OpenSea is a dominant player in the non-fungible token (NFT) space that utilizes blockchain technology to enable users to create, purchase, sell, and bid on digital collectibles, art, music and other types of gaming assets through smart contract-enabled secure transactions.
OpenSea received its initial funding from Y Combinator in the form of $120k to develop the platform.
OpenSea raised $2 million from 1Confirmation, an investment firm based out of San Francisco, to help grow the company's team and add new features to the platform.
Later in 2021, OpenSea raised another $23 million led by the investment firm Andreessen Horowitz to further propel the company's growth.
OpenSea raised an additional $100 million in February of 2022 from Andreessen Horowitz to continue to grow and scale its operations.
The company raised $300 million at a $13.3 billion dollar valuation from two prominent investment firms – Paradigm and Coatue.
Both OpenSea Studio and Magic Eden offer larger reach for marketplace than OpenSea, but they both charge higher 10% mint fees compared to OpenSea.
| Service | Cost | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFT Minting (Primary Drop) | 10% fee per NFT minted | Applies to minting via OpenSea Studio services. Custom fee adjustments may make drop ineligible for OpenSea showcase. | OpenSea Support |
| NFT Selling | 1% fee | Included in price displayed to buyers on secondary sales. | OpenSea Support |
| Swaps | 0.85% fee | Fee for swap transactions initiated through OpenSea. | OpenSea Support |
| Private Listings | 0% | No OpenSea fee currently applies. | OpenSea Support |
| Contract Deployment | Gas fees vary by blockchain | Ethereum ~$14-$100; cheaper L2s like Arbitrum recommended (~$20-$30); proxy contracts cheaper for creators. | YouTube Tutorial |
| Feature | OpenSea Studio | Magic Eden Studio | Tensor Protocol | Zora |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFT Minting | Yes (10% fee) | Yes (5% fee) | Yes (Auction-based) | Yes (0% mint fee) |
| Collection Management | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Multi-Chain Support | Yes (ETH, L2s) | Yes | Solana only | Yes (Base/OP) |
| Creator Royalties | Optional (enforceable) | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Starting Price | 10% mint fee + gas | 5% + gas | Gas + auction | Gas only |
| Free Tier | No upfront, gas required | No | No | Yes (no platform fee) |
| API Access | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Minting | No | Partial | No | Yes |
| Launchpad/Drops | Yes (Studio showcase) | Yes | No | Yes |
OpenSea Studio provides multi-chain support, while Magic Eden currently has a larger share of the Solana marketplace, but OpenSea maintains dominance over the Ethereum marketplace.
Use OpenSea if you want access to the largest number of buyers for your minted collection.
Zora is a marketplace that offers zero percent platform fees for cost-conscious creators, but does not have the same level of discovery power or full suite of project management tools offered by OpenSea.
Use Magic Eden if you want to target the Solana community.
Tensor is focused on providing professional tools for auction minting in the Solana blockchain with many advanced tools for professionals, but is limited to the Solana blockchain and requires a greater learning curve for beginners.
Use Zora if you are a cost conscious creator.
Manifold provides developer-friendly contracts and allows for dynamic metadata, but requires more technical knowledge, whereas OpenSea Studio offers a simple no-code interface for artists.
Use Tensor if you are a power user in the Solana community, and use OpenSea if you prefer access to multiple blockchains and a more accessible onboarding process.
OpenSea Studio is a no-code tool for building NFT collections and drops. Create your own page and upload images, videos, etc. in addition to adding Team/Roadmap/FAQ sections, etc. and deploy on supported chains at opensea.io/studio.
OpenSea Studio is a central location for creators to build NFT collections using no code, and provides customizable pages, gas efficient Seaport contracts, and multi-chain support for both beginner and experienced users.
Use the help center or support option at the bottom of Opensea.io. Enter in your email, wallet, and what went wrong for assistance from an agent.
Any blockchain that supports opensea will work. For gas efficiency, use the Seaport contracts that have been optimized by OpenSea on the networks they currently support.
To get started, go to Opensea.io/studio, connect your wallet, create a collection, add your assets, add banners and sections to customize your webpage, and then deploy.
Minting and deploying on a blockchain has the standard blockchain gas fees. Since OpenSea uses gas-efficient contracts, no other platform fees would be charged when creating your NFTs.
You can access and build with this for free, and the only cost associated with using it is blockchain gas fees. There are no subscription or listing fees for creators.
Yes, you can build with no code as a web3 beginner through expert. This includes features such as rich storytelling, page builders, and easy to deploy.
OpenSea Studio is a user-friendly no-code NFT creation platform built directly into the most popular NFT marketplace. It makes launching a new NFT collection very simple for new users to Opensea and allows them to fully customize their collection but only within OpenSea's ecosystem and blockchain limitations.
OpenSea Studio is best for beginner to intermediate NFT creators that want to make their launches as easy and as seamless as possible and still be able to integrate them into the marketplace.
OpenSea Studio’s no-code toolset for creating NFT collections includes custom Collection Pages, Multi-Chain Support and Gas-Efficient Seaport Contracts. The primary customer support method is through a Help Center and additional developer resources are limited in availability. The primary positioning of OpenSea Studio is that of an accessible central resource to assist all levels of creators within the OpenSea Ecosystem.
Fair - information from official Help Center and product pages. Limited details on API depth, support SLAs, and advanced features.
Collections created using the OpenSea Studio will be displayed directly on the user’s OpenSea Marketplace page. Additional features such as Pro/Collector Modes and the Treasure Chest Rewards Program allow for increased exposure for creators.
OpenSea Studio has Multi-Chain Compatibility by allowing users to create collections across multiple blockchain networks supported by OpenSea. Utilizing Optimized Seaport Contracts allows for efficient minting and trading of NFTs.
The Page Builder Tool included in OpenSea Studio includes Banners, Carousels, Team Sections, Roadmaps, FAQs, etc. Users can also edit their collection pages from within OpenSea Studio, while receiving real time previews of changes made.
Active Community Engagement through the following channels: Active Discord community, Reddit (r/opensea), Twitter (@opensea). YouTube Tutorial Videos provide support for navigating and utilizing OpenSea Studio.
Partnerships with other technologies can be found at opensea.io/partners. This section focuses primarily on Drop Creation and Audience Expansion.
