Kraken vs Gate.io: fees, EU licences and which to choose

Kraken vs Gate.io is a comparison between two crypto exchanges that both hold a MiCA licence for EU residents: Kraken through the Central Bank of Ireland, Gate through Gate Technology Ltd and the Malta Financial Services Authority. Both serve the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the rest of the EEA.

The trade-off is price against completeness. Gate EU charges 0.10% on spot trades, a fraction of Kraken Pro’s 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker since July 2026. Kraken lists more digital assets, publishes its euro fees, offers EU-regulated futures and serves the UK and US. We checked every figure below on each exchange’s official pages on 23 October 2026.

Kraken vs Gate.io: the short answer

For low-cost spot trading in the EU, Gate wins. For almost everything else, from euro fees you can check in advance to futures and access outside the EU, Kraken wins.

• Choose Gate if you trade altcoins on an order book, want 0.10% fees, and accept that its deposit and withdrawal fees aren’t published.
• Choose Kraken if you want a wider coin list, published SEPA fees, regulated futures or several fiat currencies, and will use limit orders on Kraken Pro to cut the fee.
• Choose neither if you buy €50 to €100 a month and want both the lowest fee and full fee transparency.

Read our full Kraken review and Gate.io review for each exchange on its own.

Are Kraken and Gate licensed in the EU?

Yes, both. Since 1 July 2026 only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services in the EU, and both appear in ESMA’s MiCA register (update of 22 October 2026).

Kraken: Central Bank of Ireland

Payward Europe Solutions Limited was authorised under MiCA on 25 June 2025 and passports the licence to every EEA country; Payward Global Solutions Limited is authorised to operate the trading platform. Futures run through Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, licensed by CySEC under MiFID II.

Gate EU: Gate Technology Ltd in Malta

Gate Technology Ltd (licence GTEC-25238) was authorised under MiCA by the MFSA on 29 September 2025 for custody, operating a trading platform, exchange, order execution and transfer services, passported to the other EEA states. EU residents use Gate EU at gate.com/en-eu; Gate’s global platform restricts the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Malta.

Outside the EU

Kraken serves the UK through FCA-registered Payward Limited and the US through Payward Interactive, Inc., whose licence list doesn’t include New York. Gate isn’t available in the UK. In the US, Gate’s global platform is restricted, and US residents are served by a separate company, Gate US, Inc., which we haven’t reviewed.

Kraken vs Gate.io trading fees

Gate EU is far cheaper per trade. Kraken is the one that tells you what everything else costs.

Spot trading fees

Gate EU charges 0.10% maker fees and 0.10% taker fees at VIP 0, and VIP tiers 1 to 16 cut that to as little as 0% maker and 0.02% taker. Kraken Pro charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at the entry tier, after a July 2026 change that raised it from 0.25% and 0.40%. Kraken’s fees fall with 30-day volume on one shared ladder, and stablecoin and FX pairs cost 0.20%.

Worked example: €100 and €1,000

Here is what a spot buy costs at entry rates, as trade size × fee rate.

You buy	Kraken app (1%)	Kraken Pro taker (0.80%)	Kraken Pro maker (0.40%)	Gate EU (0.10%)
€100	€1.00 + spread	€0.80	€0.40	€0.10
€1,000	€10.00 + spread	€8.00	€4.00	€1.00
€100 a month for a year	€12.00 + spreads	€9.60	€4.80	€1.20

On a €1,000 market buy, Gate EU costs €7.00 less than Kraken Pro. Even with a limit order on Kraken Pro, Gate is €3.00 cheaper.

Simple buys: the Kraken app vs Gate’s convert

Kraken’s standard app charges 1% on direct and recurring buys (1.5% for custom orders) plus a variable spread; Kraken+ members pay no app fee on up to $10,000 a month, but the spread still applies. Gate EU’s convert is advertised with “no fees and no slippage”, but the spread in its quote isn’t published. On both, the true cost of a simple buy is unknown until you compare the quote with the order book.

Deposit methods and withdrawal fees

Kraken publishes its euro costs: SEPA deposits are free, a standard SEPA withdrawal costs €1, SEPA Instant €0.90, and a bitcoin withdrawal 0.000015 BTC. Its card purchase fee isn’t on its funding page. Your limits depend on your verification level, and the name on your bank account must match your Kraken account.

Gate EU accepts SEPA deposits, card purchases with Apple Pay and Google Pay, and on-chain crypto deposits, but publishes no fee for any of them, nor its crypto withdrawal fees. Make a small test deposit, and read the fee on the confirmation screen before every withdrawal. Our Kraken fees page and Gate fees page track what we can confirm.

A full round trip

Say you deposit €1,000 by SEPA, buy bitcoin with a market order, later sell €1,000 worth and withdraw the euros.

• Kraken Pro: €0 + €8.00 + €8.00 + €1.00 = €17.00, or €9.00 with limit orders.
• Gate EU: €1.00 + €1.00 = €2.00, plus unpublished deposit and withdrawal fees.

Gate would stay cheaper unless its SEPA fees were very high, but only Kraken lets you work out the full cost in advance.

Digital assets and products

Kraken offers more for EU users: more coins, more fiat currencies and futures. Gate’s global platform lists far more tokens, but EU residents can’t use it.

Coins and fiat currencies

Kraken’s public API listed more than 600 base assets with live trading pairs (our count). Gate EU lists roughly 420 to 440 markets with EUR and USDC pairs, about 400+ digital assets; Gate’s global site advertises 5,400+. Kraken supports EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD and JPY; Gate EU supports EUR. On small coins, thin liquidity means a market order can fill at a worse price, so use limit orders.

Futures and trading strategies for experienced users

Kraken offers crypto futures to EEA clients through its CySEC-licensed firm, after a MiFID II appropriateness test and with extra product and leverage limits, from 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker. Opening and closing a €1,000 position with market orders costs €0.50 + €0.50 = €1.00. Gate EU offers no futures, margin or copy trading; those exist only on Gate’s global platform.

Futures are for experienced users who understand leverage. Most retail traders lose money with leveraged products, and Kraken doesn’t publish a loss percentage for its EEA clients. Read our guide to crypto derivatives first.

Staking, convert and cards

Both offer staking, and both have a card: Kraken’s is a Mastercard issued by UAB Monavate, and the Gate Card appears in Gate EU’s menu without published fees. Gate EU adds convert and OTC trading. Staking rewards can change or stop, and your coins sit with the exchange while they earn.

Security, custody and proof of reserves

Both publish proof of reserves; Kraken’s is dated more recently, and Kraken’s regulatory record is better documented. Neither publishes its cold storage share.

Proof of reserves

Kraken publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves checked by an independent accountant, with the latest snapshot dated 30 June 2026. Its card page says major crypto assets are held 1:1 and covered by £125 million of insurance, without explaining the scope. Gate uses Merkle trees and zk-SNARKs, an implementation audited by Hacken in January 2024, but we couldn’t load a current reserve ratio. Proof of reserves shows that client assets were covered at one moment; it doesn’t prove a company has no other debts.

Track record

Kraken paid $362,159 to OFAC in 2022 over apparent Iran sanctions violations and $30 million in 2023 to settle SEC charges over its US staking programme; a separate SEC lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in March 2025. We found no EU fines. We haven’t completed a dedicated check of Kraken’s security breaches, so we make no claim either way. For Gate EU we found no fines or incidents, but couldn’t verify Gate’s older history, so we don’t call its record clean.

Whichever you use, turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app or passkey, and keep long-term holdings in a wallet you control.

Gate account setup, verification and support

Both require identity verification. Gate EU requires customer due diligence with identity documents and a minimum age of 18. Kraken’s deposit and withdrawal limits depend on the verification level you complete.

Kraken offers 24/7 in-app support and a support centre. We found no published support channels for Gate EU, and public review sites such as Trustpilot carry complaints about delayed deposits and risk-control reviews at Gate; we can’t verify individual cases, and we haven’t tested either exchange’s support.

Who should choose Kraken or Gate?

Both can serve you in the EU, so choose by what you value most.

• Choose Gate if low trading fees matter most and you’re comfortable testing deposit costs yourself.
• Choose Kraken if you want published fees, futures, several fiat currencies, or access from the UK or US.
• Avoid Kraken’s app for regular small buys; use Kraken Pro limit orders instead.
• Avoid Gate EU if you need derivatives or must know every cost upfront.

Other crypto exchanges to compare

For another low-fee licensed exchange with free SEPA withdrawals, see Kraken vs OKX. To weigh Gate against a US-listed rival, read Gate.io vs Coinbase.

How we built this Kraken vs Gate.io comparison

We’re an editorial team, and we didn’t open accounts for this comparison. On 23 October 2026 we checked both exchanges’ fee schedules, funding and deposit pages, licence pages, user agreements and proof-of-reserves pages, plus ESMA’s MiCA register. Our scoring follows our methodology. Nothing here is financial advice; crypto-assets can lose all their value.