VALR vs Luno: fees, FSCA licensing, ZAR deposits and KYC compared

The differences in brief

VALR (Pty) Ltd (FSP 53308) and Luno (Pty) Ltd (FSP 53314) are both South African companies on the FSCA’s March 2026 list of licensed crypto asset service providers. Both take free EFT deposits, pay rand back to your own bank account and require identity verification before you trade. The differences are in the fee schedules and the rails.

At the entry tier VALR is cheaper on the order book for bitcoin and other crypto/ZAR pairs: 0.18 % maker and 0.35 % taker, against Luno’s 0.40 % and 0.60 %. Its one-tap buy costs 1.6 % against Luno’s 2 %, and individuals get 30 free normal withdrawals a month. Luno is cheaper for stablecoins, at 0.20 % taker on USDT/ZAR and USDC/ZAR with a maker rebate. It also has paid instant deposit rails that VALR lacks, and its express withdrawal costs R20.00 to a bank on real-time clearing, against VALR’s R30.

Pick VALR if you mainly trade BTC/ZAR on the order book or want futures where VALR offers them. Pick Luno if you buy stablecoins, bank with Capitec or Absa, or want a paid instant deposit.

SwapSift has referral arrangements with both VALR and Luno (see the affiliate disclosure); they do not change anything on this page, where the order follows the criteria. Every fee and rail figure was re-read on the platforms’ official pages on 3 October 2026.

Who each platform suits

VALR suits order-book traders on rand pairs and anyone who moves rand in and out often, given its 30 free withdrawals a month. It also suits crypto-to-crypto traders (0.08 % maker, 0.10 % taker) and users who want perpetual futures, margin or an OTC desk under one login. It has no instant EFT rail, so plan deposits a day or two ahead.

Luno suits stablecoin buyers and Capitec or Absa customers. Those two banks cannot send Luno an EFT, so their customers use Capitec Pay, Absa Pay or an EFT from another bank instead. Luno also suits anyone willing to pay 1.25–2.5 % for an instant deposit, and users who want staking or tokenised stocks next to spot. Its South African fee schedule has no futures or margin product.

Fees compared

Exchange trading

At the entry tier VALR charges 0.18 % maker and 0.35 % taker on fiat-quoted pairs such as BTC/ZAR and USDT/ZAR. Its crypto-quoted pairs cost 0.08 % and 0.10 %, and stable-to-stable pairs 0.05 % and 0.10 %, across nine tiers measured in USDT. Luno charges 0.40 % maker and 0.60 % taker on crypto/ZAR pairs. On USDT/ZAR and USDC/ZAR its taker rate is 0.20 % and makers earn a 0.01 % rebate, while crypto/crypto pairs cost 0.08 % and 0.10 %. Luno’s 13 tiers are measured in rand.

Worked examples on a R5,000 taker order at Tier 1 (assumptions, not quotes):

• BTC/ZAR: VALR 0.35 % = R17.50; Luno 0.60 % = R30.00.
• USDT/ZAR: VALR 0.35 % = R17.50; Luno 0.20 % = R10.00.
• BTC/USDT (crypto-quoted): VALR 0.10 % = R5.00; Luno 0.10 % = R5.00.

Both ladders fall with 30-day volume, VALR’s counted in USDT and Luno’s in rand, so the gap changes at higher volumes; the full tier tables are in VALR fees explained and Luno fees explained.

One-tap buying

VALR’s Simple Buy/Sell/Swap and Auto-Buy cost 1.6 %; Luno’s buy and sell from the Portfolio screen cost 2 %. On R5,000 that is R80.00 against R100.00, and either is several times the order-book fee.

Deposits

EFT is free at both. VALR has no minimum, and Luno has no limit once you are fully verified; an EFT from Standard Bank reaches Luno fastest. VALR’s only other rand rail is a South African card at 3.9 %. Luno adds four paid routes: instant deposit through Stitch, Absa Pay, Capitec Pay and Apple Pay. The rand deposit routes table at the end of this page gives every route’s fee, minimum or limit and time to credit at both platforms. Luno’s fee page lists its 3.9 % card purchase as currently unavailable.

Withdrawals

VALR gives individual clients 30 free normal withdrawals per calendar month, then charges R8.50 each; a fast withdrawal costs R30. Luno’s normal withdrawal is free and takes up to two business days. Its same-day express withdrawal costs R20.00 to a bank on real-time clearing or R80.00 to any other. Both pay only to a South African bank account in your own name.

Round trip on R10,000 (assumptions, not quotes)

Take an EFT in, one taker buy and one taker sell on BTC/ZAR, and one normal withdrawal, ignoring spread and price movement. VALR costs about R70 (R35 + R35) and Luno about R120 (R60 + R60). The same trip on USDT/ZAR costs R70 at VALR and R40 at Luno. Through the one-tap screens it costs R320 at VALR and R400 at Luno. The fee calculator lets you change every input.

For USDT buyers

The two platforms swap places when the pair changes class. On USDT/ZAR, a stablecoin/ZAR pair, Luno charges 0.20 % taker and pays makers a 0.01 % rebate at Tier 1, against VALR’s 0.35 % and 0.18 %. A R10,000 USDT purchase therefore costs R20 at Luno and R35 at VALR as a taker. On BTC/ZAR, a general crypto/ZAR pair, VALR’s Tier 1 rate of 0.35 % beats Luno’s 0.60 %. Rand deposits are free by EFT at both, but Capitec and Absa accounts cannot EFT to Luno.

Getting the USDT out differs too. VALR supports Ethereum, Tron and Solana, quotes a variable fee on the withdrawal screen (free to another VALR account) and sets a minimum of generally three times that fee. Luno supports Ethereum and Tron, with Tron limited to South Africa-verified customers and sometimes temporarily unavailable. It shows a dynamic send fee before you confirm and requires 10 USDT on Tron; on Ethereum you only need to cover the fee. Neither publishes a fixed USDT withdrawal fee, so neither can be called cheaper to withdraw from on verified data. Luno also lists USDC/ZAR in the same 0.20 % class.

These figures were re-read on 3 October 2026. The fee table with deposit and withdrawal costs is in USDT/ZAR fees compared, and the network matrix in how to withdraw USDT in South Africa.

Deposits and withdrawals compared

For someone with an FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Investec or TymeBank account who can wait, the two are equal: free in and free out. For someone who needs the money on the exchange today, only Luno offers bank-linked instant rails, each with a fee; VALR’s card route costs 3.9 %. For frequent small withdrawals VALR’s 30-a-month allowance is the better deal. For a single urgent withdrawal to a bank on real-time clearing, Luno’s R20.00 express beats VALR’s R30 fast withdrawal by R10.

KYC compared

VALR has three levels. A semi-verified account (name, e-mail, mobile number) cannot deposit or trade. Fully verified needs a government-issued ID plus tax information and allows crypto withdrawals of 0.2 BTC a day; fully verified PLUS adds authenticator-app 2FA and raises that to 100 BTC.

Luno grades rand limits instead: R15,000 of lifetime deposits and withdrawals at Level 1, R50,000 a month at Level 2, and no limit when fully verified. It accepts an SA ID card (front and back), ID book, driver’s licence or valid passport, may ask for a colour selfie, and wants proof of address dated within three months. Luno’s crypto send limits are USD 2,400, USD 12,000 or USD 120,000 per 24 hours by level. So VALR allows no deposit or trade before ID verification, whereas Luno’s Level 1 permits up to R15,000 in total.

Products compared

VALR offers spot, perpetual futures (0.03 % maker, 0.07 % taker at Tier 1), margin (borrowing against collateral), staking, earn and an OTC desk. Its futures come from group entity VALR DAM under a licence VALR states as FSP 54897, need a fully verified account and are offered “in qualifying jurisdictions” that VALR does not list. Luno covers spot, staking (service fee 20–40 % of rewards), an OTC desk from about USD 50,000, tokenised stocks and bundles. Its South African fee schedule shows no futures or margin product.

Everyday features compared

Paying in a shop costs nothing at either platform: VALR’s schedule lists VALR Pay as free and Luno’s fee page lists Luno Pay as free of charge. Auto-Buy is priced like Simple Buy at 1.6 %. Neither help article says which rate a Repeat Order or a repeat buy pays, so check the confirmation screen before you schedule one. An older Luno article (edited 29 January 2026) lists more stores reached through Zapper and Scan to Pay; we follow the newer fee page.

Licensing compared

Both appear in Section A of the FSCA’s March 2026 list: VALR (PTY) LTD at entry 280 (FSP 53308, Category I & II) and LUNO (PTY) LTD at entry 173 (FSP 53314, Category I & II). Luno additionally publishes NCR credit-provider and FIC registrations; VALR publishes the futures entity’s FSP number, which we did not find on the list. Both are verified only to the March 2026 list.

Limitations of this comparison

Spread is not published by either platform and can outweigh the fee difference on a small trade. Fee tiers fall with volume, and both fee pages changed in late September 2026 (VALR’s on 21 September, Luno’s on 29 September), so the numbers are a dated snapshot. Neither platform’s instant-buy price is stated to be spread-free, and bank charges on your side are unknown to us. This compares published data, not account experience: we have not opened an account at either platform.

Next steps

Read the full profiles for VALR and Luno and run your own numbers in the fee calculator. For a view across every platform by situation, see best crypto exchanges in South Africa.