DEX Rankings and Reviews
Reviews of 6 decentralized exchanges (DEX) — protocols for swapping crypto with no sign-up and no third party ever holding your funds. Looking for a centralized exchange instead? Check our crypto exchange rankings.
Non-custodial — you hold the keys
A DEX is a protocol, not a company holding customer accounts. You trade directly from your own wallet (MetaMask, Phantom, and others) — funds never come under the exchange's control, unlike a CEX.
AMM, aggregator, or perpetuals — not the same thing
Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and Curve trade against a liquidity pool (AMM). 1inch and Jupiter search for the best price across many DEXes at once (aggregator). dYdX is leveraged perpetuals — a completely different risk profile than a simple token swap.
No KYC, but no customer support either
No sign-up or verification needed, but there's also no one to call if something goes wrong — a wrong wallet address or approving a bad transaction is irreversible. Check security audits, not just TVL.
DEX Ranking
Ranked by liquidity (TVL) and market position, with one exception — dYdX sits at the bottom regardless of TVL, since it's a leveraged perpetuals platform, not a simple token swap.
- Networks
- 10
- TVL
- $3,060M
- Token
- UNI
- Audit
- Yes
- Networks
- 8
- TVL
- $1,690M
- Token
- CAKE
- Audit
- Yes
- Networks
- 6
- TVL
- $1,260M
- Token
- CRV
- Audit
- Yes
- Networks
- 1
- TVL
- $0M
- Token
- JUP
- Audit
- Checking
- Networks
- 3
- TVL
- $3M
- Token
- 1INCH
- Audit
- Yes
- Networks
- 2
- TVL
- $114M
- Token
- DYDX
- Audit
- Checking
Latest user reviews
Real reviews from independent sources (Trustpilot, App Store) — we don't write them ourselves and don't edit the quoted text. See the full review for more.
1inch
„Nice, clean, easy to use. Loses a star for me because there's no support for GBP Currency.”
Jupiter
„Basically i deposited 300$ into my wallet with a key on it then a few seconds later it automatically transferred to a brand new wallet and i didnt send it to anyone or input a wallet address it just vanished so. i wouldn't recommend, js use phantom or something.”
Uniswap
„I've tried 10 times to send money back to my Coinbase wallet and it crashes each time. I then went to the chat and that crashed multiple times as well, very frustrating and unreliable. Especially since this app has certain tokens I can't find anywhere else.”
„For some reason the NFT section in my application has disappeared while still having NFT section view in settings. I have tried to set it up in settings, than reinstalled the app but nothing helps.”
„Really miss the original background theme. It made it stand out from the rest of my wallets and made it my favorite. Now it's just boring black background. There used to be an option to change the background, bring it back please.”
„I appreciate Uni been around awhile so they know how and what is needed to get us crypto that's going to make us profits! I appreciate Uniswap! Thanks for your services!!”
Why use a DEX at all
- On a centralized exchange, your funds depend on that specific company's solvency and security — the industry's history includes cases where customers lost access to assets held in an exchange account. On a DEX, you control the private keys the entire time.
- DEXes give access to tokens that may never reach a centralized exchange — new projects on Ethereum or Solana usually gain liquidity on AMMs first, before (if ever) getting listed on a CEX.
- our crypto wallet rankings if you're looking for somewhere safe to hold funds between trades on a DEX.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a DEX and a centralized exchange (CEX)?
On a CEX (like Kraken or Coinbase), you deposit funds into an account run by a company that acts as an intermediary and holds your assets. On a DEX, you trade directly from your own wallet through a smart contract — no one but you has access to your funds, but no one can help you reverse a mistaken transaction either.
Do I need to sign up to use a DEX?
No — connecting a wallet (like MetaMask or Phantom) takes a few seconds and doesn't require personal information or KYC verification, unlike centralized exchanges.
Are DEXes regulated?
Regulation of fully decentralized, non-custodial protocols without an intermediary is genuinely unsettled and varies by jurisdiction — that's one reason you won't find the kind of licensing warnings here that appear in our centralized exchange rankings. Check the rules that apply where you live before trading.