Aave scores 10 points above Curve Finance, led by ecosystem and operating style. Curve Finance ranks #10 and Aave #8 of 10 published Web3 apps. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
Curve Finance41
vs
AAAave51
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #10 and #8 of 10
Aave scores 10 points above Curve Finance, led by ecosystem and operating style.
Curve Finance #10 of 1041
AAAave #8 of 1051
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termAave leads on 2 of 4 published criteria; Curve Finance on 0. The terms sum to the gap.
TermAaveCurve FinanceWeightPoints
Ecosystem8/107/105.8+1.5for Aave+0.8 of 32
Operating style3/102/105.3+1.4for Aave+0.7 of 32
Trust recordScore dimension6.43.28+8.3for Aave
Net of the terms+11.2
Reproduced gap+11.2
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5141+10.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
A floor bound on one row means the criterion arithmetic does not reproduce the displayed gap exactly.
AaveScore 51Onchain lending and borrowing — supply assets, borrow against themStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variableCurve FinanceScore 41The foundational DeFi protocol for stablecoin and pegged-asset swapsStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Interface is notoriously complex — not beginner-friendly
Quick facts
At a glance
FactCurve FinanceAave
PricingSnapshotCurve's DEX overview (docs.curve.finance/user/dex/overview, fetched 30 September 2026): "Each Stableswap pool has its own set fee, with most ranging from 0.005% to 0.02%"; some, such as the Strategic Reserve pools, charge "around 0.001%"; and "Most current and all new pools now feature dynamic fees", which rise when a swap would unbalance the pool further. For Cryptoswap pools (pairs that are not pegged): "Fees can be as low as 0.05% and go up to around 0.4%". Curve's swap guide (same date) says the quoted exchange rate "already includes trading fees". Network gas applies on whichever chain is used.Aave's FAQ (aave.com/faq, fetched 30 September 2026): suppliers earn and borrowers pay variable, per-asset rates shown in the Markets tab of the V3 Interface or Aave Pro (V4). "Each borrowable reserve in an Aave market has a parameter called reserve factor, which is the percentage of borrow interest accumulated to the treasury and is determined on a per-asset basis by Aave Governance." Transactions "may incur gas fees", which are "typically highest on Ethereum, and significantly cheaper on all other networks". A liquidated borrower pays a penalty that "depends on the asset used as collateral". The FAQ lists no separate platform or access fee.
Asset coverageEditorialStablecoin and pegged-asset pairs, plus volatile pairs in Cryptoswap pools, across major EVM chainsSupplied and borrowed assets across supported money markets
Region fitSnapshotglobalus, europe, global
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
Curve Finance
41#10 of 10
Pick it when
Curve Finance leads Aave on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
Strength
Job fit — 9/10
Tradeoff
Interface is notoriously complex — not beginner-friendly
AA
Aave
51#8 of 10
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Aave if ecosystem matters most — it scores 8/10 to Curve Finance's 7/10 there (weight 24).
Strength
Job fit — 9/10
Tradeoff
Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variable
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
Curve Finance
Curve Finance leads Aave on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
Curve FinanceScore 41The foundational DeFi protocol for stablecoin and pegged-asset swapsStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Interface is notoriously complex — not beginner-friendly
AAAaveLeads
Choose Aave if ecosystem matters most
Ecosystem: 8/10 against 7/10 for Curve Finance (weight 24)
Operating style: 3/10 against 2/10 for Curve Finance (weight 22)
AaveScore 51Onchain lending and borrowing — supply assets, borrow against themStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variable
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Job fit
weight 7.2 of 86Tie
Curve Finance9/10 out of 10
Aave9/10 out of 10
Ecosystem
by 1 of 10weight 5.8 of 86Aave leads
Curve Finance7/10 out of 10
Aave8/10 out of 10
Operating style
by 1 of 10weight 5.3 of 86Aave leads
Curve Finance2/10 out of 10
Aave3/10 out of 10
Confidence
weight 5.8 of 86Tie
Curve Finance7/10 out of 10
Aave7/10 out of 10
Score dimensions
weights sum to 86
The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.
Availabilityweight 20 of 86
Curve Finance14/20Aave14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Curve Finance15.6/30Aave16.7/30
Aave leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86
Curve Finance2.7/10Aave2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86
Curve Finance3.2/8Aave6.4/8
Aave leads
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Curve Finance6.9/18Aave6.9/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Aave unless the term Curve Finance leads on is the one you are buying.
Curve Finance leads Aave on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .
From the published order
Next best action
If this isn't your case
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How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
None of this ranking's criteria scores a way of losing money; the families that apply are listed below as not assessed.
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Control failure, Regulatory failure, Execution failure, Exit 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: Use-case fit (30%), Ecosystem fit (24%), Operating style (22%), Confidence signal (24%).
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Aave scores 10 points above Curve Finance, led by ecosystem and operating style. Published scores, out of 100: Curve Finance 41 (rank 10 of 10 web3 apps), Aave 51 (rank 8 of 10).
Reviewed means both products compared here 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.
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