DevTools Logo
All posts

An Offline Currency Converter, On Purpose

August 22, 2026 · DevTools

currency
finance
privacy
converter

An Offline Currency Converter, On Purpose

Most currency converters leak by design: every amount you type is sent to a rate API, building a tidy log of what you convert, when, and from where. The Currency Converter takes the opposite position — the rates are inside the page, and nothing you type ever leaves your browser.

How snapshot rates work

The tool ships a dated snapshot of 30 currencies against a USD base. The snapshot date is displayed with every result, so you always know the vintage of the number you're quoting. Cross rates derive exactly the way markets quote them: EUR→TRY is (EUR→USD) × (USD→TRY) — one division through the base, no lookup tables.

The manual override is the pro feature

For anything that must match a statement — an invoice, a tax filing, a reimbursement — the snapshot isn't precise enough, and live mid-market rates wouldn't be either. Banks apply their own spreads. Type your bank's actual rate into the custom field and the conversion uses it, marked (custom) in the output so the number's provenance is never ambiguous.

The quick table

One unit of your source currency across the majors, sortable by strength — genuinely useful when comparing card fees abroad or sanity-checking a shop's "friendly" exchange rate. Swap flips direction in one tap.

Honest limits

  • A snapshot ages; the date is the honesty mechanism. Site updates refresh it from an open API on a deliberate manual cadence.
  • 30 currencies cover the majors plus TRY, INR, KRW, BRL and more; exotic pairs aren't pretended.
  • No historical rates — past conversions need real sources.

For the rest of the money toolkit: borrowing math in the Loan & Mortgage Calculator, tax directions in the Discount & VAT Calculator.