Ask any crypto trader that’s starting off with their first Altcoin trade and they can surely describe that instantaneous hit of dopamine when they see the price of their new asset rise. They can also describe the pit in their stomach when the price continues to drop, leading to a full-day of refreshing their portfolio app every 4 minutes. 
CMC and CoinGecko are the two main websites that are used to track crypto prices. They also come with APIs that are integrated into websites so that they too can get that magical, scrolling ticker.
HelloCrypto uses CoinGecko’s API on many of our Coin Overview pages. 
These sites are,the Pepsi and the Coca-Cola of the crypto pricing data ecosystem. Or if you’re so inclined, the Magic Johnson and the Larry Bird. The Spider-Man and the Batman…
CoinMarketCap, may be the more popular of the two and has been owned by Binance as of 2020.
CoinGecko was founded in 2014 by TM Lee (CEO) and Bobby Ong (COO) with the mission to democratize the access of crypto data and empower users with actionable insights. We also deep dive into the crypto space to deliver valuable insights to our users through our cryptocurrency reports, as well as our publications, newsletter and more.
Let’s dive into the history and features to answer to this burning question:

Is CoinGecko actually better than CoinMarketCap?

CoinMarketCap

CMC was founded in 2013 to track the then-burgeoning crypto space. It experienced many changes as a platform and developed a mobile app, APIs and a lot of content. While the CMC website and its features are still fantastic, the homepage is a bit cluttered.
These are some of the features:
 

CMC Content and Analysis

Near the top of the site, there’s a row of articles and videos featuring content and analysis within the space. The written content is short-form and the videos sometimes feature those weird clickbait thumbnails. While it provides some basic analysis, it is challenging to consider it completely unbiased as the site is owned by Binance. The Binance Smart Chain supports many different types of tokens and Stablecoins, which might obscure or bias some of this information. 
 
Trending, Biggest Gainers, and Recently Added
The site displays these rising tokens prominently, which may lead to more and more people looking into them and purchasing them. While this might be good for many of these altcoins, it may encourage people to gamble their earnings on some of these shitcoins. This is also presented before the main ticker, which shows all the usual information about cryptocurrencies (market cap, volume, total amount of tokens).

The Ticker

We’ve come to the part of the site that everyone loves to use and check. This table ranks thousands of cryptocurrencies by market cap and lets you sort them by price, 24hr and 7 day change in price, market cap, recent trade volume and circulating supply. It also provides a small chart showing the performance of the asset. 
There is also the ability for users to create a profile and select certain cryptocurrencies to add to their personal watchlist or portfolio. It also allows you to sort by different types of assets related to certain blockchains or smart contract uses. There are more filters that allow you to pick out specific tokens. You can also expand the view to see more than just 100 cryptocurrencies at a time. 
Note: The Sort feature will only sort the 100 cryptocurrencies on that current page. 

Individual Token View

When you click on a token you get a lot more information about it. However, there are a few blue buttons that stick out prominently on the page; these are sponsored links for you to buy and exchange the cryptocurrency on Binance. Below the name of the token (Bitcoin), it provides links to various websites, whitepapers and communities associated with it. There is even a button for you to look at the source code and explore the blockchain.
The individual view also shows the diluted market cap, which is how much the market cap would be if every single token that hasn’t been minted yet would be on the market. 
In addition to various types of charts reflecting price, market cap and spot trading, the individual view provides links to a list of Bitcoin holders, wallets, news and just about any other information you might want to see. You can switch between showing the price over the course of 24 hours or the entire lifetime of the token. Below, the individual view lists several different exchanges and markets to purchase the crypto and ranks their trustworthiness.
Additionally, there is a small blurb summarizing the token and what it does. At the bottom of the individual view, there are a few different news articles and a list of other cryptocurrencies that people who click on this token also tend to be interested in.

CoinGecko

CoinGecko as today (end of 2023), is an independent entity. It is not owned by any other large conglomerate company or centralized exchange. It is a Malaysian-led company founded in 2014 that provides the standard ticker and tracking services for free, while also offering more detailed reports and paid subscriptions. The CoinGecko website offers many similar features to CMC but the focus here is getting right into the live pricing data for top coins by market cap.
Content and Analysis
Since CoinGecko is not owned by a company affiliated with any other cryptocurrencies or exchanges, it lowers the risk of bias on their site. CoinGecko provides quarterly reports on the cryptocurrency market (in exchange for your email). The 2021 third-quarter report is 45-pages of content for free, providing a lot of value. 
CoinGecko sells short books on Bitcoin, DeFi and NFTs for ambitious amateur traders. They also offer different levels of monthly subscriptions that increase the amount of daily rewards (measured in candies) and provide free access to their books at the highest subscription level. While there is less editorial and info-graphic style content, there’s also less clickbait and more high quality analysis.
 

The Tabs Before the Main Ticker

The CoinGecko site looks neat because it does not show the biggest movers and newly added tokens by default. Instead, there are several tabs that you can click to go to those individual lists. Similarly, clicking the categories button will go to a table that groups different types of cryptocurrency assets by their use (ex. Polygon Ecosystem, Smart Contract Platform). You can customize the tabs that appear on the front page and you can even add in certain tokens to generate your portfolio.
 

The Main Ticker

The view from the main ticker offers a few types of information at a glance: the current price, % change in the last hour, % change in the last 24 hours, % change in the last week, 24 hour volume, and market cap. By default, it also shows a price chart for the last 7 days. There are a lot more nifty categories and options to help you figure out what assets you want to see or search for. “All Categories” allows you to sort tokens by a wide range of functionalities while “Filter” helps you find tokens using specific hashing systems or ledgers. This system is simple enough to appeal to beginners but also allows for power users to customize their experience.

The Individual Token View

This view is quite similar to CoinMarketCap. On the right side are massive buttons that take you to sponsored sites to buy, sell, earn, loan and mine cryptocurrency. Much of the same data is shown regarding volume, diluted volume and market cap. There is also a better-organized summary of the token on the right-hand side of this view, featuring a list of official websites, wallets, community sites, source code, and whitepaper link.
The token chart is paired with price and market statististics. There are also options to view social media sites and community subscribers over time as well as information about code that’s been recently deployed by developers. This offers more niche options that might appeal to a more seasoned investor.
 

Candies

Daily rewards called “candy” can be redeemed in the CoinGecko shop to buy vouchers, the How to Defi book, or for various NFTs.

Takeaways

Both sites are a great way to track the price of different cryptocurrencies in real-time.
CoinGecko offers a simple and comprehensive user interface and it is not owned by a giant centralized cryptocurrency exchange.
CoinMarketCap is owned by the group in charge of the Binance exchange. Though it is a bit more cluttered, CoinMarketCap offers more short-form content and links to videos about trending topics.