Stop wasting hours searching for reliable crypto data. Start with $25 in free CoinAPI credits and test real-time and historical market data before deciding what your production setup needs.
Quants, fintech builders, and developers can use the credits to validate a crypto data project without purchasing a monthly subscription.
You can test supported data from 400+ integrated exchanges, covering 916k+ symbols and 18k+ assets, and see how CoinAPI fits your research, trading, or fintech workflow.
To unlock the $25 free credits, create an API key and add a verified payment method.
No subscription purchase is required.
Credits are then consumed according to your actual API usage.
Ready to test your idea? Here’s what the $25 credits include, what they don’t include, and how to use them efficiently.
Trusted by Industry Leaders
CoinAPI provides crypto data infrastructure for fintechs, trading firms, research teams, and other financial technology companies. Clients featured in our case studies include Wyden, Bitwise, MIT, and Paysafe.
"CoinAPI does what a good crypto API is supposed to do: quickly and easily provide live data on any cryptocurrency and their trading volume. We use CoinAPI to power our tax calculation." — Bitcoin.tax CEO Colin Mackie
What’s Included in Your $25 Free CoinAPI Credits?
CoinAPI does not offer a traditional unlimited free tier. Instead, new users receive $25 in free Usage Credits on a Pay-As-You-Go account.
Here’s what you should know:
- $25 in free credits to evaluate supported CoinAPI data and workflows.
- API key + verified payment method required to activate the credits.
- No monthly subscription required to start.
- REST and WebSocket testing: The credits can be used to evaluate PAYG-accessible REST endpoints and WebSocket streaming.
- Usage monitoring: Track consumption in the API BRICKS Console and through API response headers.
- Credits do not expire: Your remaining Usage Credits stay available until they are consumed.
The $25 credits are designed for evaluation and prototyping. They should not be interpreted as automatic access to every enterprise feature, FIX configuration, private connectivity option, or custom dataset.
Which Endpoints Can You Test?
Your credits can be used to explore Market Data API endpoints for supported datasets, including OHLCV, trades, quotes, order books, and metadata.
Exchange-rate functionality can also be tested where available under your account access.
Exchange Rates
Retrieve the current BTC/USD exchange rate:
For historical exchange rates, use the history endpoint:
OHLCV
Retrieve historical OHLCV data for a specific market:
Trades
Use the trades endpoints to retrieve executed trade data for supported symbols and historical periods.
Quotes
Use quote endpoints to access bid/ask information from supported exchanges and symbols.
Order Books
CoinAPI also provides current and historical order book data where supported, including L2 and L3 datasets depending on venue and coverage.
Metadata
Before requesting market data, metadata endpoints can help you confirm what is available:
/v1/assets— available assets/v1/exchanges— supported exchanges/v1/symbols— available instruments and symbol identifiers
Coverage varies by exchange, symbol, instrument, data type, and historical period, so checking metadata first can save both time and credits.
$25 Free Credits vs. Paid Plans
| Topic | $25 Free Credits / PAYG | Paid Plans |
| Commitment | No monthly subscription required | Monthly/committed options available |
| REST | Available while credits remain | Higher included usage depending on plan |
| WebSocket | Can be tested with credits | Designed for larger production streaming workloads |
| FIX | Not generally part of basic PAYG evaluation | Availability depends on plan |
| Flat Files | Separate bulk historical access using Usage Credits | Committed and enterprise options available |
| Support | Standard PAYG support | Additional support options depend on plan |
$25 Credits: What You Should Know
Usage Is Metered
REST credit consumption depends on the endpoint, parameters, and amount of data returned.
When an endpoint uses the limit parameter, every 100 returned data points generally counts as 1 REST Credit.
That means a request returning 1,000 records can consume more credits than one returning 10 records, even though both are technically one HTTP request.
CoinAPI returns the x-credits-used response header. Log this during development so you can see exactly which requests consume the most credits.
WebSocket Is Available
You can also use your credits to evaluate WebSocket streaming.
This is useful when testing workflows that require continuous trades, quotes, order book updates, OHLCV, or other supported real-time data.
Credits Don’t Expire
According to current CoinAPI materials, Usage Credits remain available until consumed.
This Is a PAYG Account
You’re not entering a traditional free tier with a fixed daily free-request allowance.
Instead, you have a Pay-As-You-Go account with $25 in credits to start testing.
How to Test Data Efficiently
To get more value from your initial credits, start with focused requests rather than immediately downloading large datasets.
1. Confirm Coverage First
Before requesting historical data, use metadata endpoints such as:
/v1/assets
/v1/exchanges
/v1/symbols
This lets you verify the exchanges, assets, and instruments relevant to your project.
2. Start With Small Requests
Use the limit parameter where supported and begin with a small number of returned records.
Check the endpoint documentation for its supported parameters and maximum values before increasing the request size.
3. Monitor Your Usage
Manage API keys, billing, credits, and usage in the API BRICKS Console.
Also log the x-credits-used response header during testing. This makes it easier to identify expensive calls before you scale them across hundreds of symbols.
4. Cache Data Locally
Historical market data does not need to be downloaded repeatedly.
If your application frequently uses the same historical period, store the response locally and reuse it instead of making another API request.
5. Test Real-Time Features Selectively
Use WebSocket when you need continuous real-time updates.
For scheduled reports, targeted historical queries, or occasional snapshots, REST may be more appropriate.
6. Use Flat Files for Large Historical Downloads
REST is useful for targeted historical requests, but it isn’t always the right tool for multi-year bulk datasets.
For large historical backfills, ML training datasets, tick-level research, or extensive order book history, use CoinAPI Flat Files instead of paginating through thousands of REST requests.
Flat Files require a Flat Files API key and sufficient Usage Credits.
Sample Workflow: Test BTC/USD OHLCV Data
Here’s a simple evaluation workflow.
1. Confirm the trading pair exists
Use the symbols metadata to confirm BITSTAMP_SPOT_BTC_USD and its availability.
2. Fetch one day of hourly OHLCV data
3. Save the response locally
4. Analyze locally
You can now explore the data in Python, Jupyter Notebook, Excel, or your preferred analytics environment without requesting the same historical period again.
Want to choose the most efficient access method? Read REST API or Flat Files: Choosing the Best Crypto Data Access Method.
For more on historical ticks, quotes, and order books, see How to Access Historical Crypto Data with CoinAPI: Ticks, Quotes, and Order Books.
Lightning-Fast Developer Onboarding
CoinAPI provides API documentation, examples, and SDK resources to help developers get started quickly.
Create an API key, confirm your target exchanges and symbols through metadata, make a small test request, and monitor its credit consumption before scaling your integration.
Crypto API Pricing: When Should You Upgrade?
Your $25 free credits are useful for testing endpoints, validating data coverage, and prototyping an integration.
You may need additional Usage Credits or a committed plan when you:
- Run larger historical queries
- Increase the number of symbols or exchanges
- Move from testing to continuous production usage
- Increase WebSocket streaming volume
- Need higher committed quotas
- Require FIX or enterprise infrastructure and support
CoinAPI also supports PAYG usage, so you can add credits without immediately committing to a monthly plan.
See the Market Data API pricing page for current rates and plan allowances.
For Advanced, Enterprise & Quant Teams
Your initial $25 credits are designed for evaluation and prototyping.
As your requirements grow, you can:
- Add Usage Credits: Continue using PAYG for metered workloads.
- Choose a committed plan: Get higher included usage and plan-specific capabilities.
- Use Flat Files: Retrieve bulk historical datasets for backtesting, ML, research, and large-scale backfills.
- Use FIX: Access institutional real-time market data connectivity where supported by your plan.
- Explore Enterprise options: Discuss custom infrastructure, connectivity, support, SLAs, and other requirements with CoinAPI.
CoinAPI is designed around normalized, documented schemas so integrations can move from evaluation toward production without rebuilding the entire data model.
Troubleshooting & FAQ
Q: What happens if I use up my $25 credits?
A: You can add more Usage Credits or select a committed plan and continue using the same account.
Q: Can I keep my API key when I upgrade?
A: In normal account upgrades, your existing integration can continue using the same CoinAPI authentication setup. Check the Console if your new product or access method requires an additional key configuration.
Q: Are there differences between the $25 credits and paid accounts?
A: The $25 credits let you evaluate PAYG-accessible normalized datasets through supported REST and WebSocket access. Paid plans can provide higher quotas, committed usage, FIX access, additional support, and enterprise options depending on the plan.
Q: How do I know what data is available?
A: Check /v1/assets, /v1/exchanges, and /v1/symbols, together with the current CoinAPI documentation. Availability varies by venue, instrument, data type, and historical period.
Q: Who uses CoinAPI?
CoinAPI supports a range of technical and financial data workflows, including:
- Quantitative research and backtesting
- Trading and market monitoring applications
- Fintech products
- ML and data science pipelines
- Portfolio valuation and risk
- Tax, accounting, and reconciliation
- Academic research
- Crypto analytics infrastructure
See our case studies for real-world examples.
Explore Resources
- API Docs: https://www.coinapi.io/docs
- API BRICKS Console: https://console.apibricks.io/
- Market Data API Pricing: https://www.coinapi.io/products/market-data-api/pricing
CoinAPI’s $25 free credits give new users a practical way to test real-time and historical crypto data without purchasing a monthly subscription first. Start small, monitor x-credits-used, cache what you download, and choose the right access method as your data requirements grow.
Ready for More Credits?
Add Usage Credits or choose a Market Data API plan in the API BRICKS Console. For larger historical workloads, explore Flat Files; for institutional requirements, contact CoinAPI to discuss the appropriate setup.
