Considering integrating an onramp into your Web3 or crypto platform? That’s a smart decision.

By doing so, you remove a lot of friction for your customers. Instead of sending them away to figure out how to buy crypto on their own, you can offer an easy portal to convert fiat — right on your website.

With so many onramping options on the market, you may be wondering which is right for you. The short answer? It depends. 

The longer answer is what we’re about to discuss.

What is a fiat onramp?

Let’s get our definition clear first. Technically, an onramp is any solution that allows a user to swap fiat currency for cryptocurrency. These range from in-person, local trades to leading centralized exchanges like Binance or Coinbase.

For our purposes, we’re talking about integrated solutions: widgets that live on your website, which enable users to pay for crypto with cards, bank transfers or other payment methods.

What are the best onramping solutions?

In a sea of offerings, several stand out — usually due to some combination of robust security, smooth UI/UX, decent coverage, and a range of supported payment methods and fiat/cryptocurrencies.

In no particular order, some of the top onramps today include:

• MoonPay

• Transak

• UTORG

• Itez

• Coinify

• Wyre

• Mercuryo

• Binance Connect

• Banxa

• Onramp Money

That’s quite a list, isn’t it? Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Each one will vary slightly in the regions it covers, as well as its fees and supported input/output currencies. 

Wondering what’s right for your dApp, exchange or wallet? Here’s what you should consider:

Your customers’ location 

The worlds of crypto and web3 may be global, but if you’re only using one onramp, you’ll need to choose which regions to optimize for. Unfortunately, none of these providers can offer global coverage. 

Because of the complexities of converting fiat into crypto, onramps need to be selective in which fiat currencies and payment methods they focus on.

If you’re dealing exclusively with European users, a fiat onramp that specializes in European payment methods and SEPA transactions makes sense: Transak, Coinify or Indacoin are good examples of these.

Finding that the bulk of your customers are attempting to onboard in the U.S. with their debit cards? Wyre may be the solution for you. It’s licensed at both the state and federal level, and doesn’t require KYC for transactions under $1,000.

If your traffic hails from Southeast Asia, Simplex or XanPool may be superior, due to their wide support for the region’s local payment methods.

The fees

Location concerns aside, the fee conversation can’t be avoided. And, frustratingly, it’s not as simple as comparing whatever each onramp offers as a percentage: even with the same advertised fee, your customers will receive different outputs.

Why? Because of the hidden costs — which include things like conversion rates, spreads and network fees. 

Consider a customer that wants to buy $1,000 in BTC. There are two onramps available to them:

• Onramp A has a 2% fee and a conversion rate of $21,000/BTC

• Onramp B has a 3% fee and a conversion rate of $20,000/BTC

Without knowing the conversion rate, we’d assume that Onramp A has the better deal. But the customer would only receive 0.0467 BTC, versus the 0.0485 BTC they’d receive if they used Onramp B.

In reality, Onramp A is ~3.7% more expensive!

Above all, think about success rates

Just because it’s the best onramp for most customers doesn’t mean it’s the best solution for them. Inevitably, some are going to get left behind — and not for the reason you think.

When a user begins their transaction, the onramp takes into account many factors (where they’re located, how they’re trying to pay, what currencies they’re interested in). Through some obscure, on-the-fly process, it makes a snap decision as to whether the swap can be completed.

The gold standard for measuring an onramp’s effectiveness is through its success rates: usually expressed as a percentage, this tells us how many of its transactions are actually completed. Spoiler alert: less than half of them are. 

Again, that’s down to the sheer number of variables that differ from user to user — which leaves a lot of room for things to go wrong. But a single onramp, in isolation, just doesn’t have the scope to account for such vast differences. At best, it can refine its offering to focus on a tiny segment.

Fifteen onramps are better than one

It’s a frustrating dilemma. For any given user, there’s a perfect onramp. But it won’t always be the one you’ve set up.

Integrating several onramps isn’t really a viable option: maintenance alone would eat up a significant portion of your dev resources. What’s more, without a ‘smart’ routing system, your users would still need to trial-and-error their way through the available options.

Fortunately, you don’t need to concern yourself with the technical overheads. That’s what fiat onramp aggregators are for. Onramper, for instance, immediately makes over fifteen onramps available to wallets, dApps, exchanges, and other businesses who need to ensure their users can get access to crypto.

At its core is an industry-leading, proprietary routing engine that takes into account over 70 factors for each user. In real time, it can automatically pair them with the onramp most likely to ensure success — all while fetching the best fees.

As for integration and maintenance? You don’t need to worry about that. Find out how easy getting started is here, or hop on a call with us to discuss how Onramper can turbocharge your success rates.