Rarible vs SuperRare

To understand what makes each marketplace unique, potential users of either platform need to have a solid understanding of what NFTs are, what they can do, and why they are growing in popularity as a marketplace offering cryptocurrency for digital art.

If the idea of NFTs and cryptocurrency gives you a headache, don’t worry. Let’s pump the brakes for a second and start with a couple of fundamentals. Then we’ll dive into a deeper comparison of Rarible versus SuperRare.

What’s an NFT?

A non-fungible token (NFT) shares many traits with cryptocurrency. Both are essentially digital records stored via blockchain, with a digital ledger accounting for transactions. However, cryptocurrencies, like physical money, are fungible. That means units of currency can trade between parties for equivalent value and the same unit of currency.

For instance, if you share a really spicy meme or gif with a friend, you both have copies and without digital ownership of the image, and it remains interchangeable and reproducible.

Conversely, each unit of NFT has a unique value, perceived by the market. That’s why the art world and NFTs are increasingly linked. Powered by blockchain, an individual NFT is minted and tied to either tangible or intangible items.

The value can fluctuate, but ownership doesn’t, making it non-fungible. And, since it preserves an item’s scarcity, it’s a bit hard to understand the concept without looking at some real examples. So to help demystify how NFTs work, let’s look at a specific NFT.

Recently, director Quentin Tarrantino revealed plans to auction off the uncut first handwritten scripts of his movie “Pulp Fiction,” along with exclusive commentary and previously-unseen works of art, as NFTs. The non-fungible digital content will reveal secrets from the film that only its owner will know.

As you can imagine, the ultra-exclusivity and extreme rarity of this content will be uniquely valued, with its price set by the market. For uber-fans of the director and his film, this could become a prized piece of memorabilia, and it serves as a perfect example of how NFTs function in the real world.

Blockchain: What is it?

The easiest way to understand blockchain is to think of it as a peer-to-peer means of recording transactions of a digital asset. The decentralized distribution of the records makes it secure, transparent, unchangeable, and unencumbered by third parties.

Blockchain is the underlying technology that allows the implementation of cryptocurrencies. That’s why terms like Bitcoin and blockchain often appear in proximity. The shared ledger of blockchain makes cryptocurrency possible.

What is Rarible?

Rarible is a creator-centric open-source NFT marketplace where you can create, collect, or sell digital items via secure blockchain hosted by Ethereum.

The creator-centric origins of the Rarible platform continue to reward platform users with a voice in its governance. Increasingly, as they have grown, Rarible has shifted towards becoming a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

By giving creators and collectors the power to influence ideas and upgrades, the entire platform becomes more public and responsive to Rarible’s users instead of corporate governance. But, that has come with some accusations of ‘wash-trading,’ where their token system has been manipulated by malactors. They have taken aggressive steps to combat the issue.

All you need to get started on Rarible is a digital wallet, some cryptocurrency, and a piece of art to sell.

In June of 2021, Rarible surpassed $150 million in total sales with a large base of more than 16,000 users, plus expanded access to another 10,000+ users using OpenSea.

The company was founded in Moscow in early 2020 by Alex Salnikiv and Alexei Falin.

What is SuperRare?

Where Rarible is a communal experience that thrives because of its enthusiastic and public responsiveness, SuperRare specializes in exclusivity. By curating rare art from the best artists, SuperRare attracts the most affluent and discerning collectors and NFT art from premium creators.

In total, the SuperRare marketplace has seen artists earn $101 million, and almost $60 million in secondary sales, with an extraordinarily exclusive user base.

SuperRare was founded in 2017 by John Crain, Charles Crain, and Johnathan Perkins, who still serve as CEO, CTO, and CPO, respectively. Celebrity investors Marc Cuban, Marc Benioff, and Ashton Kutcher own minority holdings as investors.

Rarible Versus SuperRare Comparison

Rarible and SuperRare are both NFT marketplaces. But, although similar in terms of technology, they’re very different from one another in how they operate, the audiences they serve, the wallets and currencies they support, and other ways.

Audience

Rarible’s target audience is much broader than that of SuperRare. They cast for talent and collectors with a fairly wide net. Its accessibility and community governance are appealing to NFT novices and new artists. If you’re an artist looking to venture into your first NFT, Rarible is a great place to dip your feet in the NFT ocean.

In contrast to Rarible’s wide welcoming arms, only a select few receive an invitation to SuperRare. Though you can apply independently by submitting a portfolio, SuperRare makes it clear that they won’t even respond to everyone who has submitted one and that they don’t offer estimates for pending invites.

That exclusivity is a limiting factor in terms of the gross number of artists, collectibles, and buyers, but it drives up the rarity of the commodity. In many cases, that correlates to an increase in the prices and profitability for everyone involved.

Crypto: SuperRare vs Rarible

As of now, Rarible and SuperRare users need to use ETH cryptocurrency through an Ethereum based wallet. There are quite a few different Ethereum wallets to choose from, so you need to do some careful research if you expect to use your current stash of crypto or a wallet you already own on either Rarible or SuperRare, or any other NFT platforms.

You should expect that SuperRare, an extremely security-conscious marketplace, will be more restrictive than the more public-oriented market on Rarible. SuperRare only functions using the Ethereum blockchain technology.

Keep in mind that the cryptocurrency in your wallet can also pay for other aspects of your NFT integrations, like gas fees and expanded access.

Some of the top Ethereum-based wallets include:

• Coinbase Wallet
• Mist
• Ledger Nano S
• Trezor One
• MetaMask

Rarible also accepts some other wallets that SuperRare does not, like Torus and Portus. You should also keep an eye out for changes in the crypto market, as upstarts like Solana and Polygon make a push for larger shares of the decentralized finance (DEFI) market.

Gas Fees

Think of gas fees as your fee for each transaction, just like you might pay a traditional bank. More complex transactions require more computational resources (gas) to complete and are thus more expensive.

An NFT collection of crypto art might not generate extremely complex computations, but understanding the fluctuating and volatile price of gas is important for all users of NFT platforms.

Rarible charges a service fee of 2.5% to both buyers and sellers. In contrast, SuperRare charges buyers a 3% fee on each transaction, and creators are subject to a 15% commission charge per NFT sale.

Ether

Ether is Ethereum’s native currency, also known simply as ETH. Ethereum has a large share of the blockchain market and is the preferred cryptocurrency for both Rarible and SuperRare, as well as other NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and KnownOrigin.

RARI

RARI is Rarible’s governance token, used to influence decision-making and incentivize participation. Since Rarible’s goal is to operate as a DAO, collectors and creators can collect RARI tokens as a digital stake in the company, similar in concept to the idea of stocks held by stockholders. This practice is referred to as marketplace liquidity mining, and it ensures that token holders will guide the development of the Rarible NFT marketplace.

Smart Contracts: Rarible vs SuperRare

Smart contracts are a means for digital artists to program royalties into future cash flows using NFTs. By setting a royalty against future marketplace sales, a creator can profit from subsequent transactions, just like in the non-NFT world.

Both Rarible and SuperRare offer a version of a smart contract system using the ERC-721 smart token system. This is attractive to new and established artists adding to each NFT collection.

OpenSea: Only on Rarible

Rarible offers its users access to the world of OpenSea, widely considered the largest NFT marketplace in the world. If you’re minting digital artwork and seeking deep market penetration, this access is quite appealing.

This sort of NFT integration expands the marketplace but may also contribute to reducing exclusivity and rarity.

Customer Support

Rarible only offers online help and webinars. SuperRare offers 24/7 live customer support. That might not seem like a huge issue at face value. But if you’re in a situation that requires urgent assistance, you will certainly appreciate the enhanced responsiveness of SuperRare customer support team.

Rarible and SuperRare: Summing Up Two Different NFT Marketplaces

Rarible is a large NFT marketplace that is user-friendly and welcoming to mass audiences. Its fees are consistently low when compared to more exclusive marketplaces, but sellers have to pay fees each time they list a new work. That can add up. But, by accumulating RARI tokens and taking a more substantial hand in DAO governance, users can influence the future of the platform.

SuperRare is extraordinarily exclusive, standing in sharp contrast to Rarible. That is the principal difference between the two NFT marketplaces.

But, that exclusivity yields greater profitability for artists, especially those with an established brand or reputation. Individual fees per transaction are larger, but the exclusivity and increased profitability balance out those higher fees.