Retail Staking evaluated on how much of the ETH reward reaches you, how fast you can get your ETH back, and whether you can see the rate before you sign up.
Ranked here: ETH staking a retail account can open today, inside an app or exchange or with a staking token you hold yourself, compared on the share of the reward you keep. Not ranked here: institutional validator operators sold by contract, restaking, and staking of assets other than ETH.
#1 of 7 · published ranking
Lido (stETH)
80ChainChoice Score
4199
Why it leads
Lido (stETH) scores higher than everything else in this ranking on its exit path.
Show the arithmetic
Best in this ranking on exit path (8/10; next 7/10)
ReviewedNext review by Published Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means every product ranked on this page was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
No provider can pay for a position in this table. The code that computes this order cannot read which links carry a referral code, and every build proves it. Every score below rebuilds from the published criteria.Ranking 2026.10 · 3 criteria · 7 products · same inputs, same order
How we review · 7 ranked of 7 assessed · 3 criteria · 0 sponsor weight
How we review
7ranked
7assessed
3criteria
0sponsor weight
Recommendation first, comparison only if needed.
Reviewed and rechecked on the current cycle.
Commercial relationships disclosed before clickout.
Personal comparison
What retail staking cost you
Your inputs update the cost column. The independent ranking stays fixed.
The operator's cut of the rewards your stake earns — not a fee on the stake itself. Gross yield is your assumption, not ours.
RankProviderBest fitScoreYour cost
1
Lido (stETH)Self-custody ETH staking that keeps 90%...Top ranked
Share of the ETH reward you keep — 8/10Trade-off: You hold stETH in your own wallet: no venue can freeze it, and none can recover it if...
80score
commission/yr
Check availability for your country
Lido (stETH) · lido.fi. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
2
Kraken ETH StakingBonded ETH staking at Kraken that keeps...
Rate shown before sign-up — 8/10Trade-off: ETH is offered as bonded staking only, so you wait for the unbonding period after you...
56score
commission/yr
Check availability for your country
Kraken ETH Staking · kraken.com. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
3
Coinbase ETH StakingIn-account ETH staking at Coinbase with...
Way back to ETH — 7/10Trade-off: The public ETH page shows "EST. REWARD RATE APY 1.66%" "Powered by Staking Rewards" w...
55score
commission/yr
Check availability for your country
Coinbase ETH Staking · coinbase.com. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
4
RERevolut ETH StakingIn-app ETH staking for Revolut customer...
Share of the ETH reward you keep — 9/10Trade-off: The ETH rate is not on Revolut's public page: you see it only after opening an accoun...
54score
Lowest at your inputs
Check availability for your country
Revolut ETH Staking · revolut.com. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
5
OKOKX ETH StakingETH staking at OKX that gives you BETH...
Way back to ETH — 7/10Trade-off: OKX does not publish its ETH staking fee: its Earn FAQ says "Some products deduct a s...
51score
-Not published
Check availability for your country
OKX ETH Staking · okx.com. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
6
BIBitstamp Earn StakingFlexible ETH staking at Bitstamp that t...
Rate shown before sign-up — 7/10Trade-off: The 3.10% is "based on the estimated protocol rate", which is higher than the rates K...
46score
commission/yr
Check availability for your country
Bitstamp Earn Staking · bitstamp.net. Provider links appear once we know which country you are browsing from: ChainChoice links to providers only where it serves in full.
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
1 more assessed and ranked below — none of them hidden for commercial reasons.
Ranked on 3 published criteria weighted 50/30/20, which set goal alignment — 30 of the 86 points. The rest: regional access 20, evidence depth 18 (constant here), ease of use 10 (constant here), institutional trust 8 (constant here). Profile match is shown in breakdowns but carries no weight.
How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
Exit failure: you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by Way back to ETH · 30% (Lido (stETH) 8/10, Kraken ETH Staking 4/10, Coinbase ETH Staking 7/10)
Information failure: the number is wrong or bought, or your data leaks.
Scored by Rate shown before sign-up · 20% (Lido (stETH) 5/10, Kraken ETH Staking 8/10, Coinbase ETH Staking 5/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody failure, Insolvency failure, Regulatory failure, Execution failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Share of the ETH reward you keep (50%).
Audit
Infrastructure
Methodology
2026.10.18
published 28 October 2026
Providers tracked
1010+
across 121 categories
Last verified
28 October 2026
newest dated pricing or sentiment read
Named on the roster
2 people
managing directors · 6 automated processes
Decision guide
What matters most before choosing in this category
Weighted on how much of the ETH reward reaches you (50), how fast you can get your ETH back (30) and whether you can see the rate before you sign up (20). Every provider stakes the same ETH on the same network, so the share it keeps decides your net yield; the quoted APYs are measured in different ways and are shown, not scored.
Do you want the provider to hold your ETH, or would you rather hold a staking token in your own wallet?
Might you need your ETH back the same day, or can you wait for the network exit queue?
Is the provider's ETH staking open where you live? Several are not open in the UK or the US.
Current engine lead
The #1 overall and the scoring weights
Lido (stETH)Data checked Oct 2026
Self-custody ETH staking that keeps 90% of the reward for you, publishes its rate as a 7-day average of the stETH share rate, and lets you leave the same day by selling stETH or at par through a queue of 1-5 days.
Self-custody ETH staking that keeps 90% of the reward for you, publishes its rate as a 7-day average of the stETH share rate, and lets you leave the same day by selling stETH or at par through a queue of 1-5 days. Strongest on share of the ETH reward you keep (8/10): the 10% protocol fee is published, so you keep 90%. Weakest on rate shown before sign-up (5/10): the rate, the fee and the 7-day window are public, but no Lido page says whether that rate is before or after the fee.
Best forShare of the ETH reward you keep — 8/10
Main tradeoffYou hold stETH in your own wallet: no venue can freeze it, and none can recover it if you lose the keys. Its market price can sit below ETH when many holders sell at once; Lido says stETH "is intentionally not pegged to ETH".
Verify before signuplido.fi/how-lido-works/protocol-fee (read 28 October 2026): "Lido charges a protocol fee (currently 10%) on the rewards accumulated by the staked ETH underlying the protocol." eth-api.lido.fi/v1/protocol/steth/apr/sma (read 28 October 2026): "smaApr":2.3261428571428575. Lido's APR page: "The APR displayed on Lido UI is calculated as a rolling moving average over the last 7 days." Its APR calculator page defines Protocol APR as "the overall Consensus Layer (CL) and Execution Layer (EL) rewards received by Lido validators relative to total ETH in the protocol", which reads as before the fee; its API docs compute userAPR with "sharesMintedAsFees /* fee part included in `postTotalShares` */", which suggests after. No page states the basis in words, so it is scored as not stated.
Weighted criteria
Share of the ETH reward you keep50%
Way back to ETH30%
Rate shown before sign-up20%
Methodology
How this category is reviewed
Reviewed on the share of the ETH reward the reader keeps, the routes back to spendable ETH, and what the provider shows about its rate before sign-up. ETH only for now.
The order on this page is the published ranking for this category. Every criterion, weight and source behind it is on the methodology page.
Frequently asked
Questions people ask before choosing retail staking
Why is one provider's ETH rate higher than another's?
Mostly because they measure it differently. Kraken shows its rate before its commission, Bitstamp and OKX show theirs after, and Lido shows a 7-day average of what a stETH holder earned. The network pays them all about the same, so compare the commission.
What is the difference between retail staking and liquid staking?
Here a company holds your ETH and stakes it for you, inside your account. Liquid staking gives you a token such as stETH in your own wallet; Lido is listed here as that self-custody yardstick, and the full liquid-staking ranking is under Liquid Staking.
What matters most when choosing where to stake ETH?
The ranking weighs the share of the ETH reward you keep (50%), the routes back to spendable ETH and what is said about their timing and cost (30%), and what you can see about the rate before you open an account (20%).
Reviewed28 October 2026Method3 criteriaCategoryretail_staking
Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research
