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Emma lives in Bogota, Colombia, where she owns the English-language newspaper The Bogota Post. She began her editorial career at a financial website in the U.K. over 20 years ago and has been contributing to The Ascent since the summer of 2019.
Interest in NFTs -- or non-fungible tokens to give them their full name -- exploded last year, and a huge number of NFT marketplaces popped up to serve this evolving industry. If you're considering investing in NFTs, you'll likely come across both Rarible and OpenSea. But how do the two platforms stack up? Read our breakdown of Rarible vs. OpenSea to find out what each marketplace offers in terms of fees, security, NFT types, and other key areas.
| Platform |
Rarible NFT Marketplace
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| Rating |
Rating image, 3.00 out of 5 stars.
3.00/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
| Blockchain |
Ethereum, Flow, TezEthereum, Flow, Tezos, Polygonos, Polygon
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| Next Steps |
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Rarible and OpenSea are very similar when it comes to fees. Both platforms charge a fixed 2.5% for buying and selling NFTs on their platforms. You'll also pay gas fees -- the cost of recording transactions on a blockchain. Gas fees don't go to the NFT marketplace and they vary depending on the level of network congestion and blockchain involved.
The gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain are by far the most expensive, so it is good to see that both platforms support other blockchains too. Fees on other networks are often a fraction of a dollar. Indeed, OpenSea also offers a completely gas-free marketplace on the Polygon blockchain.
Available blockchains:
| Rarible blockchains | OpenSea blockchains |
|---|---|
| Ethereum | Ethereum |
| Tezos | Polygon |
| Flow | Klaytn |
| Polygon | Solana |
NFT minting often involves a number of individual blockchain transactions, which can get costly if you're an NFT creator. It's great to see that both platforms offer something called lazy minting -- a gas-fee-free way to mint NFTs. As a creator, it lets you list an NFT on the marketplace, without fully minting it. The digital asset only gets minted when there's a buyer. The buyer then pays the minting fees alongside the purchase cost. For digital artists, it can be a more cost effective and less environmentally damaging way to create NFTs.
If you're looking for the best NFT marketplace, one key factor is the types of NFTs on offer. Rarible and OpenSea both have a broad range of NFTs. This includes popular options like NFT games, metaverse items, domain names, art, and music. If you're into NFT art, both have various easy-to-search options. I think browsing may be slightly easier on OpenSea, but that depends a lot on individual taste and habits. OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace and has more monthly users and higher trading volumes on its platform than Rarible.
Here's a summary of what NFT types each platform offers:
| NFT type | OpenSea | Rarible |
|---|---|---|
| Art | Yes | Yes |
| Music | Yes | Yes |
| Trading cards/collectibles | Yes | No |
| Memes | No | Yes |
| Virtual fashion | No | No |
| Sports moments | Yes | Yes |
| Domain names | Yes | Yes |
| Video game assets | Yes | Yes |
Both the Rarible platform and OpenSea marketplace support multiple wallets. These include popular crypto wallet options such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and WalletConnect. With such a wide range of supported wallets, there's a good chance that either platform will support your chosen crypto wallet.
READ MORE: Best NFT wallets
In addition to the big three, OpenSea supports several wallets such as Portis, Fortmatic, and TrustWallet (mobile only). Solana users can connect its popular Phantom Wallet amongst others.
Rarible has slightly more crypto wallet options than OpenSea. Rarible offers Binance Smart Wallet, Portis, and MyEtherWallet, amongst others. Tezos users can connect Temple and Beacon wallets, while Flow users can use a Blocto wallet.
One area where Rarible stands out is that you can set up a multi-wallet profile. This means you can connect more than one cryptocurrency wallet to your Rarible account. Not only is this easier for payments, it also lets you manage your whole NFT collection in one place.
The option to pay using a credit or debit card as well as cryptocurrency appeals to some investors, especially those who are new to NFT investing. Both Rarible and OpenSea take card payments, but be aware that the fees can add up. It is often more cost effective to use one of the best crypto exchanges to buy crypto and then transfer it to your wallet.
Rarible accepts crypto payments in ETH, XTZ, FLOW, and MATIC, depending on the blockchain you use. Fixed price buyers can also pay by credit card (this option is not available for auctions). Rarible partners with a third-party payment processor to convert fiat (traditional) money into ETH and at time of purchase.
OpenSea accepts payments in several cryptocurrencies, including ETH, SOL, USDC, and DAI. It also uses a third party to facilitate credit or debit card payments. You'll need to complete a basic know-your-customer verification process on the third-party platform.
The security risks associated with NFTs are different from centralized crypto platforms. In most cases, users store their NFTs in crypto wallets -- meaning each individual is responsible for a lot of their digital asset security.
However, there are a number of risks for NFT investors to consider. Risks include phishing attacks, flaws in contracts or coding, and plagiarism or copyright fraud. Rarible and OpenSea have had their share of security issues:
Both OpenSea and Rarible are part of the NFT Security Group, a cross platform group that aims to collaborate to proactively address industry wide security issues. Both platforms also have a process for verifying creators, which reduces the risk of fraud -- at least to some extent.
OpenSea and Rarible are popular NFT marketplaces that both stand up well overall in terms of fees, payment methods, types of NFTs offered, and available blockchains. Both are among the best NFT marketplaces, with mobile apps available alongside browser functionality.
The biggest difference is that OpenSea is a bigger NFT platform. As a result, it has more NFTs for sale and a bigger community. But it's also more of a target for hackers and is not always in the headlines for the right reasons. Even then, both platforms have had their share of challenges.
If you're comparing Rarible and OpenSea to choose one to use, don't be afraid to set up accounts with both platforms and experiment. It may be that you find one platform easier to use, or that it has particular NFTs that appeal to your personal tastes.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
