Top 16 NFT Marketplaces & Factors to Consider in 2024

Even though the first NFT was minted in 2014, the market started rapid growth in 2021. The global NFT market has grown 200-fold over 2021. The interest of businesses and individuals in this new concept has been proliferating. 

A marketplace is needed to buy, sell or create an NFT, but many marketplaces have different features and options.  In this article, we will analyze NFT marketplaces based on several factors and list the top NFT marketplaces.

Supported blockchains

We have developed a combined score metric for comparing blockchains based on traded NFTs and crypto volume. The combined score is calculated by Multiplying 30 Day NFT volume by 30 Day crypto volume and dividing it by a constant to make the number easier to interpret.

In our analysis, we have considered the following:

• Security
• Scalability 
• Transaction costs
• Blockchain’s overall popularity 
• Blockchain’s popularity in NFT sales

 To get insight into our detailed analysis of these blockchains, you can read the Top 3 Blockchains for NFTs.

Each marketplace supports one or more blockchains. Most NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain as of 2022, but other blockchains are also used. In early 2021 Ethereum’s market share dropped to 80% from 95% due to the surge in the popularity of the Solana blockchain.

Choosing a blockchain is an essential decision because when you mint an NFT on a particular blockchain, you most likely won’t be able to transfer it to another blockchain easily, but you can transfer it to another marketplace that supports that blockchain. 

For example, if you mint an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain, you can list it on marketplaces that support Ethereum, such as OpenSea and Rarible, but you won’t be able to list it on Solanart or MagicEden, which run on the Solana blockchain. 

Important criteria for choosing an NFT marketplace based on its blockchain are:

• Transaction fees: Transaction fees are different on each blockchain 
• Safety: The level of safety of each blockchain is different, usually based on its consensus mechanism.  
• Scalability: How many transactions can be processed at what time, bottlenecks can limit the future growth of a blockchain. 
• Energy efficiency: Some blockchains are energy-intensive, while others are more energy efficient.
• Cryptocurrency trading volume: it measures the popularity and, therefore, the durability of the cryptocurrency. This is important since the end of a blockchain would also end the trading of NFTs on that blockchain
• NFT trading volume: NFT trading volume differs on each blockchain.

Our analysis shows that the Bitcoin & Stacks blockchains have the highest level of security, high potential for scalability, and low transaction costs. However, NFT trading volume is small on Stacks blockchain compared to other blockchains as it is a new and emerging blockchain. 

Sales volume

NFT trading volume reached $23 billion in 2021. Sales volume on a platform is an indicator of the 

• Liquidity of that platform is important when you need to sell NFTs
• Diversity of NFTs on the platform since sellers tend to list their NFTs in platforms where they are more likely to be sold. However, some marketplaces focus on specific types of assets so volume is not the only indicator of diversity.

NFT Types

Some marketplaces offer different types of NFTs and some specialize in a particular type. Some common types of NFTs are:

• Collectibles: The most popular form of NFTs. Crazy Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, NBA top shot, Fantasy football cards, etc are examples of collectibles. 
• Art: Paintings, videos, music, and other art. 
• Gaming: In-game digital items that are used in video games. 
• Metaverse: Assets and properties in the metaverse.
• Utilities: Mostly domain names and community-based NFT. Community-based NFTs provide holders with certain access or benefits. For example, VanEack, an asset management company, minted NFTs whose owners will have early access to VanEack’s research reports.

Figure 2. Volume of dollars traded based on the NFT type in 2022 first quarter

Source: NonFungible

Market share on a blockchain

While a marketplace can support multiple blockchains, if it doesn’t have a good market share on a blockchain, NFT producers in that blockchain may not sell their NFTs in that marketplace. Therefore, it is important to know the market share of a marketplace on a blockchain which you can see below. The list is sorted by sponsorship level and the top company is a sponsor.

*Based on All-time trade volume from DappRaddr.

** Based on NFT trade volume provided by Stacks On Chain and STX close price provided by Binance. 

Fees

Making a transaction on a marketplace is subject to various fees, such as : 

• Transaction fee: Minting an NFT on a blockchain is a transaction and it has transaction fees. For example, this fee is called gas fee when it is on the Ethereum blockchain. The amount and recurrence of fees change based on the blockchain and the marketplace. Some marketplaces might cover the transaction fee. While this fee can spike to tens of USD in the Ethereum blockchain, it is less than a dollar on the Solana blockchains.

Figure 2. Ethereum average transaction fee price chart in USD 

Source: Ycharts

• Service fee/commission fee: It is charged by the marketplace for its services. They can range from 2.5% to more than 15%. 
• Royalty fee: NFT sales unlike traditional art sales enable artists to receive royalties each time an item is sold. The artists can determine the percentage of royalty fees on some marketplaces themselves.

Top NFT marketplaces

Now that we explained all relevant criteria, please see all NFT marketplaces along with the criteria relevant to an NFT marketplace. The list is sorted by sponsorship level, and the top company is a sponsor.

** As of 17/05/2022 from DappRaddr.

***Based on NFT trade volume provided by Stacks On Chain and STX close price provided by Binance on 17/05/2022. 

If you need blockchain tools, check out our data-driven lists of:

• Blockchain Analysis Tools
• Blockchain Payment Systems
• Blockchain Platforms

If you have questions about NFTs and NFT marketplaces, we can help: