Implement Multi-Currency Feature in Laravel Step-by-Step

Multi-currency support in Laravel apps enhances global reach, boosts user trust, and increases conversions by dynamically displaying localised prices using real-time exchange rates.

Key Points

Localized pricing improves conversion rates by up to 30% in international eCommerce platforms.
Over 65% of global users prefer viewing product prices in their local currency when shopping online.
Static currency symbols like $, €, ₹ are applied using helper functions for consistent formatting display.

Overview:

In today’s rapidly evolving digital marketplace, businesses often serve customers from multiple countries. Providing product pricing in local currencies is more than a convenience—it’s a strategic move to boost conversions, reduce cart abandonment, and improve customer trust. Whether you’re offering website development services or building a custom web app development solution, enabling multi-currency support in Laravel can significantly enhance your application’s global usability.

Laravel’s clean architecture and flexible components make it an excellent framework for implementing this functionality. In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn how to implement a currency switcher in Laravel using real-time data from a third-party API, enabling dynamic price conversion and localized currency display across your application.

Step 1: Create Migration and Set Up the Database Structure

To begin, we need to set up a database schema for storing product data. In a scalable custom web app development environment, it's best practice to store all prices in a single base currency (commonly USD) and convert to other currencies dynamically for display purposes.

Generate migration using: php artisan make:migration create_products_table

Migration file:

                                        <?php
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;


return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
       Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->decimal('price', 10, 2); // Base price in USD
    $table->timestamps();
});


    }


    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     */
    public function down(): void
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('products');
    }
};

After this, run the command php artisan migrate to set up columns and tables in the DB.

Why Store Prices in One Currency?

Storing prices in a single base currency simplifies calculations, ensures consistent financial reporting, and avoids floating-point errors. This approach is especially important when building eCommerce platforms or SaaS applications, particularly under custom Laravel development projects where financial precision is non-negotiable.

Step 2: Create a Helper Class for Currency Conversion

The next step is to centralize all currency-related logic into a dedicated Laravel helper class. This helper class will make it easier to manage exchange rates and conversions throughout your application. Such a structure is vital for projects involving Laravel currency conversion integration, as it enables clean, reusable, and maintainable code. It’s particularly useful for teams that hire Laravel experts to build scalable and multi-currency-ready applications.

Create file: app/Helpers/CurrencyHelper.php

                                        <?php
namespace App\Helpers;


use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;
use NumberFormatter;


class CurrencyHelper
{
    public static function getRateAndSymbol(string $currency): array
    {
        $currency = strtoupper($currency);


        // Fetch all rates from base USD default set
        $response = Http::get('https://api.exchangerate-api.com/v4/latest/USD');


        if ($response->failed() || !isset($response['rates'][$currency])) {
            throw new \Exception("Currency rate not found: $currency");
        }


        $rate = $response['rates'][$currency];
        $symbol = self::getCurrencySymbol($currency);


        return compact('rate', 'symbol');
    }


    public static function convert(float $amount, float $rate): float
    {
        return round($amount * $rate, 2);
    }


    public static function getCurrencySymbol(string $currencyCode): string
    {
        $formatter = new NumberFormatter('en', NumberFormatter::CURRENCY);
        $formatted = $formatter->formatCurrency(0, $currencyCode);


        // Extract symbol (e.g., ₹ from ₹0.00)
        return preg_replace('/[\d\.,\s]/', '', $formatted);
    }
}

Why This Matters

By encapsulating currency conversion logic in a helper function, Laravel development teams can avoid code duplication and build testable, maintainable features. This approach is widely adopted by expert Laravel developers delivering custom web app development. It ensures consistency and enhances scalability in applications that require multi-currency support.

Step 3: Create a Controller for Currency Handling and Product Display

At this stage, we’ll create a controller responsible for:

Retrieving real-time exchange rates via an API
Converting product prices into the selected currency
Sending the updated data to the view

Generate controller with: php artisan make:controller ProductController

Inside ProductController.php:

                                        <?php


namespace App\Http\Controllers;


use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Product;
use App\Helpers\CurrencyHelper;


class ProductController extends Controller
{


public function view(Request $request)
{
    $currency = strtoupper($request->query('currency', 'USD'));
   


    try {
        $conversion = \App\Helpers\CurrencyHelper::getRateAndSymbol($currency);
    } catch (\Exception $e) {
        $conversion = ['rate' => 1, 'symbol' => '$'];
        $currency = 'USD';
    }


    $products = \App\Models\Product::all()->map(function ($product) use ($conversion, $currency) {
        return [
            'id' => $product->id,
            'name' => $product->name,
            'base_price' => $product->price,
            'converted_price' => \App\Helpers\CurrencyHelper::convert($product->price, $conversion['rate']),
            'currency' => $currency,
            'symbol' => $conversion['symbol'],
        ];
    });


    $availableCurrencies = ['USD', 'EUR', 'INR', 'GBP', 'JPY', 'AUD']; // you can extend this or fetch dynamically


    return view('products.index', compact('products', 'currency', 'availableCurrencies'));
}
   
}

Explanation:

This controller dynamically adjusts product prices based on the selected currency. It is highly beneficial for developers or businesses looking to implement Laravel currency conversion integration in real-world applications.

Step 4: Create Blade View with Currency Switcher

A dynamic front-end is essential for delivering a real-time and seamless user experience. This step is particularly important for Laravel developers for multi-currency apps who aim to build responsive and localized user interfaces. The currency switcher allows users to select their preferred currency, ensuring the application displays accurate pricing based on real-time exchange rates.

Blade file: resources/views/products/index.blade.php

                                        <!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>Products List</title>
    <style>
        table { border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; max-width: 700px; margin: 20px auto; }
        th, td { border: 1px solid #ccc; padding: 8px 12px; text-align: left; }
        select { padding: 5px 10px; font-size: 16px; }
        .container { max-width: 800px; margin: 40px auto; }
        label { font-weight: bold; margin-right: 10px; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
    <form method="GET" action="{{ url('/products-view') }}">
        <label for="currency">Select Currency:</label>
        <select name="currency" id="currency" onchange="this.form.submit()">
            @foreach($availableCurrencies as $curr)
                <option value="{{ $curr }}" @if($curr === $currency) selected @endif>{{ $curr }}</option>
            @endforeach
        </select>
    </form>


    <table>
        <thead>
            <tr>
                <th>ID</th>
                <th>Name</th>
                <th>Price ({{ $currency }})</th>
            </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
            @foreach($products as $product)
            <tr>
                <td>{{ $product['id'] }}</td>
                <td>{{ $product['name'] }}</td>
                <td>{{ $product['symbol'] }} {{ number_format($product['converted_price'], 2) }}</td>
            </tr>
            @endforeach
        </tbody>
    </table>
</div>
</body>
</html>

How It Works

The user visits: http://localhost:8000/products-view
They select their preferred currency using a dropdown menu.
A GET request is triggered to the controller.
Laravel processes the request, fetches the latest exchange rates, and converts product prices accordingly.
The Blade view dynamically displays the updated prices with the appropriate currency symbol.

Use Cases

Multi-country eCommerce websites
SaaS pricing dashboards
Real estate or rental platforms with global listings
Travel or event booking systems

Best Practices

Cache exchange rates using Laravel's cache drivers to reduce the number of external API calls.
Fallback gracefully to a base currency (e.g., INR or USD) in case the exchange rate API fails.
Provide a default currency based on user location (via IP) or profile settings.
Store exchange rate logs for historical pricing analysis or auditing.
Regularly monitor third-party API limits and their response performance to ensure reliability.

Why This Matters for Business

If you’re a business aiming for web application development, integrating multi-currency support in Laravel greatly enhances user experience and expands your international reach.

This capability is a vital feature in modern Laravel development services, especially when clients need localized and user-friendly interfaces.

For companies looking to hire Laravel experts, ensure they have hands-on experience with:

Laravel currency conversion integration
Dynamic pricing logic
Clean controller-service separation for maintainability

Final Words

Implementing a multi-currency feature in Laravel is both a technical advantage and a strategic business move for global-ready applications.

With this guide, you’ve learned:

How to set up a product table with currency fields
Build helper utilities for currency conversion
Create controller logic to manage conversions
Add a front-end currency switcher in Blade views

Whether you're offering Laravel development services, managing a custom Laravel development project, or are part of a front-end team for multi-currency apps, this feature delivers value, flexibility, and scalability.