PancakeSwap vs Balancer PancakeSwap leads by 13 points.
PancakeSwap scores 13 points above Balancer on the published criteria (19.1 vs 14.4 points), which this ranking scores from the record as a whole, not criterion by criterion. PancakeSwap ranks #2 and Balancer #11 of 12 published DEXs. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
PancakeSwap56
vs
BABalancer43
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #2 and #11 of 12
PancakeSwap scores 13 points above Balancer on the published criteria (19.1 vs 14.4 points), which this ranking scores from the record as a whole, not criterion by criterion.
PancakeSwap #2 of 1256
BABalancer #11 of 1243
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termPancakeSwap leads on 0 of 2 published criteria; Balancer on 0. The terms sum to the gap.
TermPancakeSwapBalancerWeightPoints
Published criteriaScore dimension19.114.430+12.2for PancakeSwap
Net of the terms+12.2
Reproduced gap+12.2
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5643+13.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
This ranking scores its published criteria from the record as a whole, not criterion by criterion, so they count here as one term and no single criterion is credited.
PancakeSwapScore 56The leading DEX beyond Ethereum — BNB Chain-native, multi-chainStrength: BNB Chain liquidityWatch-out: Governance and token emissions are more centralized than Ethereum-native peersBalancerScore 43Programmable AMM — weighted & custom poolsStrength: Custom-weight / multi-token poolsWatch-out: Suffered a ~$128M v2 exploit in Nov 2025 (a swap-invariant rounding flaw; plus a 2023 pool bug and a ~$234k exploit of a dormant V1 pool in Aug 2026) — weigh its security record heavily
Quick facts
At a glance
2 of 4 rows read the same for both.
FactPancakeSwapBalancer
PricingSnapshotSwap fee: on each Exchange V2 pool hop "the trader pays a fixed 0.25% fee", and V3 pools charge "a fee ranging from 0.01% to 1%" by fee tier (PancakeSwap docs, PancakeSwap Pools page, read 3 November 2026). AMM: v2 constant-product + v3/Infinity concentrated. Since 2020. 11 chains. CAKE holders vote on Core Team proposals (team-executed; Core Team veto). Audited (a 2021 Lottery v1 loss and a 2021 front-end DNS hijack are listed as incidents). Live TVL shown for context (DefiLlama), not scored.Swap fee: set per pool; "When a pool is registered, the initial swap fee is passed as a parameter" and limits "are set at the pool level (0.001% - 10% for standard Balancer Weighted, and 0.0001% - 10% for Stable pools)" (Balancer docs, docs.balancer.fi/llms-full.txt, read 3 November 2026); no default rate is published. AMM: weighted / custom pools (programmable). Since 2020. 12 chains. BAL governance (1-BAL-1-vote; veBAL retired). Audited; suffered the November 2025 V2 Composable Stable Pool exploit (Balancer's own post-mortem put total losses at 121.1 million when read 28 October 2026), plus smaller 2020, 2023 and 2026 incidents. Live TVL shown for context (DefiLlama), not scored.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, globalus, europe, global
Security postureSnapshotAudited; upgradeable contracts.Audited; upgradeable contracts; a major exploit in its protocol history (2025, rated severe).
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
PancakeSwap
56#2 of 12
Leads
Pick it when
PancakeSwap leads on no published criterion; its edge is published criteria (19.1 vs 14.4 points). Pick it if that term is what you are buying.
Strength
BNB Chain liquidity
Tradeoff
Governance and token emissions are more centralized than Ethereum-native peers
BA
Balancer
43#11 of 12
Pick it when
Balancer leads PancakeSwap 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
Custom-weight / multi-token pools
Tradeoff
Suffered a ~$128M v2 exploit in Nov 2025 (a swap-invariant rounding flaw; plus a 2023 pool bug and a ~$234k exploit of a dormant V1 pool in Aug 2026) — weigh its security record heavily
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
PancakeSwapLeads
PancakeSwap leads Balancer on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
PancakeSwapScore 56The leading DEX beyond Ethereum — BNB Chain-native, multi-chainStrength: BNB Chain liquidityWatch-out: Governance and token emissions are more centralized than Ethereum-native peers
BABalancer
Balancer leads PancakeSwap on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
BalancerScore 43Programmable AMM — weighted & custom poolsStrength: Custom-weight / multi-token poolsWatch-out: Suffered a ~$128M v2 exploit in Nov 2025 (a swap-invariant rounding flaw; plus a 2023 pool bug and a ~$234k exploit of a dormant V1 pool in Aug 2026) — weigh its security record heavily
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 860 of 4 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Security
weight 14.4 of 86Not scored
PancakeSwapNot scored
No evidence cell for this criterion, so no strength is drawn.
BalancerNot scored
No evidence cell for this criterion, so no strength is drawn.
Decentralization
weight 9.6 of 86Not scored
PancakeSwapNot scored
No evidence cell for this criterion, so no strength is drawn.
BalancerNot scored
No evidence cell for this criterion, so no strength is drawn.
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 · constant here
PancakeSwap14/20Balancer14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
PancakeSwap19.1/30Balancer14.4/30
PancakeSwap leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
PancakeSwap2.7/10Balancer2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
PancakeSwap3.2/8Balancer3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
PancakeSwap5.5/18Balancer5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose PancakeSwap unless the term Balancer leads on is the one you are buying.
Balancer leads PancakeSwap 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
Contract failure: the code holding the funds is exploited.
Scored by Security & track record · 60%
Control failure: a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.
Scored by Decentralization & trust-minimization · 40%
Not assessed by this ranking: Oracle failure, Regulatory failure, Execution failure, Exit failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
PancakeSwap scores 13 points above Balancer on the published criteria (19.1 vs 14.4 points), which this ranking scores from the record as a whole, not criterion by criterion. Published scores, out of 100: PancakeSwap 56 (rank 2 of 12 dexs), Balancer 43 (rank 11 of 12).
ReviewedRe-read in progressOverdue; re-read by 10 November 2026.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.
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