Gold price today — live gold and silver rates by karat
The gold price today is quoted live per gram by karat — 24K, 22K, 21K, 18K and 14K — and the exact number depends on your country's market. Carbide's gold prices page shows every karat per gram for your country with a real chart and yesterday's rates, and the silver prices page does the same by purity.
Below is how those numbers are worked out — from the international ounce down to your local gram, why 21K is the everyday standard across Egypt and the Gulf, what the silver purity marks mean, and why the buy price is never the same as the sell price.
Live gold prices per gram by karat and country
Gold is traded internationally in troy ounces, but you buy it by the gram, so the gold prices page converts the live rate into a per-gram price for each purity you actually shop for. You pick your country, and it lists 24K (pure), 22K, 21K, 18K and 14K side by side, alongside a real price chart and the previous day's close so you can see whether the market is up or down before you buy or sell.
These rates are pulled from a live market source, so the page sends a small lookup request to fetch the current price — your query, never any personal data. To act on the number, the gold calculator values a specific weight and karat on your device, and the karat converter moves a weight between purities. For the full walkthrough, see the gold and silver prices guide.
How the gram price is calculated from the ounce
One troy ounce equals 31.1035 grams, so the pure (24K) gram price is simply the international ounce price divided by 31.1035, converted into your local currency at the day's exchange rate. That is the whole formula behind every headline gold number.
Lower karats are then a fixed fraction of the 24K price, because karat is a purity measure out of 24. So 21K is 21/24 (0.875) of the pure price, 18K is 18/24 (0.75), and 14K is 14/24 (0.583). If pure gold is $75 per gram, 21K works out to about $65.60 and 18K to about $56.25. The gold prices page does this math for you per country; to run the same calculation on a piece you own, use the gold calculator.
Why 21K is the standard in Egypt and the Gulf
In Egypt, Saudi Arabia and much of the Gulf, 21K is the default jewellery karat — it is what most rings, chains and bangles are made from, and it is the price people quote when they say "the price of gold today". 21K balances value and durability: at 87.5% pure gold it holds most of the metal's worth while being hard enough for everyday wear, unlike soft 24K.
That is why the gold prices page lists 21K prominently for these markets rather than burying it under 24K. Because a karat is just a purity fraction, you can convert a 21K weight to its 18K or 24K equivalent without losing any pure gold using the karat converter — handy when a shop quotes a different karat than the one you own.
Silver by purity: 999, 958, 925, 900 and 800
Silver is priced by purity rather than karat, and the silver prices page lists the full ladder per gram: 999 (fine silver), 958 (Britannia), 925 (sterling), 900 (coin silver) and 800. The number is the parts-per-thousand of pure silver, so 925 means 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metal — almost always copper, added for strength.
Sterling (925) is the everyday standard for jewellery and cutlery because pure 999 silver is too soft to hold a shape. If you are checking silver as a zakat threshold, the silver prices page feeds straight into the zakat calculator, since the silver nisab is the lower and more commonly recommended threshold for working out what you owe.
Buy vs sell price — why they differ
When a shop quotes you two numbers, the higher is what you pay to buy and the lower is what you get when you sell — the gap is the dealer's spread, plus, on jewellery, the making charge (المصنعية) for the craftsmanship. The live rate on the gold prices page is the metal value; the shop's buy and sell prices sit above and below it.
That is deliberate, not a trick: dealers cover their costs and risk through that spread. To see how much of a shop's quote is metal and how much is the making charge, drop the weight, karat and charge into the gold calculator — it separates the pure metal value from the total so you know exactly what you are paying for above the raw gold.
How often the rates refresh (an honest note)
Gold and silver trade almost around the clock on weekdays, so the numbers move minute by minute. To keep the page fast and to avoid hammering the market source, Carbide caches the latest rate briefly and refreshes it on a short interval rather than on every single page load — the timestamp on the page tells you how fresh the figure is.
That is honest and enough for checking, budgeting and valuing jewellery, which is what these pages are for. For a live-to-the-second dealing screen you would use a broker's trading terminal — but for "what is the price of gold today", a rate that refreshes every few minutes is exactly right, and it is free with no account. Converting the price into another currency for travel or comparison? The currency converter handles that on the same fresh rates.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the gold price change every day?
Gold trades on global markets that move constantly with supply, demand, the US dollar and interest rates, so the price shifts through the day and closes at a different level each day. Your local price also moves with the exchange rate, which is why the gold prices page shows yesterday's close for comparison.
What is the best karat of gold to buy?
For everyday jewellery that holds its value and survives daily wear, 21K and 22K are the sweet spot — high purity with enough hardness. 24K is purest but soft and easily scratched, while 18K and 14K trade some gold content for durability and a lower price. Compare all of them per gram on the gold prices page.
What does 925 sterling silver mean?
925 means the metal is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% another metal, almost always copper for strength. It is the standard for jewellery and flatware because pure 999 silver is too soft to keep its shape. The silver prices page lists 925 alongside 999, 958, 900 and 800 per gram.
Are these live prices free, and is anything about me uploaded?
The prices are free with no account. The gold prices and silver prices pages fetch the current rate from a live market source, so a lookup request is sent to get the number — but never your personal data. The gold calculator and zakat calculator then run their math on your own device.
How do I work out what my gold jewellery is worth?
Take the live per-gram price for your karat from the gold prices page, then multiply by the weight in grams. The gold calculator does this for you and adds the making charge so you see the metal value and the total quote separately.
For the gold price today by karat and silver by purity, the gold prices and silver prices pages give you every grade per gram for your country, free and with no sign-up. When you are ready to value a piece, hand the number to the gold calculator or the zakat calculator.