Users must balance the advantages and disadvantages of the available NFT marketplaces to choose which one best suits their needs. While some marketplaces are heterogeneous, many have an area or attribute where they excel. Marketplaces frequently specialize on a particular NFT expertise. By contrasting the characteristics of each NFT marketplace, from fees to ease, we undertake the hard work.
Here are our top picks for NFT marketplaces in 2022:
Best overall: OpenSea
Best for active traders: Crypto.com
Best for fine art: Foundation
Best for sport collectibles: NBA Top Shot
Best for music collectibles: Nifty Gateway
Best for domains: Unstoppable Domains
Best for memes: Rarible
Best for low fees: FTX.US
Best overall: OpenSea
OpenSea
OpenSea was established in 2017 and is based on the Ethereum blockchain. The first and biggest NFT marketplace has just begun to accept payments through credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. It has NFT sections for things like trading cards, sports, music, and art. A 2.5% marketplace charge per trade, up to 10% in royalties, and support for over 150 coins as well as more than 10 crypto wallets are all provided by OpenSea. On the site, however, phony NFTs are widely available. 80% of the NFTs posted, according to OpenSea, are fraudulent, so even if there are many listings to select from, you should do your research before making a purchase.
Pros
• The first and biggest NFT market
• A variety of NFT classifications
• More than 1,000,000 users
• Supports several cryptocurrency wallets
80 million or more NFTs
Cons
About 80% of NFTs are allegedly bogus.
• New artists could have trouble getting noticed.
Crypto.com is the best for active traders.
In 2021, the well-known exchange Crypto.com debuted an NFT market. A variety of NFT categories are featured in this hybrid marketplace, which also provides numerous payment methods, including credit cards and more than 20 cryptocurrencies. If you pay with the Crypto.com App, there are no gas fees while purchasing NFTs on the site. There is a 15% primary listing cost, but there are no significant, unpredictable gas fees to be concerned about when minting. It supports many chains, including ETH, Polygon, and CMO. But to become a maker, you must apply. Users can produce up to 50 collectibles per week, each with 10 editions.
Pros
• Wide range of NFTs
• Facilitates ETH, Polygon, and CMO collecting.
• Support for several payment options
• Support for 10+ crypto wallets
No gas costs for trading or minting
Cons
• How to apply to become a creator
• No MP4 file support
• In January 2022, the Crypto.com exchange was hacked.
For fine art, foundation is best
The Ethereum blockchain-based Foundation was introduced in February 2021. It is referred to as a high-end art NFT market. Digital art, from the beautiful to the disturbing, or from nature scenes to politics, is Foundation’s area of expertise. At the time of writing, the platform lists all NFTs for ETH, with typical prices ranging from 0.25 ETH to 3 ETH, or roughly $700 to $8,500.
In addition to preventing oversaturation of the market, this requirement that you be invited by an existing user in order to become a producer also curates the marketplace’s feed to fit the aesthetic of the platform. To make purchases, anyone can open an account.
For actions like minting, buying, listing, or placing a bid on an auction, users must pay gas fees. Wallets like MetaMask and WalletConnect are supported.
Pros
• Special NFT listings
• Reliable and safe online shopping
• The platform is simple to use
Trending auctions are prominently displayed.
Cons
Fiat is not backed
Only two wallets are accepted.
No mobile app
NBA Top Shot is the best for sporting collectibles.
NBA NFT memorabilia are offered for sale on NBA Top Shot, as the name suggests. It is recognized for its exclusive highlight videos of “epic” basketball video snippets and is developed on the Flow blockchain. NBA Top Shot is still one of the top sports NFT markets available right now. Statista estimates its market cap to be more than $1 billion.
Think about baseball cards when imagining the collectibles; they resemble trading cards. Each sport highlight video has a unique serial number and is produced in a set number of copies, which helps the market assess its rarity and value. Alternatively, users can purchase packs of these items from the site directly or from other users on the secondary market.
Cryptocurrencies or Visa and Mastercard are accepted as payment methods. You require an NBA Top Shot account and a crypto wallet to keep the assets regardless of how you want to pay. BCH, BTC, DAI, ETH, and USDC are the five currencies that the site supports.
Pros
• The NBA has formal licensing for NFTs.
• Videos and NFTs to collect
• Huge and reliable platform
• Allows for credit card and cryptocurrency payments
• Support for several crypto wallets
Cons
• Only basketball-related memorabilia
• Minting is not encouraged
There are only five cryptocurrencies accepted.
Nifty Gateway is the best for music collections.
In 2018, Nifty Gateway was introduced, and Gemini, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, bought it. It is renowned for introducing NFT collections by well-known artists, such, to mention a few, The Weeknd, Deadmau5, Eminem, Gramatik, and Grimes.
This is the spot to look if you’re looking for music NFT compilations created by well-known musicians. Musicians frequently take part in NFT drops, an occasion where their NFT content is available for purchase for a brief period of time. Users who want to stay informed about impending drops can sign up for the “ultra-exclusive” drop list.
Nifty Gateway can also be a terrific location for creators and collectors in general. When creating, purchasing, and withdrawing an NFT, the platform pays the gas costs. However, there are gas costs associated with adding NFTs to the market, buying an NFT with pre-paid ETH, and taking out pre-paid ETH. Another benefit is that users can purchase NFTs using credit and debit cards.
Pros
• Recognized for its premium music NFTs
• An organized marketplace
• No gas costs while purchasing or minting
• Huge and reliable platform
• Various selling techniques
• Acceptance of fiat and cryptocurrencies
Cons
• A lot of pending creator applications
• A knowledgeable NFT theft in March 2021
• A $500 weekly withdrawal cap from bank accounts
Unstoppable Domains is the best for domains.
NFT domains are the area of expertise for Unstoppable Domains. NFT domains are enduring and censorship-proof. Users don’t have to pay renewal costs when purchasing an NFT domain name, unlike when purchasing a conventional domain. They have genuine use because they may be used to receive cryptocurrencies from different blockchain networks.
Users have complete control over the domain names they buy, and they are free to sell or transfer them whenever they choose without the need for a third party’s consent. All domains are ERC-721 coins on the Ethereum Mainnet and Polygon network, and they may all be traded as collectibles on secondary markets. Many browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, support domains purchased from Unstoppable Domains.
Payment methods accepted by Unstoppable Domains include BTC, BCH, ETH, DAI, LTC, and USDC. Customers may also use the Crypto.com app, PayPal, or a credit card to make transactions. Users must have a MetaMask wallet and extension in order to access the platform.
Pros
• Support for several payment options
• Complete ownership of acquired domain
• Traditional domains do not have renewal costs.
• Automatically generates proposals for unused domain names
• More than 90 dApps, wallets, and exchanges support domain usage.
Cons
• If you lose your wallet’s keys, you lose your domain.
• Support for only the MetaMask wallet
Rare is the best for memes.
Although Rarible is a sizable, diverse marketplace, it is renowned for its meme material. The site is primarily aimed toward content that is influenced by memes and the Internet rather than art and refinement.
This is the spot to look if you’re interested in NFTs inspired by pop, meme, and defi culture. According to Business Insider, over 400,000 NFTs had been made as of February 2022, and there were 1.6 million users.
Rarible is based on Ethereum and supports a number of different blockchains, including Flow, Tezos, and Ethereum. Hot bids, live auctions, popular collections, and top sellers welcome users to the platform.
Results may easily be sorted by blockchain, price, category, and other factors. Numerous NFT subgenres are available on Rarible, such as domains, sports, NSFW, gaming, art, and metaverse. On the platform, users can also engage in gasless minting.
For using the blockchain, Rarible charges a connection fee, 2.5% listing fee, and gas expenses. Rarible accepts Visa and Mastercard as forms of payment, but only for fixed-price items since auctions are cryptocurrency-only. Since Rarible is a multichain marketplace, you need the exact native currency for the blockchain that the NFT is on in order to purchase one with cryptocurrency.
Pros
• A sizable and reliable market
• Provides gas-free minting.
• Several NFT categories, such as memes
• An intuitive platform
• Allows credit card and cryptocurrency payments
Cons
Only accept credit cards for fixed purchases
• Beware of possible hidden costs
The most affordable is FTX.US.
2019 saw the establishment of an NFT market by the exchange FTX. Due to its low costs and straightforward minting procedure due to off-chain transactions, FTX.US is gaining attention. Creators simply have to pay a $3 submission cost to mint an NFT, and a 72-hour review time is necessary. Users have the option to sell NFT for SOL, ETH, or USD if their submission is approved.
Due to off-chain transactions, FTX largely pays for gas fees. Existing NFT sellers are assessed a fee of 2% of the listing price plus creator royalties, which is less than competing NFT marketplaces.
Except for ERC-20 and OMNI, there are no deposit fees for blockchain transfers. If it’s your first deposit, if the transaction is over $100, or if the deposit is over $10 and was made within the last week, there is no fee for ACH deposits.
Pros
• Low-cost minting
• A variety of payment options
• Support for ETH and SOL collections
• Clear charges
Has a mobile app
Cons
• Only 22 states issue licenses
• 72-hour evaluation period for minting
How we selected the top NFT markets
To determine the top eight NFT marketplaces, we examined a variety of NFT marketplaces and focused on their strong points, areas for development, and most recognizable characteristics. Our approach entails:
• Usability
• Purchaser and creator fees
• Security and reputation
• A range of payment options
• NFT categories are offered
• Year of launch
• Creators’ royalty percentage
• Facilitated blockchains
How to keep oneself safe when dealing in NFTs
The biggest danger for a collector in any NFT marketplace is coming across phony NFTs. Since cryptocurrencies and NFTs operate in decentralized markets with little to no oversight, it’s largely up to you to determine whether an NFT is real.
When using an NFT marketplace, keep the following in mind:
• Never divulge the secret keys to your wallet to anyone.
• Examine an NFT’s ownership and transaction history to assess its veracity.
• Compared to a brand-new market, established markets may have more tried-and-true security methods.
• Protect the privacy of your NFT Marketplace account details.
Above all, stay alert and keep in mind that NFTs are unstable. Since an NFT’s value is mostly determined by customer interest, ownership history, and accessibility — values can fluctuate by the second — there is no guarantee that you will make money buying or selling NFTs.
