The Best Currency Converter Apps in 2026, Compared

How we compared them

A disclosure first: WaveRate publishes this guide, and WaveRate is one of the apps in it. To keep that from bending the result, every fact about another app comes from that app's own App Store or Google Play listing, version history or help centre, checked on the date shown above the table. Where a listing does not say whether a feature exists, the table says Not stated instead of guessing. Facts about WaveRate come from its current release, including what its free version leaves out.

We took the apps that rank highest for "currency converter" on the US App Store, kept one app per developer, and added Digitalchemy's Currency Converter Plus because it is one of the most installed converters on Google Play. Then we judged them on the jobs people actually open a converter for:

• Everyday conversion: how many currencies fit on one screen, and whether you can type a sum like 120 ÷ 3 instead of a single number.
• History: how far back the charts go, and whether that history is free.
• Travel: offline behaviour, and whether the app helps with money you have already spent, not just money you are about to spend.
• Cost: price model, ads, and what the free version leaves out.
• Reach: iPhone and Android availability, and how many languages the app speaks.

Best overall

1. WaveRate: the most complete converter for travel and multi-currency life

WaveRate is built around a list instead of a pair. You keep every currency you care about on one screen, with the first row as your base; type an amount in any row and every other row updates. The amount field is a calculator with + − × ÷ and %, so splitting a 120-euro dinner three ways is one line, not a trip to another app. A Rates mode flips the list from amounts to quotes, showing what one unit of each currency costs in yours, with weak currencies quoted per 10, 100 or 1,000 the way banks post them.

Tap any pair for a chart with ranges from one week to five years and a scrubber that reads out the rate on any day. Rates are saved on the phone, so conversion keeps working on a plane, with a clear badge when the numbers are getting old.

What none of the other six offer is the part after you pay. Create a trip, log each expense in whatever currency you paid in, and WaveRate converts it into your home currency at that day's rate and keeps the running total. Every expense stays locked to its own day's rate, so the total does not drift when the market moves after you are home. It works without signal too: an expense logged offline gets the historical rate filled in later. On iPhone, trips sync through iCloud.

There are no ads and no account, and the app speaks 21 languages on both iPhone and Android.

The catch: the free version is deliberately small. It keeps two currencies, charts for one week and one month, and one trip with three expenses. The full list, five-year history and unlimited trips are Premium, at $1.99 a month, $17.99 a year or $34.99 once on the US App Store. Every new install gets three days of full Premium without entering a card, which is enough to try it while planning a real trip. WaveRate also has no home-screen widget, no Apple Watch app, no rate alerts and no crypto.

WaveRate vs Xe in detail · Tracking travel expenses in several currencies

Best for sending money

2. Xe: best if you also send money abroad

Xe is the most famous name here, and its app is now a money-transfer service first: the store listing is titled Xe Money Transfer & Currency. The converter is still there and still free. The Convert tab holds up to 20 currencies against a pinned base, and Xe's charts are the longest in this comparison, up to ten years, at no charge. Rate alerts by push or email are available once you sign in to an Xe account, and a home-screen widget returned in the August 2026 update.

The trade-offs: the app shows ads, the iPhone app is in English only, and there is nothing for logging what you spend. If you send money internationally, having the transfer and the converter in one place is a real advantage. If you only convert, you are carrying a transfer app around for its converter.

WaveRate vs Xe in detail

Best ad-supported all-rounder

3. Currency Converter Plus (Digitalchemy): packed with features, paid for by ads

Digitalchemy's Currency Converter Plus is one of the most installed converters on Google Play, with more than 10 million downloads. It covers the most ground of the ad-supported apps: a multi-currency screen, a calculator, home-screen widgets, crypto and precious metals, and 27 languages. On Android its charts go back five years; the iPhone listing describes one week to one year.

It is free with ads, and removing them or unlocking Premium is an in-app purchase. It has no trip or expense log. Mind the name: an unrelated iPhone app from another developer, Kaspre Invest, is also called Currency Converter Plus. This entry is Digitalchemy's.

Best for Apple Watch

4. Currency by Jeffrey Grossman: best on the wrist

Currency has been on the App Store since 2008 and covers the Apple ecosystem more completely than anything else here: an Apple Watch app that works without the iPhone nearby, home-screen widgets with up to six currencies, a multi-currency list with a calculator, and crypto and precious metals.

Charts, faster rate updates and ad removal sit behind Currency+, a $19.99-a-year subscription, and the charts shown in its listing go back two years. The Android version on Google Play was last updated in December 2021, so treat Currency as an iPhone app. There is no expense tracking.

Best completely free

5. Currency Converter by Wise: free, with no ads

Wise's standalone converter is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. It keeps a list of favourite pairs, a widget, and charts back five years. Its most useful trick comes from Wise's day job: it compares what different providers charge to send money, fees included.

It is thinner as a daily converter. Its listing does not say whether it works offline or has a calculator, it has no expense tracking, and sending money or setting rate alerts happens in the main Wise app, with an account.

Lightest download

6. Currency converter calculator!: tiny, fast and in 35 languages

Aleksei Mezhevikin's converter (listed as Currency converter offline on Google Play) does one thing quickly. The iPhone app is under 10 MB, it speaks 35 languages, its calculator handles percentages, it works offline, and it runs natively on the Mac. Rates come from the developer's own server, which averages around 50 sources and updates hourly.

It shows two currencies at a time and has no charts; the developer's FAQ says history is not available yet. It is free with ads, at most one full-screen ad a day by the developer's own policy, and removing them is a small subscription.

Simplest one-pair converter

7. My Currency Converter: one pair, nothing else in the way

JRustonApps' My Currency Converter is the top result for "currency converter" on the US App Store, with a 4.9 rating from more than 130,000 ratings as of October 2026. Its design is a single pair with a switch button, about as simple as conversion gets, with charts back five years, a favourites list for checking one amount in several currencies, and Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin.

The free version is ad-supported. My Currency Converter Pro removes the ads and adds an Apple Watch app for a one-time $3.99. Both are iPhone and iPad only, and neither tracks expenses.

What about just typing it into Google?

For a single number, a search engine is the fastest converter there is: nothing to install and nothing to update. For the occasional one-off, it is the right tool. It stops being enough when you are offline, when you want several currencies side by side, or when you need to know what yesterday's purchase cost at yesterday's rate. That gap is what a dedicated app is for.

Which one should you choose?

Match the app to the job you actually open it for:

• You travel, or your life runs in two or more currencies: WaveRate. It is the only one here that also tracks what you spend, and it shows no ads.
• You send money internationally: Xe, for transfers, alerts and ten-year charts, or Wise's converter if you mainly want to compare transfer costs.
• You want to convert from your wrist: Currency by Jeffrey Grossman.
• You want everything free and do not need offline use spelled out: Currency Converter by Wise.
• You want the smallest app, in your own language: Currency converter calculator!
• You only ever convert one pair: My Currency Converter.

What the mid-market rate is, and why you rarely get it