Mercuryo vs Alchemy Pay Mercuryo leads by 15 points.
Mercuryo scores 15 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. Mercuryo ranks #7 and Alchemy Pay #12 of 16 published onramps. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
MEMercuryo57
vs
Alchemy Pay42
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #7 and #12 of 16
Mercuryo scores 15 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence.
MEMercuryo #7 of 1657
Alchemy Pay #12 of 1642
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termMercuryo leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; Alchemy Pay on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermMercuryoAlchemy PayWeightPoints
Purchase cost5/101/108.2+8.5for Mercuryo+4.4 of 32
Quote honesty4/102/106.2+3.2for Mercuryo+1.7 of 32
Named licence6/103/105.3+4.1for Mercuryo+2.1 of 32
KYC and speed5/106/104.3−1.1for Alchemy Pay−0.6 of 32
Net of the terms+14.7
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.1
Reproduced gap+14.8
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5742+15.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
MercuryoScore 57Multi-entity EU-focused widget rail — EEA crypto flow on Criptan Trade S.L.'s CNMV MiCA CASP (contracting via non-regulated Moneychurros S.L.), non-EEA on a Canadian FINTRAC MSB, UK FCA EMI for the e-money leg only — with a published CAPPED fee schedule (card up to 5.5% min EUR 1, SEPA up to 3% min EUR 2, average 3.95%) but an unquantified embedded spread, a partner-set 0-2% Infrastructure Fee, and a global-ToS rate struck at the execution moment.Strength: Licence identity — 6/10Watch-out: Outside the US the confirm-button number is not contractually binding: the global ToS strikes the rate 'at the execution moment', warns the final price 'may differ from the price specified when placing an order', forbids withdrawing a submitted order, embeds an unquantified spread in the displayed price, and lets each partner surface add a 0-2% Infrastructure Fee — so the same EUR 200 purchase costs materially different amounts depending on which widget integration you met.Alchemy PayScore 42Hybrid fiat-crypto ramp with genuinely deep local-rail coverage (UPI, PIX, SPEI, African mobile money) and published numeric KYC tiers, but no public fee schedule anywhere, a licence story whose numbered registers (NMLS, AUSTRAC) belong to entities that are NOT the regional buyer's counterparty, and a sampled UPI all-in near 20%.Strength: Kyc friction time to coins — 6/10Watch-out: The widget will quote you a rate whose spread is never disclosed and can be enormous on exactly the rails this segment exists for — a sampled ₹22,153 UPI purchase delivered USDT at ₹111.9 apiece against the ₹95.79 interbank rate embedded in the same API response, a 19.7% all-in the buyer only discovers by doing the maths on the delivered amount — and if Alchemy Pay rejects your order after capture, clause 6.5 lets it charge you a processing fee to refund your own money.
Quick facts
At a glance
1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactMercuryoAlchemy Pay
PricingSnapshotMercuryo help article "How does Mercuryo calculate the price and fees for my transaction?" (article 30404513537565, last edited 15 July 2026; the HTML page returns HTTP 403 to non-browser clients and was read through the help-centre API, HTTP 200, fetched 29 September 2026). Mercuryo fee: "the fee ranges from 0% to 5.5%, with a minimum of €1 for smaller on-ramp/buy transactions"; Buy on-ramp (cards, mobile pay, alternative payment methods) "up to 5.5%, or min of €1"; Buy on-ramp (bank transfers) "up to 3%, or min of €2"; "Our average service fee is 3.95%." Non-EUR purchases: "an extra fee of 0.25% to 1% applies, depending on the chosen fiat currency". Partner Infrastructure Fee: "Typically ranging from 0% to 2%, never exceeding 5%." Spread: "The spread is embedded in the displayed crypto-asset price during checkout", with no percentage and no named benchmark. Network fee separate, not quantified. Worked example (our arithmetic, not a Mercuryo figure): a EUR 200 card purchase carries a Mercuryo fee of up to EUR 11.00 (5.5 percent cap) plus an Infrastructure Fee of typically up to EUR 4.00 and at most EUR 10.00, before spread and network fee; by bank transfer the Mercuryo fee is up to EUR 6.00 (3 percent cap). The global Terms of Service (mercuryo.io/legal/terms-global, Version 4.7.5) still state a flat buy fee of 3.95%, which does not match this capped schedule.No fee schedule is published. The Alchemy Pay docs page "Fiat currencies, Payment Method Coverages plus Other Details" (https://alchemypay.readme.io/docs/fiat-currency-country-payment-method-coverage-plus-fees-and-limits.md, updatedAt 21 November 2025), fetched 29 September 2026, HTTP 200, links a Notion table "On-Ramp Payment Methods" whose columns (processing time, KYC countries, currencies, KYC level, pay-way code, method type, minimum, maximum and daily limits, documents) include no fee column (read through the Notion API on 29 September 2026). The Crypto Ramp Terms ("Last updated: Dec 25, 2025") say only "9.1 All fees payable under this Agreement are displayed during the purchase flow", and the marketing page says "Your users will appreciate the lowest fees in the industry." Sampled from Alchemy Pay's public quote API on 29 September 2026 (not published prices): a card quote for 200 euros carried a ramp fee of 4.19 percent and delivered about 4.3 percent less USDT than the USD rate in the same response; a Pix quote for 1,206 reais carried a 2.67 percent ramp fee and about 4.5 percent all-in; a UPI quote returned no data that day.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshoteurope, us, caeurope, asia, latam
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
ME
Mercuryo
57#7 of 16
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Mercuryo if purchase cost matters most — it scores 5/10 to Alchemy Pay's 1/10 there (weight 34).
Strength
Licence identity — 6/10
Tradeoff
Outside the US the confirm-button number is not contractually binding: the global ToS strikes the rate 'at the execution moment', warns the final price 'may differ from the price specified when placing an order', forbids withdrawing a submitted order, embeds an unquantified spread in the displayed price, and lets each partner surface add a 0-2% Infrastructure Fee — so the same EUR 200 purchase costs materially different amounts depending on which widget integration you met.
Alchemy Pay
42#12 of 16
Pick it when
Pick Alchemy Pay if KYC and speed matters most — it scores 6/10 to Mercuryo's 5/10 there (weight 18).
Strength
Kyc friction time to coins — 6/10
Tradeoff
The widget will quote you a rate whose spread is never disclosed and can be enormous on exactly the rails this segment exists for — a sampled ₹22,153 UPI purchase delivered USDT at ₹111.9 apiece against the ₹95.79 interbank rate embedded in the same API response, a 19.7% all-in the buyer only discovers by doing the maths on the delivered amount — and if Alchemy Pay rejects your order after capture, clause 6.5 lets it charge you a processing fee to refund your own money.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
MEMercuryoLeads
Choose Mercuryo if purchase cost matters most
Purchase cost: 5/10 against 1/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 34)
Quote honesty: 4/10 against 2/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 26)
Named licence: 6/10 against 3/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 22)
MercuryoScore 57Multi-entity EU-focused widget rail — EEA crypto flow on Criptan Trade S.L.'s CNMV MiCA CASP (contracting via non-regulated Moneychurros S.L.), non-EEA on a Canadian FINTRAC MSB, UK FCA EMI for the e-money leg only — with a published CAPPED fee schedule (card up to 5.5% min EUR 1, SEPA up to 3% min EUR 2, average 3.95%) but an unquantified embedded spread, a partner-set 0-2% Infrastructure Fee, and a global-ToS rate struck at the execution moment.Strength: Licence identity — 6/10Watch-out: Outside the US the confirm-button number is not contractually binding: the global ToS strikes the rate 'at the execution moment', warns the final price 'may differ from the price specified when placing an order', forbids withdrawing a submitted order, embeds an unquantified spread in the displayed price, and lets each partner surface add a 0-2% Infrastructure Fee — so the same EUR 200 purchase costs materially different amounts depending on which widget integration you met.
Alchemy Pay
Choose Alchemy Pay if KYC and speed matters most
KYC and speed: 6/10 against 5/10 for Mercuryo (weight 18)
Alchemy PayScore 42Hybrid fiat-crypto ramp with genuinely deep local-rail coverage (UPI, PIX, SPEI, African mobile money) and published numeric KYC tiers, but no public fee schedule anywhere, a licence story whose numbered registers (NMLS, AUSTRAC) belong to entities that are NOT the regional buyer's counterparty, and a sampled UPI all-in near 20%.Strength: Kyc friction time to coins — 6/10Watch-out: The widget will quote you a rate whose spread is never disclosed and can be enormous on exactly the rails this segment exists for — a sampled ₹22,153 UPI purchase delivered USDT at ₹111.9 apiece against the ₹95.79 interbank rate embedded in the same API response, a 19.7% all-in the buyer only discovers by doing the maths on the delivered amount — and if Alchemy Pay rejects your order after capture, clause 6.5 lets it charge you a processing fee to refund your own money.
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
Purchase cost
by 4 of 10weight 8.2 of 86Mercuryo leads
Mercuryo5/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay1/10 out of 10
Quote honesty
by 2 of 10weight 6.2 of 86Mercuryo leads
Mercuryo4/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay2/10 out of 10
Named licence
by 3 of 10weight 5.3 of 86Mercuryo leads
Mercuryo6/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay3/10 out of 10
KYC and speed
by 1 of 10weight 4.3 of 86Alchemy Pay leads
Mercuryo5/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay6/10 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
Mercuryo12/20Alchemy Pay12/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Mercuryo11.9/30Alchemy Pay6.2/30
Mercuryo leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Mercuryo2.7/10Alchemy Pay2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Mercuryo3.2/8Alchemy Pay3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86
Mercuryo8.3/18Alchemy Pay8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Mercuryo unless the term Alchemy Pay leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick Alchemy Pay if KYC and speed matters most — it scores 6/10 to Mercuryo's 5/10 there (weight 18).
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 money-transmission licence is my money riding — and is that entity my counterparty? · 22% (Mercuryo 6/10, Alchemy Pay 3/10)
Execution failure: you get a worse price, later, or nothing.
Scored by Is the number on the widget the number that settles? · 26% (Mercuryo 4/10, Alchemy Pay 2/10)
Information failure: the number is wrong or bought, or your data leaks.
Scored by How much identity do I surrender before the coins land in my wallet, and how long does that take? · 18% (Mercuryo 5/10, Alchemy Pay 6/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody failure, Insolvency 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: What does a €200 purchase actually cost me — by card and by bank, all-in? (34%).
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Mercuryo scores 15 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. Published scores, out of 100: Mercuryo 57 (rank 7 of 16 onramps), Alchemy Pay 42 (rank 12 of 16).
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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