Software · head to head
CoinMarketCap vs Etherscan
CoinMarketCap
Software
The world's most-referenced price-tracking website
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: CoinMarketCap the free Basic plan gives historical data going back only 60 seconds, so it cannot answer any question about the past; Etherscan the free API plan is capped at 3 calls per second and 100,000 calls per day
- They diverge on capability: CoinMarketCap covers Price Tracking, Etherscan covers Block Explorer.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which CoinMarketCap and Etherscan actually diverge.
| Attribute | CoinMarketCap | Etherscan |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Web, Ios, Android | Web, Api |
| Founded | 2013 | 2015 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in CoinMarketCap
- Price Tracking
- Market Cap Rankings
- Portfolio Tracker
- Crypto News
- API Access
- Binance
- Exchanges
- Ios support
Only in Etherscan
- Block Explorer
- Transaction Tracking
- Token Tracker
- Contract Verification
- Gas Tracker
- Ethereum mainnet
- Testnets
- Api support
Both cover
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
CoinMarketCap
- Cryptocurrency price and market capitalisation data over an APInot Etherscan
- Historical market data for analysis and backtestingnot Etherscan
Etherscan
- Looking up Ethereum transactions, addresses and token transfers in a block explorernot CoinMarketCap
- Reading and verifying deployed smart contract source codenot CoinMarketCap
- Pulling on-chain data into an application through the explorer APInot CoinMarketCap
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
CoinMarketCap
- The free Basic plan gives historical data going back only 60 seconds, so it cannot answer any question about the past
- Three years of history requires the $29 Builder plan and all time history the $79 Startup plan
- Free is capped at 15,000 credits a month and 50 requests a minute
- Rate limits are tiered separately from credits, from 50 a minute on free to 1,200 on Professional
- Enterprise pricing is custom despite listing 30,000,000 credits
Etherscan
- The free API plan is capped at 3 calls per second and 100,000 calls per day
- The free plan requires attribution and covers only selected chains rather than all supported chains
- API Pro endpoints are withheld below the Standard plan at $199 per month
- The $49 per month Lite plan raises the rate limit to only 5 calls per second and keeps the same 100,000 calls per day as the free tier
- Rate limits top out at 30 calls per second even on the $899 per month Pro Plus plan
- The Address Metadata endpoint requires Pro Plus at $899 per month and is limited to one app license
- Metadata CSV export and dedicated support are only in Metadata Enterprise, which is quoted by contact with no published price
- The 10% and 15% discounts apply only to quarterly and yearly prepayment
Pricing, plan by plan
CoinMarketCap
Free- FreeFree
- Price data
- Charts
- Portfolio
- API Basic$79/month
- 10K credits/month
- Historical data
Etherscan
Free- FreeFree
- Block explorer
- 5 API calls/sec
- Basic analytics
- Standard$199/month
- 10 API calls/sec
- Advanced APIs
- Pro$399/month
- 30 API calls/sec
- Priority support
Which should you pick?
Choose CoinMarketCap if
- You need price tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want market cap rankings.
Choose Etherscan if
- You need block explorer.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want transaction tracking.
Questions people ask
- Is CoinMarketCap or Etherscan better?
- Neither clearly leads. CoinMarketCap starts at Free and Etherscan at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, CoinMarketCap or Etherscan?
- CoinMarketCap starts at Free and Etherscan at Free.
- Does CoinMarketCap or Etherscan run on more platforms?
- CoinMarketCap runs on Web, Ios, Android. Etherscan runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use CoinMarketCap for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is CoinMarketCap best used for?
- CoinMarketCap is most often used for cryptocurrency price and market capitalisation data over an api, historical market data for analysis and backtesting. Of those, cryptocurrency price and market capitalisation data over an api and historical market data for analysis and backtesting are not what Etherscan is typically brought in for.
- What can CoinMarketCap do that Etherscan cannot?
- CoinMarketCap covers Price Tracking, Market Cap Rankings, Portfolio Tracker, Crypto News. Etherscan covers Block Explorer, Transaction Tracking, Token Tracker, Contract Verification. Both handle Web support.