Foundation: nft marketplaces rating breakdown
Ethereum · curated art
It still stands for something the rest of this page abandoned: a curated venue for digital art, with a clean auction model and a creator-first posture from a period when that was the norm rather than a differentiator.
It still stands for something the rest of this page abandoned: a curated venue for digital art, with a clean auction model and a creator-first posture from a period when that was the norm rather than a differentiator.
How the score is built
Each criterion is scored 0–10 and weighted. The median column is the middle score across every entry in this ranking, so a row reads as a position rather than a number.
| Criterion | What we measured | Weight | Score | Category median | Rank | Weighted gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What the venue takes | — | 28% | 4 | 6.5 | 8 of 8 | -0.70 |
| What the creator actually gets | — | 25% | 7 | 6 | 2 of 8 | +0.25 |
| Is anyone actually trading here? | $12,012 30-day fees collected · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source$0 fees collected in the last 24 hours · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source | 22% | 1 | 5.5 | 6 of 8 | -0.99 |
| Custody and approvals | — | 15% | 7 | 7 | 3 of 8 | 0.00 |
| Chains and collections | — | 10% | 2 | 3.5 | 7 of 8 | -0.15 |
Measured 27 August 2026 · weights and method · decided by is anyone actually trading here?, worth -0.99 points against the median
What the venue takes: 4/10
The published marketplace fee, quoted from the venue’s own documentation, alongside thirty days of fees actually collected from public data — because a headline of “0%” and a business that still needs revenue is a combination worth examining. Where a venue charges differently for its own drops or its own chain, that is recorded separately.
Scored 4 of 10 against a category median of 6.5, which places it 8th of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 28% weight that is 0.70 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 4.
What the creator actually gets: 7/10
Whether creator royalties are enforced, optional, or capped, per the venue’s own documentation. This is the category’s defining change: royalties used to be enforced by marketplaces as a courtesy, and the fee war ended that almost everywhere. A buyer should know whether the artist is being paid, and a creator should know before they mint.
Scored 7 of 10 against a category median of 6, which places it 2nd of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 25% weight that is 0.25 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 2.
Is anyone actually trading here?: 1/10
Thirty days of fees collected and value held in on-platform bidding pools, from public data at a stated timestamp. In a collapsed market this is the criterion that separates a venue from a website: a marketplace collecting four figures a month has an interface, not a market.
Scored 1 of 10 against a category median of 5.5, which places it 6th of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 22% weight that is 0.99 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 1.
Custody and approvals: 7/10
Whether listing requires granting a contract approval over your collection, what that approval can do, and the venue’s incident history — including phishing and front-end attacks, which have cost NFT holders far more than contract exploits ever have.
Scored 7 of 10 against a category median of 7, which places it 3rd of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 15% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 6.
Chains and collections: 2/10
Chains supported with real activity, and whether the venue is the primary market for the collections on them.
Scored 2 of 10 against a category median of 3.5, which places it 7th of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 10% weight that is 0.15 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 2.
Its nearest neighbours in this ranking
Questions about this score
Is Foundation still active?
+
Barely, on the numbers. $12,012 of fees over thirty days and $0 on the most recent day we measured describes a platform with an audience rather than a market. It is still a reasonable place to present work; it is not a place to expect a sale.
Should artists still mint on Foundation?
+
Only as a presentation choice, and preferably with a contract you control so the work is portable if the platform winds down. If the goal is a sale, list where the bids are — and on the current evidence that means OpenSea for reach or Blur for blue-chip Ethereum liquidity.