The NFT Academy

5 marketplaces · fees, chains, royalties

NFT marketplaces, compared

Five marketplaces on the things that actually differ: what they charge, which chains they support, whether they pay creators, and who each one is genuinely for. Fees are the smallest of those differences.

Published

The short version: use OpenSea if you are new or want several chains in one place. Use Blur if you trade actively on Ethereum and want the tooling. Use Magic Eden if you are on Solana. Use Foundation or Rarible if you are a creator and want royalties that actually arrive.

One thing worth saying before the table, because it inverts the usual framing: fees are the least important difference here. A 2.5% fee is a rounding error next to the spread between what an NFT is listed at and what you can actually sell it for in a thin market. Liquidity first, fees second.

Side by side

The differences.

Marketplace Fee Chains Royalties
OpenSea ~2.5% Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, Solana, and more Creator-set, enforcement varies by collection
Blur 0% Ethereum Optional for the seller
Magic Eden ~2% Solana, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Polygon, Base Creator-set, enforcement varies
Rarible ~1% Ethereum, Polygon, Base, and more Enforced on Rarible-native collections
Foundation ~5% on primary Ethereum Enforced, typically 10%

Fees and policies as publicly documented on 2026-09-11. Marketplace terms change frequently — verify current figures before trading.

In detail

Each one, honestly.

OpenSea

Marketplace fee
~2.5%
Chains
Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, Solana, and more
Royalty policy
Creator-set, enforcement varies by collection

Where it is strong

The broadest inventory and the most chains in one place. For most people it is the default, and the interface assumes the least prior knowledge.

Where it is not

Higher fee than the trader-focused venues, and its royalty position has shifted repeatedly, which makes what a creator actually receives hard to predict.

Best for: Beginners, and anyone who wants one venue covering multiple chains.

Blur

Marketplace fee
0%
Chains
Ethereum
Royalty policy
Optional for the seller

Where it is strong

Built for high-volume traders: portfolio-level tools, sweeping, bidding and analytics that no general marketplace matches.

Where it is not

Ethereum only, and the interface assumes you already know what you are doing. Its optional-royalty model was a major driver of royalties collapsing across the market.

Best for: Active traders on Ethereum mainnet.

Magic Eden

Marketplace fee
~2%
Chains
Solana, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Polygon, Base
Royalty policy
Creator-set, enforcement varies

Where it is strong

The strongest Solana presence by a distance, and genuine cross-chain coverage including Bitcoin Ordinals.

Where it is not

Ethereum inventory is thinner than OpenSea. Cross-chain breadth comes with some interface complexity.

Best for: Solana users, and anyone trading across several chains.

Rarible

Marketplace fee
~1%
Chains
Ethereum, Polygon, Base, and more
Royalty policy
Enforced on Rarible-native collections

Where it is strong

Creator-friendly positioning with a clearer royalty stance than most, plus tooling for launching your own marketplace.

Where it is not

Substantially smaller inventory and liquidity than the leaders, which matters more than fee differences when you want to actually sell.

Best for: Creators who want royalties honoured and control over presentation.

Foundation

Marketplace fee
~5% on primary
Chains
Ethereum
Royalty policy
Enforced, typically 10%

Where it is strong

Curated and art-focused. Substantially higher signal-to-noise than the open marketplaces, and royalties are actually honoured.

Where it is not

Access is restricted, volume is low, and the higher fee structure only makes sense for work where curation adds value.

Best for: Fine-art digital work and collectors who want curation.

How to choose, in one paragraph each

If you are buying your first NFT

OpenSea, on a layer 2 rather than Ethereum mainnet. The extra 0.5% in fees is irrelevant compared to the value of an interface that explains itself, and the multi-chain support means you are not locked out of anything. Read how to buy safely first — the marketplace is not where the risk is.

If you trade regularly

Blur, if you are on Ethereum. The portfolio tooling, sweeping and bidding infrastructure is genuinely better than anything a general marketplace offers, and zero fees compound over volume. The trade-off is that it assumes competence and it is Ethereum-only.

If you are on Solana

Magic Eden, effectively without competition. It also covers Ethereum, Bitcoin Ordinals and several EVM chains, which makes it the most genuinely cross-chain option here.

If you are a creator

This is where the choice matters most, because royalty enforcement varies enormously. Foundation enforces royalties and curates, at the cost of restricted access and low volume. Rarible honours them on native collections with a lower fee. The open marketplaces give you reach and unpredictable royalty income. There is no option that gives you both.

What the fee comparison hides

Comparing a 0% fee to a 2.5% fee makes the choice look obvious. It is not, because the fee is rarely the largest cost in a trade.

  • Gas can exceed the fee entirely on Ethereum mainnet, and it is charged whether the trade succeeds or not.
  • Royalties can be 5–10%, several times the marketplace fee, and whether they apply depends on where you sell.
  • The spread — the gap between listed and achievable price — is the largest cost by far in any illiquid collection, and it does not appear in any fee table.

The profit calculator puts real numbers on the first two. The third is the one nobody can calculate for you, and it is the one that determines most outcomes.

Common questions

Which NFT marketplace has the lowest fees?
Blur charges no marketplace fee on Ethereum, and Rarible is around 1%. But fees are rarely the deciding factor: the spread between a listed price and an achievable price on a thin marketplace dwarfs a 2.5% fee. Liquidity matters more than fee structure for most people.
Which marketplace is best for beginners?
OpenSea, for the reasons that make it unexciting to experienced traders — the broadest inventory, the most chains in one interface, and a design that assumes the least prior knowledge. The higher fee buys you a lower chance of getting confused and making an expensive mistake.
Do all marketplaces pay creator royalties?
No, and this is the biggest difference between them. Blur makes royalties optional for the seller, OpenSea has shifted position repeatedly, and Foundation enforces them. The same token can pay a 10% royalty in one venue and nothing in another.
Can I list the same NFT on several marketplaces?
Usually yes — listings are typically off-chain orders, so the same token can be listed in several places at once. You must cancel the others once it sells, which sometimes costs gas. Some marketplaces aggregate listings from elsewhere, which reduces the need.
Is it safe to connect my wallet to a marketplace?
To the real one, reached by typing the URL yourself, generally yes. The risk is not the marketplace — it is fake sites impersonating it, and blanket approvals you grant without reading. Use a wallet that does not hold your valuable assets, and audit your approvals periodically.

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