Bitcoin Fees When Buying: Spread, Fees and Hidden Costs

Short answer: Bitcoin fees when buying consist of up to six parts: trading fee, spread, deposit, withdrawal to your wallet, network fee and ongoing custody costs. Together they range from about 0.5% on an exchange with a limit order to over 3% when paying by card in an app. The safest way is to measure them yourself: sats received divided by sats at the market price.

You pay more than the advertising says

You buy €1’000 of bitcoin in an app that advertises "€0 order fee". Afterwards you do the maths and find that for the same money you would have received about 12’000 more sats on an exchange. You never saw a fee.

That isn't fraud, it's a pricing model. The costs are not on an invoice but in the price. This article shows you each cost component separately, works it out in euros and francs and explains how to measure your real costs yourself in five minutes.

Which providers exist and how to buy is in the guide Buying bitcoin. The terms of individual savings plans are compared in the bitcoin savings plan comparison. Here it is only about one question: what does a purchase really cost you?

We earn nothing from any of the providers named. The names are examples, not recommendations.

The six bitcoin fees when buying at a glance

The ranges come from the providers' price lists and the sources below (as of Nov 13, 2026). Fees change often. Check the current price list before you buy.

Trading fee: the part you see

The trading fee is a fixed percentage on your purchase. With bitcoin-only apps such as Relai it is about 1%; at Bitpanda, according to its cost document from July 2026, 0.99% for bitcoin. On Kraken, a purchase in the order book at the entry tier costs 0.40% with a limit order and 0.80% with a market order.

Pay attention to which product you use. Many providers have two prices for the same bitcoin: Bitpanda charges 0.99% for a simple purchase and 0.25% on its Fusion trading interface. According to the comparison, Kraken charges 1% for a recurring purchase and 0.40% in the order book. The convenient route is almost always the more expensive one.

Spread: the hidden cost in the price

The spread is the gap between the price at which you buy and the market price. The provider buys on the market, sells to you a little more expensively and keeps the difference. It is the most important hidden cost component, because no statement says "Spread: €12.35".

How small the spread is on the market itself is shown by Kraken's order book on Nov 13, 2026 at 09:38 UTC:

Even a €50’000 purchase would have moved the price there by only 0.005%. An app with a 1.25% spread therefore takes many times what the market costs.

Bison, the crypto app of Börse Stuttgart, states its spread openly: on average 1.25% when buying and another 1.25% when selling bitcoin. Trade Republic doesn't publish a spread. Independent estimates range from 0.5 to 1.5%, plus a €1 order fee for single purchases.

The spread isn't fixed either. In hectic market phases, at night or for large amounts, many providers widen it. An average of 1.25% can be more in a particular case.

Deposit and currency: costs before the purchase

A SEPA transfer is free at almost all providers. It gets expensive if you want to buy immediately: Bison charges 2.49% for an instant deposit by credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. That makes a €1’000 purchase three times as expensive in one go.

Watch the currency too. If you buy with francs from a provider that trades in euros, your bank or the provider converts first, often with a markup on the exchange rate. So buy in the currency you deposit. In Switzerland, Relai, Pocket, Swissquote and Kraken offer francs directly, as Buying bitcoin in Switzerland shows.

Withdrawal and network fee: costs after the purchase

If you move your bitcoin into your own wallet, many providers charge a fixed fee. According to their price lists it is, for example, 1’000 sats at 21bitcoin, 1’500 sats at Kraken and 2’000 sats at Bitvavo. Swissquote charges a flat $10; Bison withdraws for free. Apps such as Relai and Pocket deliver every purchase straight to your wallet.

On Nov 13, 2026, 1’500 sats are about €0.94 or CHF 0.87. On a €1’000 purchase that is little. On a €50 savings instalment it is almost 2%.

The network fee goes to the miners, not the provider. On Nov 13, 2026, 1 sat per vByte was enough, about 141 sats or 9 cents for a simple transfer. In busy phases it can be many times that. How this works is explained in Understanding transaction fees and the mempool.

Ongoing costs: custody account and ETP

Some costs come back every year. Swissquote charges a custody fee of CHF 20 per quarter for assets up to CHF 50’000, so CHF 80 a year. On holdings of CHF 2’000 that is 4% a year.

If instead of bitcoin you buy a bitcoin ETP in a securities account, you pay an annual management fee of about 0.15 to 1%. Over ten years that adds up to 1.5 to 10% of your holdings. Real bitcoin in your own wallet cost nothing more after the purchase.

What a purchase of €1’000 or CHF 1’000 really costs

This is how the costs add up. What is measured is how many sats end up in your wallet, compared with the market price without any fee.

The difference between the cheapest and the most expensive route is over €30 on €1’000. For a single purchase that is bearable. For a savings plan over years it is money that never arrives in bitcoin.

Small instalments, large purchases: which fee matters when

Percentage fees hit every amount equally. Fixed fees hit small amounts hard. That leads to a simple rule:

• Savings instalments under about €150: the exchange's fixed withdrawal fee eats up its price advantage. At €100, buying on the exchange with immediate withdrawal costs 1.34%, the app with 1% and direct delivery 1.00%.
• Large one-off purchases: only the percentage counts here. At €10’000, a limit order at 0.40% instead of 1% saves about €60.

At exactly which amount the exchange becomes cheaper is worked out in Bitcoin-only app or crypto exchange.

And over the years? A savings plan of €100 a month over ten years pays in €12’000. With 1.5% higher costs, about 288’000 fewer sats arrive at an unchanged price, about €180. If bitcoin rises, the missing sats are worth more. How your instalments develop over the years is shown by the savings plan calculator:

Whether you prefer to buy all at once or in instalments is a different question from the fee. The answer from 15 years of price data is in Savings plan or lump sum.

How to measure your real costs in five minutes

You don't have to trust any price list. Your last purchase reveals the total costs:

1. Open the purchase receipt. Note the amount paid in euros or francs and the bitcoin or sats received.
2. Find the market price at the same minute. For example in the order book of a large exchange or in a price chart with minute resolution.
3. Calculate the sats without costs. Amount ÷ market price × 100’000’000, or enter the amount in the sats calculator.
4. Compare. Total costs = 1 − sats received ÷ sats without costs.
5. Add the withdrawal. If you then withdraw to your wallet, subtract the withdrawal fee from the sats received.

If the result is clearly above the advertised fee, the difference is in the spread. Repeat the measurement for two or three purchases, because the spread fluctuates.

Five ways to lower the fees

1. Deposit by bank transfer, never by card if the provider charges a surcharge for it.
2. Limit instead of market on an exchange. At the entry tier that halves the fee there.
3. Bundle withdrawals if the provider charges a fixed fee per withdrawal.
4. Don't trade back and forth. Every sale costs the spread a second time, and in Germany or Austria taxes may come on top.
5. Real bitcoin instead of a securities product if you hold for many years. After withdrawal to your wallet there are no ongoing costs.

A cheap purchase is of little use if the bitcoin then stay with the provider. How to keep them yourself is shown in the Academy, stage 2: understand and secure.