What is OpenSea Pro? Should you upgrade?
OpenSea stands as one of the most popular NFT marketplaces out there today. While many use the regular OpenSea platform, a premium version, OpenSea Pro, offers several additional benefits that can make NFT buying, selling and flipping faster and easier.
But what is OpenSea Pro and is it worth upgrading?
What is OpenSea Pro?
OpenSea Pro is what is known as a marketplace aggregator. In short, this platform allows users to browse listings from a wide range of different NFT marketplaces using just one platform. OpenSea Pro allows users to view listings from over 170 marketplaces, giving them access to a large selection of NFT collections. These marketplaces include:
- Foundation
- Bitcoin Punks
- Good monkeys
- Rare
- NFT geeks
- Boring Apes Market
- Gem Ape Club
- Coin base
- Artiva
- Mintify
You can see the full list of supported marketplaces in the OpenSea Pro Help Center.
But this service has not always been called OpenSea Pro. In fact, OpenSea Pro is the new name given to a platform once called Gem v2, the latest iteration of Gem’s NFT aggregation tool. Because Gem was acquired by OpenSea in 2022, Gem v2 has now been renamed OpenSea Pro (although Gem’s team will still be working behind the scenes).
OpenSea Pro focuses on optimizing Ethereum gas fees more than any other NFT aggregator, according to OpenSea.
OpenSea Pro allows you to list and buy NFTs in bulk and view key statistics and insights from various NFT collections, such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Azuki, The Potatoz and Moonbirdz. For example, you can see prices, rarity, owner and last sale price for a given NFT.
OpenSea Pro also allows users to view market charts related to NFT collections, such as the sales frequency of a given creator. Additionally, you can refine your searches to prioritize certain categories, such as rarity or price.
Like a regular shopping site, you can add multiple items to your OpenSea Pro cart so you don’t lose track of what you want to buy.
If there are specific NFTs or creators you want to keep up to date with, you can add collections to your OpenSea Pro watchlist to keep track.
Note that you must connect to your wallet to create a watchlist on OpenSea Pro. OpenSea Pro allows you to connect to various wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom and Ledger Live.
But things don’t stop there. You can also use OpenSea Pro to create NFTs and view live coins.
OpenSea Pro provides a list of live coins from a variety of creators for you to view and purchase. Along with live coins, OpenSea allows you to mint certain NFTs through the platform. You can get these NFTs for free or for a fee, depending on the collection.
Again you need to connect your NFT wallet if you want to create items via OpenSea Pro.
OpenSea Pro allows you to view a number of important statistics on your profile page, including total spend, collection value, gas spend, unsold winnings, total winnings and wallet balance. If you want an in-depth overview of your NFT portfolio, OpenSea Pro will serve you well. You can also see your trading and coining activity on OpenSea Pro, as the platform tracks this for each user.
OpenSea Pro offers customer support, which you can access on the OpenSea Pro Discord server.
But how similar is OpenSea Pro to OpenSea itself, and what are the main differences here?
OpenSea vs. OpenSea Pro: What’s the difference and is it worth upgrading?
OpenSea and OpenSea Pro share several similarities. First, you can use both platforms to buy and sell NFTs.
The most notable difference between OpenSea and OpenSea Pro is that the latter platform is designed for high-volume NFT traders, not casual or occasional traders or those trading on a small scale.
As is the case on OpenSea, you need to connect your crypto or NFT wallet if you want to buy and sell assets on OpenSea Pro.
When it comes to fees, OpenSea and OpenSea Pro are not the same. While OpenSea charges a 2.5% sales fee, OpenSea Pro does not charge a fee for sales. Unfortunately, it appears that this zero-fee offer is only available for a limited time, according to the OpenSea Help Center.
In particular, zero fees was not the intended plan for OpenSea Pro. Rather, it decided to drop its fees to 0% to compete with other free NFT marketplace aggregators, notably Blur. OpenSea Pro has been quite vocal about the competition with Blur, as shown in the tweet below.
There is also a 0.5% fee on OpenSea Pro in certain scenarios. If a collection’s volume and activity falls below certain thresholds or creator revenue for a collection is set between 0% and 0.5%, this small fee will apply to listings and offers.
However, at this time, there is no subscription fee to use OpenSea Pro.
Do you need to use OpenSea Pro?
If you are a casual NFT buyer or want to browse a few listings to see if something catches your eye, then OpenSea Pro is probably not for you. As stated in an OpenSea blog post, OpenSea Pro “serves more advanced power users” rather than regular buyers and sellers. In other words, OpenSea Pro is designed for high-volume, professional traders.
If, on the other hand, you are an avid trader with a huge portfolio, using the OpenSea Pro marketplace aggregator can help you further your NFT journey and find new creators and collections from across the industry. So before you buy your next NFT, consider using OpenSea Pro.
Even if you are not a professional trader, there is nothing stopping you from trying OpenSea Pro, regardless of your total trading volume.
OpenSea Pro is not for everyone
While OpenSea Pro offers many useful features for NFT traders, not everyone will prefer it over the original OpenSea platform. If you’re curious about using OpenSea Pro, you can try it for free today to see if the service is right for you. You may realize that the original OpenSea platform provides more than enough for you at your current trading level.
