1. Uniswap v4 (Ethereum & L2s)
🪙 Chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base
💡 Why it’s great:
- Massive liquidity on ETH pairs
- Uniswap v4 brings new “hooks,” lowering fees, and enabling advanced features
- Super trusted brand
✅ Best for: Large-cap tokens, DeFi users, big swaps
2. PancakeSwap v4 (BNB Chain & Multichain)
🥞 Chains: BNB Chain, Ethereum, Aptos, zkSync
💡 Why it’s great:
- Very low fees on BNB Chain
- Huge community
- Fun gamification and yield farms
✅ Best for: Retail traders, memecoins, low-fee trading
3. Jupiter (Solana Aggregator)
🚀 Chains: Solana
💡 Why it’s great:
- Aggregates liquidity from nearly all Solana DEXs
- Often finds the best price
- Fast and super cheap
✅ Best for: Solana tokens, speed, and low gas
4. Trader Joe (Avalanche + Multichain)
🥂 Chains: Avalanche, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Ethereum
💡 Why it’s great:
- Originated on Avalanche
- Solid user interface
- Concentrated liquidity for efficient trading
✅ Best for: Avalanche ecosystem tokens, mid-size swaps
5. Curve v4 (Ethereum & L2s)
💧 Chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon
💡 Why it’s great:
- Best for stablecoin swaps
- Very low slippage
- Curve v4 brings lower gas and cross-chain features
✅ Best for: Stablecoin trades, whales minimizing slippage
6. SushiSwap (Multi-chain)
🍣 Chains: Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and many more
💡 Why it’s great:
- One of the OG DEXs
- Still decent liquidity
- Multi-chain flexibility
✅ Best for: Cross-chain explorers, smaller altcoins
7. 1inch Aggregator
🔎 Chains: Nearly all EVM chains
💡 Why it’s great:
- Doesn’t hold liquidity, but scans dozens of DEXs for the best price
- Can save big on large swaps
✅ Best for: Big trades where price matters
8. Raydium (Solana)
🌊 Chains: Solana
💡 Why it’s great:
- Still relevant in the Solana ecosystem
- Integrated with the Serum order book
✅ Best for: Solana DeFi veterans
9. Velodrome (Optimism)
⚙️ Chains: Optimism
💡 Why it’s great:
- Solid liquidity for Optimism tokens
- Cheap gas fees
- Popular for DeFi protocols building on OP
✅ Best for: Optimism ecosystem
10. Balancer v3
⚖️ Chains: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum
💡 Why it’s great:
- Multi-token pools
- Great for project managing treasuries
- Lower slippage on custom weight pools
✅ Best for: Complex liquidity strategies, protocol treasuries
✅ How to Pick the Right DEX?
Ask yourself
- Which blockchain am I using?
- How big is my trade size?
- Do I want the lowest fees or the best user interface?
- Am I trading stablecoins or volatile tokens?
✅ Quick Recommendations
- Big ETH tokens? → Uniswap v4
- Stablecoins? → Curve v4
- Solana? → Jupiter or Raydium
- Low fees? → PancakeSwap
- Cross-chain swaps? → 1inch
- Avalanche tokens? → Trader Joe
Bottom Line
In 2025, the best DEX depends on your chain, your token, and your budget for fees. Tools like aggregators (1inch, Jupiter) make life easier — but knowing where the deepest liquidity lives is still key!