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.
Feature-level comparison against metals-api.com's published plans as of April 2026. Source: metals-api.com public pricing page + our own plans. Last verified 2026-04-20.
Which one to choose
Where metals-api wins
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.
Where goldprice.dev wins
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 MCP.
Published methodology, source-level. Our methodology doc describes source identifiers, timestamps and staleness thresholds. Versioned and changelogged.
No auto-bill overage. We 429 you. They'll charge you.
Agent-native output. Unit-annotated, staleness-flagged, symbol-canonical responses an LLM can reason about without a post-processing layer.
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.
Pick metals-api if…
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.
→ metals-api.com · $19.99/mo for the whole catalog.
Pick goldprice.dev if…
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.
→ $19/mo live metals + dealer prices · MCP on every plan.
Not sure yet?
Try both for a month. The API that breaks first loses.
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. We ship a native Model Context Protocol server with nine tools on every plan including Free. metals-api has MCP. 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.
Start with a free API key
5,000 requests a month on the free plan. No credit card.
goldprice.dev