Kraken vs Coinbase

We have tested both exchanges and, in our opinion, Coinbase comes out slightly ahead overall thanks to stronger liquidity, excellent fiat access, and a very polished, regulation-first UX. However, Kraken fights back with better fee scores, more listed assets, and very strong security and transparency credentials.

Kraken vs Coinbase at a Glance

Kraken vs Coinbase – Which Should You Choose?

Kraken vs. Coinbase: Quick Overview of Both Exchanges

When people search “Kraken vs Coinbase”, they’re usually asking which one is safer, more established, and better suited for everyday spot trading. We have done the research about these well-established platforms.

Kraken was founded in July 2011 in the U.S., making it one of the longest-running crypto exchanges. It’s available in 190+ countries and has built a reputation for strong security, regulatory compliance and a broad asset lineup. Kraken has more years in operation than Coinbase and an excellent reliability & transparency score plus a 90% third-party security rating.

Coinbase is a regulated, U.S.-listed exchange geared toward users who want strong fiat rails and a trustworthy, mainstream brand. Positioned as a comfortable entry point into BTC, ETH and other leading assets rather than a “thousands of microcaps” exchange. Coinbase wins on mainstream reputation and liquidity, thanks to its public listing, very high liquidity rating, and strong fiat rails.

Key Features and Trading Experience Compared

Our team had look at “Coinbase vs Kraken” from a day-to-day spot trading perspective: interface, order types, and how it feels to place trades.

From our Kraken trading experience this exchange offers good usability for both beginners and experienced traders. You can choose either of the two modes: Standard and Pro. They offer simple and advanced layouts with more interface elements for traders. Pro version should be more attractive to repeat spot traders.

Coinbase follows the same suit with simple and advanced mode options. In our testing, they stood out for fast, intuitive order entry for spot trades and top-tier spot liquidity on majors, helping even small retail orders clear quickly at fair prices. The trade-off: buying “the easy way” comes at a higher effective cost than lean, fee-first venues, which power users will feel.

Our Verdict:
We would call it a draw – Coinbase for simplicity and liquidity, Kraken Pro for fee-aware active spot traders.

Supported Assets and Market Access

Coinbase or Kraken, which offers more trade assets? The numbers matter. Let’s do some crypto math.

Kraken lists 562 tradable assets and offers availability in 190+ countries with licenses and registrations in major jurisdictions like the U.S., Canada, Cyprus and the EEA. GNcrypto scores Kraken 4/5 for “Asset Selection & Trading Pairs,” reflecting this broad portfolio.

Coinbase works with 475 tradable assets, with good breadth for a U.S. platform but not at “thousands of altcoins” level. We gave it 4/5 for Asset Selection & Trading Pairs – solid coverage of major and mid-cap coins, but with a more conservative listing policy than some offshore venues.

Our Verdict:
Kraken wins on breadth; Coinbase is strong but slightly narrower. Kraken clearly lists more assets in absolute terms (562 vs 475) and serves a very wide geographic footprint.

Fees and Pricing

Every spot trader should be aware of how much it really costs to trade. In order to find out Kraken fees vs Coinbase, we made $200 trades on each platform to see effective trading costs, maker-taker tiers, and the pain of instant buys.

Standard Kraken charges a $1 fee on instant trading/conversions, which can be relatively expensive for small tickets. Kraken Pro switches to a volume-based maker-taker model with no fixed per-trade fee: the more you trade, the less you pay, and maker orders are cheaper than taker orders. GNcrypto rates Kraken 3/5 on “Fees & Total Cost to Trade,” – we would say that althoug it’s not the cheapest platform, its overall structure is reasonably competitive, especially for Pro users.

If you go to Coinbase at low volumes, and especially when using instant buy, the effective cost is higher than fee-first exchanges. Even in Advanced Trade, base maker/taker tiers start around 0.40%/0.60%, which fee-sensitive spot traders will feel. This is where Coinbase, in our opinion, falls short. As a result, Coinbase scores 2/5 on “Fees & Total Cost to Trade,” the lowest of its major categories in GNcrypto’s rating.

Our Verdict:
We can say, that if you’re comparing “Kraken vs Coinbase fees”, this is where the differences really show up. Kraken wins on cost as Coinbase is clearly more expensive for most spot trading styles.

How We Tested Coinbase vs Kraken

We evaluated both exchanges using the same GNcrypto methodology, which is why a Coinbase vs Kraken comparison is consistent.

GNcrypto employs a standardized rating framework with 7 major categories: liquidity & volume, fees & total cost, asset selection & trading pairs, execution quality, tools & order controls, fiat access & minimum trade size, reliability & transparency.

Scores are normalized into a 1.0–5.0 star rating in 0.1-point steps, and then rolled into an overall rating (3.6 for Kraken, 4.0 for Coinbase).For both exchanges we looked at public data: fee schedules, supported pairs/asset lists, status pages, proof-of-reserves and security documentation, regulatory filings. And then we evaluated it against our first-hand testing, which included: opening accounts, completing KYC, funding balances and placing spot trades.