The 8 Best NFT Marketplaces to Explore Right Now

As the web3 landscape continues to expand, there are a ton of NFT marketplaces to choose from, and each provides its own unique niche for discovering upcoming projects. Whether you're looking to buy art or some other form of collectible, here are the best NFT marketplaces:

There are a variety of factors to consider when selecting which NFT marketplace will be the best for you. The first thing to consider is which marketplace will provide the best option for the currency you are using. 

Some marketplaces offer both Fiat (USD) and cryptocurrency options ($ETH, $M0ATIC, $WAXP, $BSC, $XTZ, $SOL). Some marketplaces only allow a certain number of crypto wallet integrations like Metamask, Rainbow or Wallet Connect. NFT marketplaces that use currencies other than $ETH might have an entirely different crypto wallet. For example, HEN requires a Temple wallet to exchange in Tezos $XTZ. Currently, the most common Web3 platforms will use $ETH. 

The second thing to look for is the type of NFT that you want to buy—whether it's sports NFTs, music NFTs, collectible NFTs or art NFTs. When choosing a project, there are a lot of options to consider and some NFTs crossover from one to another. For example, a lot of art NFTs also exist in the collectibles category because of the large number available—the most popular being 10k PFP (profile picture collections). The most famous one of these 10k collections is Cryptopunks by Larva Labs, which also happens to be one of the most historical NFTs originating in 2017. 

Each NFT Marketplace’s fees to transact on their platform vary slightly. When you purchase an NFT, you will need to pay a transaction fee for each NFT that you buy. Some platforms charge more of a fee than others. You can use pumpmygas.xyz to monitor each platform’s fee for buying, selling, and minting NFTs.

OpenSea is the current front runner for NFT marketplaces with over 200,000 active monthly traders, and almost a 3.5billion in sales volume during the month of August. 

Pros

• Collections, one of ones
• Lazy minting (low transaction cost)
• Supports ERC-721s/ERC-1155s
• Artist royalties are customizable

Cons

• Not decentralized
• 2.5% fee

OpenSea is the current leader as one of the best NFT marketplaces because of the variety they offer to artists, collectors, and traders. Their marketplace boasts a variety of opportunities for artists to list their artworks through a process called ‘lazy minting’ where it is free to create NFTs after paying the one-time transaction fee to set up an account. Meanwhile, collectors and traders experience the minimal 2.5% fee that OpenSea takes on each transaction, which is extremely competitive across all marketplaces.

In addition to the variety of NFT opportunities they offer to collectors and artists, they also have a quick way to view the activity for each collection listed on their platform which aggregates all the data from the collection and quickly provides a variety of information like floor price, highest last sale, and the total overall trading volume for a collection. 

Like most NFT marketplaces, there is no option to purchase NFTs with USD or any other fiat currency, and you must sign in to the platform by connecting your crypto wallet. OpenSea offers a wide range of wallet support; the list can be viewed on their website.

One con of the marketplace is that it is not decentralized, and because of that there is a concern within the artist and collector community of marketplace manipulation. 

Visit OpenSea by going to Opensea.io.

Pros

• Art one-of-ones
• Art curation
• $RARE token DAO
• Supports ERC-721s

Cons

• 15% fee
• Invite only
• 10% artist royalties

One of the top NFT marketplaces for fine art is SuperRare, which launched in 2018 and has amassed over $90M in NFT art sales to over 1400 artists on their platform. The platform is exclusive and curates artwork by some of the most popular NFT artists and traditional artists who are looking to enter the world of NFTs. In addition to that, SuperRare also has a strong roster of collectors who have collected some of the highest-selling one-of-one art NFTs of all time. 

SuperRare is most popular for the one-of-one art that the marketplace offers, and they provide a lot of support to tell the story of the artists that they curate. SupeRare’s seller fee is 15%, which is one of the higher fees for NFT marketplaces 

Recently, SuperRare announced their rollout of SuperRare 2.0, which introduced the $RARE token, effectively turning over the control of the future of the platform to the creators and collectors who have made the marketplace what it is today. This effort to decentralize their marketplace allows for new opportunities and a diversity of voices to advocate for their platform. 

Learn more about the $RARE token here, and visit SuperRare at superrare.com.

Pros

• Art one of ones
• Art curation
• Supports ERC-721s

Cons

• 15% fee
• Invite only
• Not decentralized
• 10% artist royalties

As another leader in NFT art curation, Foundation offers a wide range of art to its collectors, and recently allowed compatibility for 3D artwork to be minted as NFTs. Founded in February 2021, Foundation is one of the newest NFT platforms focused on the creator economy and creators have earned $120M. Foundation is an invite-only platform for artists, but each artist gets a variety of invites to give out to the community each time they sell an artwork. Meanwhile, collectors can search through the platform’s featured artwork and place bids on available artworks. When a collector places a bid and meets the artist’s ‘reserve price,’ a 24-hour auction begins which often results in some exciting bidding wars between collectors.

Foundation’s seller fee is 15%. 

Visit Foundations website at foundation.app.

Pros

• Collections, one-of-ones
• Art curation
• Decentralized DAO
• Custom contracts
• Supports ERC-721s/ERC-1155s
• Artist royalties are customizable

Cons

• 2.5% fee

Founded in 2020, Rarible is an NFT marketplace that offers a ton of opportunities for one-of-one NFT creators. Rarible’s governance is headed towards being completely operated as a DAO, through which the community actively participates to vote on new initiatives to expand the platform. The platform introduced $RARI governance token that rewards creators and collectors for buying and selling NFTs on the platform and enables the users of the platform to influence decisions. 

The front page of the marketplace features the top collections, hot bids, and community-curated collections.

Visit Raribles website at Rarible.com.

Pros

• Collections, one-of-ones
• Art curation
• Supports USD purchases
• Supports ERC-721s/ERC-1155s

Cons

• 5% fee
• Not Decentralized
• 10% artist royalties

NiftyGateway is an NFT marketplace that teams up with top creators to release limited NFT drops to the public. They are also one of the larger curated NFT platforms that enable users to purchase NFTs with USD. The platform is centralized and hosts the NFTs within their own platform until the collector decides to export them to a personal wallet. The platform was created in 2018 and has recently partnered with popular NFT collections for secondary market trading. 

You can view the current curated drops on their website niftygateway.com.

Pros

• Collections, one-of-ones
• Art curation
• Artists may apply to be on the platform 
• Supports ERC-721s/ERC-1155s

Cons

• 3% fee
• Not Decentralized
• 10% artist royalties

KnownOrigin was founded a little over two years ago and started as a pop-up gallery event in Manchester. Now KnownOrigin is known as a premier art marketplace that showcases a variety of creators. The goal of the platform is to create a community-operated and owned platform that will establish itself as a marketplace for the future of Web 3.0. The platform accepts the artists they feature through an application process that requires each artist to create a profile first. 

Visit KnownOrigin’s website at knownorigin.io.

Pros

• One of Ones (Masters and Layers)
• Art curation
• Artists may apply to be on the platform 
• Supports ERC-721s

Cons

• 10% primary sale fee, 1% secondary 
• Not Decentralized
• 10% artist royalties

Launched in February 2020, Async Art is an NFT marketplace that allows its users to create, collect, and trade programmable art. The NFTs can evolve over time and react to its owners, in addition to many more possibilities. So far the platform has seen over $11.4M+ in bidding and $4.3M+ in sales volume.

The system features a unique one-of-one interface through which collectors who buy NFTs on the marketplace can update the artwork through a system of ‘layers,’ which then affects the original ‘master’ created by the artist. 

The website can be visited here: async.art.

Pros

• One of Ones and Collections
• Artists may apply to be on the platform 
• Artist royalties are customizable
• Decentralized
• OBJKTs format

Cons

• The user interface is difficult to navigate at first

Hic Et Nunc is an NFT marketplace alternative that uses the Tezos blockchain. Tezos $XTZ is a Proof of Stake blockchain that allows quick, affordable, and sustainable transactions which compete with the current Ethereum blockchain’s hefty gas fees. Hic Et Nunc is an NFT marketplace alternative that uses the Tezos blockchain.

Sustainability is a constant topic of conversation in the world of NFTs. As we await the launch of ETH 2.0 and an ongoing transition to Proof of Stake platforms (as opposed to Proof of Work), HEN is a great place to start. HEN provides artists the ability to customize their profiles and offers collectors the ability to collect artwork for a fraction of the cost of other platforms. The only drawback is that the HEN ecosystem takes a bit of technical know-how to navigate at first.

For collectors who seek to collect NFTs in a sustainable way, HEN provides the solution.

Begin exploring HEN on their website: hicetnunc.xyz.