Is Koinly Free? What Each Crypto Tax Platform Actually Gives

Is Koinly Free?

Yes. Koinly’s free plan is permanent and never expires. You can import up to 10,000 transactions, connect unlimited wallets and exchanges, and view your capital gains summary without paying anything. The single restriction: you cannot download the tax report documents required to file. Everything Koinly calculates is visible on screen, but producing a Form 8949 or Schedule D you can submit to the IRS requires a paid plan.

This is verified as of September 1, 2026, from Koinly’s official pricing page and their help center documentation on pricing.

The free tier gives you the math. It does not give you the paperwork.

What Each Free Tier Actually Delivers

Crypto tax platforms gate different parts of the workflow. Some restrict transaction counts. Some lock the portfolio dashboard. Some hide the calculated tax liability until you pay. Here is what each major platform allows without a subscription, verified from vendor documentation as of September 2026.

Koinly Free Plan Capabilities

Unlimited wallet and exchange connections. Portfolio tracker with live balance updates. Capital gains preview showing your total liability by tax year. Tax optimizer suggesting which coins to sell for loss harvesting. DeFi and NFT transaction support. All major cost basis methods including FIFO, LIFO, and Average Cost. Per-transaction gain and loss visibility on the transaction history page.

The only feature locked behind paid plans is downloading tax reports. You see the exact numbers Koinly calculated, you see your estimated liability, you can review every flagged transaction. You just cannot export the Form 8949 or country-specific report needed to file.

This structure is designed for portfolio preview. You import everything, let Koinly classify and calculate, inspect the results, and only pay if the output is correct and you need the official documents.

CoinTracker Free Plan Capabilities

CoinTracker’s free plan includes 25 transactions. Beyond that ceiling, you must upgrade to the $59/year tier for 100 transactions or higher plans for larger volumes. Unlike Koinly, CoinTracker does provide downloadable tax reports on the free tier, but the 25-transaction cap makes this functionally useless for anyone beyond a single-exchange holder with minimal activity.

CoinTracker locks its portfolio dashboard behind paid subscriptions. The free tier shows transaction import status but not the aggregated portfolio view or live balance tracking that Koinly includes at no cost.

For context: if you bought Bitcoin twice, sold once, and staked Ethereum on a single platform, you are likely already past 25 transactions once reward deposits and fee transactions are counted.

Transaction Counting Differences

Koinly excludes spam transactions, the majority of dust rewards, and merges split trades from exchanges into single transaction records. Many exchanges split a large order into hundreds of smaller fills. Koinly groups these into one billable transaction. CoinTracker and some competitors count every raw import line, which inflates the transaction count and pushes users into higher pricing tiers for the same underlying activity.

According to Koinly’s help center, deleted transactions and transactions marked as spam do not count toward your limit. This filtering is automatic for most cases.

This means a portfolio with 300 raw transaction lines on Binance might count as 120 transactions on Koinly and 300 on CoinTracker. The tier you need depends on how the platform defines a transaction, not just how many trades you made.

When The Free Tier Is Sufficient

A small portfolio holder with fewer than 100 clean transactions in a single tax year does not need paid crypto tax software in most cases. If you hold on one or two exchanges, made a handful of trades, and have no DeFi or staking activity, the free tier of Koinly will calculate your gains accurately. You can see the total liability, note it on a spreadsheet, and report it manually when filing.

The IRS does not require you to submit Form 8949 generated by third-party software. You can aggregate your capital gains and report the totals on Schedule D. The detailed transaction-by-transaction Form 8949 is required if your activity exceeds certain thresholds or if you are audited and asked to provide proof. For a simple portfolio, the free tier’s on-screen summary is enough to complete your filing.

This also applies to international filers who need a liability estimate but plan to have an accountant prepare the actual filing documents. Koinly’s free tier shows the calculated gains in your local currency and applies country-specific tax rules, which gives your accountant the numbers they need without requiring you to purchase a report.

You probably do not need to pay for this if:

• Your total transactions for the tax year are under 100
• All activity occurred on exchanges Koinly supports with API or CSV import
• You have no DeFi positions, liquidity pool activity, or cross-chain bridges
• You are comfortable copying the gains total into your tax return manually
• Your accountant will prepare the filing and just needs a liability estimate from you

The moment you have wash sale concerns, complex DeFi positions, or need audit-ready transaction-level documentation, you will need a paid plan. But for straightforward buy-hold-sell portfolios, the free tier delivers the calculation you need.

What Paid Plans Actually Gate

Koinly’s paid tiers unlock one thing: downloadable tax reports. As of September 1, 2026, the pricing structure is:

• Newbie: $49 for up to 100 transactions
• Hodl: $99 for up to 1,000 transactions
• Trader: $199 for up to 3,000 transactions
• Pro: $279 for up to 10,000 transactions

These are one-time charges per tax year, not recurring subscriptions. If you need reports for 2024 and 2025, you pay twice. CoinTracker’s model is an annual subscription that covers all historical years, which changes the cost structure if you are filing multiple back years.

All features are included in all paid tiers. DeFi support, NFT tracking, tax loss harvesting suggestions, and every cost basis method are available in the $49 Newbie plan. Koinly does not gate features by tier the way some competitors do. The only difference between tiers is the transaction limit.

There is no unlimited plan. The Pro tier caps at 10,000 transactions. Beyond that, you can purchase additional 1,000-transaction packages, but high-volume traders and liquidity providers will hit this ceiling. Platforms like CoinTracking and TokenTax offer unlimited-transaction tiers, which matters if you are running bots, providing liquidity, or trading futures with hundreds of daily fills.

Failure Modes And Edge Cases

The free tier stops calculating if you exceed 10,000 transactions. This is not a soft limit with a warning prompt. Koinly will stop processing, and your portfolio dashboard will show incomplete data. Your gains summary will be wrong because the platform cannot finish the calculation. If you are close to this threshold, add wallets cautiously and check the transaction count after each import.

Transaction limits are account-wide and cumulative. Adding old wallets from 2020 increases your total transaction count for any tax year you want to generate a report for, even if those old transactions are not relevant to the current filing year. This can push you into a higher tier retroactively.

CSV imports for unsupported exchanges require manual classification. The free tier will flag unrecognized transactions and let you label them, but it will not let you export a corrected CSV back out. If you need to hand off a cleaned transaction file to an accountant, you will need a paid plan or manual spreadsheet work.

DeFi transactions often require manual review. Koinly supports many DeFi protocols, but complex positions like liquidity pool rebalancing, autocompounding yield strategies, and cross-chain bridges frequently generate classification warnings. The free tier shows these warnings and lets you inspect them, but if you need a clean report for filing, expect to spend time tagging transactions correctly before purchasing a plan. The free tier does not suppress this noise; it just shows you where the problems are.

Cost basis reconciliation warnings are visible on the free tier but require a paid export to produce IRS-ready proof. If Koinly flags a missing cost basis for a withdrawal, you can see the warning and investigate the source transaction, but the final Form 8949 that an auditor would accept as documentation is gated.

Security And Access Model

Koinly uses read-only API access when connecting to exchanges and wallets. The platform can import your transaction history but cannot execute trades, move funds, or access withdrawal functions. This is standard for crypto tax software and reduces the risk surface compared to granting full API keys.

For wallets, Koinly asks for your public address, not your private key. The platform reads on-chain transaction data from block explorers. It never has custody or control of your funds.

CSV imports carry no API risk. You download transaction history from your exchange and upload it to Koinly manually. This method is slower but eliminates the need to generate API credentials.

When You Must Pay

You need a paid plan if you require any of the following:

• Form 8949 or Schedule D documents to submit with your IRS filing
• Country-specific tax reports required by your jurisdiction (Koinly supports over 100 countries)
• Audit-ready transaction-level documentation with cost basis proof
• CSV or PDF exports of your complete transaction history with classification labels
• TurboTax or other tax software integration files

The free tier provides the calculation. Paid plans provide the paperwork. If you are filing yourself using tax software or submitting directly to the IRS, you will need the documents. If you are handing numbers to an accountant who will prepare everything, the free tier may be sufficient.

For a deeper breakdown of what tier you will land in based on typical portfolio activity, see What Crypto Tax Software Really Costs At Your Transaction Volume.

Comparison To Other Platforms

CoinTracker offers a more restrictive free tier (25 transactions) but includes downloadable tax reports, which Koinly does not. If your activity genuinely fits under 25 transactions, CoinTracker’s free plan is functionally complete for filing. Beyond that threshold, Koinly’s preview model is stronger because you can verify the accuracy of a much larger calculation before committing to a purchase.

For broader platform differences in DeFi support, jurisdiction coverage, and feature sets, see Crypto Tax Software Compared: What Each One Supports.

CryptoTaxCalculator and CoinLedger follow similar models to Koinly: free portfolio preview with gated report downloads. Transaction count limits vary, and some platforms lock certain cost basis methods or tax optimization features behind higher tiers. Koinly includes all methods and features in the cheapest paid plan, which simplifies the decision if you only need basic reporting.

The Calculation Versus The Filing

The core value of crypto tax software is classification and calculation. Determining cost basis for thousands of transactions, matching transfers between wallets, labeling staking rewards as income, and calculating capital gains across multiple exchanges is tedious and error-prone in a spreadsheet. Tax software automates this.

The secondary value is generating filing documents. A formatted Form 8949 saves time, but the IRS does not require it in all cases. If your total capital gains fit on Schedule D without line-item detail, the free tier gives you everything you need to file correctly.

This distinction matters. A free tier that shows you the calculated tax liability before you pay is a strong trust signal. It means the vendor is confident the math is correct and is willing to let you verify it before purchasing. Platforms that hide the liability number until checkout are not operating from the same position of confidence.

Where Free Tiers Break Down

DeFi activity is the single most common reason a free tier becomes insufficient. Liquidity pool deposits and withdrawals often generate dozens of transaction lines per position. Yield farming with autocompounding creates income events on every block. Cross-chain bridges split a single user action into multiple on-chain transactions that must be matched manually.

Koinly’s 10,000-transaction free tier handles this better than most, but even that ceiling is reachable for a liquidity provider running positions on three chains over a full year. If you are active in DeFi, budget for a paid plan and evaluate based on the platform’s DeFi classification accuracy, not the free tier transaction limit. For protocol-specific coverage, see Best Crypto Tax Software For DeFi Yield And Staking Income.

Staking and validator rewards are easier. Most platforms handle these correctly as income events. The free tier will classify them, calculate the income value at the time of receipt, and track cost basis for future disposals. Unless you are running a validator with daily reward deposits across dozens of delegators, staking activity rarely pushes you past transaction limits on its own.

International Reporting Considerations

Koinly generates localized tax documents for over 100 countries. The free tier applies country-specific tax rules and shows your liability in local currency. This is useful for filers outside the US who need an estimate before hiring a local accountant or purchasing a report.

CoinTracker is US-centric and does not support as many international jurisdictions. If you are filing in Canada, the UK, Australia, or another country with specific crypto tax reporting requirements, Koinly’s international coverage is a structural advantage regardless of whether you use the free or paid tier.

The free tier does not restrict which country’s tax rules you can apply. You can preview your liability under any supported jurisdiction’s rules before deciding whether to purchase the localized report.

When To Use The Free Tier As A Trial

Even if you know you will eventually need a paid plan, the free tier functions as a full-featured trial. Import your wallets and exchanges, let the platform classify everything, review the flagged transactions, and verify the calculated liability. If the output is wrong, you have not paid anything yet. Fix the errors, re-import if needed, and only purchase once the numbers are correct.

This workflow reduces the risk of paying for a report that contains errors you only discover after export. It also lets you test whether the platform correctly handles your specific edge cases before committing.

For portfolios with unusual activity (wrapped tokens, rebasing assets, protocol-specific DeFi mechanics), the free tier is where you learn whether the platform’s classification logic works for your positions. If Koinly misclassifies a key transaction type, you know that before spending $49 to $279 on a report you cannot use.

The Takeaway

Koinly’s free plan calculates your exact tax liability for up to 10,000 transactions and shows every number on screen, but it does not produce downloadable filing documents. CoinTracker caps free users at 25 transactions but includes report downloads. For a small portfolio under 100 transactions, the free tier of Koinly delivers everything needed to report gains manually without paying. The single stress condition that breaks this model: DeFi activity that generates thousands of classification-heavy transactions or any scenario requiring IRS-ready Form 8949 documentation. In those cases, paid plans start at $49 and scale by transaction count, with all features unlocked at every tier. If you can see the calculated number and copy it into your filing yourself, you probably do not need to pay for this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I file my crypto taxes using only Koinly’s free plan?

Yes, if your situation is simple enough. Koinly’s free plan shows your complete calculated tax liability for up to 10,000 transactions. You can see the total capital gains and income, note those figures, and report them manually on your tax return. The IRS does not require third-party software or Form 8949 for every filer. If you have under 100 transactions and straightforward buy-sell activity, the free tier gives you the numbers you need to file correctly without paying.

What happens if I exceed 10,000 transactions on Koinly’s free tier?

Koinly stops calculating. Your portfolio dashboard and gains summary will show incomplete or incorrect data because the platform cannot finish processing beyond the 10,000-transaction limit. This is a hard ceiling, not a soft warning. If you are approaching this limit, monitor your transaction count carefully before importing additional wallets. Deleted transactions, spam, and most dust rewards do not count toward this limit, but all other activity does.

Does Koinly’s free plan work for DeFi and staking?

Yes, Koinly’s free tier supports DeFi protocols, NFT transactions, and staking rewards. You can import DeFi positions, and Koinly will classify liquidity pool deposits, yield farming rewards, and staking income. The catch: DeFi activity often requires manual transaction labeling and generates high transaction counts that may push you toward paid tiers or the 10,000-transaction ceiling. The free tier shows classification warnings and lets you fix them, but complex DeFi portfolios typically need paid plans for clean reporting.

How does Koinly count transactions differently than other platforms?

Koinly excludes spam, merges split exchange orders into single transactions, and does not count most dust rewards or deleted transactions. Many exchanges break large orders into hundreds of smaller fills; Koinly groups these into one billable transaction. CoinTracker and some competitors count every raw import line, which inflates the count. A portfolio with 300 raw lines on an exchange might register as 120 transactions on Koinly and 300 on CoinTracker, affecting which pricing tier you need.

Is Koinly’s free tier enough for international tax filing?

It depends on your jurisdiction’s requirements. Koinly’s free tier applies tax rules for over 100 countries and shows your liability in local currency. If you need only an estimate to report manually or hand to an accountant, the free tier is sufficient. If your country requires specific formatted reports or detailed transaction documentation, you will need a paid plan to download those localized filing documents. The calculation is free; the paperwork costs.