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Why you should not rank onramps based on fees
Why Priced-based ranking is not the best choice?
Price-based ramp ranking sounds logical—cheaper is better, right?
Wrong. This approach is deeply flawed, and it’s hurting your platform more than you realize. Why?
Because ramp providers are gaming the system.
They know that by initially offering the lowest price, they can move to the top of your list. But here's the kicker: once they’ve secured the transaction, they hike the price during the transaction flow, leaving your users to pay more than they bargained for.
It’s an all-too-common occurrence. In fact, if you’re a top-tier wallet, it’s happening to you right now, and it’s probably being done by multiple ramp providers.
At Onramper, we call this sneaky practice “quote spoofing”, and it’s been happening across the industry for years.
Here’s how you can check if this happens in your app:
- Enter an amount of fiat to buy for, and go to the ramp comparison screen.
- Write down the amount of crypto offered by each ramp provider, and open all onramp widgets.
- Click-through to the end of the transaction in each widget, and write down the final crypto received.
- Compare the amounts from step 1 and step 3.
Trust erosion and lost users
What’s the real impact of quote spoofing? First and foremost, it breaks trust.
Your users come to your platform expecting transparency and the best experience to access crypto. But when they see prices increase mid-transaction, they feel deceived. Shattered trust isn’t easy to repair.
As conversion rates drop, so does your onboarding volume. That’s a direct hit to your growth, all because price was prioritized over actual conversion rates and user experience.
What’s worse, this practice doesn’t just frustrate users—it also makes their transactions more expensive, which pushes them away even more.
Most ramp providers have been guilty of quote spoofing at one time or another. It’s not because they’re inherently bad actors, but rather because price-based ranking encourages this behavior.
The problem is systemic. Perverse incentives force ramp providers to prioritize getting picked over being transparent. To insiders, it is a known problem, and one that Onramper has been tackling for years.
Onramper Terminal: A window into the problem
Onramper's clients have been made aware of this practice for a long time. Thanks to the Onramper Terminal, they have insights into the accuracy of quotes and effective fees, giving them the information they need to prevent quote spoofing.
The Onramper Terminal shines a light on the murky tactics some ramp providers use, providing your platform with the data needed to call them out or change routing for bad actors.
In the Fee Transparency Dashboard that comes with Onramper Enterprise, for example, you get perfect insight into ‘quote accuracy’, showing exactly which ramp providers are guilty of quote spoofing in your ramps marketplace and by how much.
The Onramper Terminal also gives you visibility into how ramps are actually performing. Instead of just relying on price, you can see metrics on quote accuracy, conversion rates, payment authorization rates, and payment methods across your entire ramps stack.
This allows you to offer your users an experience that’s not only fair but also optimizes for successful transactions.
User loss = lower conversions
Here’s the bottom line: relying on price alone to rank ramps is costing you. It's ripping off your users and results in ramp providers gaming the system and sub-optimal UX.
When users abandon transactions halfway through because of price spikes, your conversion rates plummet.
Onramps offering lowball quotes just to get picked initially, only to increase prices later, results in more than just bad user experience—it results in fewer completed lifetime transactions.
And the fewer transactions that go through, the fewer users you onboard. In short, it’s the opposite of what your platform needs.
Moving beyond price-based ranking
So, what’s the fix?
It’s simple: rank based on more factors than price alone. Platforms that include other metrics, like expected success rates, KYC friction, and payment method compatibility alongside price see higher user satisfaction and better conversion rates.
Imagine offering your users the best onramp for their specific situation, not just the one offering the lowest (and often misleading) quote.
The result? A better experience for your users and higher completion rates for you. Onramper is leading the charge by providing advanced onramp routing based on pricing, success rate data and user-friction.
The best part? Our onramp recommendations boost your conversion rates beyond what you think is possible. (More on this in next week’s post!)
Curious to your thoughts,
Thijs
thijs@onramper.com
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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.
