Where the rates come from
Rates are served by Frankfurter, an open API that publishes the European Central Bank's daily reference rates — the same rates banks and trading desks use as their base. The ECB updates them once per working day around 16:00 CET.
What "live" means here
Reference exchange rates update once per business day, which is what you want for budgeting, invoicing and shopping — not intraday speculation. The page calls the API fresh on each load, so you always see the latest published rate, with the date shown.
Real-world rates vs. what you get
- Banks and money changers apply a spread (typically 1–4%) on top of the reference rate — that's how they make money.
- Cards / PayPal / Wise add their own fee structure; check the mid-market rate before accepting an offer.
- For travel, a useful trick: assume you'll get ~2–3% less than the reference rate, and budget from there.