Mercuryo vs Stripe Crypto Onramp Mercuryo leads by 3 points.
Mercuryo scores 3 points above Stripe Crypto Onramp, led by purchase cost. Mercuryo ranks #7 and Stripe Crypto Onramp #9 of 16 published onramps. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
MEMercuryo57
vs
Stripe Crypto Onramp54
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #7 and #9 of 16
Mercuryo scores 3 points above Stripe Crypto Onramp, led by purchase cost.
MEMercuryo #7 of 1657
Stripe Crypto Onramp #9 of 1654
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 1 of 4 published criteria; Stripe Crypto Onramp on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermMercuryoStripe Crypto OnrampWeightPoints
Purchase cost5/104/108.2+2.1for Mercuryo+1.1 of 32
Quote honesty4/105/106.2−1.6for Stripe Crypto Onramp−0.8 of 32
AvailabilityScore dimension121120+2.6for Mercuryo
Net of the terms+3.1
Reproduced gap+3.1
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5754+3.0
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.Stripe Crypto OnrampScore 54Stripe's application-gated fiat-to-crypto rail (hosted at crypto.link.com or embedded) riding Stripe Payments Company's US money-transmitter stack and Stripe Technology Europe's Irish EMI, with the crypto leg on an unnamed 'Exchange Provider' and pricing disclosed only as a help-centre 3-5% range plus an unquantified spread.Strength: Licence identity — 6/10Watch-out: You cannot learn your actual price before starting a purchase: the only public number is a help-centre 'normally 3-5%' range with Stripe's own spread stacked on top, unquantified against any benchmark — and your bank-rail cost has no published number at all.
Quick facts
At a glance
1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactMercuryoStripe Crypto Onramp
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.Link (Stripe) help article "Fees when using Link to buy crypto" (https://support.link.com/questions/fees-when-using-link-to-buy-crypto, modified 12 May 2026), fetched 29 September 2026, HTTP 200, unchanged from 18 August 2026. Processing fees: "These are payment processing fees charged based on factors such as your order value and the payment method you’ve used. These will normally amount to 3-5% of your order value and will be shown in more detail before you make a purchase." Network fees: "They’re dynamically calculated based on blockchain network conditions." Card-issuer cash-advance fees: "these fees are typically around 3%, sometimes with a 10 USD/EUR minimum." No per-rail schedule exists on stripe.com or docs.stripe.com (docs.stripe.com/crypto/onramp/fees returns HTTP 404 on 29 September 2026). The spread is separate and unquantified: Stripe's US Onramp Terms define "a fee that Stripe will charge between the market price we receive from our Exchange Provider and the price displayed to you (the "spread")". Worked example (our arithmetic, not a Stripe figure): a EUR 200 card purchase would "normally" carry EUR 6.00 to EUR 10.00 in processing fees, before the unquantified spread, the network fee and any card-issuer cash-advance fee; there is no EUR bank rail (bank account payments are "for US only").
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshoteurope, us, caus, europe
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 Stripe Crypto Onramp's 4/10 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.
Stripe Crypto Onramp
54#9 of 16
Pick it when
Pick Stripe Crypto Onramp if quote honesty matters most — it scores 5/10 to Mercuryo's 4/10 there (weight 26).
Strength
Licence identity — 6/10
Tradeoff
You cannot learn your actual price before starting a purchase: the only public number is a help-centre 'normally 3-5%' range with Stripe's own spread stacked on top, unquantified against any benchmark — and your bank-rail cost has no published number at all.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
MEMercuryoLeads
Choose Mercuryo if purchase cost matters most
Purchase cost: 5/10 against 4/10 for Stripe Crypto Onramp (weight 34)
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.
Stripe Crypto Onramp
Choose Stripe Crypto Onramp if quote honesty matters most
Quote honesty: 5/10 against 4/10 for Mercuryo (weight 26)
Stripe Crypto OnrampScore 54Stripe's application-gated fiat-to-crypto rail (hosted at crypto.link.com or embedded) riding Stripe Payments Company's US money-transmitter stack and Stripe Technology Europe's Irish EMI, with the crypto leg on an unnamed 'Exchange Provider' and pricing disclosed only as a help-centre 3-5% range plus an unquantified spread.Strength: Licence identity — 6/10Watch-out: You cannot learn your actual price before starting a purchase: the only public number is a help-centre 'normally 3-5%' range with Stripe's own spread stacked on top, unquantified against any benchmark — and your bank-rail cost has no published number at all.
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 1 of 10weight 8.2 of 86Mercuryo leads
Mercuryo5/10 out of 10
Stripe Crypto Onramp4/10 out of 10
Quote honesty
by 1 of 10weight 6.2 of 86Stripe Crypto Onramp leads
Mercuryo4/10 out of 10
Stripe Crypto Onramp5/10 out of 10
Named licence
weight 5.3 of 86Tie
Mercuryo6/10 out of 10
Stripe Crypto Onramp6/10 out of 10
KYC and speed
weight 4.3 of 86Tie
Mercuryo5/10 out of 10
Stripe Crypto Onramp5/10 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
Mercuryo12/20Stripe Crypto Onramp11/20
Mercuryo leads
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Mercuryo11.9/30Stripe Crypto Onramp11.7/30
Mercuryo leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Mercuryo2.7/10Stripe Crypto Onramp2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Mercuryo3.2/8Stripe Crypto Onramp3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86
Mercuryo8.3/18Stripe Crypto Onramp8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Mercuryo unless the term Stripe Crypto Onramp leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick Stripe Crypto Onramp if quote honesty matters most — it scores 5/10 to Mercuryo's 4/10 there (weight 26).
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, Stripe Crypto Onramp 6/10)
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, Stripe Crypto Onramp 5/10)
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, Stripe Crypto Onramp 5/10)
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 3 points above Stripe Crypto Onramp, led by purchase cost. Published scores, out of 100: Mercuryo 57 (rank 7 of 16 onramps), Stripe Crypto Onramp 54 (rank 9 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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