Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are one of the hottest topics online today. Some crypto collectibles have sold for tens of millions of dollars, leading to a digital gold rush as everyone tries to become the next NFT millionaire.
To trade NFTs, you’ll need to work with an NFT marketplace, but where do you start? There are a ton of different NFT marketplaces online.
We’ve compiled a list of the best marketplaces to consider below!
The Best NFT Marketplaces
Our pick for overall best NFT marketplace is OpenSea. The platform offers the largest selection of NFTs, a large audience for artists, industry-low fees, and the ability to offset gas fees until newly-minted NFTs are sold.
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The other marketplaces on the list are impressive in one or two ways. For example, Mintable offers a curated selection of digital art, while SuperRare lets artists hold onto more of their earnings by charging buyers transaction fees rather than sellers.
Best Overall: OpenSea
- Types of NFTs Available. All types of NFTs are available, ranging from collections to one-off digital art pieces.
- Payment Methods. Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and more than 100 others; fiat currency via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Transaction Fees. Sellers pay a 2.5% fee on all transactions.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum, Polygon, Klatyn, and Solana.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. Supports 17 different cryptocurrency wallets, including popular options like MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet.
OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace online today. The platform boasts more than a million registered users and more than 80 million individual NFTs. The digital assets on the platform range from popular NFT collections like CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties to smaller NFT projects and one-off, unique art pieces.
You can buy and sell NFTs on the platform with a 2.5% transaction fee paid by the seller.
If you’re an artist, the platform caters to you in the following ways:
- Low Fees. The 2.5% primary transaction fees are some of the lowest in the industry.
- Massive Audience. OpenSea features the largest active user base of any NFT marketplace, so you’ll have plenty of people to market your work to.
- Offset Gas Fees. You won’t pay gas fees as soon as you mint your own NFTs. Gas fees are offset until the NFT sells, reducing the upfront cost of bringing your art to the blockchain.
- Multi-Blockchain Support. Most NFT marketplaces only support the Ethereum blockchain. You have four different options with OpenSea, which could result in lower gas fees.
If you’re a collector, here’s how OpenSea caters to you:
- No Fees to Buy. Sellers pay transaction fees on OpenSea, so you don’t pay a fee to the platform when you buy NFTs. You do have to cover any gas fees charged by the blockchain, though.
- A Massive Collection. OpenSea has more than 80 million NFTs to choose from.
- Make an Offer. You can make an offer on the platform for an NFT you’re interested in that’s not currently for sale. OpenSea will send your offer to the NFT owner for consideration.
Best for Decentralized Governance: Rarible
- Types of NFTs Available. All types of NFTs are available, ranging from collections to one-off digital art pieces.
- Payment Methods. Popular cryptocurrencies, credit cards, and debit cards.
- Transaction Fees. Buyers and sellers both pay a 2.5% transaction fee.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum, Polygon, Tezos, and Flow.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. Rarible supports most popular crypto wallets.
Rarible is another major player in the NFT market that offers access to a wide range of collections. What sets the platform apart is its goal to become a completely decentralized NFT platform.
This means the company plans on handing 100% control over its governance to its users.
The plan is to hand control over with RARI coin, the platform’s proprietary cryptocurrency. RARI gives holders the right to make and vote on proposals having to do with system operations.
The platform compares well to the top NFT marketplace, OpenSea, in most areas. However, it does double-dip on fees, charging both the buyer and seller a 2.5% transaction fee.
Best for Low Fees: Binance NFT
- Types of NFTs Available. All types of NFTs are available, ranging from collections to one-off digital art pieces.
- Payment Methods. Multiple cryptocurrencies and credit and debit cards. The company also has its own native cryptocurrency known as the BNB coin.
- Transaction Fees. Buyers and sellers both pay 1% transaction fees.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. Binance supports 16 different crypto wallets, including some of the most popular options.
Binance is best known as a cryptocurrency exchange. However, as the digital artworks industry gained popularity, the company dove in headfirst.
If you’re a cryptocurrency enthusiast who wants to get into NFTs with a trusted brand you already know, Binance NFT is a great start. However, being a trusted crypto platform isn’t the only reason the company made this list.
Binance really shines when it comes to transaction fees. Most of the company’s competitors charge transaction fees ranging from 2.5% to 5% or even higher on primary transactions. Binance only charges a 1% trading fee, although the fee is charged to both the buyer and the seller. Nonetheless, the company’s transaction fee is the lowest on the market.
Best for Curated NFT Collections: Nifty Gateway
- Types of NFTs Available. Curated collections of digital artworks.
- Payment Methods. Ethereum (ETH), credit cards, and debit cards.
- Transaction Fees. Buyers pay 5% plus $0.30 per transaction.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. The Nifty Gateway wallet.
Now owned by Gemini, Nifty Gateway is the brainchild of the famous NFT artist Beeple. The platform features collections that are curated by a team of experts.
Unlike most other NFT platforms, collections aren’t always available. Curated collections are dropped on schedules, giving collectors time to prepare for the drop and a bit of insight into what collectibles will be available.
The platform’s fees are a bit high compared to industry leaders. However, the higher fees can be acceptable considering the added work that goes into curating collections, rather than simply listing random NFTs for sale.
Best for NFT Artists: SuperRare
- Types of NFTs Available. Unique pieces of digital art.
- Payment Methods. Ethereum.
- Transaction Fees. Buyers pay a 3% fee.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. MetaMask, FortMatic/Magic, and WalletConnect wallets.
SuperRare is where you’ll want to buy NFTs if you’re interested in unique digital collectibles. The marketplace only hosts unique pieces of art, rather than pixelated collections of cartoon cats and punks.
Although the platform is a great place to find unique collectibles, it really shines in the perks it provides to artists.
In most cases, sellers pay transaction fees in the NFT industry. However, buyers pay the fees on SuperRare, letting artists hold onto more of their earnings. Artists also receive a 10% royalty on all secondary sales of works they create on the SuperRare platform.
At the same time, as a platform for unique pieces of art, the audience on the platform is a bit more sophisticated than the groups of speculators often found on other platforms.
Best for Gasless Minting: Mintable
- Types of NFTs Available. All types of digital collectibles ranging from sports to art and music.
- Payment Methods. Ethereum (ETH), credit cards, and debit cards.
- Transaction Fees. Sellers pay a 2.5% fee on traditional NFTs, 5% on gasless NFTs, and 10% on printable NFTs.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and Rainbow.
Mintable is a popular NFT marketplace that famously has the backing of billionaire Mark Cuban. The platform features a wide variety of digital collectibles ranging from art to music, video game items, sports content, and more.
Mintable’s claim to fame is gasless minting. Users pay a 5% transaction fee when selling their newly-minted NFTs, rather than paying upfront gas fees when they mint them. Sure, there are other gasless minting options online today, but Mintable was the first.
The company also offers a proprietary service called printable NFTs. These NFTs allow you to create as many NFTs in a series as you’d like with a single transaction and only mint the tokens when they’re sold. Printable NFTs come with higher transaction fees, though.
Best for NFT Gamers: Axie Marketplace
- Types of NFTs Available. Axies.
- Payment Methods. Crypto and fiat currencies. Payments can be made via crypto wallets, bank transfers, and debit and credit cards.
- Transaction Fees. Buyers pay 5.25%.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Ethereum.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. Ronin Wallet.
The Axie Marketplace is the official marketplace for the Axie Infinity video game. The market features digital creatures called Axies and other game items that help you progress and build value within the play-to-earn environment.
When you play the Axies game, you’ll earn tokens when you beat other players in battles. Of course, the tokens have monetary value.
Best for Basketball Fans: NBA Top Shot
- Types of NFTs Available. Digital trading cards.
- Payment Methods. Multiple popular cryptocurrencies as well as debit and credit cards.
- Transaction Fees. Sellers pay 5%.
- Blockchain Compatibility. Flow.
- Crypto Wallets Supported. All popular crypto wallets are supported.
NBA Top Shot is a unique NFT marketplace because it focuses on facilitating sales and trading of digital trading cards. Specifically, the company is focused on basketball trading cards, as its name implies.
You won’t pay any fees to buy the digital trading card NFTs, but you will pay a 5% fee to the platform when you sell them.
If you’re a diehard basketball fan and want to get your hands on the next wave of collectibles, NBA Top Shot is the best place to do so.
Methodology: How We Select the Best NFT Marketplaces
We used five key metrics to evaluate the NFT marketplaces we reviewed. During our reviews, we paid close attention to the types of NFTs available, fees, blockchain support, payment methods, and crypto wallet support. Here’s how we compared the options:
Types of NFTs Available
There are multiple types of NFTs on the market. Some are unique pieces of art, some are parts of large collections, some are pieces of music, and some are built around utility. We looked at the different types of NFTs available on each platform, scoring those with a variety of types available higher than those with a singular focus.
Fees
All NFT marketplaces charge fees for their services, but they vary wildly from one to the next. We focused heavily on fees and only listed marketplaces that we believed offered fair pricing.
Blockchain Support
Ethereum is the most popular blockchain in the NFT industry. However, high demand has led to high gas fees at times, which has led many enthusiasts to look into other options. Marketplaces with multi-blockchain support scored higher than those that run on Ethereum only.
Payment Methods
Although many NFT enthusiasts are comfortable transacting in cryptocurrency, some are more comfortable with more traditional forms of payment, like bank transfers, credit cards, and debit cards. The marketplaces with the most available payment methods scored the highest in this category.
Crypto Wallet Support
There are several popular cryptocurrency wallets online. Because your NFTs are stored in your cryptocurrency wallet, it’s important that the marketplace you work with supports the wallet you use. We ranked marketplaces that support more wallets higher in this category.
NFT Marketplace FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
NFT marketplaces are relatively new, and when something’s new, people will have questions about it. Don’t fret if you have a few of your own. The most common questions about NFT marketplaces are answered below.
Can I Buy NFTs on Coinbase?
Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It doesn’t support NFTs quite yet, but the company announced in late 2021 that it intends to launch Coinbase NFT soon. Many believe Coinbase NFT will grow quickly to become the largest NFT marketplace in the world once it goes live.
Is OpenSea the Best NFT Marketplace?
In our opinion, OpenSea is the best overall NFT marketplace. However, you may find other options more fitting based on your unique needs. For example, if you’re an artist who produces unique works and wants to tap into a sophisticated art audience, SuperRare may be your best option.
Can I Make an NFT on My Phone?
Yes, you can make NFTs on your phone. The first step is developing the art, which can be as easy as taking a picture with your phone’s built-in camera. You can also use art-related mobile apps to create your art.
Once you have your art in hand, download a marketplace app. Many of the marketplaces mentioned above offer mobile applications. Use the app of your choice to mint your NFTs.
Be choosy when picking a mobile app to mint your NFTs. Some apps charge gas fees immediately when you mint, while others offset these fees until you sell your art. Moreover, each exchange charges its own commissions. Make sure you know what fees you’re agreeing to before you mint!
How Can I Sell NFTs for Free?
Any time you sell an NFT, you’re going to have to pay fees, even if you’re just paying gas fees. However, it’s best to mint NFTs with providers that offer gasless minting to avoid upfront costs before you sell your art. Two of the most popular gasless minting providers are OpenSea and Mintable.
How to Choose the Best NFT Marketplace
The marketplace that’s best for you largely depends on what you’re looking for as an NFT artist or collector. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use platform that offers the largest selection of NFT collections, OpenSea may be your best bet. On the other hand, if you’re into basketball and want to show some digital love for your favorite players, NBA Top Shot is your home.
Make sure to consider your expectations when comparing NFT marketplaces.
It’s also important to pay close attention to fees. The industry is young and there’s no industry standard in terms of transaction fees or who pays them. When choosing which marketplace to work with, make sure you understand what you’re agreeing to pay.