CoinGecko is the go-to API for crypto market data — prices, market caps, volumes, historical charts and coin metadata across thousands of assets. Here's what it costs and how to start, including the free tier.
| Plan | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Demo (free) free tier | $0 | 100 calls/min, 10k credits/mo, Demo key |
| Basic new | $35/mo | 100k credits/mo, 300 req/min, standard endpoints |
| Analyst | $129/mo | 500k credits/mo, 500 req/min, Pro endpoints |
| Lite | $499/mo | 2M credits/mo, on-chain data, SLA |
CoinGecko's Demo plan is free and good for hobby projects, dashboards and prototypes — rate-limited at 100 calls/minute with a 10,000 credit monthly cap. You now need a free Demo API key even for the public endpoints. For production traffic or pro endpoints (like on-chain and granular historical data), you move to a paid plan.
1. Sign up at coingecko.com.
2. Open the Developer Dashboard (Account → Developer Dashboard).
3. Click Create API key — choose the free Demo key to start.
4. Use it via the x-cg-demo-api-key header (or the pro header on paid plans).
Fetch the Bitcoin price:
CoinCap and Binance's public API are free for basic price and market data (Binance is great for exchange-specific tickers and klines). CoinMarketCap has a comparable freemium API. For pure price feeds, the exchange APIs are often simpler and free; CoinGecko wins on breadth (thousands of coins, metadata, historical).
Trading the data you pull? Size and risk it with the crypto tools on RektCalc.
Yes — a free Demo tier (100 calls/min, 10k credits/month) that requires a free Demo API key. Paid plans add higher limits and Pro endpoints.
Sign up, open the Developer Dashboard, and create an API key. The Demo key is free and works immediately.
CoinGecko has the widest coverage and metadata. Exchange APIs (Binance, etc.) are free and ideal for specific tickers/candles. CoinMarketCap is a similar freemium alternative.
Not affiliated with CoinGecko. Prices are reference estimates — always verify on the official pricing page.
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