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Head-to-head · Crypto Cards

ether.fi Cash vs MetaMask Card ether.fi Cash leads by 10 points.

ether.fi Cash scores 10 points above MetaMask Card, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending. ether.fi Cash ranks #1 and MetaMask Card #4 of 9 published crypto cards. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

ether.fi Cash79
MetaMask Card69
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #1 and #4 of 9
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot Evidence verified through 4 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-ETHER-FI-CASH-VS-METAMASK-CARD-b0a971e8
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

ether.fi Cash leads by 10 points

ether.fi Cash scores 10 points above MetaMask Card, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending.

ether.fi Cash #1 of 979
MetaMask Card #4 of 969
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termether.fi Cash leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; MetaMask Card on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
Termether.fi CashMetaMask CardWeightPoints
Cost abroad8/106/107.9+4.1for ether.fi Cash+2.1 of 32
Card reliability7/104/106.2+4.9for ether.fi Cash+2.5 of 32
Named issuer4/105/105−1.3for MetaMask Card−0.7 of 32
Tax on spending8/106/104.8+2.5for ether.fi Cash+1.3 of 32
Net of the terms+10.2
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.2
Reproduced gap+10.4
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below7969+10.0

Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.

Quick facts

At a glance

1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
Factether.fi CashMetaMask Card
PricingSnapshotFrom the Fee Schedule the cardholder agreement incorporates by reference, https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/303623-what-are-the-transaction-limits-and-fees-for-personal-cash-credit-cards (HTTP 200, fetched 28 September 2026, dateModified 17 September 2026): "Where a transaction requires a currency conversion, ether.fi applies the prevailing FX base rate (~1%) and may add a foreign exchange margin on top of that base rate." | "The added FX fee is charged in addition to the underlying FX base rate and is reflected in the converted amount applied to the transaction." | "Membership Level" / "Added FX fee": "Core" "0-0.5%", "Luxe" "0-0.25%", "Pinnacle" "None", "VIP" "None" | ATM withdrawals, the same row for Core, Luxe and Pinnacle: "$1000 per transaction. Maximum of five(5) ATM withdrawals in any rolling 24 hour period ($5,000 total)." (the August row allowed half as much per transaction and three withdrawals a day) | "The Visa FX calculator provides indicative rates, but the final settlement rate can differ due to intermediary bank fees, network adjustments, or timing differences in how Visa processes the refund." The binding International agreement (https://etherfi.gitbook.io/etherfi/legal/ether.fi-legal/ether.fi-cash-cardholder-agreement-inc.-international.md, "Last Modified: September 8, 2026"): "This includes a base 1% foreign transaction fee ("FX Base Rate"). For Core tier members, the fee is up to an additional 50bps on top of the FX Base Rate. For Luxe tier members, the fee is up to an additional 25bps on top of the FX Base Rate." Cost of reaching the lower-markup tiers (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/303625-how-do-membership-levels-work, dateModified 21 September 2026): Luxe by "5K pts" a month, "$15K" deposited into Liquid, "30K ETHFI" staked, or "$199/yr"; Pinnacle by "25K pts", "$100K", "150K ETHFI" or "$999/yr". Physical card (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/776152-membership-level-benefits, dateModified 27 September 2026): Core "Free; shipping fee applies". Borrow Mode credit (https://help.ether.fi/en/articles/326983-understanding-your-cash-card-borrow-mode-vs-direct-pay-mode, "August 20, 2026"): "variable APY, set by the underlying lending market for each asset (borrowing runs through Aave v4 markets) — not a fixed rate"; the fixed APY quoted in August is gone. NOT PUBLISHED, cited to the page that should carry it: the per-withdrawal ATM fee at Core and Luxe (the membership-benefits page lists ATM withdrawals as "Available" at Core and Luxe and "Free, up to 10 withdrawals per month" at Pinnacle and VIP, naming no charge) and the Core shipping fee.From https://support.metamask.io/trade/metamask-card/limits-and-fees/ (HTTP 200, fetched 28 September 2026), "Fee type" / "Free tier" / "Metal tier": "Annual subscription fee" "$0" / "$199"; "Physical card replacement fee" "n/a" / "$99"; token fees "Delegate funds for spending" "No fee (no min. balance)", "Stablecoin of non-US cardholder denominated in local currency" "No fee", "Stablecoin of US cardholder denominated in USD" "No fee", "Stablecoin denominated in currency not of cardholder country or merchant country" "0.5%", "Stablecoin denominated in local currency of merchant country but not of cardholder country" "No fee", "DeFi token or tokenized yield (e.g., aUSDC)" "No fee up to $1,200 / mo, then 0.5%", "Other cryptocurrencies (e.g., wETH)" "0.875%"; "Network gas (e.g., Linea)" "Small, variable gas fee (typically $0.01)"; "ATM withdrawal" "2%" (Free) / "No fee up to $1,200 / mo, then 2%" (Metal); "Cross-border" "1%" (Free) / "No fee" (Metal). Footnotes: "ATM operator may charge you additional fee." "Using card with merchant located outside of cardholder country." "Subject to fair usage." Limits: "Card transaction limit" "$10,000 / tx" "$15,000 / day" (Free), "$20,000 / tx" "$30,000 / day" (Metal); "ATM withdrawal limit" "$1,000 / tx" "$1,000 / day" (Free), "$1,000 / tx" "$5,000 / day" (Metal). The zero-fee Metal tier cannot currently be bought: https://support.metamask.io/trade/metamask-card/metal-card/ (fetched 28 September 2026) says "New Metal card orders are currently unavailable." and the Metal tier "is currently only available to users in the United States", where sign-ups are "temporarily closed" (https://metamask.io/card). Not priced anywhere: the FX margin over the Mastercard rate (https://support.metamask.io/trade/metamask-card/card-faq/ says only "the best foreign exchange rate allowed by MasterCard").
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, asiaeurope, latam, ca
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

ether.fi Cash

79#1 of 9
Leads
Pick it when
Pick ether.fi Cash if cost abroad matters most — it scores 8/10 to MetaMask Card's 6/10 there (weight 33).
Strength
Swipe cost abroad — 8/10
Tradeoff
The added FX margin falls to 0-0.25% at Luxe and to 'None' only at Pinnacle and VIP; on 2026-09-28 the levels page sold Luxe for '$199/yr' and Pinnacle for '$999/yr', beside points, Liquid-deposit and staking routes, the stake now '30K ETHFI' / '150K ETHFI' — a price-volatile position that itself carries only a 20% LTV and a 50% liquidation threshold as collateral. So the buyer who stakes rather than pays takes on a token position that can fall while they hold it, and the ETHFI they stake to make the card cheaper is tied for the worst collateral in ether.fi's own table. Underneath that: at Core and Luxe — the two tiers essentially everyone starts in — ether.fi publishes ATM limits but never publishes the ATM fee, while explicitly marking ATM withdrawals as 'Free' only at Pinnacle and VIP. The one cost the fee page will not name is the one it prices for someone else.

MetaMask Card

69#4 of 9
Pick it when
Pick MetaMask Card if named issuer matters most — it scores 5/10 to ether.fi Cash's 4/10 there (weight 21).
Strength
Swipe cost abroad — 6/10
Tradeoff
You will most likely be annoyed by discovering that the tier you paid to reach cannot be bought, and that MetaMask's three fee pages do not agree. The $199 Metal tier is the only way to zero the 1% cross-border fee and to waive the 2% ATM fee on the first $1,200 a month — and https://support.metamask.io/trade/metamask-card/what-is-metamask-card/ (loaded 2026-08-17) says 'Orders for the Metal card are temporarily paused as of June 2nd, 2026.' while https://metamask.io/card (same date) still runs a 'GET METAL' button at '$199/year' and claims 'MetaMask Metal Card is now available in the US. Get yours today.' Meanwhile the help-centre FAQ tells you foreign transactions carry no additional fee while the fee table charges 1%, and the help-centre article on using the card lists only gas and a 0.875% swap fee under 'You will also be charged a minimal fee for each transaction:', omitting the cross-border and ATM lines entirely. On the free tier outside the US you cannot use an ATM at all.
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

ether.fi CashLeads

Choose ether.fi Cash if cost abroad matters most

  • Cost abroad: 8/10 against 6/10 for MetaMask Card (weight 33)
  • Card reliability: 7/10 against 4/10 for MetaMask Card (weight 26)
  • Tax on spending: 8/10 against 6/10 for MetaMask Card (weight 20)
MetaMask Card

Choose MetaMask Card if named issuer matters most

  • Named issuer: 5/10 against 4/10 for ether.fi Cash (weight 21)
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

Cost abroad

by 2 of 10weight 7.9 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash8 out of 10
MetaMask Card6 out of 10

Card reliability

by 3 of 10weight 6.2 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash7 out of 10
MetaMask Card4 out of 10

Named issuer

by 1 of 10weight 5 of 86MetaMask Card leads
ether.fi Cash4 out of 10
MetaMask Card5 out of 10

Tax on spending

by 2 of 10weight 4.8 of 86ether.fi Cash leads
ether.fi Cash8 out of 10
MetaMask Card6 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
ether.fi Cash12/20MetaMask Card12/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
ether.fi Cash16.6/30MetaMask Card12.6/30
ether.fi Cash leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash2.7/10MetaMask Card2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash3.2/8MetaMask Card3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
ether.fi Cash8.3/18MetaMask Card8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose ether.fi Cash unless the term MetaMask Card leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick MetaMask Card if named issuer matters most — it scores 5/10 to ether.fi Cash's 4/10 there (weight 21).

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

Other matchups worth comparing

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
  • Regulatory failure: no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
    Scored by Whose licence is actually behind this card, and will they even tell me their name? · 21% (ether.fi Cash 4/10, MetaMask Card 5/10)
    Scored by Does buying a coffee create a taxable disposal, and will they hand me the record? · 20% (ether.fi Cash 8/10, MetaMask Card 6/10)
  • Exit failure: you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
    Scored by Will this card still work next month, and who has to fail for it to stop? · 26% (ether.fi Cash 7/10, MetaMask Card 4/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody failure, Insolvency failure, Execution failure, Information 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: What does one swipe abroad actually cost me, and can I work that out before I sign up? (33%).
Questions

Frequently asked questions

ether.fi Cash scores 10 points above MetaMask Card, led by cost abroad, card reliability, and tax on spending. Published scores, out of 100: ether.fi Cash 79 (rank 1 of 9 crypto cards), MetaMask Card 69 (rank 4 of 9).

Related pages

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Written and reviewed by Founder
Reviewed Next review by Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed

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.

Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.

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