MoonPay scores 13 points above Mercuryo, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. MoonPay ranks #3 and Mercuryo #7 of 16 published onramps. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
MoonPay70
vs
MEMercuryo57
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #3 and #7 of 16
MoonPay scores 13 points above Mercuryo, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence.
MoonPay #3 of 1670
MEMercuryo #7 of 1657
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termMoonPay leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; Mercuryo on 0. The terms sum to the gap.
TermMoonPayMercuryoWeightPoints
Purchase cost6/105/108.2+2.1for MoonPay+1.1 of 32
Quote honesty5/104/106.2+1.6for MoonPay+0.8 of 32
Named licence9/106/105.3+4.1for MoonPay+2.1 of 32
AvailabilityScore dimension141220+5.2for MoonPay
Net of the terms+13.1
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.1
Reproduced gap+13.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
MoonPayScore 70Highest-distribution consumer/embedded fiat-to-crypto rail with the pool's deepest numbered licence stack — but an 'up to 4.5%' card fee cap plus an unquantified spread means the €200 all-in is only knowable inside the widget.Strength: Licence identity — 9/10Watch-out: Every published rate is an 'up to' cap and the spread is acknowledged but never quantified against any benchmark — so the true all-in cost of a €200 card purchase (fee cap alone €9.00) is only discoverable inside the widget at quote time, and once accepted, 'All Orders are final and cannot be refunded.'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.
Quick facts
At a glance
1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactMoonPayMercuryo
PricingSnapshotMoonPay "Pricing Disclosure" for MoonPay Europe B.V. (https://www.moonpay.com/legal/europe_pricing_disclosure), fetched 29 September 2026, HTTP 200. MoonPay fee, buy side: Payment Cards & Alternative Payment Methods "Up to 4.5%"; Bank Transfers "Up to 1%"; PayPal "Up to 4.5%". Minimum: "A minimum MoonPay fee of €3.99 will be applied if your transaction amount is below a minimum threshold." Direct access: "If you access the MoonPay platform directly, the MoonPay fee will be in an amount between 0% and 5%." Partner-referred: "If you were referred to the MoonPay platform by a partner, your MoonPay fee will be in an amount up to 4.5%, subject to a minimum MoonPay fee that will never be more than €/£/$4.50." Partner ecosystem fee: "This ecosystem fee is set by each partner and may not exceed 10% but is typically between 0% and 2%." Spread: "For MoonPay Rails services, MoonPay Europe may include a spread in the asset price shown to you during your transaction." with no percentage; the base price comes from "reputable, independent third parties every 10 seconds", none named. Network fee: "The network fee covers the costs associated with the transfer of a Crypto-Asset and may vary depending on a number of factors, such as network congestion and operational costs." Worked example (our arithmetic, not a MoonPay figure): a EUR 200 card purchase carries a MoonPay fee of up to EUR 9.00 (4.5 percent cap); by bank transfer up to EUR 2.00 (1 percent cap), or the EUR 3.99 minimum if EUR 200 is below the unstated threshold; each before the unquantified spread, the network fee and any partner ecosystem fee. The "small conversion fee" sentence quoted in the 18 August 2026 note belongs to the page's virtual-account section, not to the onramp.Mercuryo 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.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotglobaleurope, us, ca
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
MoonPay
70#3 of 16
Leads
Pick it when
Pick MoonPay if purchase cost matters most — it scores 6/10 to Mercuryo's 5/10 there (weight 34).
Strength
Licence identity — 9/10
Tradeoff
Every published rate is an 'up to' cap and the spread is acknowledged but never quantified against any benchmark — so the true all-in cost of a €200 card purchase (fee cap alone €9.00) is only discoverable inside the widget at quote time, and once accepted, 'All Orders are final and cannot be refunded.'
ME
Mercuryo
57#7 of 16
Pick it when
Mercuryo leads MoonPay 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
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.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
MoonPayLeads
Choose MoonPay if purchase cost matters most
Purchase cost: 6/10 against 5/10 for Mercuryo (weight 34)
Quote honesty: 5/10 against 4/10 for Mercuryo (weight 26)
Named licence: 9/10 against 6/10 for Mercuryo (weight 22)
MoonPayScore 70Highest-distribution consumer/embedded fiat-to-crypto rail with the pool's deepest numbered licence stack — but an 'up to 4.5%' card fee cap plus an unquantified spread means the €200 all-in is only knowable inside the widget.Strength: Licence identity — 9/10Watch-out: Every published rate is an 'up to' cap and the spread is acknowledged but never quantified against any benchmark — so the true all-in cost of a €200 card purchase (fee cap alone €9.00) is only discoverable inside the widget at quote time, and once accepted, 'All Orders are final and cannot be refunded.'
MEMercuryo
Mercuryo leads MoonPay on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
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.
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 86MoonPay leads
MoonPay6/10 out of 10
Mercuryo5/10 out of 10
Quote honesty
by 1 of 10weight 6.2 of 86MoonPay leads
MoonPay5/10 out of 10
Mercuryo4/10 out of 10
Named licence
by 3 of 10weight 5.3 of 86MoonPay leads
MoonPay9/10 out of 10
Mercuryo6/10 out of 10
KYC and speed
weight 4.3 of 86Tie
MoonPay5/10 out of 10
Mercuryo5/10 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
MoonPay14/20Mercuryo12/20
MoonPay leads
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
MoonPay14.9/30Mercuryo11.9/30
MoonPay leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
MoonPay2.7/10Mercuryo2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
MoonPay3.2/8Mercuryo3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86
MoonPay8.3/18Mercuryo8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose MoonPay unless the term Mercuryo leads on is the one you are buying.
Mercuryo leads MoonPay 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
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% (MoonPay 9/10, Mercuryo 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% (MoonPay 5/10, Mercuryo 4/10)
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% (MoonPay 5/10, Mercuryo 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
MoonPay scores 13 points above Mercuryo, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. Published scores, out of 100: MoonPay 70 (rank 3 of 16 onramps), Mercuryo 57 (rank 7 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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