Decentralized exchanges compared: swap fees, chains and order books
Fixed pool tiers, rates that move with volatility, and one maker-taker schedule borrowed from the exchanges: eight protocols, three ways of charging for the same trade. We read every rate row these protocols publish, scored each on whether the number is findable before you sign, and priced the swap the way it is actually paid.
How much does a swap cost on a DEX?
All 8 protocols here are free to open, and none of them carries a recurring bill. The charge sits inside the trade. You pay the pool a slice of what you swap, usually a fraction of a percent, then pay the network separately for the transaction. On a small trade the network is the bigger half.
Subscriptions do not exist on this market. Payment happens at the moment of the swap, so your cost tracks trade size and the pool the order lands in.
The same four fixed tiers repeat across the category, from a hundredth of a percent on two stablecoins to a full percent on something volatile. Whoever supplied the liquidity picked the tier when the pool was made, so the rate arrives with the pool rather than with you.
The fee is not the platform's income. It goes to whoever supplied the liquidity you traded against, and several protocols take a piece out of that share for a treasury or a token buyback.
Network gas rides on top everywhere and no protocol sets it. It answers to how busy the chain is, which is why the same swap costs almost nothing on one network and real money on another.
Nothing here charges to deposit or withdraw, because nobody is holding your tokens to withdraw them from. That line item exists on the centralized side and cannot exist on this one.
40 rate rows across eight protocols, and six state a firm figure on every one of them. The rest publish volume tiers or a formula instead, which is honest enough, just not a number you can lift off a page.
Ranked by a transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. Capability is not scored. It is the condition grid below. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked per product on the dates shown. ComparEdge sells no decentralized exchanges and takes no payment for placement. How the score is built.
01 / 06
DEXs ranked: fee disclosure, multi-chain reach, order book and margin
What the number grades is disclosure, not execution. It cannot see the fill you get, so a protocol with thin pools and a rate in the open outranks a deep one that makes you go looking.
Sorted by transparency scorePriced tiers 34 / 40Full disclosure 6 / 8How to read this table
Reading the console
No monthly plans appear on this page. None of these protocols sells one. Each keeps a share of the swap, usually a fraction of a percent, and passes most of that to whoever supplied the liquidity. The score grades one thing: whether that cut is stated where a trader can read it before signing. A protocol that buries its rate cannot rank well here, however deep its pools run. Everything to the right of the score is reach and function, not price: more than one chain, a launchpad, yield for liquidity providers, an order book, leverage or margin, and an API. The number ignores all of it. How the score is built.
Granted
Listed on the vendor’s own pages on the verify date.
Conditional
Present, but some tiers carry no published price.
Not on the record
Absent from the recorded feature set. It means unlisted, not incapable.
01UniswapPer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain listedLaunchpad not on the recordYield farming not on the recordOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK not on the recordNo subscription100Alternatives to Uniswap
02PancakeSwapPer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain listedLaunchpad listedYield farming listedOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK not on the recordNo subscription100Alternatives to PancakeSwap
03RaydiumPer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain not on the recordLaunchpad listedYield farming listedOrder book listedLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK listedNo subscription100Alternatives to Raydium
04SushiSwapPer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain listedLaunchpad listedYield farming listedOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin listedAPI / SDK not on the recordNo subscription100Alternatives to SushiSwap
05OrcaPer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain not on the recordLaunchpad not on the recordYield farming listedOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK listedNo subscription92Alternatives to Orca
06Curve FinancePer-swap fee, published rateFree tierAll tiers pricedMulti-chain listedLaunchpad not on the recordYield farming listedOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK not on the recordNo subscription92Alternatives to Curve Finance
07dYdXPer-swap fee, published rateFree tier2 of 3 tiers unpricedMulti-chain not on the recordLaunchpad not on the recordYield farming not on the recordOrder book listedLeverage / margin listedAPI / SDK listedNo subscription85Alternatives to dYdX
08Trader JoePer-swap fee, published rateFree tier4 of 5 tiers unpricedMulti-chain listedLaunchpad listedYield farming listedOrder book not on the recordLeverage / margin not on the recordAPI / SDK listedNo subscription85Alternatives to Trader Joe
GrantedSome tiers sealedNot on the recordScore ranks pricing transparency and user ratings, not capability. Capability is the grid.
Scroll the console sideways to reach the remaining conditions.
02 / 06
Every DEX's fee schedule and the date we checked each rate
Every record here carries a complete fee schedule and the date it was checked. Rank order is the disclosure score, not size or volume. Pool rates differ by pair and gas rides on top, so treat each schedule as the shape of the cost, not a quote.
The default route, not the cheap one. Uniswap is where liquidity for ordinary ERC-20 pairs sits, across Ethereum and its layer-2s, so a large order fills closer to its quote than the same order would in a thinner pool.
Critical gapUser-reported asset loss during execution.
Plan table and expert take
Uniswap: expert take
The tier list is not the whole price. Uniswap's own front end levies a charge above the pool fee, and the newest version drops fixed tiers entirely: a pool can set any rate, including one that shifts mid-market.
Where Uniswap holds up
Deepest liquidity for Ethereum and major EVM token pairs
V3 concentrated liquidity boosts LP capital efficiency by up to 4000x
Permissionless listing means any ERC-20 token is tradeable instantly
Multi-chain deployment covers all major EVM networks
The step after the first swap, when the farms and the launchpad start to matter as much as the rate. PancakeSwap is the home venue on BNB Chain and wraps yield farming and token launches around the swap page.
The 0.25% Fee Tier is not 0.25% for the people supplying the liquidity. Roughly two thirds returns to the pool and the remainder splits between the treasury and a token buyback. The protocol pays itself out of the provider's share.
Where PancakeSwap holds up
Extremely low BSC transaction fees make small trades economical
The Solana venue automated traders build against, rather than the one for a monthly trade. Raydium pairs its pools with an on-chain order book so a trade can route through both, and it publishes an API to drive that.
Using it is free until you build something: creating a pool carries its own charge. The Standard AMM Pool takes 0.25% of each trade, of which the liquidity providers keep 0.22% and the rest funds a RAY buyback rather than the pool.
Where Raydium holds up
Solana speeds provide sub-second swap finality at near-zero cost
Unique hybrid AMM plus order book model for deeper liquidity
CLMM pools match Uniswap V3 capital efficiency on Solana
AcceleRaytor launchpad gives early access to Solana ecosystem projects
Deep integration with Jupiter aggregator ensures best Solana routing
The point where one contract set spanning many networks beats a better rate on a single one. SushiSwap is deployed on dozens of networks and keeps the same tier structure on each, which matters to anyone moving positions between chains.
Critical gapThe platform exhibits 10% price slippage discrepancies compared to actual market value.
Plan table and expert take
SushiSwap: expert take
The 0.3% Fee Tier hides a split: five sixths reaches the liquidity providers and the rest goes to holders who stake SUSHI. The protocol's cut is baked into the headline rate, so the number you read is the number you pay.
Where SushiSwap holds up
Broadest multi-chain coverage with 30+ supported blockchain networks
BentoBox and Kashi extend DeFi beyond swapping into lending
xSUSHI staking distributes actual protocol fee revenue to holders
MISO launchpad provides project fundraising on SushiSwap infrastructure
Community-governed with transparent on-chain voting
The first Solana pool most people meet, and often the last one they need. Orca runs the standard tier set on its Whirlpools and ships an SDK, so the same venue covers a first swap and a developer integration.
Critical gapThe platform requires manual position management to mitigate impermanent loss risks.
Plan table and expert take
Orca: expert take
One chain only: Orca lives on Solana and nowhere else. What it does carry is the full four-tier ladder, from the 0.01% Whirlpool Fee Tier up to 1%, with the entire fee going to liquidity providers and no treasury cut on top.
Where Orca holds up
Cleanest and most intuitive swap UI among Solana DEXes
Whirlpools concentrated liquidity pioneered capital efficiency on Solana
Fair price indicator protects users from unfavorable swap execution
The stablecoin venue, not the altcoin one. Curve's pools are shaped so a large trade between pegged assets moves the price as little as possible, which is the whole argument for routing size through it instead of a general-purpose pool.
Critical gapBrowser security protocols frequently flag the interface as an unsecure domain.
Plan table and expert take
Curve Finance: expert take
The Stablecoin Pool Fee runs at 0.01% to 0.04%, under the entry taker rate at a centralized venue. It is not fixed: the rate rises as a pair drifts off its peg, and half of it goes to the DAO instead of the providers.
Where Curve Finance holds up
Unmatched slippage for large stablecoin swaps - best rates above $50K
Massive TVL provides deep liquidity and stability for pegged assets
veCRV model aligns long-term holder incentives with protocol health
Wide cross-chain deployment covers all major EVM networks
Battle-tested since 2020 with over $100B cumulative volume
★★★★★4.7CE scoreG2 4.6 · 263 reviewsFounded 2020Verified July 8, 2026
An order book, not a pool, and perpetual contracts rather than spot swaps. dYdX runs its own chain for leveraged positions matched against other traders, and the keys stay with you while the position is open.
Critical gapThe protocol retains centralized control over key parameters despite v4 migration.
Plan table and expert take
dYdX: expert take
The two fee rows on this record carry no figure, which is what holds the score down. dYdX prices like an exchange: taker starts at 0.10% and falls to 0.05% on 30-day volume, and the biggest makers are paid to trade rather than charged.
Where dYdX holds up
Largest decentralized perpetuals exchange with deep order book liquidity
Purpose-built dYdX Chain provides full decentralization of order matching
Competitive maker fees (0%) incentivize professional market makers
Advanced trading tools match centralized exchange functionality
Non-custodial throughout - users control their own private keys
The stage where you start caring which price bin your liquidity sits in. Trader Joe, now LFJ, splits a pool into discrete bins and prices each one separately, so the rate reflects how volatile that slice of the book is.
Critical gapThe interface lacks integration with common corporate spend management software.
Plan table and expert take
Trader Joe: expert take
The 1% platform fee is the one to watch, and it is nowhere on the swap page. Plain swaps carry no platform charge; the premium tools take that 1% out of the output at execution, on top of a pool fee that moves with volatility.
Where Trader Joe holds up
Innovative Liquidity Book model enables zero-slippage within price bins
Auto-Pools make concentrated liquidity accessible to passive LPs
Deepest native liquidity for Avalanche ecosystem tokens and AVAX pairs
Active development team with consistent technical innovation track record
Multi-chain expansion delivers LB model to Arbitrum and BNB Chain users
DEX questions: cheaper than a CEX, what a swap costs, who sets the tier
Is it cheaper to swap on a DEX or to trade the same pair on a centralized exchange?
It flips on the pair. A standard pool charges about three tenths of a percent, roughly three times the base taker rate at most centralized venues, so a plain token swap is dearer here. Stablecoin pools charge hundredths of a percent and undercut that same taker rate outright. Then network gas lands on one side of the comparison and deposit or withdrawal charges land on the other.
What goes into the cost of a single swap?
Three numbers, and just one belongs to the protocol. The pool fee is a percentage, so it scales with the trade. Network gas is a charge per transaction paid to the chain, and it does not care which protocol you used. Slippage is the third: the gap between the quote and the fill, which grows with your size and shrinks with the pool's depth.
If the protocol is free, what is the fee actually paying for?
Liquidity, not software. There is nothing to subscribe to, so the only money moving is the slice taken out of each trade, and most of it goes to whoever parked the tokens you just traded against. Several protocols here divert part of that cut to a treasury or a token buyback. That diversion, not a platform fee, is where the protocol's own revenue comes from.
Does a DEX have hidden fees?
Two kinds, and neither shows in the pool rate. Some venues charge for their own front end: Uniswap adds an interface fee when you swap through its web app, and Trader Joe takes a platform cut on its premium tools while charging nothing on the plain swap page. Others charge for actions beside the swap, such as Raydium's pool-creation fee. Gas is not hidden, but nobody quotes it either.
When does slippage cost more than the fee?
As soon as the trade is large against the pool holding it. The fee is a fixed percentage whatever the size, while slippage climbs with it, so on a thin pool the second number passes the first quickly. This is why the cheapest tier is not automatically the cheapest trade: once you are moving size, pool depth outweighs the rate printed on it.
Do liquidity providers pay anything to earn those fees?
No charge to deposit, but the position is not free. You pay gas to open and close it, and in a concentrated-liquidity pool you earn nothing while the price sits outside the range you set. Impermanent loss is the charge nobody bills you: if the pair moves apart, the tokens you take out can be worth less than the tokens you put in.
Why is a stablecoin swap so much cheaper than a token swap?
Because the fee is paying for less risk. A pool holding two dollar-pegged assets barely moves, so the tier chosen for it sits at hundredths of a percent, while a volatile pair carries a tier up to a full percent to pay the provider for holding it.
Do you need an account to swap?
There is no account to open and no identity check to pass. You connect a wallet, sign the transaction, and the wallet itself leaves the price alone: the cost is still the pool fee plus gas. What it adds is responsibility. A wrong address or an approval you did not read has no support desk standing behind it.
Pools or an order book: which one are you trading against?
Most of these are pools. You trade against a reserve of two tokens and a formula prices the swap, which is why the rate reads as a flat percentage. A minority run an order book, matching your order against another trader's, and those price the way an exchange does: a maker rate and a taker rate that fall as your monthly volume rises.
Why swap on a DEX at all when a centralized exchange charges less?
Because the fee is not the only thing being bought. Tokens appear in pools the day they launch, without waiting on a listing committee, and your keys hold the position the whole time. If the pair you want is a major one trading on both sides, the centralized venue usually wins on the fee alone.
Field note 01
Small swaps pay the network more than the protocol
The pool fee is a percentage, so it shrinks as the trade shrinks. Gas is charged per transaction and does not, which is how a small swap ends up paying the chain more than it pays the protocol that executed it. The rate you compared beforehand is not the number that decided the trade.
It inverts at size. Once the trade is large the percentage dominates and gas becomes a rounding error, so the same protocol can be the cheap option and the dear one on the same day. Work the arithmetic on your own trade before you pick a venue.
Field note 02
The fee tier on your trade was chosen by somebody else
A liquidity provider picks the tier when the pool is created and matches it to how volatile the pair is: hundredths of a percent for two stablecoins, a full percent for something new and thin. Traders do not choose a rate. They choose a pool, and the rate comes attached.
The canon does not hold everywhere. Curve prices its pools dynamically, raising the rate as a pegged pair drifts apart, and Trader Joe runs a base fee plus a variable one, so a quiet market and a violent one do not cost the same. Reading a single headline percentage for a whole protocol stopped being safe some time ago.
The verdict on decentralized exchangesSigned review · Updated
Oleh KemFounder & Lead AnalystComparEdge Editorial
Compare one trade, not two percentages. A swap carries a protocol rate, a network charge nobody here sets, and whatever the price moves while it executes.
Against a centralized venue the arithmetic flips twice. A standard pool costs several times a base taker rate, a stablecoin pool undercuts it, and nothing leaves your custody, so the withdrawal line disappears. Our number reads how plainly each protocol states its own rate. The network charge it cannot read, and neither can anyone else.
MethodWe read 40 published fee rows across eight protocols, tier tables and formulas alike, and dated each figure .
DisclosureCollection is tool-assisted; every verdict is written and signed by a human analyst.
05 / 06
Not sure which? Answer one, take a shortlist.Pick the line that sounds like your team. Each one opens the vendor built for it.
How this review is made. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked on the dates shown against each product. Condition columns reflect the feature set recorded on the vendor’s own pages on that date. ComparEdge sells no decentralized exchanges and takes no vendor payment for placement. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this page says so rather than estimating. Ranking is by transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. What a product can do is shown in the condition columns and carries no weight in the number.
Oleh Kem
