Changelly vs Binance | What Exchange Is Better, Safer & Cheaper?
Jack Moreau
Apr 2024
10 min read
Fact checked
If you're looking to trade cryptocurrency, you might be confused about which exchange to choose. That's where we come in. We've compared Changelly vs Binance on a variety of factors, including fees, security, customer support, and more. Keep reading to find out which one is the best fit for your needs!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Changelly and Binance are two very popular cryptocurrency exchanges with their own unique features and offerings.
Changelly was founded in 2013 by Konstantin Gladych and is registered in Malta. It has its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic and has over 100 employees mostly based in Malta.
Changelly is available in most countries around the world with some exceptions being the United States and the Virgin Islands.
Changelly exchange
In 2020, Changelly branched out to accommodate the needs of traders with Changelly PRO which is a compliant, regulated, and easy to use platform to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Changelly has over 3 million users with the majority being based in Europe. Changelly is also available on IOS and Android where it has over 500,000 downloads with a 3.7 star rating.
As one of the largest and most popular trading platforms, Binance offers a comprehensive suite of trading and financial services including spot trading, futures trading, staking, earn products, launchpad, its own smart chain and much more.
The exchange supports over 350 cryptocurrencies, numerous trading pairs and is the most liquid exchange in the world.
Binance has over 150 million users worldwide, with the Binance Android app being downloaded over 50 million times and having a rating of 4.4 based on over 1 million reviews.
Binance app
Changelly vs Binance Signup & KYC
Now let's move on to KYC requirements. Binance requires users to verify their identity through a Know Your Customer (KYC) process before they can trade.
Creating a Binance account takes less than a minute, but in order to unlock full account privileges, users must complete the verification process.
Binance KYC verification
Submitting all the required information and documents, such as country of residence, address, and government ID, takes only a few minutes at most.
Generally, the KYC verification process on Binance can be as short as 15 minutes, but it can take up to 2-3 business days in some cases to complete.
On the other hand, Changelly offers a simpler signup process. To sign up for Changelly, users only need to provide an email and verify the verification code that is sent.
Once the account has been created, users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies via third-party providers.
Changelly KYC
However, each third-party provider will require its own signup and KYC procedure before a purchase can take place. For users who wish to trade on Changelly Pro, they can deposit cryptocurrencies and begin trading right away.
But for those who wish to increase trading and withdrawal limits, they will need to complete KYC, which includes personal info, residential address, a valid ID, selfie, and mobile phone number. In summary, while KYC is mandatory for all users on Binance, it is possible to begin trading on Changelly without it.
Changelly vs Binance Products & Services
Changelly is an exchange that offers very few products and services. Users can buy cryptocurrencies on Changelly via third-party providers such as MoonPay, Simplex, Banxa and others.
Buy crypto with card on Changelly
Changelly also offers a product called DeFi swap which allows users to connect their MetaMask and swap tokens on EVM compatible blockchains such as Ethereum, Avalanche and Binance Smart Chain.
Changelly DeFi swap
The good thing about Changelly Pro is that users can get access to spot, margin and futures without the need to KYC. Spot trading is also possible on Changelly via their Changelly Pro exchange with daily spot trading volumes reaching up to $400,000,000.
In terms of max leverage, Changelly Pro offers users up to 100X max leverage on BTC contracts and 10X leverage on margin trading.
Changelly Pro trading
Competing against Binance is not an easy task for any exchange. Binance offers the most comprehensive range of product on the market.
This includes a variety of trading services such as spot trading, futures trading, margin trading, perpetual swaps (perps), and options trading.
Binance spot trading
Binance offers contracts that can be settled either perpetually or on a quarterly basis, using USDT, BUSD, or other cryptocurrencies.
Binance also offers trading bots and copy trading, which allows users to follow and copy the trades of successful traders automatically.
Binance futures contracts
Liquidity on Binance is one of the best in the world with daily spot trading volumes frequently exceeding $10 billion.
Binance offers a max leverage of up to 125X on futures and 10X on margin trading with crypto, stables and fiat currencies underlying collateral.
In terms of financial products, Binance provides leveraged tokens and for users who want to earn on their assets, staking, lending and different types of vaults.
Binance staking
Binance also has its own NFT marketplace and, its own Web 3 wallet in Trust Wallet and even custody solutions and an OTC desk for institutional clients.
Binance NFTs
The user experience on Binance is quite good considering the wide range of products on offer. Having said that, it's clear that a total beginner will find it a bit akward to navigate in the beginning as there is a lot of things going on.
So while Changelly might be a bit easier to navigate for beginners, Binance is the more comprehensive exchange with something to offer for beginners, traders and even institutional clients.
When it comes to trading fees, Changelly and Binance offer different fee structures for their users.
Starting with Binance's trading fees, for spot trading, they charge 0.1% for makers and takers alike. And for futures trading, the maker fee is 0.02% and the taker fee is 0.04%.
Binance also offers the opportunity to lower trading fees if monthly trade volumes exceed $1 million or if users hold at least 25 BNB tokens.
Binance spot fees
Similar to Binance, Changelly also offers a spot trading fee of 0.1% for both makers and takers. For futures trading, the maker fee is 0.02% and the taker fee is 0.05%.
Changelly trading fees
Moreover, Changelly allows users to reduce trading fees if trading volumes exceed a minimum of 5 BTC during a 30-day period.
As such, Changelly Pro has actually created a fee structure that is almost identical to Binance. Very impressive and well done to both exchanges for these low trading fees!
When it comes to depositing fiat currencies on cryptocurrency exchanges, Changelly and Binance offer different deposit methods for their users.
Changelly does not support fiat deposits which means that users can only deposit cryptocurrencies on the exchange. However, users can buy cryptocurrencies on Changelly via third-party sellers, but this comes with high commission fees.
On the other hand, Binance supports 26 fiat currencies including USD, EUR, AUD, and GBP, among others. Users can deposit fiat currencies on Binance via bank transfers, Visa, Mastercard, PayID, and Advacash.
Binance fiat deposit
Bank transfers via SEPA come with a 1 EUR fee, while fiat currencies deposited with Visa and Mastercard incur a 1.8% fee.
For those with an Advcash account, they can deposit with a 1.5% fee. In this category, Binance is the clear winner as they offer a support for over 20 fiat currencies while Changelly does not offer any.
When it comes to withdrawing funds from Changelly, users will only have the option to withdraw cryptocurrencies. While this may be inconvenient for some, Changelly does offer relatively low withdrawal fees for most coins.
For example, Bitcoin withdrawals come with a fee of 0.0007 BTC while Ethereum withdrawals cost 0.002 ETH. Those that wish to withdraw Solana or Tether USD (ERC-20) will have to pay 0.01 SOL and 12 USDT, respectively.
On the other hand, Binance offers multiple methods for people to withdraw their fiat currencies. USD can be withdrawn via SWIFT, EUR via SEPA and GBP via Faster Payments (FSP).
While Binance does charge a 1.8% withdrawal fee for fiat withdrawals with Visa and MasterCard, there is only a 1 EUR withdrawal fee with SEPA.
Binance fiat withdrawals
Bank withdrawals are free with many other fiat currencies. In terms of cryptocurrency withdrawals, Binance charges a relatively low fee of 0.0002 BTC for Bitcoin withdrawals, 0.000768 ETH for Ethereum withdrawals, 0.008 SOL for Solana withdrawals, and 10 USDT for USDT (ERC-20) withdrawals.
In summary, while Changelly only offers cryptocurrency withdrawals (with low fees), Binance offers multiple fiat withdrawal options with relatively low fees and also provides affordable cryptocurrency withdrawals.
Taking on Binance in an exchange comparison is no easy task as it's the biggest exchange in the world for a reason.
Binance is the winner in this comparison because it offers a wider range of cryptocurrencies, more trading and financial products and more fiat deposit and withdrawal options.
While we are no fans of regular Changelly, we do think that Changelly Pro offers a very powerful value proposition to users.
On Changelly Pro, users can signup without and without going through KYC begin trading immediately. This is not possible on Binance as all users must KYC in order to trade.
Changelly Pro further offers a decent range of cryptocurrencies in addition to spot and futures trading with up to 100X leverage.
On top of this, Changelly Pro has pushed down trading fees to make the exchange competitive with exchanges like Binance.
So while Binance is the overall winner in this comparison, we do like Changelly Pro and find it very compelling for the reasons specificied above.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.
