convert_historical(1000, 'USD', 'EUR', '2024-01-01')
        print(f'1000 USD = {historical_converted} EUR (on 2024-01-01)')
        
        # Time series data
        time_series = client.get_time_series(
            '2024-01-01', '2024-01-05',
            base_currency='USD',
            currencies=['EUR', 'GBP']
        )
        print('USD time series:')
        for date, rates in time_series.items():
            print(f'  {date}: EUR={rates["EUR"]}, GBP={rates["GBP"]}')
        
        print('\n=== New Features ===')
        
        # Historical limits
        limits = client.get_historical_limits()
        print(f'Total currencies: {limits["total_currencies"]}')
        
        # VAT rates
        vat_rates = client.get_vat_rates()
        print(f'Total countries with VAT: {vat_rates["total_countries"]}')
        
        # Germany VAT
        germany_vat = client.get_vat_rates('DE')
        print(f'Germany VAT: {germany_vat["vat_data"]["vat_rate"]}%')
        
        print('\n=== Format Examples ===')
        
        # CSV format
        csv_data = client.get_rate('USD', 'EUR', format='csv')
        print('CSV format:', csv_data[:50] + '...')
        
    except Exception as e:
        print(f'Error: {e}')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Error Handling

The client provides specific exception types for different error scenarios:

from unirate import UnirateClient
from unirate.exceptions import (
    UnirateError, 
    AuthenticationError, 
    RateLimitError, 
    InvalidCurrencyError, 
    InvalidDateError, 
    APIError
)

client = UnirateClient('your-api-key')

try:
    rate = client.get_rate('USD', 'INVALID')
except AuthenticationError:
    print('Invalid API key')
except InvalidCurrencyError:
    print('Invalid currency code')
except RateLimitError:
    print('Rate limit exceeded')
except InvalidDateError:
    print('Invalid date format')
except APIError as e:
    print(f'API Error: {e} (Status: {e.status_code})')
except UnirateError as e:
    print(f'General API Error: {e}')

Rate Limits

• Currency endpoints: Standard rate limits apply
• Historical endpoints: 50 requests per hour
• VAT endpoints: 1800 requests per hour

API Key

Get your free API key from https://unirateapi.com. No credit card required!

Supported Currencies

The API supports 170+ currencies including:

• Traditional currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD, etc.
• Cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, LTC, and many more

Use get_supported_currencies() to get the complete list.

Historical Data Coverage

Historical data is available from 1999 to 2025, with coverage varying by currency:

• Major currencies: Full coverage from 1999-01-01
• Some currencies: Limited historical data (use get_historical_limits() to check)

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• requests

Changelog

Version 1.0.0

• NEW: VAT rates endpoint (get_vat_rates())
• NEW: Historical limits endpoint (get_historical_limits())
• NEW: Multiple output formats (JSON, XML, CSV, TSV)
• NEW: JSONP callback support
• BREAKING: Updated method signatures with optional parameters and defaults
• BREAKING: convert() method parameter order changed (to_currency first)
• BREAKING: Historical methods now require date as first parameter
• IMPROVED: Better error handling with specific exception types
• IMPROVED: Enhanced response parsing for new API structure

License

MIT License