LooksRare Review
MIT-licensed, candid about zero royalties
of 10
LooksRare charges a 2% total fee — 1.5% to LOOKS stakers and 0.5% to collections that register an address — and states plainly that since its V2 release it no longer enforces creator royalties, sharing protocol fees with creators instead. Its exchange contracts are MIT.
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.
Total fee
2%: 1.5% LOOKS stakers, 0.5% registered collections
Royalties
Not enforced since V2; optional opt-in
Creator share
25% of protocol fees to creators
Licence
MIT (exchange v2)
Audits
Not stated
Scores
Each criterion carries equal weight. The overall score is the average of these 5 scores — (8.0 + 6.0 + 9.0 + 2.0 + 2.0) ÷ 5 = 5.4.
Pros
- 2% total fee published, split 1.5% to stakers and 0.5% to registered collections
- States candidly that V2 no longer enforces royalties
- Shares 25% of protocol fees with creators as the replacement, published
- Exchange v2 contracts are MIT-licensed
Cons
- Creator royalties are removed; buyers can only opt in to pay them
- No named audit firm is stated on the fetched repository page
- The supported chain is not stated on the pages read
Honest about a policy creators dislike
LooksRare states plainly that as of its V2 release it no longer enforces creator royalties, that buyers can opt in to pay optional royalties at checkout, and that it shares 25% of protocol fees with creators instead. Zero-royalty enforcement is unpopular with many creators, and stating it directly — rather than burying it — is what this rubric rewards, even as the policy itself costs points on the royalty criterion.
Fees, split and published
The 2% total fee is itemised: 1.5% to LOOKS stakers and 0.5% to collections that have registered a receiving address.
Open code
The exchange v2 contracts are MIT-licensed. No named audit firm appears on the fetched repository page, which holds that score down.
Who builds it
LooksRare describes itself, in its own terms, as "an NFT marketplace interface maintained by a decentralized team of developers," and it names no company, jurisdiction or individuals — the team is fully pseudonymous, known publicly only by handles such as "Zodd" and "Guts." It launched in January 2022 with the LOOKS governance token. That its terms deliberately avoid naming any operator or jurisdiction is itself the key fact to weigh before trading through it.
How it compares
OKX NFT
Zero listing fees, few published numbers
Element
Royalty support stated, little else published
Blur
Zero marketplace fees, thin public documentation
Zora
MIT-licensed, itemised trading fee
SuperRare
Fees and splits published in full
Rarible
MIT-licensed and ChainSecurity audited
Magic Eden
Clear fee, but coverage is narrowing
Tensor
Full royalty enforcement, clearly stated
OpenSea
MIT-licensed and Trail of Bits audited
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.LooksRare — royalties FAQ — checked
- 2.LooksRare — zero-royalty trading and fee sharing — checked
- 3.LooksRare — contracts-exchange-v2 (MIT) — checked
- 4.LooksRare — terms of service — checked
Frequently asked questions
Does LooksRare enforce creator royalties?
No. LooksRare states that since its V2 release it no longer enforces royalties; buyers can opt in to pay them, and 25% of protocol fees are shared with creators instead.
What does LooksRare charge?
A 2% total fee, split 1.5% to LOOKS stakers and 0.5% to collections that have registered a receiving address.
Nothing here is financial advice. Editorial policy · How we score · How we're funded.