goldprice.dev vs metals-api
metals-api.com is a generalist metals + FX catalog. We're a commodity specialist that answers what gold's worth and what it costs to buy — per-source transparency, per-country dealer prices, and MCP on every plan.
Breadth is their thing, and they're good at it.
- →Every metal, everywhere. Full metals catalog plus FX. If you need one API key to cover the long tail of precious and industrial metals, they deliver.
- →170+ currencies. We serve gold spot in 31 currencies (USD spot × exchangerate.dev FX; paid live, Free 15 minutes late). If your app needs gold priced in Paraguayan guaraní today, you want them, not us.
- →Fixer-compatible API shape. If you've used Fixer.io, metals-api's endpoint shape will feel familiar. Drop-in migration is realistic.
- →Long-tail industrial metals. Aluminum, zinc, nickel, rhodium, and others with 15+ years of daily bars. We ship copper spot on every plan, but nothing beyond that.
We're not trying to be a metals catalog.
- ✓Every source visible.
sources[]via?include=sources— one live spot source per spot row, USD spot × live exchangerate.dev FX for non-USD gold, each with source identifier and timestamps. metals-api serves a single blended number with no provenance. - ✓Attributed spot prices on every plan Gold, silver and copper spot are on every plan, with source identifiers and timestamps. Free is 15 minutes late; Basic ($19/mo) and higher plans are live. No new plan includes futures or settlements.
- ✓Depth across three metals. Gold, silver and copper spot on every plan. Free is 15 minutes late; paid plans are live. Futures, settlements and ETF/GLD bars are excluded.
- ✓The real price of gold at the counter, by country. Live dealer sell & buyback quotes with premium-over-spot across selected countries, from $19 Basic. Their breadth is every metal, everywhere; ours is what gold actually costs to buy, which their spot feed doesn't touch.
- ✓MCP on every plan. Native Model Context Protocol server with nine tools. metals-api has no MCP offering.
- ✓Published methodology, source-level. Our methodology doc describes source identifiers, timestamps and staleness thresholds. Versioned and changelogged.
- ✓No auto-bill overage. We
429you. They'll charge you. - ✓Agent-native output. Unit-annotated, staleness-flagged, symbol-canonical responses an LLM can reason about without a post-processing layer.
Head-to-head, line by line
Feature-level comparison against metals-api.com's published plans as of April 2026.
| Feature | goldprice.dev | metals-api |
|---|---|---|
| Data coverage | ||
| Gold (XAU) spot + history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Silver (XAG) spot + futures | Spot all plans; no futures | ✓ |
| Copper (HG) futures | No new plan | ✓ |
| Other industrial metals (Al, Ni, Zn…) | — | ✓ |
| Currencies supported | 31 | 170+ |
| Live spot XAU/USD real-time | ✓ Basic+; Free 15 min late | — |
| Live spot XAG/USD real-time | ✓ Basic+; Free 15 min late | — |
| gold futures settlement (GC) | No new plan | — |
| SI settlement (silver futures) | No new plan | — |
| copper futures settlement (HG) | No new plan | — |
| Spot/futures differentials | No new plan | — |
| ETF · CB · COT data | No new plan | — |
| Per-country dealer prices (selected countries) | ✓ Basic+ | — |
| Analytics | ||
| Forward view: futures settlement curve | No new plan | — |
Cross-source divergence data via /v1/prices/divergence | No new plan | — |
| Developer experience | ||
| MCP server | All plans | — |
| TypeScript / Python SDK | npm @nusantara-ventures/goldprice + PyPI goldprice-dev | Community |
| Published methodology (per-source provenance) | ✓ | — |
sources[] array via ?include=sources | ✓ | — |
is_stale flag | ✓ | — |
| Pricing & limits | ||
| Cheapest paid plan | $19/mo (incl. dealer prices) | $29/mo |
| Production plan | $89/mo | $99/mo |
| Overage policy | 429, never auto-bill | Auto-bills |
Source: metals-api.com public pricing page + our own plans. Last verified 2026-04-20.
Reference prices for informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
Who should pick which
If you need a metals catalog, go there. If gold, silver, or copper are the product — not a checkbox — come here.
You need a generalist metals + FX feed.
You're building a commodity dashboard, a metals-purchasing calculator for a manufacturer, or an FX-heavy product that happens to also quote precious metals. Breadth matters more than depth.
Gold, silver, or copper is the product, not a line item.
You need gold, silver or copper spot, MCP access, or per-country dealer prices, with source identifiers and timestamps behind each number.
FAQ
Is goldprice.dev a good alternative to metals-api.com for agent and quant builders?
Yes. goldprice.dev exposes gold, silver and copper spot with source identifiers and timestamps via ?include=sources. Free is 15 minutes late; live spot and dealer prices start on Basic ($19/mo). No new plan includes futures or settlements. metals-api.com is a generalist metals + FX feed that serves a single blended number per metal without source provenance.
I need industrial metals beyond copper (aluminum, nickel, zinc). Which should I use?
metals-api.com. We ship gold, silver and copper spot; paid plans are live and Free is 15 minutes late. If your product also needs aluminum, zinc, or other industrial metals on the same key, metals-api is the right choice.
Which has more currencies?
metals-api.com lists 170+ direct currency pairs. goldprice.dev serves gold spot in 31 currencies on every tier using USD spot × exchangerate.dev FX, live on paid plans and 15 minutes late on Free. Source identifiers and timestamps are available.
Which is better for AI agents?
goldprice.dev by a wide margin. We ship a native Model Context Protocol server with nine tools on every plan including Free. metals-api has no MCP offering. Our responses are unit-annotated, staleness-flagged, and symbol-canonical — an LLM can reason about them without a post-processing layer.
Does metals-api tell me what gold actually costs to buy?
No. goldprice.dev's Basic tier ($19+) covers live dealer sell and buyback quotes with premium-over-spot across selected countries, the real price at the counter rather than a blended spot number. metals-api trades that depth for breadth across every metal; it doesn't ship a per-country dealer feed.