The simplest route by a distance. Free wallet apps like Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Exodus and Phantom have a “Buy” button built in. You tap it, enter an amount, pay by card or Apple Pay, and the coins appear in your own wallet a few minutes later — already in the right place to pay us.

Behind that button the wallet is quietly using one of the companies in points 2–5, so the fee is similar. What you’re paying for is not having to think about it: no separate account, no transferring coins between services, nothing to get wrong.

Typical cost

3–5%

Speed

5–20 min

ID check

Usually yes

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

Our recommendation for beginners. Install the wallet, buy inside it, pay us from it. One app, start to finish.

Transak is a regulated “on-ramp”: you give it money and a wallet address, it delivers crypto straight to that address. There’s no account balance to manage and nothing to withdraw afterwards — the coins go where you tell them to go.

Fees depend heavily on how you pay. Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay are the expensive options — up to 5.5% in the US — while bank transfer is considerably cheaper. On top of the service fee there’s a price spread of around 2.5% and a small blockchain network fee. Everything is itemised on screen before you confirm, so you’ll always see exactly how much crypto you’re getting.

Typical cost

1–5.5% + spread

Speed

5–30 min

ID check

Yes

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

MoonPay does the same job as Transak and is the engine behind the “Buy” button in dozens of wallets including MetaMask, Trust Wallet and Phantom. If you’ve ever bought crypto inside an app without realising who processed it, it was probably MoonPay.

Card payments land around 4.5% all-in, which is normal for card rails. If you’re not in a hurry, paying by bank transfer — SEPA in Europe, open banking in the UK — is meaningfully cheaper. You don’t need a MoonPay account beyond the one-off ID check.

Typical cost

~4.5% card

Speed

5–30 min

ID check

Yes

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

Simplex is one of the oldest card-to-crypto processors, now part of the payments group Nuvei. Its speciality is getting card payments approved — if your bank has declined a crypto purchase elsewhere, Simplex is often the one that works.

You pay for that reliability: 3.5–5% with a minimum fee of roughly $10, so it’s poor value on small amounts and much more reasonable on a full phone purchase. Delivery to your wallet typically takes 10–30 minutes.

Typical cost

3.5–5% (min ~$10)

Speed

10–30 min

ID check

Yes

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

Because of the minimum fee, avoid Simplex for very small top-ups — a £30 purchase could cost you a quarter of its value in fees.

Both do the same job as the three above, but they’re the ones to reach for when you care about price rather than speed. Banxa charges roughly 2.99–3.99% on cards and about 1.99% on SEPA bank transfers, and is especially strong in Australia (PayID, POLi) and Canada (Interac). Ramp Network covers 150+ countries and supports cards, bank transfers, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Pix in Brazil.

The trade-off is patience. A bank transfer can take a few hours to a working day to clear, where a card is instant. If your phone order isn’t urgent, this is where the savings are.

Typical cost

~2–4%

Speed

Mins to 1 day

ID check

Yes

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

An exchange is a full account where you deposit money, buy coins, and hold them until you want to spend them. Coinbase and Kraken are the most approachable, with clean apps, real customer support and strong regulatory standing in the UK, US and EU.

Watch which buy screen you use, because it changes the price dramatically. Coinbase’s simple one-tap purchase carries a spread plus a flat fee that can exceed 3–4% on small amounts, while its Advanced trading screen starts at 0.40% maker / 0.60% taker. Kraken charges 1% for instant buys but 0.25% / 0.40% on Kraken Pro. Same coins, same account — a couple of extra taps saves you real money.

Typical cost

0.25–4%

Speed

Mins (after setup)

ID check

Yes, full

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — withdraw first

Already have an account? We have step-by-step walkthroughs for paying from Coinbase and paying from Kraken.

If you’re buying a flagship phone, the difference between a 4% on-ramp and a 0.1% exchange is worth a case and a charger. Binance charges 0.10% maker and taker as standard, dropping to 0.075% if you pay fees in BNB. OKX and Bybit sit in the same territory.

The catch is that these are proper trading platforms, so there are more steps: fund the account, place a trade, then withdraw to your wallet. Set aside half an hour the first time. Availability also varies by country — check the platform is licensed where you live.

Typical cost

0.075–0.10%

Speed

30+ min first time

ID check

Yes, full

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — withdraw first

Read our guide to withdrawing from Binance to pay a merchant — it’s the step most people stumble on.

P2P means you buy directly from another person, with the platform holding the coins in escrow until you’ve paid. You browse sellers, filter by the payment method you actually have — local bank transfer, mobile money, Revolut, Wise — and trade with whoever offers the best rate.

It’s the cheapest route on the list: buyers taking an existing offer on Binance P2P pay 0% in fees. It’s the standard way to buy crypto in Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Argentina and Turkey, where card on-ramps often fail. The escrow system means your seller can’t run off with the coins — but you must still follow the process exactly.

Typical cost

0% + seller’s rate

Speed

10–40 min

ID check

Platform account only

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — withdraw first

Never release the coins before your money has arrived, and never take a trade off-platform, however friendly the seller sounds. The escrow is your only protection.

You may already own crypto-buying software without knowing it. The appeal is obvious — your card details are saved, your identity is verified, buying takes seconds. But this is the category where you must check the small print, because the ability to send crypto out varies enormously.

Cash App (US) charges no fee and no spread on Auto Invest, Round Ups and purchases over $2,000, and lets you withdraw Bitcoin. Strike is built for cheap Bitcoin buying and sending. Revolut X trades at 0–0.09%, but Revolut only supports external sends for certain coins and networks. PayPal charges around 2.00–2.20% plus roughly a 1% spread, then another 1% to move crypto out — and customers outside the US currently cannot transfer crypto off PayPal at all.

Typical cost

0–3%

Speed

Instant

ID check

Already done

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Depends — check first

Check before you buy, not after. Look for a “Send” or “Transfer out” option next to the coin you want. If the app only offers “Buy” and “Sell”, your crypto is locked inside it and cannot be used to pay us — or anyone else.

If you want to turn physical cash into crypto, there are two routes. Bitcoin ATMs are the fast one: feed in notes, scan your wallet’s QR code, done in minutes with minimal paperwork. They are also by far the most expensive option on this page — the industry median is around 16%, with machines commonly charging 10–25% once the hidden price spread is counted. Larger networks such as CoinFlip (about 8.99% on purchases) are cheaper than independent machines, which can exceed 20%.

Azteco vouchers are the better-value cash option where available. You buy a voucher from a shop or online for as little as $10, in cash or by card, with no account and no ID, then redeem the code into any Bitcoin wallet in under a minute. Cash-in locations include Ireland, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Costa Rica.

Typical cost

ATM 10–25% · voucher lower

Speed

Minutes

ID check

Minimal or none

Can pay MobilesLuxe

Yes — directly

Use these for convenience or privacy, not for value. On an £800 phone, a 16% ATM fee is roughly £128 — enough to have bought a decent pair of earbuds instead.