Crypto exchange trading fees comparison: what a trade really costs

A crypto exchange trading fees comparison is only worth reading when every platform is priced on the same trade: same coin, same size, same minute. Trading on ripr uses a total 1% swap fee on both buys and sells, plus Solana's network fee, and on iOS and Android the trade sheet puts the cost lines in front of you before you confirm. Below is the checklist to run on any platform you are weighing up, and where each line is readable in ripr.

What a crypto exchange trading fees comparison should include

Six lines belong in a crypto exchange trading fees comparison, and the advertised percentage is only the first. Two platforms quoting the same rate can leave you holding different amounts of the same coin, because the rest of the cost sits in the market, in the chain and at the two ends where your money moves.

Line to compare	What to ask about each platform
Trading fee	What is the rate, and does it apply to buys as well as sells?
Rate structure	One flat rate, or tiers that move with your monthly volume?
Market fee	Does the coin's own market take a cut of the swap too?
Network fee	Which chain settles the trade, and what does a transaction cost there?
Money in and out	What do a deposit and a withdrawal cost, at both ends?
Your own order	How far does an order your size move the price in that market?

Fill that in for each candidate and the ranking often changes. ripr trades Solana coins only, which keeps the chain row short, and its per-trade rate is one flat figure rather than a volume table.

Step 1: compare the trading fee, on buys and on sells

The trading fee is the line to start from, and it has to be read as a rate plus a structure. Exchanges with an order book usually publish two rates: a maker fee for an order that waits to be filled, and a taker fee for one that takes an offer already sitting there. One flat rate is simpler to price: you can total it without guessing which tier you will land in.

Trading on ripr uses a total 1% swap fee on both buys and sells, as the help centre page on what fees are charged during trading sets out. That 1% splits two ways: 0.75% to the platform and 0.25% to the coin's creator, who earns it on the volume their coin trades on ripr's curve.

Then count the rate twice. Buying now and selling later pays it on the way in and on the way out, so a 1% rate is about 2% across a full round trip, on any platform.

Step 2: add the market fee and the network fee

Two charges on a Solana trade come from outside whichever app you tap: the market the coin trades in, and the blockchain itself.

Once a coin has moved off a launch curve into a public liquidity pool, that pool takes its own cut of every swap, commonly 0.25% to 0.3%. That brings a graduated ripr coin traded in the app to about 1.25% a trade, and the same pool fee follows that coin wherever you buy it.

A network fee is what the chain charges to put your transaction in a block. ripr sends trades with Solana's base network fee and no priority fee, which at normal SOL prices is a fraction of a cent. Your first buy of any coin also opens a token account holding a refundable deposit of about 0.0015 SOL, and you get that back when the account closes; a full sell can close it for you.

On iOS and Android, the trade sheet lists the network fee, any ripr router fee and the refundable account deposit before you confirm. Read the equivalent panel on every platform you compare.

Step 3: price impact, the cost a fees table cannot show

Price impact is the part of your fill price that your own order causes: a buy lifts the price of the coins you have yet to buy, and a sell pushes it down as you go. On a small coin it is often the biggest number in your comparison, and a fee schedule cannot show it.

Depth decides how much that costs. One coin in ripr's market data had taken more than a hundred trades in a day while under $4,000 sat on the quote side of its pool, and in a market that thin a $200 order is a visible share of what is on offer. Next to that, a 0.1% difference in headline rates is noise. The help centre page on how buy size and sell size affect price gives the test: if the expected output drops sharply when you raise the amount, your order is large for this coin's market.

Two ripr screens are worth a minute here. Explore filters coins by liquidity, and its market-cap sort leaves out coins under $5,000 of liquidity or fewer than 100 holders unless you set your own limits. On iOS and Android, a coin page flags a coin as low liquidity or still being checked, which is your cue that an ordinary order will move the price in that market.

Slippage is the price change you are willing to accept between tapping buy and the trade landing, and it is the matching setting. Auto slippage takes your maximum from how much the coin moved in the last five minutes, between 3% and 15%, or you can set a figure yourself, which the help centre's guide to slippage and how to set it walks through. Before your wallet signs, ripr checks the prepared transaction on your device against the amount, slippage and fee limits you chose, and refuses it if anything differs.

Step 4: count what money in and out costs

Moving money in and out is charged whether you trade or not, so it belongs in the total. Send SOL to your ripr wallet from another wallet or an exchange and that platform applies its own withdrawal and network costs, so the help centre page on fees for depositing tells you to check the final receive figure at the sending end.

Adding money inside ripr by card, Apple Pay or, in India, UPI and bank transfer runs through payment providers, which set their own fees and show them at checkout. Read that screen instead of assuming a round number lands.

Taking money out costs something as well, and the page on how to withdraw SOL out of the app covers what a send involves. Platforms with a tempting trading rate and an expensive exit lose on the total.

Run the comparison on one real trade

The honest way to compare two platforms is to price the same trade on both, minutes apart.

1. Pick one coin that trades on both, and one amount you would really put in.
2. Type it into each buy screen, which in ripr is the buy sheet on the coin's page, and note the estimated quantity of coin you receive.
3. Note every cost line each app shows you before the confirm step.
4. Add what your funding route charged to get the money there.
5. Double the trading fee for the round trip, then compare totals as a share of your trade.

The deciding number is in step 2: how much coin you end up holding for a set amount of SOL. Fee percentages are an input to that figure, never a substitute for it.

Frequently asked questions

Is a platform with a lower trading fee always cheaper?

No. Lower rates in a thin market can cost you more than a higher rate in a deep one, because your own order moves the price. Price the whole trade: the fee, the pool's cut, the network fee, the quantity of coin the quote shows you. On ripr, watch the expected output as you raise the amount: a sharp drop means your order is large for that market.

Do I pay the trading fee twice if I buy and then sell?

Yes. Fees charged per trade apply on the way in and on the way out, so a round trip costs roughly double the headline rate. ripr charges 1% of the trade each way, which comes to about 2% in swap fees across a buy and a later sell, plus Solana's network fee each time.

Where does ripr show the fees before I confirm a trade?

On iOS and Android, the trade sheet lists the network fee, any ripr router fee and the refundable account deposit before you confirm. The rate itself is on the help centre's trading fees page: 1% per trade, split 0.75% to the platform and 0.25% to the coin's creator.

What is a maker fee and a taker fee?

A maker fee is charged when your order waits on an order book for someone else to fill it, and a taker fee when your order fills against an offer that is already there. Venues with an order book usually charge takers more. ripr works from one rate instead, the same 1% whether you are buying or selling.

Your comparison in one line

Compare totals on one real trade rather than rates in a table: the per-trade fee on both sides, the market's own cut, the network fee, what the two money moves cost, and the price your size moves. On iOS and Android, ripr's trade sheet shows the cost lines before you confirm; the coin's market decides the rest.

Start on Explore with the liquidity filter, then price a trade you would actually make. If the trade itself is new to you, the guides to how to buy a Solana meme coin and how to sell a Solana meme coin walk the steps either side of the cost.

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Last verified 3 November 2026. This article is published by ripr, which builds an app for trading Solana coins. Nothing here is financial advice.