Side-by-side comparison of two perpetual futures exchanges — updated in real time.
dYdX and Drift are both established perp DEXes with live tokens and maker-friendly fee structures. dYdX runs on its own Cosmos chain, while Drift operates on Solana with a broader DeFi offering.
dYdX's sovereign Cosmos L1 hosts a decentralized orderbook with 188 markets, 25x leverage, maker rebates of 0.011%, and a 0.03% taker fee. Drift's hybrid DLOB on Solana offers 53 markets, 20x leverage, maker rebates of 0.0025%, and a 0.035% taker fee. Both platforms pay makers, but dYdX's rebate (0.011%) is over 4x larger than Drift's (0.0025%). dYdX also has a lower taker fee and over 3x more markets. Drift's strength lies in its comprehensive DeFi suite — perps, spot, borrow-lend, and Insurance Fund — all in one protocol on Solana. Drift accepts SOL as collateral alongside USDC, leveraging Solana's native asset. dYdX requires bridging through Cosmos, which adds complexity but provides full chain sovereignty. Both have active reward programs: dYdX offers $1.5M monthly trading rewards plus MegaVault APR, Drift provides monthly Trader and Market Maker rewards in DRIFT tokens.
Choose dYdX for larger maker rebates, lower taker fees, more markets (188 vs 53), and MegaVault yield. Choose Drift for a complete Solana DeFi experience combining perps, spot, and lending, with SOL collateral support.
