Topper (Uphold) vs Alchemy Pay Topper (Uphold) leads by 12 points.
Topper (Uphold) scores 12 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. Topper (Uphold) ranks #8 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.
TOTopper (Uphold)54
vs
Alchemy Pay42
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #8 and #12 of 16
Topper (Uphold) scores 12 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence.
TOTopper (Uphold) #8 of 1654
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 termTopper (Uphold) leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; Alchemy Pay on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermTopper (Uphold)Alchemy PayWeightPoints
Purchase cost5/101/108.2+8.5for Topper (Uphold)+4.4 of 32
Quote honesty3/102/106.2+1.6for Topper (Uphold)+0.8 of 32
Named licence5/103/105.3+2.7for Topper (Uphold)+1.4 of 32
KYC and speed5/106/104.3−1.1for Alchemy Pay−0.6 of 32
Net of the terms+11.7
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.2
Reproduced gap+12.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
Topper (Uphold)Score 54Uphold's self-custody onramp widget — 200+ assets by card, Apple/Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo and PIX (Brazil-only local rail), riding four Uphold entities; its fee article (edited 2026-06-29) prices cards at 4.25% and Pix at 4.89% with a $3.99 minimum but never mentions a spread, and its 0.99% SEPA rail serves no EEA buyer: on 2026-09-29 every EEA state sat on its unsupported list.Strength: All in purchase cost — 5/10Watch-out: The fee is published but the price is not: Topper's fee article (edited 2026-06-29, read 2026-09-29) charges 4.25% by card and 4.89% by PIX with a $3.99 minimum but never mentions an exchange-rate spread, partner fees are added on top ('Order Detail Fee = Topper's Fee + Partner's Fee'), and the terms say every purchase is final while committing to no delivery window and no benchmark for the rate.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.
FactTopper (Uphold)Alchemy Pay
PricingSnapshotTopper help article "Topper costs and fees" (https://support.topperpay.com/hc/en-us/articles/8926549324444-Topper-costs-and-fees, last edited 29 June 2026; the HTML page returns HTTP 403 to non-browser clients, so it was read through the help-centre API, HTTP 200, fetched 29 September 2026). Topperpay.com buying fees by payment method: Credit/Debit cards "4.25%"; Google Pay "4.25%"; Apple Pay "4.25%"; SEPA bank transfer "0.99%"; Pix "4.89%"; PayPal "4.25%"; Venmo "4.25%". "The minimum fee applied to any transaction is $3.99 USD." Partner orders: "Order Detail Fee = Topper's Fee + Partner's Fee." Network fees "are a separate charge from Topper's buying or selling fees". The article says nothing about an exchange-rate spread. Worked example (our arithmetic, not a Topper figure): a purchase worth EUR 200 costs 4.25 percent (about EUR 8.50) by card or 4.89 percent (about EUR 9.78) by Pix, plus network fee and any partner fee; the 0.99 percent SEPA fee would fall below the $3.99 USD minimum at that size, but every EEA country is on Topper's unsupported list since the MiCA transition ended. The 18 August 2026 note quoted a percentage range from a 17 October 2025 archive of this article; the live article carries this schedule instead.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 fitSnapshotus, ca, europeeurope, asia, latam
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
TO
Topper (Uphold)
54#8 of 16
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Topper (Uphold) if purchase cost matters most — it scores 5/10 to Alchemy Pay's 1/10 there (weight 34).
Strength
All in purchase cost — 5/10
Tradeoff
The fee is published but the price is not: Topper's fee article (edited 2026-06-29, read 2026-09-29) charges 4.25% by card and 4.89% by PIX with a $3.99 minimum but never mentions an exchange-rate spread, partner fees are added on top ('Order Detail Fee = Topper's Fee + Partner's Fee'), and the terms say every purchase is final while committing to no delivery window and no benchmark for the rate.
Alchemy Pay
42#12 of 16
Pick it when
Pick Alchemy Pay if KYC and speed matters most — it scores 6/10 to Topper (Uphold)'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?
TOTopper (Uphold)Leads
Choose Topper (Uphold) if purchase cost matters most
Purchase cost: 5/10 against 1/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 34)
Quote honesty: 3/10 against 2/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 26)
Named licence: 5/10 against 3/10 for Alchemy Pay (weight 22)
Topper (Uphold)Score 54Uphold's self-custody onramp widget — 200+ assets by card, Apple/Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo and PIX (Brazil-only local rail), riding four Uphold entities; its fee article (edited 2026-06-29) prices cards at 4.25% and Pix at 4.89% with a $3.99 minimum but never mentions a spread, and its 0.99% SEPA rail serves no EEA buyer: on 2026-09-29 every EEA state sat on its unsupported list.Strength: All in purchase cost — 5/10Watch-out: The fee is published but the price is not: Topper's fee article (edited 2026-06-29, read 2026-09-29) charges 4.25% by card and 4.89% by PIX with a $3.99 minimum but never mentions an exchange-rate spread, partner fees are added on top ('Order Detail Fee = Topper's Fee + Partner's Fee'), and the terms say every purchase is final while committing to no delivery window and no benchmark for the rate.
Alchemy Pay
Choose Alchemy Pay if KYC and speed matters most
KYC and speed: 6/10 against 5/10 for Topper (Uphold) (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 86Topper (Uphold) leads
Topper (Uphold)5/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay1/10 out of 10
Quote honesty
by 1 of 10weight 6.2 of 86Topper (Uphold) leads
Topper (Uphold)3/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay2/10 out of 10
Named licence
by 2 of 10weight 5.3 of 86Topper (Uphold) leads
Topper (Uphold)5/10 out of 10
Alchemy Pay3/10 out of 10
KYC and speed
by 1 of 10weight 4.3 of 86Alchemy Pay leads
Topper (Uphold)5/10 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
Topper (Uphold)12/20Alchemy Pay12/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Topper (Uphold)10.8/30Alchemy Pay6.2/30
Topper (Uphold) leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Topper (Uphold)2.7/10Alchemy Pay2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Topper (Uphold)3.2/8Alchemy Pay3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86
Topper (Uphold)8.3/18Alchemy Pay8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Topper (Uphold) 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 Topper (Uphold)'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
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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% (Topper (Uphold) 5/10, 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% (Topper (Uphold) 3/10, 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% (Topper (Uphold) 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
Topper (Uphold) scores 12 points above Alchemy Pay, led by purchase cost, quote honesty, and named licence. Published scores, out of 100: Topper (Uphold) 54 (rank 8 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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