Metals API Pricing

Start free with 200 requests a month and no card. Every plan has a per-minute limit on each key; Free, Starter and Basic also have a monthly allowance, and Pro and Ultimate don't. Commercial use is allowed on all of them.

Free

Live spot prices for a personal site or a weekend project

No card, just a credit link

Per month: 200requests, all keys
Per minute: 10weight, per key

1 API key
No historical data
Live spot prices

Get a free key

Starter

Live and historical metal prices for a small site or app

$90/yr

$7.50/mo

Per month: 10,000requests, all keys
Per minute: 20weight, per key

2 API keys
1 year history
Metals + 1yr history

Basic

Every market price, plus history and news, for products and scripts

$290/yr

$24.17/mo

Per month: 250,000requests, all keys
Per minute: 30weight, per key

3 API keys
1 year history
All prices + 1yr history

Pro

Exchange data most metals APIs don't carry: inventory, COT, premiums

$990/yr

$82.50/mo

Per month: No cap
Per minute: 200weight, per key

10 API keys
5 years history
COMEX, COT, Shanghai + 5yr

Ultimate

Sixty years of daily history, plus exchange data most metals APIs don't carry

$2,490/yr

$207.50/mo

Per month: No cap
Per minute: 1,000weight, per key

25 API keys
Daily back to 1966 history
GFEX, supply + news AI

Feature comparison

Feature	Free $0/yr	Starter $90/yr	Basic $290/yr	Pro $990/yr	Ultimate $2,490/yr
Limits
Per-minute limit (weight, per API key)	10	20	30	200	1,000
Monthly allowance (weight, all keys combined)	200	10,000	250,000	No cap	No cap
API keys	1	2	3	10	25
Credit link on public displays	Required	Not required	Not required	Not required	Not required
Historical data		1 year	1 year	5 years	Daily back to 1966
Real-Time Data
Precious metals (XAU, XAG, XPT, XPD)
Base metals (Cu, Al, Zn, Ni, Pb, Sn)
Commodities (60+)
Cryptocurrencies
ETFs (GLD, SLV, ...)
Indices (SPX, DJI, DAX, ...)
HyperLiquid markets
Derivatives
Perpetual funding rates
Regional Exchanges
COMEX (inventory, volume/OI, delivery)
LBMA (vault, clearing)
Shanghai (SGE + SHFE)
India (MCX)
GFEX Hong Kong (Pt, Pd)
GFEX warehouse receipts (lithium, silicon)
Analytics & Reference
News			Full articles + feed	Full articles + feed	Full + sentiment + search
COT Reports
Supply data
Economic calendar
Currency rates	All pairs	All pairs	All pairs	All pairs	All pairs
Market status
All-time highs		All assets	All assets	All assets	All assets
Bullion dealer premiums
Instrument catalogue

Limits

Exactly how the limits work

Every number below is what the API enforces. Both limits are counted in weight, and most calls cost 1.

Rate limits, monthly allowances, API keys and history depth for each MetalCharts API plan
Plan	Per minuteweight, per API key	Per monthweight, all keys combined	API keys	History
Free$0	10	200200 spot calls	1	Live spot only
Starter$9/mo	20	10,00010,000 spot calls or 5,000 history calls	2	1 year
Basic$29/mo	30	250,000250,000 spot calls or 125,000 history calls	3	1 year
Pro$99/mo	200	No monthly cap	10	5 years
Ultimate$249/mo	1,000	No monthly cap	25	Full, back to 1966

01
What a request costs
Every call costs weight. Spot prices, market status, instruments and most other endpoints cost 1. History and news cost 2. News search and sentiment cost 3. Checking your own usage at /v1/usage costs 0. Both limits are counted in weight, so a 10,000 allowance is 10,000 spot calls or 5,000 history calls.
02
The per-minute limit is per key
Each API key has its own per-minute limit, counted in fixed one-minute windows that reset at the start of every minute (UTC). Go over it and that key gets a 429 with a Retry-After header giving the seconds until the next minute. Your other keys are unaffected.
03
The monthly allowance is per account
On plans that have one, the monthly allowance is shared by all of your keys and counted per calendar month in UTC. It resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st. Go over it and every request returns a 429 saying the monthly quota is exceeded, until the reset or until you upgrade.
04
What counts and what doesn't
Every request with a valid key for data your plan includes counts toward both limits, including requests refused with a 429. A request with a missing or invalid key (401), or for data your plan doesn't include (403), counts toward neither.
05
No surprise bills
Going over a limit never charges you and never upgrades your plan. You upgrade or downgrade yourself from the API console, and the new limits apply to your keys within 20 seconds.
06
Every response tells you where you stand
Responses carry X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Used and X-RateLimit-Reset for the current minute. On plans with a monthly allowance they also carry X-RateLimit-Month-Limit, X-RateLimit-Month-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Month-Used and X-RateLimit-Month-Reset.

Compared

How the price compares

What the main metals APIs charge for the same monthly volume, from their own pricing pages.

Metals API prices compared at 10,000 and 250,000 requests a month
Provider	Free tier	About 10,000 requests/mo	About 250,000 requests/mo	History
MetalCharts	200 a month	$9/mo (Starter, 10,000)	$29/mo (Basic, 250,000)	1 year on Starter and Basic, 5 on Pro, gold back to 1966 on Ultimate
Metals.Dev	100 a month	$9.99/mo (10,000)	$99.99/mo (500,000; the 100,000 plan is too small)	Not stated on the pricing page
MetalpriceAPI	100 a month, daily updates	$12/mo billed yearly (10,000)	$49/mo billed yearly (250,000)	Not stated on the pricing page
Metals-API	None on the pricing page	$79.99/mo (10,000)	$219.99/mo (500,000; the 100,000 plan is too small)	Time-series capped at 30 days per request on the 10,000 plan, 120 days on the 500,000 plan

Figures from each provider's public pricing page (linked), checked October 8, 2026. Plans change, so follow the links for current terms.

FAQ

Pricing questions

How much does the MetalCharts API cost?

Free $0, Starter $9/month, Basic $29/month, Pro $99/month, Ultimate $249/month. Paying yearly costs ten months instead of twelve. Every plan, Free included, allows commercial use.

What are the rate limits on each plan?

Per minute, each API key may use 10 weight on Free, 20 on Starter, 30 on Basic, 200 on Pro and 1,000 on Ultimate. Per month, the whole account may use 200 weight on Free, 10,000 on Starter and 250,000 on Basic. Pro and Ultimate have no monthly cap.

What is weight?

The unit both limits are counted in. Spot prices, market status, instruments and most endpoints cost 1 weight a call, history and news cost 2, news search and sentiment cost 3, and /v1/usage costs 0. So a 10,000 allowance is 10,000 spot calls or 5,000 history calls.

What happens if I go over a limit?

Over the per-minute limit, that key gets a 429 with a Retry-After header giving the seconds until the next minute; your other keys keep working. Over the monthly allowance, every request returns a 429 until 00:00 UTC on the 1st. You are never charged for going over, and the plan never upgrades itself.

Do requests that get a 429 count toward my limits?

Yes. Every request with a valid key for data your plan includes counts, refused or not. A request with an invalid key (401) or for data outside your plan (403) doesn't count toward either limit.

Is the monthly allowance per key or per account?

Per account. All of your keys draw on one monthly allowance, and it resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month. The per-minute limit is the one that applies to each key separately.

I subscribed to Basic before October 8, 2026. Does the monthly cap apply to me?

No. Basic subscriptions that started before October 8, 2026 keep the uncapped Basic they signed up for, as long as the subscription stays active. New Basic subscriptions include 250,000 requests a month.

Can I change plans at any time?

Yes. Upgrade, downgrade or cancel from the billing portal in your API console. Changes go through Stripe, and the new limits reach your keys within 20 seconds.

Do I need both website Premium and an API plan?

No. Premium is for the website (ad-free, portfolio tracker, Terminal). API plans are for programmatic access. They are separate subscriptions; choose either or both.

All API plans, Free included, are governed by the API Terms of Service, which cover what you may do with the data, rate limits, billing and availability.

Not sure which plan? Start free.

200 requests a month with no card. Upgrade from the console when you need history or more volume; the new limits apply within 20 seconds.

Get a free key What the API covers OpenAPI spec