While they’re both popular choices for investors, Voyager and Coinbase are two very different types of cryptocurrency platforms. Each one offers dozens of different cryptocurrencies and user-friendly layouts, but that’s where the similarities end.
Voyager, which is available as an app, is a cryptocurrency broker that compares prices across various exchanges and makes purchases for you at the lowest price. Coinbase is a full-service crypto exchange that offers a web platform, mobile app, and its Coinbase Pro platform with more advanced features. If you’re trying to decide between them, read on for a full guide to Voyager vs. Coinbase.
Voyager vs Coinbase: Fees
Coinbase Pro, which is available to all Coinbase customers, costs less than Voyager for cryptocurrency trading. Between Voyager and the standard Coinbase platform, Voyager is less expensive for trading but tends to have higher withdrawal fees.
Voyager is commission free. It doesn’t charge crypto trading fees, but it does charge a spread fee. If it can beat its quoted price on an order, it takes part of the savings. It’s worth noting that Voyager’s prices usually aren’t quite the best among cryptocurrency apps. For example, you can often get more crypto for your money on Coinbase Pro, even after taking its fees into account.
Withdrawal fees on Voyager can be expensive. These vary depending on the cryptocurrency you’re withdrawing. For some stablecoins, Voyager charges withdrawal fees equivalent to $35. Here are Voyager’s withdrawal fees on the most popular cryptocurrencies:
| CRYPTOCURRENCY | WITHDRAWAL FEE |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 0.0005 |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 0.00436 |
| Cardano (ADA) | 2 |
| Tether (USDT) | 35 |
| USD Coin (USDC) | 35 |
Data source: Voyager (fees current as of Sept. 8, 2021).
To Voyager’s credit, it offers high interest rates through its Voyager Earn Program. That helps balance out the withdrawal fees and makes it a good choice if you’re planning to buy and hold crypto for a long period of time.
Coinbase fees depend on the order amount, payment method, and whether you’re using Coinbase or Coinbase Pro. On the regular Coinbase platform, you get the lowest fees when paying through a bank account. If you do, the transaction fee is either a flat fee or a variable percentage depending on the order amount.
The variable percentage fee of 1.49% generally starts at orders of $205. Smaller orders have the following flat rate fees:
- Up to $10: $0.99
- Above $10 to $25: $1.49
- Above $25 to $50: $1.99
- Up to $205: $2.99
Coinbase Pro uses a maker-taker fee model. It charges taker fees on market orders that are filled immediately and maker fees on orders that aren’t. Maker-taker fees vary based on your monthly trading volume. Here are the fees for the starting pricing tiers on Coinbase Pro:
| PRICING TIER | TAKER FEE | MAKER FEE |
| Up to $10,000 | 0.50% | 0.50% |
| $10,000 to $50,000 | 0.35% | 0.35% |
| $50,000 to $100,000 | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| $100,000 to $1,000,000 | 0.20% | 0.10% |
| $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 | 0.18% | 0.08% |
Data source: Coinbase.
Both Coinbase platforms charge a network fee on withdrawals. The fee amount depends on the cryptocurrency and the current network congestion.
Here’s how much you’d pay in transaction fees when purchasing $1,000 of Bitcoin with each cryptocurrency app:
| CRYPTO EXCHANGE | FEE ON $1,000 BITCOIN PURCHASE |
| Voyager | $0.00 |
| Coinbase | $14.90 |
| Coinbase Pro | $5.00 |
Data source: Voyager and Coinbase.
However, there’s an important caveat here — even after fees, you’d get slightly more Bitcoin making a purchase on Coinbase Pro. It’s not a large difference, but because of Voyager’s spread fees, Coinbase Pro is the better deal. This usually remains true when purchasing other types of cryptocurrency, not just Bitcoin.
Voyager vs Coinbase: Wallets
Voyager offers a custodial wallet, which means Voyager has the private keys and control of those crypto funds. Some investors prefer non-custodial wallets so that they have full control of their holdings. If you’d prefer this, you can withdraw crypto from Voyager to an external wallet. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to earn interest through the Voyager Earn Program after withdrawing your crypto.
Coinbase gives you both options. A Coinbase account is a custodial wallet. The exchange also offers Coinbase Wallet, a free wallet app that anyone can download, whether they’re a Coinbase customer or not.
Voyager vs Coinbase: Security
Security is a strong point for Voyager and Coinbase. They’re both publicly traded companies that follow U.S. regulations, which makes them popular cryptocurrency stocks as well. Of the two, Coinbase could arguably be considered more secure overall, but neither platform is lacking in this regard.
There are several security features Voyager and Coinbase have in common:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA): Both platforms let you set up 2FA so that two forms of authentication, such as your password and a code sent to your mobile device are required when logging into your account.
- Secure data storage and transmission: Both platforms follow industry-standard security protocols. This includes encrypted storage and secure transmission of personal and financial data.
- FDIC insurance: Cash deposits are covered by FDIC insurance, the same type of insurance used by most major U.S. financial institutions, of up to $250,000 per individual.
Coinbase has a few security measures that Voyager doesn’t. It offers address whitelisting, a feature that lets you restrict withdrawals on your account to addresses you’ve put on a whitelist. Coinbase keeps 98% of customers’ crypto in cold storage offline, which is the most secure storage option. It also has an insurance policy covering crypto funds it stores in hot wallets.
Voyager vs Coinbase: Cryptos available
Voyager and Coinbase both have excellent selections of cryptocurrencies that include most of the largest coins and quite a few smaller projects. Voyager has over 60 cryptocurrencies, and Coinbase has over 90.
On both platforms, you’ll be able to invest in all of the following top cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Cardano
- Solana (SOL)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
While Voyager and Coibnase offer quite a few of the same cryptocurrencies, there are also some coins with fairly large market caps that are only available on one of the two.
Here are the most notable coins that are available on Voyager, but not Coinbase:
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- VeChain (VET)
- TRON (TRX)
- Monero (XMR)
- IOTA (MIOTA)
Here are the biggest coins that are available on Coinbase, but not Voyager:
- Internet Computer (ICP)
- Axie Infinity (AXS)
- Quant (QNT)
Bottom Line
Although they have some differences, Voyager and Coinbase are two excellent options for cryptocurrency investing. They each offer a wide range of cryptos and intuitive platforms. The best part about Voyager is its Voyager Earn Program. With the interest rates it offers, you can quickly grow your crypto holdings. Voyager isn’t the best if you want to move crypto off its platform, though, because of the withdrawal fees. Its spread fees can also be costly with some cryptocurrency purchases.
Coinbase has just about everything you could want in a cryptocurrency exchange. It’s easy to get started, and the exchange provides educational modules where you can earn free crypto. Trade fees can be a bit high compared to Voyager, but they’re much more affordable if you use Coinbase Pro.
