OpenSea Vs. Magic Eden: Which Is The Best NFT Marketplace To Sell NFTs?

August 10, 2022

The two most popular blockchain networks for minting and trading NFTs at the moment are Solana and Ethereum, with Ethereum NFTs taking the lead and Solana NFTs displaying enormous promise due to their competitive NFT trading environment and significantly reduced transaction fees (gas fees). Cardano, Polygon, WAX, and other blockchain networks are lagging behind when it comes to NFT sales.

Witnessing the growth of Solana NFTs, OpenSea in April 2022 announced that it would enable trading of Solana-based NFTs on its platform and became a direct competitor for Magic Eden, which is the largest marketplace for Solana NFTs. OpenSea soon became the second biggest marketplace for Solana NFTs, only behind Magic Eden. Now Magic Eden is responding by announcing that it will soon enable the trading of Ethereum NFTs on its platform.

Magic Ethen. pic.twitter.com/2X5a2fOcQ3
— Magic Eden 🪄 (@MagicEden) August 2, 2022

The competition to become the best multi-chain NFT marketplace is getting fierce. In this article, we will compare two of the biggest and most well-known NFT marketplaces to find out which is the best NFT marketplace for NFT artists and creators to sell their NFT projects.

We're going to discuss:

- What is OpenSea?

- What is Magic Eden?

- Magic Eden vs OpenSea: The battle for the best multi-chain NFT marketplace

- How to choose the right NFT marketplace for your NFT projects?

OpenSea: The biggest NFT marketplace

Founded in 2017, OpenSea started as a platform to exchange Cryptokitties but then expanded itself as an NFT marketplace, facilitating the buying and selling of non-fungible tokens. OpenSea is a non-custodial marketplace, which means that the transactions are executed by smart contracts and no central party can control the transactions on the platform.

The OpenSea's platform initially supported only Ethereum-based NFTs but has since launched support for other blockchain networks such as Polygon, Klaytn, and recently started supporting Solana.

Because of the increased interest and virality of NFTs in 2021, the platform had a pivotal point when OpenSea's revenue reached $95 million in February, $2.75 billion in September, and by January 2022, the company had been valued at $13.3 billion, making it the largest NFT marketplace, a title that so far, no other NFT marketplace has claimed.

The magnitude of OpenSea's presence in the NFT ecosystem can be understood by the fact that in 2021, OpenSea had a total NFT trading volume of $12.5 billion, which is nearly 88% of the total NFT trading volume in 2021.

Magic Eden: The biggest NFT marketplace for Solana NFTs

Launched in 2021, Magic Eden is a community-centric, decentralized NFT marketplace primarily built for Solana that allows the buying and selling of NFTs. Magic Eden is the biggest marketplace for Solana-based NFTs, with the most active users and the highest trading volumes on the Solana blockchain. Magic Eden's popularity can be understood from the fact that in the 10 months since its launch, the platform has had a total trading volume of over $2 billion, which is more than 90% of all NFT trades on Solana.

On May 16, 2022, Magic Eden challenged its rival OpenSea when it surpassed OpenSea's trading volume. The Magic Eden saw its trading volume grow exponentially when a Solana-based NFT collection, "Okay Bears," went viral.

The NFT marketplace recently raised $130 million at a valuation of $1.6 billion to expand and add new blockchain networks. In August 2022, Magic Eden announced its plans to support the minting and trading of Ethereum-based NFTs. Their plan includes simplifying the experience of minting and trading NFTs on Ethereum for creators and users.

Following Magic Eden's expansion news, over 28,070 unique wallets interacted with their platform within 24 hours, which is around 110% greater than the average number of users visiting their platform in the previous 7 days.

Magic Eden vs. OpenSea: The battle for the best multi-chain NFT marketplace

1. User onboarding process

User onboarding for buying and selling NFTs on both Magic Eden and OpenSea is simple and straightforward. Users need to connect their crypto wallet to be able to trade NFTs and view their existing portfolio. Both marketplaces offer a simple UI to link your portfolio with just a couple of clicks. However, in terms of wallet support, Magic Eden is far ahead of OpenSea in terms of Solana crypto wallet support.

2. Wallet support

Magic Eden supports a wide range of Solana wallets, including Phantom Wallet, Solflare, Slope, and others, as well as multi-chain wallets like Clover, MathWallet, and Ledger. Magic Eden has yet to reveal the wallets that will be supported for Ethereum-based NFTs.

OpenSea also supports a wide range of crypto wallets for Ethereum-based NFTs, such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, WalletConnect, and others, as well as card support from Moonpay. However, the NFT market presently supports only a few Solana wallets, such as Phantom and Glow.

3. Listing NFTs

Once you have your wallet connected, listing NFTs on Magic Eden and OpenSea is not a hassle. Apart from the transaction fees, Magic Eden and OpenSea do not charge any additional fees for listing NFTs on their marketplaces, and both platforms allow NFT creators and artists to define their royalty fee percentage on secondary sales of their NFTs.

4. Purchasing NFTs

While OpenSea has a slightly more complex UI suitable for more seasoned NFT traders, Magic Eden has a very simplistic UI for purchasing NFTs. However, OpenSea gives several payment options, including card payments through Moonpay, while Magic Eden is completely web3 and only supports crypto wallets.

5. Platform Security

Both OpenSea and Magic Eden offer a secure and robust platform with additional safety features to protect their users. However, NFT traders are still susceptible to phishing attacks where hackers scam users into giving their wallet keys.

OpenSea users experienced a large-scale phishing attack in February 2022, where hackers stole $1.7 million worth of NFTs. Solana blockchain also witnessed a major hack in August 2022, where a large number of Phantom wallets were compromised. However, both OpenSea and Magic Eden were said to be unaffected by this hack.

6. Auction support

"Auctions" are an NFT selling feature offered by both Magic Eden and OpenSea. The auction system allows NFT projects and creators to invite bidders who decide the worth of an NFT through bidding. This feature allows NFT creators to create virtual bidding competitions for their NFTs.

7. Transaction fees

OpenSea charges a service fee of 2.5% for both Ethereum and Solana-based NFTs along with the network transaction fee or gas fee, which varies for Ethereum depending on network traffic and is around 0.000005 SOL for Solana.

While Magic Eden hasn't announced the service charge and transaction fees for Ethereum-based NFTs, it charges a 2% service charge along with gas fees for Solana NFTs.

How to choose the right NFT marketplace for your NFT projects

For artists and NFT projects, NFT marketplaces aren't simply a place to sell their NFTs, but a place to find a community of passionate collectors and users. A good marketplace can be a crucial factor in your NFT project being sold out.

There are several factors that you should analyze when selecting a suitable marketplace for your NFT project, including:

- Supported blockchain network

- Daily and monthly trading volumes

- Wallet compatibility

- Platform Security

- Service fees

- Royalty fee on secondary NFT sales

Need help with NFT marketing?

Are you looking for an NFT marketing agency that can help you grow your community, boost sales of your NFT collection, and help you increase your floor price? We here at GrowthChain can help you with executing the right NFT marketing strategies for your NFT project.

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