This is going to be a real, in-depth comparison of Binance vs Kucoin.

If you are sick of clicking on comparison sites that just throw out a massive chart with 50 items no one cares about and no REAL information on which platform is better and why, this comparison is for you.

I have tens of thousands of dollars currently in Binance and in Kucoin and use both on a daily basis.

This comparison will utilize the years of experience on both platforms to help you make a good decision the first time around (because switching exchanges is not fun).

Overview: Comparing Binance and Kucoin

1. Location availability.
2. Security.
3. Ease of use.
4. Customer service.
5. Fees.
6. Availability of coins.
7. Bots/API
8. Pros & Cons
9. Final recommendation

Location availability

Binance and Kucoin have long been known as the last holdouts that don’t require KYC.

This means they don’t really care where you are from for a basic account and they require no verification beyond an email.

This all changed last month when Binance announced they would be doing KYC on all accounts and would no longer be making their main product available in the US.

U.Ss users are now required to use Binance.us, which is a much lower quality product and you would honestly be much better off just using Coinbase .

I used Nord VPN  for awhile to get around this, but now Binance actually goes through identity verification requiring documentation.

Kucoin on the other hand is the last major exchange that still doesn’t require KYC.

This means they don’t care if you are in the US or anywhere else. You just need an email to sign up.

Winner:
Kucoin if you are in the U.S. (though I would just use Coinbase if it’s available).
Tie outside of the U.S.

Security

I’ll go over two different aspects of security that are extremely important here.

Keeping your account secure

Both Binance and Kucoin have extremely good security.

They both allow multiple methods of two-factor authentication including an authenticator app, or just using your phone number.

From my experience when I lost access to my authenticator app, Kucoin still let me use my phone number to login.

You could view this as a security flaw (as phone numbers are less secure than authenticator apps).

You could also view this as easier to use in case of losing a phone.

You choose.

They both also require you to complete one of these funky puzzles before logging in.

Full disclosure I have no idea why.

Feels like a computer could figure it out pretty easily.

Keeping the crypto they hold secure

When I talk about crypto security I’m talking about how safely they store your crypto.

You could keep your account as secure as you want, but if Kucoin or Binance isn’t storing the crypto safely you could still easily lose access.

In 2020 Kucoin suffered a major hack to the tune of $280,000,000.

While this is slightly worrisome, no customers lost their money.

Kucoin’s insurance paid out a large amount and they were somehow able to recover the rest.

Binance suffered a similar hack in 2019, but with a much smaller loss.

They also covered the loss in full.

Binance has only 2% of its total crypto in cold wallets while Kucoin has 5%, making Binance the safer bet.

All in all, both are fairly secure and safe as long as you take advantage of all security measures.

Winner:
Binance

Ease of Use

Time to start showing Binance and Kucoin dashboards.

Frankly they both are hard to use.

Here is what you see when you want to buy and sell with Kucoin.

Obviously not a very beginner friendly dashboard to be looking at.

Binance actually has three different dashboards you can trade from.

A beginner friendly, intermediate, and advanced dashboard.

This is the intermediate one, which is most similar to Kucoin.

However Binance also have a much more beginner friendly trading option where you can swap between cryptos on a simple screen like this one.

To be honest neither Binance nor Kucoin is an easy platform for beginners.

They both have dozens of trading options and tend to gear their products to experienced traders that love to look at charts.

This is why I still say new users should start out on Coinbase where they have a much simpler user experience that beginners can start with.

Both Binance and Kucoin also have a mobile app that allows you to do a lot of what you can do on a computer.

However neither one sets themselves apart with their apps being virtual copies of each other.

All in all, since Binance has three options to Kucoins one, I would choose Binance.

I like the idea of having a trading place for beginners as well as advanced traders because they are two very different audiences.

Winner
Binance

Customer service

The thorn in crypto exchanges sides.

Customer service.

I won’t pretend like either Binance or Kucoin has wowed me on this front. But there will be a clear winner.

I’ve had a few interactions with both support teams and in all honesty the experience left me terrified to put my money in either exchange.

Neither exchange has live chat support, which means you are always just sending an email and praying someone sees it and responds.

But I guess that’s crypto.

My first support experience was with Kucoin. I had an issue with their referral program.

I emailed them on May 11.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until June 2 when I finally received a response.

Terrrible.

Insanely terrible.

Now for Binance.

Binance took far longer than I think they should have, but in the end it took only 72 hour to hear back from them.

One important update to this, however, is Binance has upgraded their support and this is what they are now claiming on their website.

Binance support response time is now averaging 1-2 minutes.

If this is true they now blow Kucoin out of the water.

Winner:
Binance

Fees

Fees are something most people don’t pay attention to until they look back and suddenly realize they’ve been charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fees over the years.

Exchanges will often hide fees or disguise them as well.

For example..

An exchange might say they are “free”.

So you go to buy some Bitcoin with your USD.

You notice online it says one BTC is currently equal to $10 USD.

But when you go to your exchange, they tell you it’s 1 BTC for $11.

So in reality you are paying $1 in hidden fees.

Kucoin

Kucoin is one of the better exchanges for fees.

As long as you are trading one crypto with another crypto you just pay a simple .1% flat fee.

If you try to trade a crypto with fiat (regular) money they get you with 3-12% rates.

Don’t do that.

It’s also worth it to note that if you hold a certain amount of Kucoin’s native coin (called KCS) then they will give you 20% off the fees.

Binance

Binance has almost the same structure and pricing, but gives a slight edge in discounts.

Like Kucoin, Binance charges .1% for every crypto to crypto trade.

If you hold BNB (their native token) then they give 25% off your trades.

It’s worth noting that BNB has done significantly better than KCS over the last year in terms of price growth, so if I had to hold one coin, it would be BNB.

Coin availability

Don’t you hate when you hear about a killer coin that will change the world, then you try to buy it and it’s only on some unheard of exchange you don’t have access to?

This question refers to that.

Binance

Binance is the gold standard for coins. When a coin hits Binance it typically explodes in value because of their huge userbase.

They last update they posted stated that they support 500 coins, which I’m sure has gone up quite a bit.

It is very rare that I hear about a coin that is doing well and has a lot of potential and it’s not available on Binance.

However, it is important to note that THOUSANDS of new coins like XRP, Telcoin, etc. are launching on the Binance Smart Chain every month, and this gives Binance a distinct advantage.

Having BNB and access to the smart chain gives you access to all of these new coin launches, and Kucoin can’t compete.

Kucoin

Kucoin has only 380 coins available, though that number is growing weekly as well.

I spent a long time looking up coins in my portfolio and honestly they were both available on both Binance and Kucoin.

Winner
Binance

Bots/APIs

After you’ve been in crypto for any amount of time you will probably start tinkering with bots.

My crypto bot is bringing in anywhere from 10-15% a month right now and has been crazy consistent.

Kucoin

Kucoin has a built in bot that they claim rivals a lot of their competitors bots. Full disclosure, I haven’t used it yet.

I can’t imagine it getting that much attention considering how many other things they have going on with their platform.

They also have an API that can connect to bots.

The first bot I used was called Stacked Invest and it would not work with Kucoin no matter how many times I created the API.

When I switched to Binance it worked fine.

Since I assumed Kucoin would take a month to get back to me, I didn’t reach out to support about the issue.

Binance

Binance has no built in bots, but every bot I’ve used has had no issues connecting with Binance.

Since Binance is the biggest exchange, you can virtually guarantee that any crypto bot you come across will make sure their bot works on Binance.

Winner
Binance

Pros & Cons

Binance Pros

• Biggest exchange
• Better customer service
• Better trading interface for beginners and advanced traders
• Best or onboarding money

Binance Cons

• Regulators are hitting them hard
• Confusing interface with too many options

Kucoin Pros

• Best for US citizens that can’t use Binance anymore (without using Binance.us).
• Works better with bots in my opinion

Kucoin Cons

• Absurdly slow customer support
• Confusing trading for beginners
• Had some issues with APIs (bots)

Binance vs Kucoin

Here are my final thoughts.

1. If a coin is on Coinbase, I still choose that over either of these exchanges. They are safer, more secure, and easier to use.
2. If it’s not on Coinbase, and I don’t live in the US, I would go with Binance.
3. If it’s not on Coinbase, and I live in the US, then Kucoin is essentially my best bet at getting the token.

Kucoins biggest selling point right now is just the fact that they don’t do any KYC and that gives a lot of people in the US access to cryptos they couldn’t otherwise get.

As part of that though I think there are issues to worry about, particularly a seeming lack of customer service improvement.

One month to hear back is unacceptable and I can’t imagine if there was a real issue involving money I needed.

Sign up for Binance here.

Sign up for Kucoin here.

Want to learn how I make money using crypto? Check out my favorite node project here.