Binance is eight times cheaper than Kraken at the entry tier, 0.100% taker against Kraken Pro's 0.80%, but Kraken is licensed in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic AreaBinance is eight times cheaper than Kraken at the entry tier, 0.100% taker against Kraken Pro's 0.80%, but Kraken is licensed in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area
Kraken vs Binance (2026): 0.80% or 0.10% on Your First Taker Order, and Which One Is Legal Where You Live?
Binance is eight times cheaper than Kraken at the entry tier, 0.100% taker against Kraken Pro's 0.80%, but Kraken is licensed in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area while Binance serves none of the three, so the comparison only exists in the countries where both are open; Kraken wins on stocks, fiat currencies and product range, and Binance wins on fees, depth and listings.
Key Takeaways
- Kraken Pro's entry tier is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker under its 9 July 2026 schedule, against 0.100% and 0.100% on Binance, and Kraken only reaches 0.22% and 0.38% at $10,000 of volume or $20,000 of assets on the platform.
- On perpetuals the two match at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, though Kraken Futures is not offered to US, Canadian or New Zealand customers.
- Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on CoinGecko against 440 coins across about 1,420 pairs on Binance, and supports ten fiat currencies.
- Kraken serves the US, the UK and the EEA under local licences, while Binance suspended EEA services on 1 July 2026 and does not serve US or new UK retail customers.
- Kraken adds commission-free US stocks, tokenized equities and futures to crypto, while Binance adds Launchpool, Alpha listings and the deepest derivatives books in the market.
- MEXC publishes 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot, so $10,000 of monthly volume costs $2.50 there against $60.00 on Kraken Pro and $10.00 on Binance, for readers outside the US, UK and EEA.
The fee gap widened in July, and the map changed the same month
Kraken raised its Pro entry tier to 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker on 9 July 2026, and most Kraken vs Binance pages still quote the 0.25% and 0.40% that applied before.
Three weeks earlier Binance had suspended its services for the European Economic Area, and it has never served the United States or new UK retail customers through its global platform.
So the comparison most readers arrive at is out of date on fees and, for readers in the US, the UK or the EEA, does not exist at all: Kraken is the only one of the two they can open.
This article quotes both schedules as published on their own fee pages with a verification date on each, maps the four regions that matter most, prices the gap in dollars, and ends with a verdict by reader type.
Where MEXC fits, it says so in its own labelled section, with the same numbers and the same dates.
How do Kraken and Binance compare at a glance?
Dimension | Kraken | Binance |
Spot fees, entry tier | Kraken Pro Tier 1: 0.40% maker, 0.80% taker; Tier 3 from $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets on platform: 0.22% maker, 0.38% taker; app Instant Buy 1% plus spread | Regular user: 0.100% maker, 0.100% taker; 0.075% with BNB deduction; USDC pairs 0.095% taker |
Futures fees, entry tier | Kraken Futures Tier 1: 0.02% maker, 0.05% taker, not offered to US, Canada or New Zealand customers; app Perps 0.25% to open and 0.25% to close | USDT-M perpetuals: 0.0200% maker, 0.0500% taker; 0.0180% and 0.0450% with BNB; USDC-M perpetuals 0% maker, 0.040% taker while the promotion lasts |
Coins and pairs (CoinGecko) | 717 coins, 1,500 pairs, Trust Score 10 out of 10 | 440 coins, about 1,420 pairs, Trust Score 10 out of 10 |
Beyond crypto | 11,000 plus US stocks and ETFs commission-free for eligible US clients; 700 plus tokenized equities via xStocks outside the US, UK, Canada and Australia; CFTC-regulated futures for US clients via NinjaTrader; Krak payments app; ten fiat currencies | Launchpool, Alpha listings, Binance Earn, copy trading on futures, USDC and BNB pairs; no stocks on the global platform |
Security and regulation | Proof of reserves published since 2014 per Kraken; June 2024 bug incident took about $3 million from Kraken's own treasury, later returned; MiCA licence via its Irish entity, per Kraken | SAFU fund and proof-of-reserves page; $4.3 billion US criminal resolution in November 2023; EEA services suspended 1 July 2026 |
Deposits, withdrawals and KYC | Full KYC; US ACH and FedWire deposits free; US debit card 3.75% plus $0.25; fixed crypto withdrawal fees | Full KYC; USDT withdrawal 1.5 USDT on TRC20, 0.3 USDT on ERC20, 0.01 USDT on BNB Smart Chain |
Where you can use it | US with state-by-state product limits; UK; EEA under MiCA; Canada per Kraken; 190 plus countries per Kraken | Not the US (Binance.US is a separate company); not open to new UK retail customers; EEA suspended since 1 July 2026; exited Canada in 2023 per its own announcement |
Signature feature | One account for crypto, stocks, tokenized equities and futures | Deepest order books in the market and 0.100% at the entry tier |
Data verified as of 18 September 2026 against each platform's official fee schedule, help center and terms, and CoinGecko exchange pages.
A third option worth considering: MEXC
If the fee row above is what brought you here, MEXC publishes 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot, against 0.40% and 0.80% on Kraken Pro and 0.100% and 0.100% on Binance at the entry tier.
On $10,000 of monthly spot volume split evenly between maker and taker orders, that is $2.50 a month on MEXC against $60.00 on Kraken Pro and $10.00 on Binance.
On perpetuals MEXC's BTCUSDT contract lists 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker on its web and app schedule, against 0.02% and 0.05% on both platforms here.
MEXC does not serve residents of the United States or the United Kingdom, is listed on ESMA's non-compliant register for the EEA, and is withdrawing from the Netherlands by 16 November 2026, so check eligibility before funding an account.
Readers outside those regions can see the full breakdown in our MEXC vs Binance comparison.
Which is cheaper, Kraken or Binance?
Binance, at every tier and on every interface.
Kraken Pro Tier 1 charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, so a $1,000 taker order costs $8.00, against $1.00 on Binance's regular-user schedule of 0.100% and 0.100%, or $0.75 with the BNB deduction.
Kraken's ladder rewards size: Tier 3 at $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets held on the platform charges 0.22% maker and 0.38% taker, and the top tier reaches 0% maker and 0.10% taker from $10 million of volume, which is where Kraken finally matches Binance's entry rate.
The consumer interfaces widen the gap: Kraken's app charges 1% on Instant Buy and Sell orders plus a spread, while Binance's convert and buy flows price in a spread on top of the same 0.100% schedule where they apply a fee at all.
Kraken+ costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year and waives app trading fees on up to $10,000 of monthly volume, but it does not touch Kraken Pro rates.
Binance's one structural discount is on USDC pairs, where the taker rate is 0.095%, and its USDC-margined perpetuals run at 0% maker and 0.040% taker while a promotion lasts.
Our quarterly crypto exchange fee index holds both schedules beside ten other platforms and records who publishes fees without an account.
What changed on Kraken's fee schedule on 9 July 2026?
Kraken raised its Pro entry tier from 0.25% and 0.40% to 0.40% and 0.80%, and rebuilt the ladder so that tiers can be earned by 30-day volume or by assets held on the platform, whichever is higher.
The change made Kraken more expensive for small, occasional traders and left it competitive for anyone who keeps a meaningful balance on the exchange.
Most third-party comparisons, and Kraken's own comparison pages, still quote the pre-July rates, so read the fee schedule itself before you decide.
Which is better for derivatives?
Binance on depth and reach, and a tie on fees where both are open.
Kraken Futures charges 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker at its first tier and serves clients outside the US, Canada and New Zealand, with US clients routed to CFTC-regulated futures through Kraken's NinjaTrader acquisition.
Binance charges 0.0200% maker and 0.0500% taker on USDT-margined perpetuals, falling to 0.0180% and 0.0450% with the BNB deduction, and runs the largest derivatives order books in the market.
On $100,000 of monthly BTCUSDT perpetual notional split evenly between maker and taker orders, that is $35.00 a month on either platform at entry rates, or $31.50 on Binance with BNB.
The same notional costs $10.00 on MEXC's BTCUSDT contract at 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker, which is the gap the box above quantifies for readers outside the US, UK and EEA.
Margin on Kraken's spot markets carries an opening fee of 0.01% to 0.04% plus a rollover charge every four hours and a 2% liquidation fee.
Which offers more beyond crypto?
Kraken, by a wide margin, and this is the concession Binance's users make most readily.
Eligible US clients can trade more than 11,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs on Kraken with zero commission, rolling out state by state, and Kraken says it offers more than 7,000 US-listed stocks to EEA clients through its authorised investment firm.
Outside the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, Kraken clients can trade more than 700 tokenized equities through xStocks at a minus 0.02% maker rebate and a 0.10% taker fee.
Kraken also runs the Krak payments app and supports ten fiat currencies for deposits and withdrawals, per its own funding pages.
Binance's global platform offers no stocks, and its answer is depth inside crypto: Launchpool, Alpha listings, Binance Earn, copy trading on futures and the widest set of quote currencies on any exchange.
Which lists more coins and lists them faster?
Kraken lists more coins and Binance lists them earlier.
Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on its CoinGecko page, and Binance lists 440 coins across about 1,420 pairs, with both scoring 10 out of 10 on trust.
Kraken's pair count is lifted by its ten fiat currencies, since many assets trade directly against USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and CHF rather than through a stablecoin.
Binance's Alpha and Launchpool programmes feed new tokens into its spot markets weeks or months before Kraken's more conservative listing review clears them.
Which is safer and better regulated?
Both publish reserve data, both carry one episode on their recent record, and their regulatory positions are opposites.
Kraken says it has published proof of reserves since 2014, holds ISO 27001 certification and a SOC 2 Type 2 examination, and runs a public bug bounty programme.
In June 2024 a bug in Kraken's deposit flow let three accounts withdraw about $3 million from Kraken's own treasury rather than client balances, and the funds were returned after Kraken involved law enforcement, as The Block reported.
In November 2023 Binance and its founder pleaded guilty to US federal charges and agreed to a resolution of about $4.3 billion, according to the US Department of Justice, with a multi-year compliance monitor installed.
Kraken holds licences in the US, the UK and the EEA, the last under MiCA through its Irish entity, per its own announcements.
Binance suspended EEA services on 1 July 2026 under the MiCA transition, which we explain in our guide to the Binance EU suspension, and its global platform has never served US residents.
On reserves, Kraken's programme is a cryptographic audit clients can check themselves, and Binance's proof-of-reserves page and SAFU fund answer the same question in a different format.
Which is easier to fund and withdraw from?
Kraken, for anyone funding in fiat from the US, the UK or Europe, because those are the rails Binance no longer has.
Kraken's US ACH and FedWire deposits are free, its debit card deposits cost 3.75% plus $0.25, and its crypto withdrawal fees are fixed per asset and shown before you confirm.
Kraken's ten fiat currencies mean EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and CHF deposits avoid a dollar conversion on the way in and out.
Binance funds accounts through cards, P2P markets and local bank rails wherever it holds a licence, and charges a fixed USDT withdrawal fee by network: 1.5 USDT on TRC20, 0.3 USDT on ERC20, 0.1 USDT on Arbitrum One and 0.01 USDT on BNB Smart Chain.
Both require full identity verification before the first withdrawal.
Where can you actually use Kraken and Binance?
In the United States, Kraken serves clients with state-by-state product limits, while Binance's global platform is closed and Binance.US is a separate company with its own fees and coin list.
In the United Kingdom, Kraken is open, while Binance is not open to new retail customers.
In the European Economic Area, Kraken operates under a MiCA licence and Binance has been suspended since 1 July 2026.
In Canada, Kraken serves clients per its own announcements, while Binance announced its exit in 2023.
For a reader in any of those four regions the comparison has already been decided by licensing, and the rest of this article describes what they would have chosen between if it had not.
What does a year on Kraken vs Binance really cost?
Price the same activity on each platform at entry rates, split evenly between maker and taker orders.
A trader with $10,000 of monthly spot volume pays about $720 a year on Kraken Pro Tier 1, about $360 once Kraken's Tier 3 applies, and about $120 a year on Binance, or $90 with the BNB deduction.
A trader with $100,000 of monthly BTCUSDT perpetual notional pays about $420 a year on either platform at entry rates, where Kraken Futures is available.
The same two profiles cost about $30 and $120 a year on MEXC at its published 0% maker and 0.05% taker spot schedule and 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker BTCUSDT contract.
The spot gap between Kraken and Binance is $600 a year at the entry tier, the widest of any pair in this series, and it is the price of Kraken's licences, fiat rails and multi-asset account.
Who should choose Kraken, and who should choose Binance?
Choose Kraken if you live in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area or Canada, because it is the one of the two that is licensed to serve you.
Choose Kraken if you want stocks, tokenized equities and futures in one account, or you fund in EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD or CHF, or you keep a large balance on the exchange and reach Tier 3.
Choose Binance if you live in a country it serves and you trade often, because 0.100% against 0.80% is the widest entry-tier gap in this series and its order books are the deepest available.
Choose Binance if you want new tokens early, or you hold BNB and want the deduction on spot and futures.
US readers should compare Kraken with the platforms licensed in their state rather than with any global exchange, including MEXC.
Readers weighing Kraken against other platforms can use our Kraken alternatives comparison, and readers weighing Binance can use our Binance alternatives comparison.
Readers outside the US, UK and EEA who want a 0% maker schedule rather than 0.40% or 0.10% can start with our MEXC vs Binance comparison.
The MEXC View: where we stand on Kraken vs Binance
MEXC Learn is published by MEXC, an exchange that competes with both platforms outside the United States, so read this section as an interested party's opinion.
We think Kraken has built the more ambitious product, and that one account holding stocks, tokenized equities, futures and ten fiat currencies under US, UK and EU licences is worth a premium to the readers who can use all of it.
We also think the July 2026 fee change made that premium hard to justify for a small trader, because 0.80% taker is now the highest entry rate among the exchanges Kraken competes with, apart from Gemini.
Binance remains the benchmark for depth and listing speed, and its 0.100% entry rate is fair for the fills it delivers, but the map now excludes most of the readers who search for this comparison.
Where MEXC fits is on price for readers outside the US, UK and EEA: 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot, and 0.000% maker and 0.020% taker on the BTCUSDT contract, with every figure carrying a verification date.
Our review methodology explains how we score exchanges we compete with.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kraken better than Binance?
Kraken is better for licensing coverage, fiat funding and multi-asset trading, while Binance is far cheaper and deeper where it is available.
US, UK and EEA readers can only open Kraken.
Is Kraken cheaper than Binance?
No, Kraken Pro starts at 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker against 0.100% and 0.100% on Binance.
Kraken drops to 0.22% and 0.38% at $10,000 of volume or $20,000 of assets.
Is Kraken safer than Binance?
Kraken publishes proof of reserves and had a $3 million treasury bug in 2024 with funds returned; Binance settled US charges for $4.3 billion in 2023 and maintains the SAFU fund.
Neither cost customers their balances.
Can I use Binance in the US, UK or EU?
No, Binance's global platform does not serve US residents or new UK retail customers, and it suspended EEA services on 1 July 2026.
Kraken serves all three regions under local licences.
Which has more coins, Kraken or Binance?
Kraken lists 717 coins across 1,500 pairs on CoinGecko, against 440 coins across about 1,420 pairs on Binance.
Binance lists new tokens earlier.
Does Kraken offer stocks?
Yes, eligible US clients can trade more than 11,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs commission-free, and non-US clients outside the UK, Canada and Australia can trade tokenized equities through xStocks.
Binance's global platform does not offer stocks.
Kraken Pro vs Binance fees: which is lower?
Binance, at 0.100% maker and taker against 0.40% and 0.80% on Kraken Pro at the entry tier.
Perpetual fees match at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker.
Can I transfer crypto from Binance to Kraken?
Yes, by withdrawing from Binance to your Kraken deposit address on the same network.
Check the network and any memo first, and send a small test amount before the full transfer.
Risk and compliance disclosure
Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose your entire deposit; derivatives, margin and leverage add liquidation risk on top of price risk.
Fees, listings and regional availability change; every figure above carries its verification date and should be re-checked before you act on it.
Neither MEXC nor global Binance serves United States residents; US readers should compare the platforms licensed in their state.
MEXC does not accept United Kingdom residents, is listed on ESMA's register of non-compliant entities for the EEA, and is offboarding Netherlands users by 16 November 2026, so the MEXC sections above are informational for readers in those regions.
Nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice.
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This article is provided by Sarah Chen for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets involve significant risk. Please conduct independent research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment decisions. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of MEXC or its affiliates.
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