Uniswap and PancakeSwap are two of the most popular decentralized exchanges on their respective blockchains Ethereum and Binance. They both enable users to seamlessly swap blockchain native assets against each other for low fees and minimal slippage.

This guide is designed to help you understand the fundamental differences of Uniswap vs PancakeSwap.

Table of Contents

UNI and CAKE Overview

Uniswap and PancakeSwap operate on two completely different networks, with Uniswap being deployed on Ethereum and PancakeSwap being deployed on Binance Smart Chain. This ultimately means they are not competitors and offer a completely different list of cryptocurrencies to swap.

The table below provides a high-level summary of the key differences between Uniswap and Pancakeswap. 

Uniswap Pancakeswap
Available Assets ETH, Arbitrum, Optimism and Polygon Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
Trading Fees Uniswap (UNI) Pancakeswap (CAKE)
Regulated ERC20 Tokens BEP20 Tokens
Crypto Staking 0.3% Per Swap 0.25% Per Swap
Year Founded $1.5 Billion $500 Million
Visit Website uniswap.org pancakeswap.finance


Uniswap vs PancakeSwap: Fees

PancakeSwap has slightly lower fees than Uniswap at 0.25% per trade compared to 0.3% per trade. The important thing to note when thinking about fees is that the cost to transact is significantly higher on the Ethereum blockchain due to high gas fees. This means that it is generally cheaper to transact tokens on PancakeSwap.

Uniswap vs PancakeSwap: Security

Uniswap and PancakeSwap effectively run off the same codebase. PancakeSwap is a fork of Uniswap (v2) so they share a lot of the same security guarantees.

As the largest DEX by volume and usage, Uniswap is the safest decentralized application you can use. This by proxy makes PancakeSwap equally as safe and secure.

What is Uniswap

Uniswap is a decentralized crypto exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to swap ETH for ERC20 tokens and vice versa. Uniswap is unique in that it uses smart contracts to automate the process of exchanging cryptocurrencies, making it a trustless and permissionless platform. This means that anyone can use Uniswap to buy or sell tokens without having to go through a centralized exchange.

Uniswap is also an open-source project, which means that anyone can contribute to its development. This makes it a community-driven project that is constantly evolving and improving.

What is Pancakeswap

Pancakeswap is a decentralized crypto exchange built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). It allows users to swap BEP20 tokens. Pancakeswap is a fork of Uniswap and uses Automated Market Maker (AMM) to automate the process of exchanging cryptocurrencies, making it a trustless and permissionless platform.