Yes, CoinMarketCap API has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes access to 11 data endpoints and exchange asset reserve endpoints, 15,000 monthly API credits, and 1 API key. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $15/mo, and no credit card is required to sign up.
About
CoinMarketCap API is a cryptocurrency and DEX market data API that exposes REST endpoints for listings, quotes, historical data, exchange data, global metrics, trending data, content data, and index values. The service also includes an MCP endpoint and x402 pay-per-request access for selected routes.
The free offering includes a keyless public API with no account or API key required for selected endpoints, plus a Basic plan with a free authenticated key. The Basic plan includes 15,000 monthly call credits, 50 requests per minute, 11 data endpoints and exchange asset reserve endpoints, personal use, and 1 API key. The pricing page also states that most endpoints update every 1 minute.
- Keyless public API access
- 15,000 monthly call credits
- 50 requests per minute
- 11 data endpoints included
- 1 API key on Basic plan
- 1-minute endpoint refresh cycle
- Cryptocurrency and DEX data
- MCP and x402 access paths
Free Tier Value
This free tier is a capped but genuinely usable starter plan: it includes 15,000 monthly API credits, basic support, and a small authenticated key allowance with a 50 RPM limit. Compared with the cheapest paid Builder plan at $29/month and 150K credits, it delivers about 10% of the paid credit volume plus a narrower endpoint set, so a fair value estimate is about $15/month. A credit card is not required to try the public API, and the offer is perpetual rather than time-limited, which supports a meaningful free-tier score.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- Access to 11 data endpoints and exchange asset reserve endpoints.
- 15,000 monthly API credits.
- Basic email support.
- Personal use license.
- 1 API key.
- 50 requests per minute rate limit.
- 1-minute update frequency.
- Limit of 1 currency conversion per call.
See CoinMarketCap API pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Builder
- data endpoints
- 40+
- call credits per month
- 150K
- historical data
- 3 years
- 40+ data endpoints
- 150K call credits/mo
- 3 years of historical data
- Commercial use
- ISO 27001 & 27701 certified
Startup
- data endpoints
- 50+
- call credits per month
- 450K
- historical data
- all time
- 50+ data endpoints
- 450K call credits/mo
- All time historical data
- Commercial use
- ISO 27001 & 27701 certified
Growth
- call credits per month
- 2M
- historical data
- all time
- All data endpoints
- 2M call credits/mo
- All time historical data
- Commercial use
- ISO 27001 & 27701 certified
Professional
- call credits per month
- 5M
- historical data
- all time
- All data endpoints
- 5M call credits/mo
- All time historical data
- Commercial use
- ISO 27001 & 27701 certified
Enterprise
- call credits
- custom
- All data endpoints
- Custom call limits
- All time historical data
- Custom license
- ISO 27001 & 27701 certified
Pricing extracted from CoinMarketCap API's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is CoinMarketCap API free forever?
Yes. CoinMarketCap API has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
Does CoinMarketCap API require a credit card?
No. You can start on CoinMarketCap API's free tier without entering card details.
What happens when you exceed CoinMarketCap API's free tier?
You move to a paid plan. CoinMarketCap API's cheapest paid plan is Builder at $29 / month.
What is CoinMarketCap API's free tier worth?
CoinMarketCap API's free tier is worth about $15 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 58/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
