What is PancakeSwap?
PancakeSwap is the main decentralized exchange on BNB Chain and now runs on eleven chains. You swap from your own wallet with no account, paying the fee of the pool you route through.
The docs list BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Aptos, ZKsync, Linea, Monad, Robinhood and opBNB. Feature coverage differs by chain; Aptos, for example, runs only V2 pools.
Besides swaps, PancakeSwap has liquidity pools, CAKE farms and Syrup Pools for staking. It also runs a Lottery and a Prediction game with five-minute up or down rounds.
PancakeSwap never holds your funds. The docs describe audits, multisig controls and timelocks on key contracts.
The docs also include a guide to building trading agents on PancakeSwap V3, which shows the team is courting bot developers.
Good fit for
- BNB Chain traders and liquidity providers
- Users swapping majors and stablecoins
Not ideal for
- Memecoin snipers who need bot speed
- Users who want an aggregator across many DEXs
PancakeSwap Atlas AI Score
8.4 / 10 Excellent
Confidence: High
PancakeSwap is a mature, self-custodial DEX with low fee tiers and wide chain coverage. It is a solid default for BNB Chain swaps, though not a tool for sniping.
Swaps, V3 pools, farms, staking, prediction and lottery on 11 chains.
Published pool tiers; final cost depends on routing.
Self-custodial with audits, multisig and timelocks.
Running since 2020 and on eleven chains.
Extensive docs including developer guides.
Scored by AI from official sources on October 27, 2026. No hands-on testing or security audit. How we score
PancakeSwap features
- Chains
- 11, led by BNB Chain
- Pools
- V2 and V3 with four fee tiers
- Earning
- Liquidity pools, farms, Syrup Pools
- Games
- Prediction (5-minute rounds) and Lottery
- Account
- None; connect a wallet
- Developers
- Guide for V3 trading agents
PancakeSwap fees
| Pool type | Swap fee |
|---|---|
| V2 (BNB Chain) | 0.25% |
| V3 tiers | 0.01% / 0.05% / 0.25% / 1% |
PancakeSwap charges the pool fee of the liquidity pool you trade through. On BNB Chain V2 pools the fee is 0.25%. V3 pools use tiers of 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.25% and 1%, picked when the pool is created; stable pairs usually use the lowest tiers.
Most of each pool fee goes to liquidity providers, with a part used for CAKE buyback and burn and the treasury. Gas is paid on the chain you use.
PancakeSwap pros and cons
Pros
- Deep liquidity on BNB Chain
- Low fee tiers for stable and major pairs
- Long track record with audits and timelocks
- Wide chain coverage
Cons
- Features differ by chain
- 1% tier pools can be costly if routing picks them
- Gamified products such as Lottery add risk for casual users
PancakeSwap vs Jupiter vs OKX DEX / Web3
The closest alternatives in our catalog: same market first, then the highest-scoring products.
| Feature | PancakeSwap | Jupiter | OKX DEX / Web3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Multi-chain decentralized exchange | Solana DEX aggregator and trading super-app with perps, prediction markets and lending | Multi-chain DEX aggregator inside OKX Wallet |
| Platform | Web · BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Aptos and 5 more | Web (jup.ag) · Jupiter Mobile (iOS, Android) · Jupiter Wallet extension · APIs · Solana, with a beta bridge to other chains | Web, OKX Wallet app and extension · 30+ networks |
| Trading fee | 0.01% to 1% pool fee (V2 0.25%) | Ultra swaps 0-0.5% by pair; Manual swaps 0%; perps 0.06% base fee | 0% to 0.5% by token group |
| Custody | Self-custodial | Non-custodial: swaps and positions are signed from the user's own Solana wallet | Self-custodial |
| Telegram | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Atlas AI Score | 8.4 / 10 | 8.7 / 10 | 8.2 / 10 |
| Confidence | High | High | High |
Compare side by side: PancakeSwap vs Jupiter vs OKX DEX / Web3
How to get started with PancakeSwap
- Open pancakeswap.finance and connect a wallet.
- Pick the chain and pair, then check route and fee tier.
- Set slippage before confirming.
