Checked on 20 October 2026. Every figure comes from the tool’s own site, docs, pricing page or a live API response.
Of the 11 DEX analytics tools we checked, DEX Screener is the one for spotting new pairs, DefiLlama for protocol TVL and fees, GeckoTerminal for the widest chain coverage and a keyless API, and GMGN or DexCheck for following smart-money wallets. Pick by job, because no single screener does all four well.
The part most comparisons leave out is that trending lists are partly paid. DEX Screener’s own docs say a Boost pack raises a token’s Trending Score, DEXTools sells NITRO packs that rank tokens on its Token Race board, GeckoTerminal shows only verified tokens in its trending cards, and Ave.ai sells placement on its Trending list. Defined.fi is the exception: its docs say it has never had paid trending.
Flexe.io is a marketing and PR agency for crypto and fintech companies that helps token teams with launches, listings and paid visibility, so we read these tools from both sides: as traders use them, and as projects pay them. The last section lists what each visibility product costs and what to fund before any boost.
| Tool | Best for | Chains (own figure) | Free use / cheapest paid | Paid visibility for projects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEX Screener | Spotting new pairs | 64 in sidebar, no stated number | Free; keyless API 60 to 300 req/min | Token info $299, boosts $99 to $3,999 |
| DEXTools | Scoring a token | 139, 78 or 59 (pages differ) | Free; $19.90 or $100/mo in DEXT; API from $9 | Info update $195, NITRO $199 to $3,999 |
| GeckoTerminal | Coverage and free API | 225 | Free; API paid from $35/mo | Fast Pass $199 |
| Birdeye | Solana wallets and PnL | 21 in app, 17 in API docs | Free; API from $39/mo | Not published |
| DefiLlama | TVL, fees, DEX volume | 400+ (437 via API) | Free; Pro $49, API $300/mo | Free listing via GitHub |
| Defined.fi | Trending without paid slots | 80+ claimed, 66 mainnets listed | 0.5% spot fee; Codex API from $1 | None: no paid trending |
| Ave.ai | Trading on many chains | 130+, 160+ or 190+ | 0.5% to 0.8% per trade | Trending list, banners |
| DexGuru | EVM charts with a swap | 9, 11 or 18 | Free; 0.5% per trade; API $199/mo | Not published |
| GMGN | Copy trading smart wallets | 4 | 1% per trade | Not published |
| Photon | Solana sniping | Solana and Ethereum docs | 1% per trade | Not published |
| DexCheck | Whale and KOL tracking | 26, 21 or 4 (pages differ) | Free basics; API from $49/mo | Not published |
How we compared the dex screener tools
We opened each tool’s pricing page, docs, marketplace and terms on 20 October 2026. Where a public API lists networks, we counted them: GeckoTerminal’s list returned exactly the 225 its homepage claims, while Codex’s auto-generated list held 66 mainnets against an “80+” headline. When a tool’s own pages disagree, the table shows every figure instead of picking the largest.
Demand is real but mostly branded. In Bing, “dexscreener” alone draws 28,142 searches a month and “dex screener” another 19,487, against 2,281 for “dextools” and 830 for “geckoterminal” (all countries, September 2026). Most of these people want the official site, which is why the clone domains below matter.
Exact-match searches, all countries, September 2026, from our Bing keyword data.
One first-party observation from the check: 7 of the 11 sites blocked a plain scripted request on at least one key page with a 403, 429 or bot challenge, and dexcheck.ai returned Cloudflare 522 server errors for the whole day. For dashboards, use each tool’s documented API rather than scraping pages.
Launching a token, not just screening one: screeners list a pair automatically, but traders judge it by the token info, the holder spread and the news around launch day. Flexe.io is a marketing and PR agency for crypto and fintech companies, and we help token teams with listings and launch visibility before any paid boost.
DEX Screener: best for spotting new pairs
DEX Screener lists every token automatically once its pool has at least one transaction. It publishes no chain count; its sidebar showed 64 chains on our check date. The keyless API allows 60 requests a minute on profile and boost endpoints and 300 on pair and search endpoints. The same API also shows which tokens paid for boosts and ads.
The trending list is not purely organic. The boosting docs say a Boost pack will “temporarily increase a token’s Trending Score”, and the trending page says tokens with Enhanced Token Info get a boost too. Boosts are non-refundable even when DEX Screener removes them for security reasons, and it may change how boosts affect the score at any time.
| Official DEX Screener domains | Clones seen in Bing for “dexscreener” (do not visit) |
|---|---|
| dexscreener.com | `all-dexscreener.com`, `dex-srceener.ink`, `dexscerener.trade` (positions 2 to 4) |
| docs.dexscreener.com | `dexscreenerv2.dev`, `sol-dex-screener.ink`, `dexscreenre.github.io` |
| marketplace.dexscreener.com | a sites.google.com page titled “Official Site, Log In” |
Google’s AI Overview for “dexscreener” cited that sites.google.com page as a source on the same day, and neither engine showed a warning next to any clone. DEX Screener has no token of its own, and its FAQ calls any token or presale claiming a link likely a scam. Type the domain or use a bookmark.
DEXTools: best for scoring a token before buying
DEXTools rates tokens with a DEXT Score from 0 to 99, built from four parts: information, holders, pool and transactions. The free tier includes charts and Telegram price bots. Standard needs 1,000 DEXT held or $19.90 a month paid in DEXT, removes ads and adds Telegram price alerts. Premium needs 100,000 DEXT. The company behind it is STRADEXT DEFI SOLUTIONS SL in Oviedo, Spain.
Its own figures do not agree. The info site claims 139 blockchains, the app footer says 78 networks and the app’s blockchain table lists 59. The plans block prices Standard at $19.90 a month in DEXT, while the site’s own FAQ says $100. The free API was switched off “due to misuse by malicious actors”, so access now starts at a $9 Trial plan with 100,000 calls and one request per second.
GeckoTerminal: best for chain coverage and a free API
GeckoTerminal, operated by Gecko Labs Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, tracks 225 networks and 2,003 DEXes, and its public network list returned exactly 225 entries. It was the only tool in this test whose stated chain count matched its own data. The API works without a key at 10 calls a minute; a free CoinGecko Demo key raises that to 100.
Each tool's own figure, 20 October 2026; several sites give different numbers on different pages.
Two details need care. The GeckoTerminal API page says paid plans give 250 calls a minute, while CoinGecko’s pricing lists 300 for the cheapest Basic plan at $29 a month billed yearly, about $35 billed monthly. Its ad policy says listings are free and cannot be bought through ad spend, yet the token update page states that “only verified tokens can appear in Trending Cards” and sells verification through a $199 Fast Pass.
Birdeye: best for Solana wallets and PnL data
Birdeye reads best for wallet activity, profit and loss and smart-money views. Its app sidebar listed 21 chains, while the API docs list 17. The site is free with display ads, and it offers price alerts and Telegram price bots for communities. The API is priced in compute units, with WebSocket streams on the top plan. The operator is Wings Lab Pte. Ltd. in Singapore.
Its pricing page and its own docs FAQ give different plans. The pricing page lists Lite at $39 for 2.5 million compute units and Business at $499 for 60 million; the FAQ says Lite includes 1.5 million and Business costs $699 for 100 million, plus a $250 tier the pricing page does not show. The free API allows one request per second on three endpoints, and all purchases are final.
DefiLlama: best for TVL, fees and DEX volume
DefiLlama is not a pair screener. It answers which protocols and chains hold liquidity and earn fees. Its API returned 437 chains, 307 of them with TVL above zero, and a DEX overview of 1,559 exchanges across 297 chains. Listing is free: a team writes an adapter, opens a pull request on GitHub and goes live about a day after merge, as the listing guide describes.
From each tool's pricing page, 20 October 2026. DEXTools' own FAQ lists Standard at $100.
We found no paid visibility product. Pro costs $49 a month without API access, and the API plan costs $300 a month for 1,000 requests a minute and one million calls. The subscription page shows $40.83 and $250 instead, which are the yearly prices divided by twelve, without saying so. The FAQ calls the API “open” and free, but the free rate limit is not published.
Defined.fi: best for trending without paid boosts
Defined.fi is the front end of the Codex data API, built by Codex Data Inc., and now also lets users trade spot tokens, perps and prediction markets. Its docs state that “Defined has never had paid trending”: tokens trend on on-chain metrics only. Fees are 0.5% on spot, 0.025% on perps and 0.25% on predictions, with a $0.25 minimum per spot order.
The API side is clearer, and less consistent. Codex claims “80+” networks on its pricing page and “100+” in its docs index, yet its network list, generated from the live API, holds 66 mainnets and 3 testnets. The “almost free” plan needs a one-time $1 activation fee for 10,000 requests a month; the next plan, Growth, is $350 a month for one million. Token info changes go through moderated user proposals.
Ave.ai: best for trading across many chains
Ave.ai combines a screener with a trading terminal, a sniper bot, copy trading and Telegram price and buy bots. Its chain claims vary by page: 130+ on the homepage, more than 160 in the docs and more than 190 for its wallet. Trading fees are 0.8% from a bot wallet and 0.5% from a chain wallet, though the trade API docs give 0.6% for the same wallet type.
For projects, Ave publishes a menu it calls flow exposure: placement on its Trending list, banners, an app opening screen and Telegram bot ads, alongside listing, trading contests and AMAs, as described on its project support page. No prices are published. A trader reading the Trending list cannot tell which rows were bought.
DexGuru: best for EVM charts with a built-in swap
DexGuru shows charts and token data on EVM chains and lets you swap from the same screen through a meta-aggregator. Analytics are free and every order carries a 0.5% fee. It offers three alert types, account activity, a 10% token move in 30 minutes and single-token price, plus a Telegram bot. The docs open with a warning to always check the URL.
The project changed direction in June 2024, when its blog announced that DexGuru had become Guru Network. A site banner now says the classic DexGuru is back. Its chain count reads 9, 11 or 18 depending on the page, and the chain list was last updated in November 2022. The free API gives 200,000 calls a month with a 300-second delay; Premium costs $199.
GMGN and Photon: best for sniping and copy trading
GMGN covers Solana, BSC, Base and Ethereum, with only the first three in its API so far. Its strength is wallet intelligence: smart-money and KOL wallets, copy trading, and insider, sniper and bundle ratios for each new token. There is no subscription. GMGN charges a 1% fee on every trade and nothing to launch a token.
From each tool's fee docs, 20 October 2026.
Photon, operated by Tiny Astro Inc., is a Solana-first terminal with a live new-pairs feed called Memescope and an Ethereum section in its docs. It also takes 1% of every buy and sell and publishes no API. Neither terminal is free in practice: a $1,000 position bought and later sold costs about $20 in fees, and Photon’s homepage leads with cherry-picked wins such as +2,837%.
DexCheck: best for whale and KOL tracking
DexCheck focuses on people rather than pairs: smart-money and top-trader profit tracking, a labelled wallet profiler, Telegram whale alerts for a token’s top 25 holders, an AI assistant and scores for crypto influencers on X. Basic tools are free, and advanced ones require staking or burning its DCK token. The API starts free at 20,000 calls a month, then $49 for one million.
Its pages give four different chain counts: 26 on the homepage, over 25 in the docs intro, 21 in the docs chain list, which omits Solana, and 4 in the API, which includes Solana. The operating company is not named on any page we could read, and dexcheck.ai answered with Cloudflare 522 errors for all of 20 October 2026.
What projects pay to appear on these screeners
| Visibility product | Price (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DEX Screener Enhanced Token Info | 299 | Shown against a struck-through 499 |
| DEX Screener Boost packs | 99 to 3,999 | 10 boosts for 12 hours to 500 for 24 hours |
| DEX Screener Trending Bar ad | from 2,000 | Rotates with up to 5 other advertisers |
| DEXTools token info update | 195 | 95 while on a bonding curve |
| DEXTools NITRO packs | 199 to 3,999 | 200 to 5,000 NITRO |
| GeckoTerminal Fast Pass | 199 | Verification, within 24 hours |
| DefiLlama listing | 0 | GitHub pull request |
| Ave.ai Trending list | Not published | Sold as flow exposure |
| Defined.fi trending | Not sold | Docs: never had paid trending |
The cheapest items are also the most durable. DEX Screener’s Enhanced Token Info at $299 and the DEXTools update at $195 add logo, links and socials that stay on the token page. DEX Screener says verified info feeds its trending score, and the DEXT Score rewards listed links and socials. GeckoTerminal’s $199 Fast Pass opens its trending cards. A free DefiLlama adapter matters if the project has TVL.
From each tool's marketplace or docs, 20 October 2026.
Boosts and NITRO packs work differently. They last 12 to 48 hours, cost up to $3,999 per pack, and DEX Screener’s terms make them non-refundable even if removed. Our advice to token teams is to fund liquidity depth, a fair holder spread and completed token info first, then a CoinGecko listing, and buy trending only for a launch window you can support with news.
Paid visibility is also public. DEX Screener’s API lists active boosts and ads, and on our check date its latest ads feed showed a token ad sold with 25,000 impressions. Traders can see who paid, so a boost with no organic volume behind it is easy to spot. The listing steps themselves are in our guide to listing a token on a DEX.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DEX Screener better than DEXTools?
For watching new pairs across many chains, DEX Screener is faster to scan and its API is free. DEXTools is stronger for judging one token through its 0 to 99 DEXT Score and holder data, but its free API is gone. Keeping both open covers both jobs, along with a DEX list to check where a pair trades.
Do paid boosts affect DEX Screener trending?
Yes. DEX Screener’s own documentation says a Boost pack temporarily increases a token’s Trending Score, and that tokens with Enhanced Token Info get a boost as well. Trending Bar ads, from $2,000, also help the score. Treat a trending position as partly bought, and check volume, liquidity and holders yourself.
How do I make sure I am on the real DEX Screener?
Type dexscreener.com or use a bookmark. On 20 October 2026 Bing ranked three look-alike domains directly below the official site for “dexscreener”, and Google’s AI Overview cited a Google Sites page posing as an official log-in. Never enter a seed phrase on any screener.
Which DEX screener has a free API?
DEX Screener’s API needs no key and allows 60 to 300 requests a minute. GeckoTerminal allows 10 a minute without a key and 100 with a free CoinGecko key. DexGuru gives 200,000 delayed calls a month. DEXTools disabled its free plan, and Codex charges $1 to activate its free tier.
How much does it cost to list a token on DEX Screener?
Nothing. Tokens appear automatically once their pool has a transaction. Projects pay only for extras: Enhanced Token Info at $299, Boost packs from $99 for 12 hours, token ads from $299 and Trending Bar ads from $2,000. None of these is a verification of the project.
Who made this comparison
Flexe.io is a marketing and PR agency for crypto and fintech companies, running KOL campaigns, crypto PR and paid traffic since 2018. We buy explorer placements for token launches, so we track which blockchain explorers sell ads, what audience they report and where the free APIs end. No explorer paid to be included, and we earn nothing from the links on this page.
Related reading
For where the pairs actually trade, see our list of 30 decentralized exchanges and the DEX aggregator comparison. To check a contract or a wallet behind a pair, use our 17 blockchain explorers by chain, and for swaps without a wallet connection, our comparison of 8 instant crypto exchanges.
If you still need a wallet to trade the pairs these screeners surface, see our 8 crypto wallets compared.