Originally published January 12, 2022; updated with hindsight. OpenSea was the dominant NFT marketplace at the start of 2022, but “fare better” never meant one universal winner. It could mean lower total costs, stronger liquidity for a particular collection, better creator royalties, easier onboarding, broader chain support, or more control over publishing. On that basis, Magic Eden had the strongest chain-specific case, Rarible offered a credible multi-chain creator alternative, Coinbase NFT had the biggest mainstream-launch opportunity, and Zora represented a different creator-protocol model. FTX NFT is now historical context, not a recommendation.
What “better than OpenSea” meant in early 2022
The January 12, 2022 comparison was a prediction, not proof that any rival would overtake OpenSea. The source article cited OpenSea’s reported $3.25 billion in volume for the preceding month and a 90,968% increase from December 2020 to December 2021, using Dune Analytics data. Those are article-era figures, not current market statistics. A serious comparison also has to account for user activity, collection-specific liquidity, marketplace fees, network gas, creator royalties, discovery, fraud controls, wallet compatibility, payment methods and platform continuity.
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| Criterion | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Supported blockchains | Determines which collections and wallets a buyer can use. |
| Marketplace and network fees | A low platform fee can be outweighed by gas, royalties, approvals or payment costs. |
| Liquidity | Thin liquidity can create slippage or make a desired exit impossible. |
| Creator controls | Minting contracts, royalties, metadata and collection ownership may remain independent—or may depend on the platform. |
| Trust and moderation | Verification, reporting and counterfeit controls affect purchase risk. |
| Continuity and custody | A centralized company can close, change policies or hold assets differently from a self-custody protocol. |
| Geography and payments | Wallet, fiat and feature availability vary by country and product. |
Why OpenSea looked vulnerable
- Ethereum gas costs made small purchases and listings impractical during congestion.
- Creators objected to dependence on one centralized discovery and royalty system.
- Alternative chains, especially Solana, offered faster and cheaper transactions.
- OpenSea said more than 80% of items created through its free-minting tool were plagiarized works, fake collections or spam. That statement applied to the free-minting tool, not to every NFT listed on OpenSea.
- Buyers wanted better curation, search, authenticity signals and payment onboarding.
These weaknesses made challengers plausible, but they did not make lower fees or decentralization synonymous with better liquidity or safety.
Quick comparison
| Marketplace | 2022 proposition | Best historical fit | Major limitation | Hindsight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic Eden | Solana specialization, free listings and a reported 2% transaction fee | Solana-native traders | Chain-specific relevance and uncertain total costs | Strongest original challenger in a defined segment |
| Rarible | Multi-chain, creator-oriented marketplace | Artists and collectors needing chain breadth | No consistent evidence of OpenSea-level liquidity | Plausible alternative, not proven successor |
| Coinbase NFT | Coinbase distribution and reported 1.1 million waitlist signups | Mainstream onboarding, historically | Standalone marketplace was later closed | Launch potential did not become durable continuity |
| Zora | Creator-first, protocol-oriented publishing | Creators seeking control and experimentation | Not a like-for-like mass-market venue | Different model rather than simply a smaller OpenSea |
| FTX NFT | Solana trading and low-friction bids | Historical Solana users | Custody, counterparty and platform-continuity risk | Historical-only example |
Marketplace-by-marketplace analysis
Magic Eden: strongest chain-specific case
The original article described Magic Eden as the leading Solana-focused marketplace according to DappRadar, with free listings and a 2% transaction fee. Treat both figures as January 2022-era reporting, not a current fee schedule. Magic Eden’s own terms say users may owe transaction fees for initial sales and blockchain gas where applicable: Magic Eden terms.
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Its advantage was focus. Solana users could trade in a faster, lower-cost environment without waiting for an all-purpose Ethereum marketplace to serve every chain. That made Magic Eden the most defensible “could fare better” pick for Solana-native collections, not necessarily for Ethereum-only buyers.
- Best for: traders whose target collection is active on Solana.
- Trade-offs: chain specialization, collection-specific liquidity and fees that vary by product and transaction.
- Safety check: confirm the creator’s contract, official collection account and verification status.
Rarible: credible multi-chain creator alternative
Rarible’s 2022 pitch centered on creator tools and support for Tezos and Flow, with discussion of Polygon and Solana support. A multi-chain venue can reduce dependence on Ethereum and make smaller transactions more practical, but “multi-chain” means separate markets and fee systems; an NFT does not automatically move between blockchains.
Rank #2
Rarible is best evaluated by creator control, chain breadth and the activity of the specific collection—not by an unsupported claim that it would become the next OpenSea. Its terms refer to marketplace service fees and separate network fees without establishing one universal current schedule: Rarible terms.
Coinbase NFT: major launch promise, failed standalone continuity
Coinbase NFT appeared to have the strongest mainstream distribution argument. The 2022 article reported more than 1.1 million waitlist signups and relationships with collections including Lazy Lions and DeadFellaz. A familiar account ecosystem could have reduced onboarding friction and connected NFT discovery to fiat-linked purchasing.
Rank #3
That opportunity did not produce a lasting standalone marketplace. Coinbase says marketplace functionality was halted beginning July 10, 2024, except for listing cancellations, and the standalone site was turned off August 1, 2024: Coinbase NFT migration notice. Coinbase now directs users to NFT collections and trending mints through the Base app: Coinbase NFT overview. That is a wallet and onchain ecosystem, not the same dedicated marketplace described in 2022.
Zora: creator infrastructure, not a direct OpenSea clone
The original coverage presented Zora as decentralized and creator-trusting, citing notable activity such as PleasrDAO’s purchase of the original Doge meme NFT. Its strongest proposition was creator autonomy, contract control and protocol experimentation.
Rank #4
Those attributes serve a different audience from a broad consumer marketplace. The available 2022 coverage did not establish comparable volume, active users, fees, liquidity or buyer protections. “Decentralized” also does not automatically mean safer, cheaper or easier. Zora should therefore be treated as a creator-oriented alternative rather than ranked as a smaller version of OpenSea.
FTX NFT: why it belongs only in the history
FTX NFT was presented as a Solana venue with bidding and low-friction bids, including claims about no gas for particular bid actions. That wording never meant every transaction was free: platform charges, execution costs, custody exposure and network fees still mattered.
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The deeper issue was dependence on the operating company. Buyers and sellers needed to ask whether assets were held in self-custody, whether withdrawals worked, how metadata and contracts remained accessible if the platform disappeared, and how royalty policies could change. FTX NFT should not appear in a current recommendation box; it is a case study in why continuity and custody belonged in the 2022 scorecard.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose a marketplace safely
For buyers
- Find the creator’s official website or social account.
- Copy and verify the collection’s contract address; do not rely only on an image or collection name.
- Check marketplace verification and compare where the collection has real trading activity.
- Calculate marketplace fees, creator royalties, gas, wallet approvals and any payment-processing cost.
- Confirm whether the NFT goes directly to your self-custody wallet or remains with a platform.
- Review every wallet transaction before signing and ignore unsolicited links or direct messages.
For sellers and creators
- Ask whether you control the minting contract and metadata.
- Check whether royalties are guaranteed, optional or dependent on marketplace policy.
- Determine whether listings can be exported or migrated.
- Compare curation requirements, delisting powers and collection verification.
- Assess liquidity for your actual collection rather than relying on a platform-wide headline.
Coinbase warns that low dapp liquidity can cause slippage or make it difficult to sell at a desired price: common dapp risks. Network fees are separate from marketplace fees and fluctuate with activity: Coinbase network-fee guidance.
Category winners from the 2022 perspective
- Solana-native trading: Magic Eden, based on its reported focus, free listings and 2% historical transaction fee.
- Multi-chain creator positioning: Rarible, provided the target chain and collection have sufficient activity.
- Mainstream onboarding potential: Coinbase NFT, historically; its standalone marketplace is no longer operating.
- Creator control and protocol experimentation: Zora.
- Reliable current recommendation: not FTX NFT.
Verdict
No marketplace was universally “better than OpenSea.” Magic Eden had the clearest case within Solana, Rarible offered a credible multi-chain creator alternative, and Zora pursued a different protocol model. Coinbase NFT demonstrated that a huge brand and waitlist do not guarantee platform survival. The practical lesson is to choose by chain, collection liquidity, total transaction cost, custody and continuity—not by a headline fee or a prediction that one venue will dethrone another.
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