Pump.fun is still the best-supported Solana memecoin launchpad in 2026, with free coin creation, a fully published fee schedule and the most traders and bots, but trading through its own app now costs an extra 0.45% per trade on top of the 1.25% bonding-curve fee. It scores 9.5/10 in our launchpad listings: strong on reach and transparency, weaker on cost, coin quality and legal overhang.
Risk notice: Crypto trading is high risk and memecoins can go to zero in minutes. Trading bots and wallet connections use hot wallets. This page is not financial advice; only trade what you can afford to lose.
Facts on this page were checked October 23, 2026, from Pump.fun's own docs and the sources linked below. This is a research-based review built from published docs, not a hands-on trial.
Verdict
Use Pump.fun if you want the largest pool of new Solana coins and buyers, or you are a creator who wants the widest bot and terminal support. Look elsewhere if cost matters most or you want a launchpad without a pending fraud case against its operator.
The numbers that matter:
- Biggest by fees. DefiLlama showed $63.86 million in 30-day fees for the Pump.fun launchpad when checked on October 23, 2026 (DefiLlama), far ahead of Bonk.fun at about $5.1 million (DefiLlama).
- Fully documented fees, including a new app fee from October 17, 2026.
- Most coins fail. Solidus Labs classed 98.6% of more than 7 million Pump.fun tokens as rug pulls or pump-and-dumps, a label Pump.fun rejected (CoinDesk).
Fees summary (as of October 2026)
From Pump.fun's fee page, last updated October 17, 2026:
- Create a coin: no platform fee; you pay only Solana network fees and the account deposit.
- Bonding curve: 1.25% per trade (0.95% protocol, 0.30% creator).
- Graduation: 0.015 SOL, deducted from the curve.
- PumpSwap after graduation: 1.25% down to 0.30% depending on market cap; non-canonical pools pay a flat 0.30%.
- New app platform fee: 0.45% on trades placed in the Pump.fun web or mobile app, or 0.40% for wallets that applied a referral code. The page says it is "not charged on Terminal or third-party interfaces."
That last change matters. A buy and sell on the curve through the Pump.fun app now costs about 1.70% each way, or roughly 3.4% round trip before priority fees and slippage (our arithmetic). Trading the same coin through a bot means the bot's fee instead of the 0.45%, so compare the two. The full tier table and a worked example are in Pump.fun fees explained, and you can try trade sizes in the Pump.fun fee calculator.
Creator rewards: from Cashback to Holder Rewards
Creators earn 0.30% on the curve and a tiered share on PumpSwap. The options for where that share goes have changed twice in 2026:
- February 2026: Cashback Coins let creators send the creator fee to traders instead (crypto.news).
- September 14, 2026: Pump.fun dropped Cashback for new launches and added Holder Rewards, which pay the creator share to wallets holding more than about $20 of the coin (The Defiant). The fee page says rewards "aren't guaranteed" and are paid net of distribution costs.
Existing Cashback coins still work if the interface supports them. Details and claiming are in Pump.fun creator fees explained.
History and what changed in 2025-2026
- 2024: launch and early incidents. In May 2024 a former employee drained about $1.9 million from bonding curves, affecting 1,882 wallets; Pump.fun reseeded the pools within 24 hours (Helius). Livestreaming was halted in November 2024 after harmful streams, then restored for all users on April 11, 2025 with new moderation rules (ForkLog). On December 6, 2024 it blocked UK users after an FCA warning (Decrypt).
- February 2025: mobile app. iOS and Android apps launched with email or Google sign-up and an auto-created wallet on Privy (Decrypt). Days later, on February 26, 2025, its X account was hijacked to promote scam tokens (The Block).
- March 2025: PumpSwap. Graduations moved from Raydium, with its 6 SOL migration fee, to Pump.fun's own DEX on March 20, 2025 (The Block).
- July 2025: acquisitions and PUMP. Pump.fun bought wallet tracker Kolscan on July 10 (The Block), then sold PUMP at $0.004 on July 12, raising $600 million in 12 minutes for 15% of supply (The Block).
- October 2025: Padre. Pump.fun bought the Padre terminal, now Terminal at terminal.pump.fun (Blockworks). See our Padre review.
- October 2026: perps. Perpetual futures on Bitcoin and Ethereum went live on October 16, 2026, run on Hyperliquid rather than Pump.fun's own engine, per CryptoTicker. Pump.fun's own fee for these is not documented.
The PUMP token
PUMP is Pump.fun's platform token. Pump.fun uses part of its revenue to buy back PUMP, and the bought tokens are destroyed. WalletInvestor reported about $200 million in 2026 buybacks and a price of about $0.0058 on October 1, 2026, still above the $0.004 ICO price. CryptoTicker estimated from CoinGecko data that about 16.9% of maximum supply has been removed. Buybacks can stop at any time and don't make PUMP a safe holding.
Safety and legal issues
Pump.fun's own platform record is short but not clean. The May 2024 insider exploit was reversed for users, and the former employee, Jarett Dunn, was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2025 (Decrypt). We found no later theft of user funds from Pump.fun's contracts.
The bigger open issue is legal. In Aguilar v. Baton Corporation in New York federal court, Judge Colleen McMahon ruled on August 31, 2026 that the securities claims and all claims against Solana Labs fail, but RICO claims by two plaintiffs, alleging wire fraud, illegal gambling and unlicensed money transmission, proceed against Baton Corporation and co-founders Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen and Dylan Kerler (Protos). These are allegations; no trial has happened.
For a full breakdown of custody, scams and how to protect yourself, read is Pump.fun safe?
Pros and cons
Pros
- Largest Solana launchpad by 30-day fees on DefiLlama
- Every fee published, including the new app fee and 25 PumpSwap tiers
- Free coin creation; automatic graduation to PumpSwap with LP burned
- Holder Rewards option lets creators pass fees to holders
- Supported by almost every Solana bot and terminal
Cons
- 1.25% on the curve plus 0.45% when trading in its own app
- Most coins fail, and bundled or insider supply is common
- RICO claims against the operator and founders are ongoing
- Not available in the UK
How Pump.fun scores
| Factor | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Fees (30%) | Higher than Bonk.fun Classic; app fee added October 2026 |
| Features (30%) | Curve, PumpSwap, Holder Rewards, livestreams, mobile app, Terminal |
| Track record (25%) | 2024 insider exploit (reversed), X hack, ongoing RICO case |
| Ease of use (15%) | Free creation, web and mobile, widest bot support |
Overall: 9.5/10. Method: about page.
Alternatives
- Bonk.fun: cheaper BONK Classic launches with no creator fee. Head-to-head in Bonk.fun vs Pump.fun.
- Bags: pays creators 1% of every trade by default, but traders pay 2%.
- Jupiter Studio and Raydium LaunchLab: more launch controls; see best Solana launchpad and Pump.fun alternatives.
Trading launches with a bot instead of the app? See best Pump.fun trading bot, and new users can start with what is Pump.fun.
