Coinbase’s fees are the reason people look elsewhere, so this page starts with the numbers. One thing first: our affiliate relationship is with Bitvavo and Bybit, not with the exchange we rate highest overall. We have said so where it matters.
Visit Bitvavo → Affiliate link — the rest of this page is the honest version, including who should skip it.
| Exchange | Standard maker / taker | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Coinbase (simple mode) | 1.5–3.99% | the mode most people use by default |
| Coinbase (Advanced Trade) | 0.40% / 0.60% | same exchange, much cheaper interface |
| Kraken | 0.25% / 0.40% | MiCA licence from the Central Bank of Ireland, June 2025, live across 30 EEA countries |
| Bitvavo | 0.15% / 0.25% | below €100k monthly volume; falls across nine tiers |
| Bitstamp | lower than Coinbase | security-first, Luxembourg-based, EU licences |
| Binance | from 0.10% | cheapest headline rate in the set |
Verified 2 August 2026 from published fee schedules and exchange comparisons. Fee tiers move with volume — check yours.
Before changing exchange at all: if you are on Coinbase’s simple buy/sell mode, switching to Advanced Trade on the same account takes your fee from up to 3.99% down to 0.40–0.60%. Same platform, same account, no migration. For a lot of people that is the whole saving, without moving anything.
We earn a commission if you sign up to Bitvavo or Bybit through this site. We earn nothing from Kraken, Bitstamp or Binance.
Kraken is the alternative most consistently recommended for European investors on regulation, fees and features together. We are not paid to say that and we are saying it anyway, because a page that only recommends the exchanges paying us is not worth reading.
Bitvavo is the one we use ourselves. It is genuinely cheap at 0.15% maker and 0.25% taker below €100k monthly volume, SEPA is free both ways, and it holds full CASP authorisation from the Dutch AFM since 27 June 2025. The complaint to weigh is support: withdrawal and verification friction is reported precisely when you want money out, so complete your KYC before you need it.
Bybit covers derivatives that the European spot exchanges do not, and after the February 2025 hack of $1.5 billion it covered every customer loss from its own liquidity and has published monthly proof-of-reserves since. Against that: 3.2 on Trustpilot across 7,000+ reviews with over 40% one-star, almost all about getting money out.
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This is our researched assessment — not a paid placement. The “Visit” links on this page are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you, and it never changes our take. How we review →
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