What buying bitcoin costs
Three separate charges sit between your money and your coins, and only one of them is usually printed in large type. The fee on the trade. The cost of the payment method. And the spread, which is the gap between the price you are shown and the price the market is at.
| Exchange | Simple buy | Advanced screen | Debit card | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraken | 1 % on an instant buy in the app The instant buy quotes one price with the fee inside it. Kraken Pro shows the order book, so there the fee and the price are two numbers you can read separately. | 0.25 % maker on Kraken Pro | card processing on top, the rate depends on the payment method | Sep 11, 2026 |
| Coinbase | about 0.5 % spread on a simple buy, plus the Coinbase fee The simple buy screen prints one number and folds the spread into it. The same order on Advanced Trade costs a fraction of that, and it is the same account. | 0.40 % maker and 0.60 % taker on Advanced Trade | 4.2 % on a debit card | Sep 11, 2026 |
| Gemini | 1.49 % minimum on a simple buy The gap between the simple screen and ActiveTrader is the widest of the five, 1.49 against 0.20 percent, and switching costs nothing. | 0.20 % maker and 0.40 % taker on ActiveTrader | 3.49 % on a debit card | Sep 11, 2026 |
| eToro | 1 % on the buy and 1 % again on the sell One rate for everyone below the Club tiers, so there is no cheaper screen to switch to. The 1 % is charged twice over a round trip. | the same 1 %, lower only at the higher Club tiers, down to 0.10 % | not checked | Sep 11, 2026 |
| Bitstamp | not checked Bitstamp's fee schedule sits behind a bot filter, so none of its numbers are copied here. Open the link and read them at the source. | not checked | not checked | Sep 11, 2026 |
Simple against advanced
Every exchange here runs a beginner screen and an order book, and they charge differently for the identical trade. Gemini asks 1.49 percent on the simple screen and 0.20 percent as a maker on ActiveTrader, a factor of seven. Coinbase charges 0.40 and 0.60 percent on Advanced Trade against a simple price with about half a percent of spread baked in. Kraken takes 1 percent on an instant buy in its app and 0.25 percent as a maker on Kraken Pro.
Switching is a link, not a new account. Your balance, your identity check and your withdrawal address all follow you across.
Card against bank transfer
A debit card costs 4.2 percent at Coinbase and 3.49 percent at Gemini. Kraken passes on card processing on top of its trading fee, at a rate that depends on the payment method. Bank transfers are free or close to it everywhere and take a day or two.
On a 1 000 dollar purchase that is 42 dollars for skipping a two day wait. Do it once if the timing matters. Do not make a habit of it.
The spread is the fee you do not see
A screen that advertises zero commission still has to make money, and it does it by quoting you a price slightly worse than the market. Coinbase's simple buy carries roughly half a percent of it. eToro charges a flat 1 percent on the buy and 1 percent again when you sell, so a round trip costs two.
The way to see it is to note the market price the moment before you order, then read the fill confirmation. The difference, minus the printed fee, is the spread.
And the network fee
Withdrawing to your own wallet costs a network fee that goes to miners rather than to the exchange, plus whatever the exchange adds. eToro's fee page quotes 2 percent on a transfer out, which is the highest exit cost in this table by a distance.
Fees read on Sep 11, 2026. Exchanges change them without notice, so check the figure at the source before you order.