OpenSea: nft marketplaces rating breakdown
Seaport · 11 chains
Still the market, by an enormous margin: $2.80m of fees collected over thirty days against four and five figures nearly everywhere else, across 11 chains. Its Seaport protocol is open, widely integrated and used by other venues, and its published marketplace fee is 0.5% — a twentieth of the 10% that was normal when this category was young.
Still the market, by an enormous margin: $2.80m of fees collected over thirty days against four and five figures nearly everywhere else, across 11 chains. Its Seaport protocol is open, widely integrated and used by other venues, and its published marketplace fee is 0.5% — a twentieth of the 10% that was normal when this category was young.
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 | 0.5%; 10% on OpenSea Studio drops marketplace fee · published · 2026-08-27 · source | 28% | 8 | 6.5 | 2 of 8 | +0.42 |
| What the creator actually gets | optional — not enforced by the marketplace creator royalties · published · 2026-08-27 · source | 25% | 6 | 6 | 4 of 8 | 0.00 |
| Is anyone actually trading here? | $2.80m 30-day fees collected · sourced · 2026-08-27 · source | 22% | 10 | 5.5 | 1 of 8 | +0.99 |
| Custody and approvals | — | 15% | 6 | 7 | 7 of 8 | -0.15 |
| Chains and collections | — | 10% | 10 | 3.5 | 1 of 8 | +0.65 |
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: 8/10
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 8 of 10 against a category median of 6.5, which places it 2nd of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 28% weight that is 0.42 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 4.
What the creator actually gets: 6/10
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 6 of 10 against a category median of 6, which places it 4th of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 25% weight that is exactly level with the median of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 2.
Is anyone actually trading here?: 10/10
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 10 of 10 against a category median of 5.5, which places it 1st of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 22% weight that is 0.99 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 1.
Custody and approvals: 6/10
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 6 of 10 against a category median of 7, which places it 7th of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 15% weight that is 0.15 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 8, the worst 6.
Chains and collections: 10/10
Chains supported with real activity, and whether the venue is the primary market for the collections on them.
Scored 10 of 10 against a category median of 3.5, which places it 1st of 8 among nft marketplaces on this criterion. At a 10% weight that is 0.65 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 2.
Its nearest neighbours in this ranking
| # | Entry | Is anyone actually trading here? | How it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Immutable Orderbook | 6 | Behind by 4 on is anyone actually trading here?. |
| 3 | Blur | 8 | Behind by 2 on is anyone actually trading here?. |
Questions about this score
What does OpenSea charge?
+
0.5% on the open marketplace, and 10% on drops launched through OpenSea Studio — twenty times its own marketplace rate. If you are launching a collection, that difference is the most consequential number on the page, because with enforced secondary royalties gone, primary sales are where creator income now lives.
Does OpenSea enforce creator royalties?
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No. Royalties are optional: collection owners can set creator earnings where supported, and buyers are not compelled to pay them. That is the industry-wide outcome of the fee war rather than an OpenSea policy in isolation, and a creator minting today should price primary sales as though secondary income will be zero.
How do people lose NFTs on OpenSea?
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By signing things, not by the contracts failing. The pattern that has cost users most is a malicious listing signature on a phishing front end, which authorises a transfer at a nominal price. Check the domain, read what a signature actually authorises before approving it, and revoke approvals for marketplaces you no longer use.