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Fee-based onramp routing is costing you business
The most popular method for connecting users to onramps is deeply flawed — for a number of reasons. Here's why you should be considering alternative solutions.
My user has multiple onramps available. I should automatically point them towards the one that offers the lowest fees.
On the surface, this is a great decision. It makes perfect sense to want to provide your users with the lowest fees, as it results in more crypto received.
In practice, though? The transactions fail the majority of the time. And, even when they do succeed, the fees aren’t what you think.
What’s up with onramp fees?
The top providers offer some very attractive percentages when it comes to their fees. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find out that these figures only refer to the onramp’s cut.
In other words, there are other costs involved. Our recent report identified the culprits as conversion rates, bid-ask spreads and network fees.
These aren’t negligible, either: when we conducted a $200 USD → BTC swap on six different onramps, the crypto received varied by over 10% from solution to solution.
In short: price quotes are getting spoofed across the board. If lowering fees is your utmost priority, benchmark based on the crypto your users receive.
The critical flaw in fee-based routing
Let’s assume that fee-based routing does work as intended, and that it consistently matches your users with the cheapest onramp.
There’s still an excellent chance that this onramp isn’t actually able to complete the transaction. Owing to a range of factors, a given onramp is a poor fit for the majority of users. For instance, some solutions might be optimized only to cater to a limited European audience, while others may only be appropriate for a handful of Asian countries.
Even then, that’s a gross oversimplification. Transaction success hinges on over 70 factors, ranging from user location to their desired currency pair. With so much happening under the hood, transaction failure is basically a coin flip away when you don’t optimize your routing practices.
A strategy based on finding the lowest fees alone fails to take these factors into account — which is why you should consider the alternatives.
Which onramp routing strategy is best?
No method reigns supreme, though a handful stand out. In all cases, the more onramps available, the more effective your routing efforts can be:
- It means more options to point your users towards
- It means more sources to learn from and improve on the data collected
We advise that players in this space aim to aggregate at least 10-15 onramps. That way, you’ll have ample global coverage and plenty of fallback options should a single onramp go offline.
With that in mind, here are our top picks, based on over two years of onramping insights.
Success-based routing
This logic does what it says on the tin: it routes your users towards the onramp most likely to ensure transaction success.
Our engine does so by learning from previous transactions and matching users with onramps that have been successful for historical users matching their profile.
Return-user routing
Success-based routing is fantastic out of the box, but you’ll soon want to stack more precise routing rules on top of it to really push for high success rates.
Return-user routing doesn’t just make an informed decision based on industry-wide data. It actually recognizes the user if they’ve completed a transaction previously, and recommends the onramp they used.
Low-KYC routing
Know Your Customer regulations are in place for good reason — but the flows designed to identify users can be cumbersome and, often, needlessly complex.
With low-KYC routing, users are matched with the route that requires as little verification as possible for their desired transaction. This method is particularly effective, as KYC complications majorly impact success rates.
Route smarter with Onramper
Since our inception, we’ve made it our mission to create an onramping machine living up to the promise of the crypto revolution. That means a consistent fiat → crypto experience for all users, regardless of their location.
Time and again, success-based routing (paired with other logic) delivers phenomenal results for our clients and their users. Whether you’re just starting out and prefer a fully managed solution, or you’ve already got an in-house aggregator and want to expand your offering, our suite has you covered.
→ Download our latest success rate case study
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Onramper Launches Chrome Extension to Compare Crypto Quotes From 30+ Providers Without Leaving the Page
Install in one click and see live quotes side by side in the browser’s side panel, with no analytics or tracking
Amsterdam, October 22, 2026 — Onramper, the fiat-to-crypto onramp aggregator, today launched a Chrome extension that puts crypto buying, selling and swapping in the browser’s side panel, so users can transact while staying on the page they’re already reading. The extension is available now on the Chrome Web Store.
Buying crypto usually means leaving the webpage you are on. People spot a token or an idea, then have to open a new tab and check provider after provider. The Onramper Chrome extension keeps those comparisons in the Chrome Side Panel. Users can see live quotes from over thirty licensed providers in one place, pick the option that suits them and check out. The panel stays open while they browse, so there are fewer steps between spotting something and buying it.
“Crypto has treated the on-ramp as a destination: a separate site, a separate tab, a separate decision. As the industry matures, buying has to happen where people already are, and with more providers and payment methods in every market, comparing them should not be a research project,” said Rick Thomas, Co-CEO of Onramper. “Putting that choice in the browser is how we make a fragmented market simpler to use.”
The Onramper extension is private by default, containing no analytics or tracking. Settings and saved wallets stay in the user’s browser, and cross-device sync is off unless the user turns it on. A single control in the settings menu can erase all extension data.
What users can do with the extension
- Buy crypto with cards, bank transfers and local payment methods
- Sell crypto and cash out to a bank account
- Swap tokens by connecting a wallet in a browser tab
- View prices in their local currency, selected automatically, with one-tap amount presets suited to that currency
- Save up to five wallet addresses under recognizable names and copy one at checkout in a click
Onramper compares quotes from licensed providers and routes the user to the one they choose. Onramper and the selected provider handle identity verification and payment at checkout. Onramper offers 170+ local payment methods, and available providers, payment methods and assets vary by country. The Onramper extension is available now for Chrome.
About Onramper
Onramper is a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp aggregator based in Amsterdam. Wallets, exchanges and Web3 apps use Onramper’s widget and API to offer users a way to buy, sell and swap crypto. For more, visit onramper.com
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Ult integrates Onramper to power seamless fiat access
We're excited to announce that Ult has integrated Onramper, bringing seamless fiat onramping to users directly inside the app.
Ult is a multi-market trading app that brings crypto, tokenized stocks, perps, and sports prediction markets into one experience. It gives users a single place to access multiple markets without juggling separate apps, separate accounts, or separate funding flows for each one.
Fund every market in one flow
Ult users can now fund their accounts with fiat through a single onramp integration, rather than relying on one payment provider with limited coverage. Onramper aggregates more than 15 onramp providers and automatically routes each transaction to the most competitive option based on location, payment method, and availability. Users get access to 175+ payment methods across markets, all inside one streamlined flow. Whatever they're trading– crypto, stocks, perps, or predictions– the funding experience stays the same.
"Onramper was built to give any product access to the best global onramp coverage through a single integration," said Rick Thomas, co-CEO of Onramper. "Ult is exactly the kind of app this infrastructure was designed for, multi-market, user-first, and built to remove friction at the exact moment users are ready to get started."
Ult with Onramper is available now. Open the Ult app to get started.
About Onramper
Onramper is the leading fiat-to-crypto payments aggregator, providing a turnkey API-based solution for dynamically routing fiat-to-crypto onramp flows based on algorithms optimizing for conversion, fees and payment methods. Onramper’s platform allows users of clients to buy 2000+ digital assets, in over 190 countries with over 130 payment methods in 120 currencies, with advanced routing options and unified analytics. The company is based in the Netherlands. To learn more about Onramper, visit www.onramper.com.
Guarda Wallet Integrates Onramper to Power Fiat to Crypto Access
Onramper brings native fiat purchasing to Guarda Wallet, live now on web and Android
We're excited to announce that Guarda Wallet has integrated Onramper.
Guarda Wallet is a non custodial, multi platform wallet supporting more than 70 blockchains and over 1 million assets. Founded in 2017, Guarda is available on desktop, web, mobile and browser extension–giving users full control of their private keys across every platform they use.
Onramper fiat purchasing is now live natively within Guarda Wallet on web and Android. Users can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Litecoin, Dogecoin, TRON, and more directly inside the wallet, without needing to move funds elsewhere first.
Onramper aggregates multiple fiat onramp providers into a single, optimised flow, routing each transaction through the best available provider at the time of purchase. This gives Guarda users broader payment coverage and more reliable pricing without Guarda needing to manage multiple provider relationships on its own.
"Guarda has always been about giving users real ownership of their assets across every chain that matters," said a spokesperson for Guarda Wallet. "Onramper makes the path from fiat to self custody faster and more accessible for our users worldwide."
"Guarda is exactly the kind of wallet Onramper is built for: broad chain coverage, a committed user base, and a genuine commitment to non custodial principles," said Rick Thomas, Co CEO of Onramper. "This integration puts a reliable fiat onramp in front of millions of self custody users from day one."
Onramper is live now in Guarda Wallet on web and Android. To learn more, visit guarda.com.
