How CryptoBuddyAU works

What we compare

We show you what it actually costs to buy or sell crypto right now, across Australia’s major exchanges. Prices update automatically every 30 seconds.

We compare the simple “Buy” or “Sell” button on each exchange — the one most people actually tap. Some exchanges have advanced trading screens with slightly lower fees, but they’re built for experienced traders and aren’t what most people use. We think comparing what everyday buyers actually experience is more useful than comparing theoretical best-case prices most people will never find.

Why “cheapest fee” doesn’t tell the whole story

Every exchange charges a fee — usually somewhere between 0.5% and 1% of what you’re spending. That part’s easy to compare, and most comparison sites stop there.

But there’s a second, less obvious cost called the spread. This is the small gap between an exchange’s buy price and sell price for the same coin, at the same moment. It’s built into the exchange rate itself, so it never shows up as a separate line on your receipt — but it’s still money you’re paying.

We show you both, broken into three simple numbers:

Fee — what the exchange charges you directly

Spread cost — the hidden cost built into the exchange rate

Total cost — what it really costs you (fee + spread combined). This is the number that decides our ranking.

Two exchanges can charge the same fee but cost you very differently once spread is included — which is exactly why we show both.

A real example

Exchange A

Around $26 total

1% fee plus a spread around 1.6% on a $1,000 purchase.

Exchange B

Closer to $6 total

0.5% fee and a much smaller spread on the same $1,000 purchase.

Imagine Exchange A charges a 1% fee — clearly stated, easy to find. But Exchange A’s spread tends to run around 1.6% on top of that. So a $1,000 purchase can cost you around $26 in total, even though the fee alone is only $10.

Exchange B charges a lower 0.5% fee and typically has a much smaller spread, since it runs an open order book with no hidden markup. The same $1,000 purchase might cost you closer to $6 in total.

Same $1,000. Same coin. A real difference of $20 depending on which exchange you use — and only one of those costs is ever shown to you upfront by the exchange itself.

A quick note on buying vs selling

Prices are different depending on whether you’re buying or selling, since exchanges quote a slightly higher price to buy and a slightly lower price to sell — that gap is the spread we mentioned above. Use the Buy/Sell toggle to see costs for either direction.

Keeping this accurate

We pull live prices directly from each exchange’s own systems. Fees are checked against each exchange’s official published fee page. Where an exchange’s spread can’t be measured live, we calibrate it against real test purchases and note when it was last checked.

Exchanges can change their fees or pricing at any time without notice. Always check the final price on the exchange itself before confirming a purchase — CryptoBuddyAU is here to point you in the right direction, not to replace your own judgement.

Ready to compare live costs?

Go back to the homepage comparison tool and see how fees, spreads, and total costs compare right now.

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