We received a few requests to look over currency converters and pick our favorite. This sounds a lot easier than it is. There are literally hundreds of online currency converters out there, not including the plugins/widgets being used on various financial websites. So we narrowed the list by cutting out those that just don’t have the traffic to justify their website.
That left us with some pretty good picks. We tried each of these, wrote out pros and cons for each, and compiled the results. Here’s our top five, listed in descending order with the best being the last.
Expedia UK Site
This is one of the simpler currency converts on our list, but it’s also one of the most-used. I personally think that’s because of its location (it’s on Expedia, after all), but who knows? It’s extremely simple, converts just about every world currency into another, and is fast. It only does one at a time, however, so checking rates between, say, Euros, USD, and Yen isn’t possible.
Crrncy.com
You may recall Herb’s review of this not long ago on www.scommerce.com. The site is uber-simple, converts quickly, and updates extremely often to make it very accurate. It’s limited to only five currencies and can only do one to another, so comparisons aren’t easy. For simplicity and Google-like speed, this one is tops. It’s just not as useful as some of our other picks.
GoCurrency.com
This site, like the next two, is all about currency. It’s very well done with the first thing appearing on the page being a fast-loading exchange rates table with major currencies listed and defaulting to comparison with the USD. This allows for fast comparisons and the actual one-to-the-other converter appears directly to the left of that table, making it fast and easy to convert right away. For the ForEx trader, there’s a lot here, including historic rate charts to analyze trends.
OANDA
It was difficult to decide whether this or GoCurrency should be in this slot, but OANDA won out almost entirely for loading speed and looks. I know, superficial, but this site is much easier on the eyes and the layout is smoother. A quick converter for one-to-another appears right in the site’s header bar and a real time currency rate chart with the world’s four strongest currencies listed (USD, GBP, EUR, and JPY) in comparison. Both current and historical rates are available from easy buttons and this site definitely caters to the ForEx trader.
XE
The site with the million dollar address wins out as the best currency conversion site . Unlike OANDA, it’s not the prettiest site on our list, but it’s definitely the most-used. There’s a reason for that. The site loads extremely quickly and features a huge, prominent cross-rates chart that dynamically updates on its own. It compares eleven currencies and updates every minute. Below that is a quick currency converter (one to another) for fast checks. While this site also caters to ForEx traders, it’s also got some nice tools. The large table is customizable and historical tables can be made from the same tool, with a lot of sorting options. The site ain’t pretty, but it’s very useful and fast.
So there’s our choices for favorite currency conversion sites. For most people, any of these on the top 5 list will fit your needs. If you’re just looking to find out how much your dollars will be worth in Europe, then #4 is probably your fastest checkpoint. If you’re a ForEx trader, you’ll want to try any of our top 3.
