Exchange withdrawal fees: how to compare them

Why this page does not print a fee table

Withdrawal fees are set per asset and per network, and they move. Kraken's own documentation states that withdrawal fees are subject to change and that the fee shown when you confirm the withdrawal is the one that applies. Coinbase similarly describes network fees on a send as estimated at the time of the transaction.

Any static table is therefore a snapshot of a moment that has already passed. Printing one here would make this page look more useful and make your decision worse. Instead, the sections below tell you what each platform charges for, and link to the page where the current figure lives.

Use the transfer fee calculator to compare two quotes you have actually read, on the amount that arrives rather than on the headline fee.

How the charge is structured

Two platforms is deliberately a small sample. The point is not to rank them but to show the two common shapes: a published per-asset schedule, and a per-transaction estimate passed through at send time. Whichever your platform uses, the confirmation screen is the authority.

What a withdrawal fee does and does not cover

A withdrawal fee generally covers getting the transaction onto the network. It does not cover what happens afterwards.

• It is not the recipient's onward cost. Whoever receives the funds needs that network's gas asset to move them again.
• It is not the deposit minimum. The receiving side can refuse to credit an amount below its own threshold, regardless of what you paid to send it.
• It is not a trading fee. Converting before withdrawing is a separate charge with its own spread.
• It is not a guarantee of delivery. If the network or token version is wrong for the destination, the fee bought you a transaction, not a credited deposit.

Withdrawal fee vs network fee separates the two charges properly, and withdrawal minimums and dust covers the threshold problem.

Making the comparison correctly

Compare like with like, in this order.

1. Fix the destination first. Only networks the recipient accepts for that asset are candidates.
2. Read each quote on the confirmation screen, without submitting, and note the amount that will arrive rather than the fee.
3. Add the onward cost if the recipient will need to move the funds, including whether they hold that network's gas asset.
4. Check the arriving amount against the deposit minimum.
5. Then compare totals. The cheapest fee and the most money delivered are not always the same option.

If you are choosing a network rather than a platform, the cheapest network to send stablecoins works through the same method from the network side.

The self-custody alternative

Sending from a wallet you control removes the platform's withdrawal fee entirely: you pay the network fee directly, in the network's gas asset. On a cheap network that can be dramatically less. It also removes the platform's protections, its confirmation requirements and its support process.

Wallets differ in what they help you with here. MetaMask ↗ documents speed-up and cancel controls for pending transactions and, on supported networks, conditional arrangements for paying a fee through an eligible token. Those features affect what a transfer costs you in practice. Our wallet comparison covers the documented differences.

Neither route is universally cheaper. An exchange withdrawal bundles the network cost into one charge; self-custody exposes it. Which wins depends on the network, the moment and how much of the work you want to do yourself.