Comparing Crypto Exchanges
Cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers allow users to easily buy and sell crypto for traditional money, making them essential platforms for every cryptocurrency investor.
While all crypto exchanges and brokers serve the purpose of offering cryptocurrency trading, they have major differences in terms of features, ease of usage, availability, fees, and much more.
This makes finding a crypto exchange that is tailored to your needs far from easy. In fact, most crypto investors who pick a cryptocurrency exchange without comparing alternatives sooner or later discover disadvantages they didn't account for.
Therefore, before registering on a crypto trading platform, it's highly recommended to compare crypto exchanges available on the market first. By comparing crypto brokers and exchanges, you can choose the right platform for your needs and benefit from an optimal trading experience and capital efficiency.
Our Cryptocurrency Exchange Comparison
With our cryptocurrency platform comparison for 2024, you can quickly compare crypto trading sites in both a large overview, as well as in head-to-head comparisons of individual crypto exchanges.
For that, we have personally tested and rated crypto trading platforms in many objective comparison criteria that are relevant for all cryptocurrency investors.
General Overview: For new crypto investors looking for a cryptocurrency exchange or broker to get started with, we recommend taking a look at the crypto exchange comparison table for a digestible overview.
Head-to-Head Comparisons: If you're a more experienced investor who wants to compare specific crypto exchanges, simply select two different crypto exchanges at the top of this page. By doing so, you will navigate to our head-to-head crypto exchange comparisons that include more detailed insights into the exchange's trading fees, trading platform, and granular test ratings.
Crypto Exchange Comparison Winners
While it's important you compare crypto exchanges in the criteria that matter the most to you, our objective comparison of crypto trading platforms revealed a few winners that performed better than most.
🌍 International: For international crypto investors, the crypto broker eToro and the exchange
Kraken and very promising platforms.
🇪🇺 Europe: For European crypto investors, the cryptocurrency exchange Bitvavo is our crypto exchange comparison winner.
While these crypto trading platforms are not perfect, we believe that they will most likely serve your needs out of all platforms.
Crypto Exchange Comparison Factors
Our crypto exchange comparison is based on dozens of objective criteria, from which a few make some crypto exchanges significantly better than others.
The following few primary criteria will help you in comparing crypto brokers and exchanges, even if you don't have any experience with crypto trading platforms.
Compare Crypto Exchange Coins
Before registering on a cryptocurrency exchange, you should compare the tradable coins of different crypto exchanges to ensure you can trade your favorite crypto coins.
In our crypto exchange comparison, we found that popular crypto brokers like eToro support the vast majority of cryptocurrencies that will satisfy most crypto investors.
For those intending to trade many unpopular altcoins, crypto exchanges like Kraken and
Bitvavo (Europe) compare better than brokers in terms of the number of tradable coins.
For a quick overview, take a look at our comparison of tradable cryptocurrencies on popular crypto exchanges:
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ethereum (ETH) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BNB (BNB) | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| XRP (XRP) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cardano (ADA) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Solana (SOL) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Polkadot (DOT) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shiba Inu (SHIB) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TRON (TRX) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Regional comparison factors
Before comparing the features of cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers, it's important to know that not all cryptocurrency exchanges are available and suitable for all countries worldwide.
💡 Note: Our crypto exchange comparison automatically takes availability into consideration.
The crypto exchange highligted as recommended in the comparison table represents our most optimal match for you in terms of availability, language- and payment support for your detected country.
Country Availability
Most cryptocurrency exchanges only offer their services in limited regions, making availability the most important criterion for comparing cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Our cryptocurrency exchange comparison warns you if exchanges aren't supported in your country of residence, allowing you to easily compare the availability of crypto trading platforms.
Namely, if a compared crypto exchange should not be available in your country, it will say so at the very bottom of the table column instead of displaying a link to the provider.
Below you can compare the availability of cryptocurrency exchanges in detail:
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 Australia | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇺🇸 United States | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇭🇷 Croatia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇨🇾 Cyprus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Platform Language
When trading cryptocurrencies on exchanges, it's crucial to understand the displayed contents to prevent making major mistakes.
Yet, a quick look at our crypto exchange comparison reveals that cryptocurrency trading platforms are only translated into a limited selection of languages.
While fluent English speakers will have an easy time finding a suitable cryptocurrency exchange, others will have to compare the available languages of cryptocurrency exchanges and make sure theirs is offered on the platform.
We found that the international cryptocurrency trading platforms Kraken and
eToro compare the best when it comes to offering foreign languages on their platform.
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇸 Spanish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇬🇧 English | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 🇩🇪 German | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇫🇷 French | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 🇵🇱 Polish | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| 🇵🇹 Portuguese | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇷🇺 Russian | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇳🇱 Dutch | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| 🇷🇴 Romanian | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| 🇮🇹 Italian | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Compare Crypto Exchange Payments
Most crypto exchanges offer different payment methods for deposits and withdrawals, which can be a deciding factor for those relying on specific payment methods.
To be able to transact on your crypto trading platform, you should compare cryptocurrency exchanges in available payment methods and ensure your preferred payments are included.
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| VISA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mastercard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Skrill | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Klarna | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bank transfers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Przelewy24 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Poli | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Payoneer | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Trustly | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Apple Pay | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Google Pay | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| GiroPay | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
As you can see: all cryptocurrency trading platforms support wire transfers, but those usually take a few days to process and are limited to just a few local currencies like the Euro and US-Dollar.
Third-party payment providers such as PayPal on the other hand offer instant payments with all sorts of currencies, allowing even foreign investors to trade cryptocurrencies.
💡 Advice: Crypto investors who value fast payments or cannot pay in Euro or US-Dollar should look for PayPal, Skrill, or other local third-party payment providers when doing a comparison of crypto exchanges.
For those able to pay via wire transfers with Euro or US-Dollar on the other hand, payment methods aren't a crucial factor.
From our crypto exchange comparison, the broker eToro has the biggest selection of supported payment methods and local currencies.
Compare Crypto Trading Platforms
Besides regional availability factors and available payment methods, the actual trading interface of a cryptocurrency exchange is another important comparison factor.
This is because some crypto exchanges and brokers only offer an easy trading interface, being rather unsuitable for pro traders, while others only offer advanced trading interfaces, making them unsuitable for beginners.
The trading platforms of crypto exchanges also differ in terms of supported devices: Some crypto trading platforms are only available on mobile or desktop, making them exclusively recommendable to a certain group of users.
Mobile users should ensure to only compare crypto exchanges that offer trading on a mobile app, while Desktop users should compare the availability of a desktop trading interface.
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iOS App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Version | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Easy Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pro Trading | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Compare Crypto Exchange Trading Fees
Each time you do a trade on a cryptocurrency exchange or broker, the provider takes a small cut of your trading volume, which is called the trading fee.
While all cryptocurrency exchanges need trading fees to finance their platforms, the specific trading fees differ heavily from exchange to exchange.
Given the differences in trading fees, investors who compare crypto exchanges in terms of trading fees will be able to get the most out of their money when buying or selling crypto.
There are two major types of trading fees relevant for comparing crypto exchanges:
The instant-trade fee occurs on the easy trading interface of a cryptocurrency exchange, which is relevant for crypto beginners.
↳ Our comparison winners in terms of instant-trade fees are eToro and
Bitvavo (Europe)
The advanced trade fee applies to the exchange's advanced trading interface, which is only relevant for experienced crypto investors.
↳ Our comparison winners in terms of advanced trading fees are Kraken ,
Bitpanda (Europe) , and
Bitvavo (Europe)
While the advanced trading fees of crypto exchanges are often lower than the instant-trade fees, they only apply to advanced trading interfaces, which aren't beginner-friendly.
Our crypto exchange comparison features trading fees of crypto exchanges, allowing you to quickly identify cost-efficient exchanges. For detailed exchange trading fee comparisons, select two different crypto trading sites at the very top of this page.
Compare Crypto Exchange Regulations
Most cryptocurrency trading platforms are only regulated in limited regions, making them more or less recommendable depending on your country.
Especially for users transacting large amounts or storing their crypto assets on exchanges, regulations mark a very important yet subjective criterion for comparing crypto exchanges.
This is because by trading on regionally regulated crypto sites, users can benefit from deposit insurance, consumer protection, security monitoring, and more.
Whenever possible, we recommend prioritizing exchanges regulated in your country of residence.
Out of all cryptocurrency exchanges compared, the exchanges Coinbase (international) and
Bitpanda (Europe) are the comparison winners in terms of regulatory security, as both these platforms have a full crypto exchange license.
| eToro | Kraken | Bitvavo | Bitpanda | Coinbase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 ASIC | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| 🇨🇾 CySEC | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| 🇬🇧 FCA | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| 🇺🇸 FinCEN | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇦🇺 AUSTRAC | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 🇨🇦 FINTRAC | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| 🇳🇱 DNB | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| 🇦🇹 FMA | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| 🇩🇪 BaFin | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| 🇮🇪 CBI | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Compare Crypto Exchange Features
While cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges can be used for simple, manual buying and selling of crypto, some investors are looking for trading platforms with more advanced features.
Often sought-after features displayed in our cryptocurrency exchange comparison are:
Automatic DCA Plan: This function allows crypto investors to automatically buy crypto on exchanges in regular intervals
Withdrawable Coins: Crypto exchanges with withdrawable coins allow you to transfer your crypto to your personal wallet
Staking: This feature allows users to make use of cryptocurrencies' staking protocols directly on the crypto exchange
Leverage: Crypto trading platforms with leverage allow advanced crypto investors to trade leveraged derivatives, multiplying both their gains and losses.
It's noteworthy that the eToro broker compares very uniquely to other crypto brokers, as it offers a variety of unique features like Social Trading.
This makes eToro our overall crypto exchange comparison winner in terms of features.