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Kraken vs Gemini

Kraken

Kraken

Advanced cryptocurrency exchange with low fees and extensive trading features for professionals and active traders.

Active traders, crypto professionals, users wanting advanced features and lower fees

VS
G

Gemini

Regulatory-compliant cryptocurrency exchange with NY BitLicense, designed for beginner and mainstream users.

Beginner traders, risk-averse investors, users prioritizing regulatory compliance and USD security

Short Answer

Kraken offers lower trading fees (0.16-0.26%) and more advanced trading features, while Gemini provides better regulatory oversight with NY BitLicense approval and a simpler interface designed for beginners. Kraken is better for active traders, while Gemini suits users prioritizing security and compliance.

Our Verdict

AI-assisted

Choose Kraken if you're an active trader seeking lower fees, advanced features (futures/margin), and access to 190+ cryptocurrencies with competitive staking rewards. Choose Gemini if you prioritize regulatory safety with NY BitLicense approval, want a clean beginner interface, and prefer simplicity over advanced trading features.

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Kraken9.2
5.8Gemini

Choose Kraken if

Active traders, crypto professionals, users wanting advanced features and lower fees

Choose Gemini if

Beginner traders, risk-averse investors, users prioritizing regulatory compliance and USD security

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Key Differences at a Glance

๐Ÿ”น
Trading Fees (Maker/Taker): Kraken wins (0.16% / 0.26% vs 0.50% / 0.60%)
๐Ÿ”น
Regulatory License: Gemini wins (NY BitLicense approved vs BitLicense pending (not approved))
๐Ÿ”น
Supported Cryptocurrencies: Kraken wins (190+ assets vs 95+ assets)
See all 7 differences

Key Facts & Figures

MetricKrakenGeminiDiff
Maker Fee(%)0.16%โ€”โ€”
Taker Fee(%)0.26%โ€”โ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)~2.5 millionGemini-100%
Quarterly Trading Volume (2025)(billions USD)$120Bโ€”โ€”
Supported Cryptocurrencies(count)200+โ€”โ€”
Daily Trading Volume(USD Billions)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Available Trading Pairs(count)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Maker Fee(percentage)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Taker Fee(percentage)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Security Audit Frequency(per year)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Staking Assets Supported(count)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Mobile App Rating(out of 5)Krakenโ€”โ€”
Maker Trading Fee(%)0.16%0.50%-68%
Taker Trading Fee(%)0.26%0.60%-57%
Supported Cryptocurrencies(assets)190+95++100%
Staking Assets Available(count)20+8+150%
Maximum Staking APY(%)Up to 12%Up to 5%+140%
Monthly Active Users(millions)GeminiGeminiโ€”
Developer Preference Rating(%)GeminiGeminiโ€”
Company Valuation(billions USD)Gemini (Google)Gemini (Google)โ€”
Daily Active Users(millions)GeminiGeminiโ€”
Year-over-Year User Growth(percent)GeminiGeminiโ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)1.5 billion+ (all Google products)1.5 billion+ (all Google products)โ€”
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)Free (Gemini Free or Premium $20)Free (Gemini Free or Premium $20)โ€”
Context Window Size(tokens)1 million tokens (Gemini 2.0)1 million tokens (Gemini 2.0)โ€”
Supported Programming Languages(languages)40+ languages with debugging40+ languages with debuggingโ€”
Uptime SLA (Enterprise)(percent)99.5% (Google Cloud SLA)99.5% (Google Cloud SLA)โ€”
Context Window (Tokens)(tokens)1,000,0001,000,000โ€”
Input Cost per Million Tokens(USD)$7.50$7.50โ€”
Output Cost per Million Tokens(USD)$30.00$30.00โ€”
Average Response Latency(milliseconds)320320โ€”
Multimodal Format Support(formats)5 (text, image, audio, video, docs)5 (text, image, audio, video, docs)โ€”
Third-Party Integrations Available(integrations)1,500+1,500+โ€”
Code Generation Benchmark Score(HumanEval %)89.789.7โ€”
Reasoning Capability Rating(score (1-10))8.08.0โ€”
Context Window Size(tokens)1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokensโ€”
Complex Reasoning Accuracy (AIME Benchmark)(percentage)~62%~62%โ€”
Monthly Subscription Cost (Premium)(USD)$20/month (Google One Premium)$20/month (Google One Premium)โ€”
Code Generation Quality (HumanEval Benchmark)(percentage)~92%~92%โ€”

All figures sourced from publicly available data. Last updated Jun 2026.

Key Differences

Trading Fees (Maker/Taker)

Kraken

0.16% / 0.26%๐Ÿ†

Gemini

0.50% / 0.60%

Regulatory License

Kraken

BitLicense pending (not approved)

Gemini

NY BitLicense approved๐Ÿ†

Supported Cryptocurrencies

Kraken

190+ assets๐Ÿ†

Gemini

95+ assets

Advanced Trading Tools

Kraken

Futures, margin trading, staking๐Ÿ†

Gemini

Spot trading only

User Interface Complexity

Kraken

Advanced/intermediate level

Gemini

Beginner-friendly๐Ÿ†

24/7 Customer Support

Kraken

Email and live chat๐Ÿ†

Gemini

Email only

Staking Rewards Available

Kraken

20+ assets with APY up to 12%๐Ÿ†

Gemini

8 assets with APY 2-5%

Full Comparison

Kraken
Gemini
Maker Fee(%)
0.16%
โ€”
Taker Fee(%)
0.26%
โ€”
Maker Fee(percentage)
Kraken
โ€”
Taker Fee(percentage)
Kraken
โ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)
~2.5 million
Gemini
Daily Active Users(millions)
Gemini
โ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)
100
โ€”
Quarterly Trading Volume (2025)(billions USD)
$120B
โ€”
Supported Cryptocurrencies(count)
200+
โ€”
Ease of Use
Advanced/technical
โ€”
Advanced Trading Features
Professional-grade
โ€”
Security Focus
Enterprise-grade institutional
โ€”
Security Audit Frequency(per year)
Kraken
โ€”
USD Balance Insurance (FDIC)
Not specified
Up to $250,000
Daily Trading Volume(USD Billions)
Kraken
โ€”
Available Trading Pairs(count)
Kraken
โ€”
US Regulatory Status
Kraken (FinCEN MSB registered)
โ€”
Regulatory License
Consumer AI Product
โ€”
Staking Assets Supported(count)
Kraken
โ€”
Real-time Web Search
Free
โ€”
Multimodal Capabilities
Advanced (image, video, text)
โ€”
Supported Assets
Text, Images, Video, Code
โ€”
Mobile App Rating(out of 5)
Kraken
โ€”
Maker Trading Fee(%)
0.16%
0.50%
Taker Trading Fee(%)
0.26%
0.60%
Supported Cryptocurrencies(assets)
190+
95+
NY BitLicense Status
Pending approval
Approved
Staking Assets Available(count)
20+
8
Maximum Staking APY(%)
Up to 12%
Up to 5%
Margin Trading Available
Yes
No
Free Tier Quality
Gemini 1.5 Pro (strong)
โ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)
Gemini
โ€”
Monthly Active Users(millions)
1.5 billion+ (all Google products)
โ€”
Developer Preference Rating(%)
Gemini
โ€”
Coding Task Excellence(benchmark)
Good
โ€”
Reasoning Quality(benchmark)
Strong
โ€”
Ecosystem Integration
Google Search, Workspace, Maps
โ€”
Google Workspace Integration(score (1-10))
10
โ€”
Company Valuation(billions USD)
Gemini (Google)
โ€”
Content Writing Refinement
Good but formulaic
โ€”
Quarterly Trading Volume(USD Billions)
Gemini
โ€”
Year-over-Year User Growth(percent)
Gemini
โ€”
Primary Function
Conversational AI & LLM
โ€”
Cost to Users
Free (premium paid options)
โ€”
Starting Price (Monthly)(USD)
Free (Gemini Free or Premium $20)
โ€”
Input Cost per Million Tokens(USD)
$7.50
โ€”
Output Cost per Million Tokens(USD)
$30.00
โ€”
Free tier
3.5 Flash (generous limits)
โ€”
Show 6 more attributes
Paid entry plan
Google AI Pro $19.99/mo
โ€”
Power-user tier
Ultra $100โ€“$200/mo
โ€”
Team plan
Workspace Business (varies)
โ€”
API input (per 1M tokens)
3.5 Flash: ~$0.10
โ€”
Monthly Subscription Cost (Premium)(USD)
$20/month (Google One Premium)
โ€”
Free Tier Availability
Full access at Gemini.com
โ€”
Context Window Size(tokens)
1 million tokens (Gemini 2.0)
โ€”
Average Response Latency(milliseconds)
320
โ€”
Context Window Size(tokens)
1,000,000 tokens
โ€”
Complex Reasoning Accuracy (AIME Benchmark)(percentage)
~62%
โ€”
Code Generation Quality (HumanEval Benchmark)(percentage)
~92%
โ€”
Supported Programming Languages(languages)
40+ languages with debugging
โ€”
Enterprise Deployment Options
Cloud-based primarily
โ€”
Document Processing Types
PDF, Images, Web content, Video
โ€”
Uptime SLA (Enterprise)(percent)
99.5% (Google Cloud SLA)
โ€”
Mobile App Availability
iOS, Android (native Gemini app)
โ€”
Context Window (Tokens)(tokens)
1,000,000
โ€”
Multimodal Format Support(formats)
5 (text, image, audio, video, docs)
โ€”
Code Generation Benchmark Score(HumanEval %)
89.7
โ€”
Reasoning Capability Rating(score (1-10))
8.0
โ€”
Context Window(tokens)
1M tokens (3.1 Pro)
โ€”
Third-Party Integrations Available(integrations)
1,500+
โ€”
Headline model
Gemini 3.1 Pro, 3.5 Flash
โ€”
Coding (SWE-bench Verified)
Competitive (3.1 Pro)
โ€”
Web grounding / citations
Native Search grounding
โ€”
Multilingual quality
Broadest (Google translation lineage)
โ€”
Structured output / JSON mode
Controlled generation + JSON schemas
โ€”
Show 1 more attribute
Training data cut-off
~2025 (Search compensates)
โ€”
Image input
Yes
โ€”
Image generation
Yes โ€” Imagen 4
โ€”
Voice mode
Yes (rolling out)
โ€”
Agentic capability
Agentic in Workspace
โ€”
Plugin Ecosystem(available plugins)
Google integrations
โ€”
Mobile app quality
Polished; merges with Google app on Android
โ€”
Prompt caching (API)
Implicit + explicit context caching
โ€”
Fine-tuning (API)
Gemini 3.5 Flash
โ€”
On-prem / self-host
Cloud-only (Vertex AI)
โ€”
API rate limits (Tier 1)
~360 RPM / 4M TPM (3.1 Pro)
โ€”
Real-Time Information(null)
No, April 2024 cutoff
โ€”
Multimodal Input Support(null)
Text, images, video, audio
โ€”
Content Moderation Strictness(null)
Standard safety guidelines
โ€”

Visual Comparison

Side-by-side comparison of numeric attributes

Pros & Cons

Kraken

6 pros3 cons

Pros

  • Lowest maker/taker fees at 0.16%/0.26% (vs Gemini's 0.50%/0.60%)
  • 190+ supported cryptocurrencies with margin and futures trading
  • Staking available for 20+ assets with APY up to 12%
  • 24/7 live chat and email customer support
  • Advanced API for algorithmic trading
  • Sophisticated charting and order types

Cons

  • More complex interface intimidating for cryptocurrency beginners
  • NY BitLicense still pending (not fully approved like Gemini)
  • Higher learning curve for new traders

Gemini

6 pros4 cons

Pros

  • NY BitLicense approved (highest US regulatory standard)
  • Clean, intuitive interface optimized for beginners
  • FDIC insurance on USD balances up to $250,000
  • Industry-leading security with custodial wallet insurance
  • Owned by Winklevoss twins with strong institutional backing
  • Simple mobile app with clear navigation

Cons

  • Higher trading fees at 0.50%/0.60% (3x more than Kraken)
  • Only 95 supported cryptocurrencies (limited asset variety)
  • No margin trading or futures available
  • Email-only customer support (no live chat)

Frequently Asked Questions

Kraken is significantly cheaper with 0.16% maker and 0.26% taker fees compared to Gemini's 0.50%/0.60%. For a trader executing $10,000 in daily trades, Kraken costs $16-26/day while Gemini costs $50-60/dayโ€”a difference of ~$8,400-12,200 annually. Kraken's lower fees compound to substantial savings for active traders.

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Last updated: June 22, 2026AI generated