Idle Finance Review
Apache-licensed with net APY and named audits
of 10
Idle publishes a 10% performance fee on its Best Yield product and 10 to 15% on Yield Tranches, with no management or withdrawal fees, states that displayed APY is net of fees, and licenses under Apache 2.0 with five named auditors.
No money changes hands. This is a non-commercial project: no advertising, no sponsored placements, and no affiliate or referral links. Links to the services below earn us nothing. Every overall score is the plain average of the criteria shown on the page, so you can check the arithmetic yourself — see our rating methodology and how the site is funded.
Best Yield fee
10% performance, at redemption
Yield Tranches fee
10-15% performance
Management/withdrawal fee
None
Displayed APY
Net of fees
Licence
Apache 2.0; auditors Quantstamp, Consensys Diligence, Certik, Hats Finance, Hans Friese
Scores
Each criterion carries equal weight. The overall score is the average of these 5 scores — (9.0 + 8.0 + 9.0 + 4.0 + 7.0) ÷ 5 = 7.4.
Pros
- Performance fee published: 10% on Best Yield, 10-15% on Yield Tranches
- No management or withdrawal fees stated
- Displayed APY stated to be net of fees
- Apache 2.0 licence; five auditors named: Quantstamp, Consensys Diligence, Certik, Hats Finance and Hans Friese
Cons
- Apache 2.0 file carries an added notice, which GitHub classifies as NOASSERTION
- Custody is not explicitly addressed on the pages read
- Historical, non-projected performance is not published
Fees and net returns, both clear
Idle publishes a 10% performance fee on its Best Yield product, taken at redemption, and 10 to 15% on Yield Tranches, with no management or withdrawal fees, and states that the APY displayed is net of fees. Naming the rate and confirming the displayed number already subtracts it is exactly what this rubric looks for.
What the protocol does
Idle's algorithm analyses the supply-rate functions across integrated lending protocols and rebalances capital to earn the highest available rate — a documented strategy rather than a black box.
Open and audited
The idle-contracts repository carries Apache 2.0, with an added copyright notice that leads GitHub to classify it as NOASSERTION, and five auditors are named: Quantstamp, Consensys Diligence, Certik, Hats Finance and Hans Friese. Custody is not explicitly stated, which is the main gap.
How it compares
Yield Yak
MIT-licensed, no deposit or withdraw fees
Sommelier
Apache-licensed cellars, audits unverified
Harvest Finance
Named audits, ISC only in package.json
Pendle
Yield tokenisation with a flat 5% fee
Aura Finance
MIT-licensed with a published fee ceiling
Origin (OUSD)
Rebasing yield stablecoin, MIT and net APY
Beefy
Eight named auditors, no licence file
Convex Finance
MIT-licensed with fees published to the basis point
Yearn Finance
AGPL-licensed with a named audit record
Sources
Scored from published primary sources rather than hands-on use. Every figure above comes from one of the pages below, on the date shown. Manufacturers change prices and specifications without notice — if something here no longer matches the source, tell us and we will correct it.
- 1.Idle — fees — checked
- 2.Idle — idle-contracts LICENSE (Apache 2.0) — checked
- 3.Idle — security and audits — checked
Frequently asked questions
What does Idle charge?
A 10% performance fee on Best Yield and 10 to 15% on Yield Tranches, with no management or withdrawal fees. Displayed APY is net of fees.
Is Idle open source?
The idle-contracts repository carries the Apache 2.0 licence, with an added notice that GitHub classifies as NOASSERTION.
Nothing here is financial advice. Editorial policy · How we score · How we're funded.