Kraken reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
A crypto exchange and investing app for buying coins and staking that beginners praise as dead-simple, yet where withdrawing money, account freezes and an AI-bot-only support turn into a nightmare.
What users love
Genuinely simple for crypto beginners
The number-one praise: the interface is clear and doesn't bury a newcomer in data, you can start with $5, and the first crypto purchase takes seconds. For people who never invested before, Kraken is an easy way in.
I've never invested in my life. kraken makes it so easy! you can start with $5
Kraken is very user friendly so even if you don't know about crypto or if you're new to the space, Kraken doesn't overwhelm you with information like most other exchanges do
very easy to use... even for a 70 year old 😄
Cheap trades and a subscription that waives fees
Those who avoid the hidden problems praise the low fees, fast trades and the Kraken Plus subscription that waives trading, conversion and withdrawal fees — for them it's an obvious win.
easy to use fast and the fees are low as possible! i recommend it! thanks Kraken
paying a low monthly fee to waive the fees to trade, convert, and withdraw is a no brainer!
Cheap to trade, love the in chart price setting for orders.
A sense of security and trust in the platform
Despite the pile-on of complaints, a loyal core keeps their crypto here for years and trusts Kraken — citing account protection, being regulated and a reputation as one of the most trustworthy exchanges.
super easy to use, it feels like one of the safest Crypto apps.
Easy to use and regulated compared to others
Quick and efficient trades, most of all I trust this site.
Staking, rewards and crypto-plus-stocks in one place
Beyond basic buying, users value the passive income from staking, automatic buys, bonus reward wheels and holding crypto and stocks together — fans like the breadth of tools.
Love the staking rewards and pro membership.
They have several programs as well for those that hold tokens in their account to earn passive income.
simple to use. love the recurring buy feature
What users hate
Easy to deposit, almost impossible to withdraw
The classic trap: deposits go through instantly, but the moment you try to pull money out the nightmare begins — cancellations, endless «pending», partial payouts and held fees. People spend weeks unable to retrieve their own money.
is wow because I can put money in but I cannot take money out
Worked well until I tried to withdraw money. Then nightmare
My withdrawal of several thousand dollars was cancelled and has been delayed for over a week now with no reason given why.
Accounts get frozen with no reason given
The scariest story for an exchange: the account is frozen or closed without warning or explanation, while the money stays inside. People beg for access to their own funds for months and get neither a reply nor their cash.
Terrible. They freeze my account without give me an explanation. Dont respond the emails i send them.
My new account was closed without any warning or reason why.
my account is suspended without a proper explanation and before I withdraw my assets there! absolutely not reliable!
There's no support — just a useless AI bot
Reaching a live human is impossible: every problem gets only an AI bot or canned emails, and real answers take days or never come. When your money is stuck, this becomes a disaster.
all I got was AI bot
Cannot talk to a human support worker only a useless AI bot.
The absolute worst customer service. If you have an issue with your account you are basically screwed.
A hidden spread eats your money on top of the stated fees
Even with a paid «fee-free» subscription, the buy price runs above market and the sell price below it by 1–5%. This spread is never shown upfront, and users feel cheated: technically there's no fee, yet money vanishes.
won't tell you there's actually a spread between your purchase and market value, so they'll deceptively sell you less than your actual purchase
What actually happens is they buy 1% higher and sell 1% lower than what is shown.
They will not allow you to sell or convert coins at the market value. It's at least 5% lower.
The app won't launch and freezes, especially after updates
A recurring plague: the app hangs on the login screen, won't load or crashes — often right after yet another update, while the browser site still works. Trades fail at the exact moment you need them.
newest update causes the app to not open anymore and crash
literally won't let me log in after using it for a year. works on the browser but the app will not load.
app sucks always freezing and constantly crashing
A 72-hour (or even 6-day) hold on funds, even on pennies
After a deposit, your cash or freshly bought crypto is frozen for 72 hours and longer — whether it's $15 or $3000. People miss market moves and can't see why such a hold applies to trivial amounts.
want to hold your cash for 72hrs before you can trade with it
72 hrs hold is a bit excessive
they put your money on hold for like 72 hours which is ridiculous especially for 20 bucks
Orders don't execute at the target price
Limit and custom orders just sit there: the price hits the target but the trade doesn't fire, or slippage moves the price in the exchange's favor. Users suspect it's deliberate and lose money on it.
they never execute them at the target price they just let the orders sit there as if nothing ever happened
the price can hit, but it doesn't execute your buy/sell order
All day today almost no purchases triggered. You keep cancelling my orders! I missed out on so much for no reason
Verification and login — an endless loop
Device registration on every update, broken two-factor, emails that never arrive, face verification stuck for days and KYC loops — people get locked out of their own accounts before they ever make a trade.
2 factor authentication is broken. unusable app. cant even get in
I got in an infinite loop during the verification process, sending me back and forth.
it forces me to update to newer version, then i have to follow through the device registration every time