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 perks that might make your 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 huge range of NFT collections. These marketplaces include:
- Foundation
- Bitcoin Punks
- Nifty Apes
- Rarible
- NFT Nerds
- Bored Apes Market
- Gem Ape Club
- Coinbase
- Artiva
- Mintify
You can see the full list of supported marketplaces within OpenSea Pro’s Help Centre.
But this service hasn’t always been called OpenSea Pro. In fact, OpenSea Pro is the new name given to a platform that was once called Gem v2, the latest iteration of Gem’s NFT aggregation tool. Because Gem was bought by OpenSea in 2022, Gem v2 has now been renamed OpenSea Pro (though Gem’s team will still work behind the scenes).
OpenSea Pro focuses on optimizing Ethereum gas fees more than any other NFT aggregator, according to OpenSea.
OpenSea Pro lets you list and purchase NFTs in bulk and look at key statistics and insights from different NFT collections, such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Azuki, The Potatoz, and Moonbirdz. For instance, you can view the prices, rarity, owner, and most recent sale price of a given NFT.
OpenSea Pro also lets users view market charts relating to NFT collections, such as the sale frequency of a given creator. Additionally, you can refine your searches to prioritize certain categories, such as rarity or price.
Like a typical shopping website, 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 stay up to date with, you can add collections to your OpenSea Pro watch list to keep tabs.
Note that you need to connect your wallet to create a watchlist on OpenSea Pro. OpenSea Pro lets you connect various wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, and Ledger Live.
But things don’t stop there. You can also use OpenSea Pro to mint NFTs and view live mints.
OpenSea Pro provides a list of live mints from a range of creators you can view and purchase. Along with live mints, OpenSea allows you to mint certain NFTs through the platform. You can get these NFTs free of charge or for a fee, depending on the collection.
Again you’ll need to connect your NFT wallet if you want to mint items via OpenSea Pro.
OpenSea Pro lets you view a range of important statistics on your profile page, including total spending, collections value, gas spending, unsold gains, total gains, and wallet balance. If you want an in-depth view of your NFT portfolio, OpenSea Pro will serve you well. You can also view your trading and minting activity on OpenSea Pro, as the platform tracks this for each user.
OpenSea Pro does offer 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 key differences here?
OpenSea vs. OpenSea Pro: What’s the Difference and Is It Worth Upgrading?
OpenSea and OpenSea Pro share several similarities. Firstly, 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 who trade on a small scale.
As is the case on OpenSea, you’ll 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 one and the same. While OpenSea charges a 2.5% sales fee, OpenSea Pro does not charge a fee for sales. Unfortunately, it seems that this zero fees offer is only available for a limited time, according to the OpenSea Help Centre.
Notably, zero fees were not the intended plan for OpenSea Pro. Rather, it decided to drop its fees to 0% to compete with other no-fee NFT marketplace aggregators, particularly Blur. OpenSea Pro has been quite vocal about its competition with Blur, as seen in the tweet below.
There is also a 0.5% fee applicable on OpenSea Pro in certain scenarios. If a collection’s volume and activity fall below certain thresholds or creator earnings for a collection are set between 0% and 0.5%, this small fee will apply for listings and offers.
Still, at the current time, there is no subscription fee to use OpenSea Pro.
Do You Need to Use OpenSea Pro?
If you’re a casual NFT buyer or want to browse some listings to see if anything catches your eye, then OpenSea Pro likely isn’t 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, however, you are an avid trader with a vast portfolio, using the OpenSea Pro marketplace aggregator could 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’re not a professional trader, there’s nothing stopping you from trying OpenSea Pro, regardless of your overall trading volume.
OpenSea Pro Isn’t 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 out today for free 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 level of trading.