Best gold price API (2026), ranked
Seven gold price APIs ranked on provenance, gold-specific depth, free-tier usability, developer experience, and pricing transparency, using the same criteria.
The ranking below weighs five things: whether a response discloses which source or exchange produced a price (provenance), how deep the gold-specific coverage goes beyond a single spot number (depth), whether the free tier is usable for a real project rather than a marketing gesture (free-tier usability), how well-suited the API is for modern integration including structured tool access (developer experience), and whether pricing is stated plainly or requires a support ticket to understand (pricing transparency).
For currency conversion alongside metal prices, exchangerate.dev supplies the FX leg. Keep its observation time separate from the gold price timestamp.
goldprice.dev is our own product, and it appears in this ranking. It's placed first below, with the reasoning shown alongside every other entry's, with the specific places a competitor wins outright named inside each entry.
goldprice.dev
Wins on provenance (a sources[] array with per-source identifier and timestamps on every response), developer experience (MCP with nine tools on every plan, including Free, plus an is_stale flag and no auto-bill overage), and gold-specific depth beyond spot: per-country dealer prices, all scoped to gold, silver, and copper only. Loses on metal breadth to Metals-API, on free-tier generosity to Gold-API.com, and on raw historical years to goldapi.io. Every plan includes gold, silver, copper and commercial use; Free needs a visible credit link. Basic ($19/mo) adds live spot and dealer prices.
goldapi.io
For benchmark history: the published plans list a free Sandbox with 100 requests/month and an Unlimited plan at $99/month. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are listed, with historical LBMA AM fix gold and silver prices since 1968. Its documentation now lists MCP and says currency availability varies by metal pair. Confirm the exact series and redistribution terms for your use case.
metals-api.com
The breadth option: precious and industrial metals alongside currency conversion. The Copper monthly plan is $19.99 for 2,500 calls, 60 requests/minute, and updates from 10 minutes, with usage overages charged separately. The catalog includes historical, time-series, intraday, and OHLC endpoints. It also publishes an MCP server. Check symbol availability and endpoint limits against your workload rather than assuming every series has the same historical depth.
gold-api.com
The free-tier option for frequent spot lookups: its pricing page publishes unlimited real-time asset-price requests, including gold, silver, and crypto. Free history or OHLC access is limited to 10 requests/hour; Premium is $10/month for unlimited API requests and minute/hour history aggregations. The homepage describes provider fallback; check whether its source detail meets your needs. Useful for a simple widget when request volume matters more than source detail.
metals.dev
A low-cost option with named authority prices: its documentation includes LBMA, LME, MCX, and IBJA endpoints. The Copper plan costs $1.79/month for 2,000 requests; Free includes 100 requests/month without a card, with 60-second updates on both. The homepage advertises 5+ years of history, while time-series requests cover at most 30 days. Check that the authority, metal, and date window match the series you need.
MetalpriceAPI
A volume-based price ladder: Free includes 100 requests/month; Essential is $5/month for 1,000 requests with 30-minute updates. Seven paid tiers reach $132/month for one million requests. Its symbol catalog extends beyond gold, silver, and platinum to palladium, industrial metals, and currencies. Historical and OHLC endpoints are documented too. Match both the refresh interval and monthly allowance to your application before comparing the headline price.
Twelve Data
Useful when gold is one asset among many: its commodities offering includes gold and silver spot data with WebSocket delivery. The free Basic plan allows 8 API credits/minute and 800/day; credits are weighted by endpoint and symbol, not interchangeable with calls. Paid pricing depends on capacity and billing interval. An official MCP server is now listed. Check commodity entitlements separately from the platform’s free allowance.
Frequently asked questions
- Isn't this ranking biased since goldprice.dev is your own product?
- goldprice.dev is our product, and it's ranked first below, so judge the reasoning rather than take the placement on faith. The criteria are stated up front: provenance, gold-specific depth, free-tier usability, developer experience, and pricing transparency. Every entry, including our own, lists where a competitor genuinely wins. Metals-API offers a broader metals catalog, Gold-API.com publishes unlimited free real-time requests, and goldapi.io advertises historical LBMA gold and silver prices back to 1968.
- What does 'data provenance' mean in this ranking, and why weight it?
- Whether an API tells you which exchange, feed, or benchmark produced a given number, versus returning one blended value with no attribution. It matters for pricing engines and compliance-adjacent products where the source behind a number is part of the product rather than just the number itself.
- Which API should I pick if I only care about free-tier usability?
- gold-api.com publishes unlimited free requests for real-time asset prices, including gold and silver. History and OHLC have a separate free limit of 10 requests an hour. Check the terms and historical limits before building your application.
- Which API has the deepest historical data?
- goldapi.io advertises historical LBMA AM fix gold and silver prices since 1968. That is a benchmark series, not a promise of identical spot or intraday coverage. Compare the exact metal, currency, interval, and start date you need; goldprice.dev serves daily XAU history back to 1996 on Plus and Pro.
- Is any API on this list actually free for commercial use?
- Read each provider's terms directly before shipping. On goldprice.dev, every plan allows commercial use; Free requires a visible credit link. Don't assume free-tier access means a clear commercial license.
- How often is this ranking updated?
- This review was updated on October 3, 2026 using the linked provider pricing and documentation. Figures describe published plans, not independently measured latency. Where a price, license, or feature could not be confirmed, we removed the claim; check the current plan terms before subscribing.