ChangeNOW Alternatives (2026): 7 No-KYC Swaps Compared

ChangeNOW is a good instant exchange right up to the moment it is not. It lists more than a thousand coins, needs no account, quotes a fixed rate, and most swaps clear in minutes. Then one day a deposit lands, the order page says "on hold", and a Sumsub verification link appears where your coins should be. People do not go looking for ChangeNOW alternatives because the service is bad. They go looking because they have just learned that "no KYC" on ChangeNOW means "no KYC unless our risk system says otherwise", and the rules for that system are not published.

Three complaints recur in the Reddit threads, Trustpilot reviews and kycnot.me comments about ChangeNOW. Holds on flagged swaps: ChangeNOW says its monitoring flags roughly 0.5% of transactions, and the triggers most often cited are a large amount, a privacy-coin pair, or a source address a chain-analytics provider has scored as risky. Privacy-coin friction: Monero is listed, but XMR pairs sit in the higher-risk bucket, the opposite of what a Monero user wants. And the classic (floating) rate: pick it by mistake and the amount you receive is decided when your deposit confirms, not when you clicked.

This page compares seven services people actually switch to, with ChangeNOW itself as the baseline. Every claim was checked against the service’s own site or its kycnot.me listing in September 2026; where a fact is not published we say so. Superswap.cx is one of the seven and we run it, so its section is held to the same standard, shortcomings included. If you only want the head-to-head, the Superswap vs ChangeNOW page is shorter.

How We Compared Them

We scored each service on the six things that decide whether a ChangeNOW refugee will be happy, in roughly the order people complain about them:

• KYC policy and known triggers. Not "does the site say no KYC" but "under what published conditions can a deposit be held, and what happens if you refuse". Sources: the service’s own terms or FAQ first, then its kycnot.me listing, which records a KYC level from 0 (never) to 4 (always) and collects incident reports.
• Monero support. Whether XMR can be both sent and received; several services have quietly delisted it.
• Fixed rate. Whether you can lock the amount you receive before you send, and for how long.
• Minimum amount. Where published. Most set pair-specific minimums to cover network fees.
• Speed. The stated window for a normal swap. Any service that can hold a deposit has a second, open-ended number.
• Tor availability. Whether an onion address is published, and whether users report Tor traffic being refused.

Not scored: coin count beyond the majors, cashback, mobile apps and fiat on-ramps. ChangeNOW wins all of those. Account-based exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms such as Bisq are left out; they solve a different problem.

ChangeNOW Alternatives Compared: The Table

Rows are in the order we would recommend them to a typical ChangeNOW user who wants fewer holds, with ChangeNOW first as the baseline. Scroll sideways on mobile.

"kycnot.me level 3" is that site’s label for a service that needs no account but may request verification or hold funds mid-swap. Every instant exchange in this table except Superswap and Trocador carries it. Sources for each row are in the service sections below.

ChangeNOW: The Baseline

What it does well. Breadth. More than a thousand assets, fiat purchase through partners, a fixed-rate mode that guarantees the quoted amount, minimums from about $2, and responsive support. For a small swap between two mainstream coins it is fast and unremarkable, which is the highest compliment an instant exchange can get.

Where it falls short. Its AML/KYC policy states that verification is handled by Sumsub on a risk basis, and its FAQ confirms that a flagged exchange "is put on hold and the customer in question is then asked to confirm their identity." The criteria are deliberately undisclosed; reviews and ChangeNOW’s own materials point to large amounts, privacy-coin pairs and address risk scores. If you decline, the published procedure is a refund minus network fees within 24 hours, with the sending address potentially blacklisted. kycnot.me rates it level 3 with recent reports of unexpected verification demands.

Best for. Small mainstream swaps where a rare hold is an annoyance rather than a problem, and obscure altcoins the no-KYC-first services do not carry. Not for Monero users, and not for amounts you cannot afford to have parked for days.

Superswap.cx

What it does well. There is no verification system. Not a rarely-used one, not a threshold; none. You pick a pair, paste a receiving address, send, and the fixed quote you were shown is what arrives, usually within 5 to 30 minutes. It is the only service here where "no KYC" describes the software rather than a policy that can change. Monero and Zcash are first-class: BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, USDT and USDC all swap directly to XMR and back (see BTC to XMR). The margin, around 0.5%, is built into the rate with no separate fee line.

Where it falls short. The coin list is short: BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, XMR, ZEC, USDT, USDC, XRP, DASH, BCH and DOGE, 56 pairs in total, against ChangeNOW’s thousand-plus. There is no floating-rate option, so a wallet that cannot send an exact amount is a problem. No onion address is published. And it is a younger, smaller service than ChangeNOW, StealthEX or Godex, with a shorter public track record, which is a fair reason to start with a small test swap.

Best for. Privacy-coin swaps between the majors where you want a locked amount and zero chance of a mid-swap hold. Full list on the all pairs page; the Monero hub covers wallets and routes.

Trocador

What it does well. Trocador is an aggregator built by and for the Monero community: it quotes the same swap across a dozen partner exchanges and lets you pick. Each partner carries a letter grade for KYC behaviour, A to D, shown next to the rate before you commit, and a guarantee reimburses up to $1,000 per swap if an A, B or C partner fails to deliver or refund. It publishes an onion address and an I2P mirror, works with JavaScript disabled, and kycnot.me rates Trocador itself level 0 because it never asks anything. Our Superswap vs Trocador page goes deeper.

Where it falls short. The swap still executes on a partner, and the partner’s risk system still applies; kycnot.me’s listing includes reports of funds frozen by a partner’s AML check. The best rate is often on a lower-graded partner, so you trade rate against hold risk on every order. Speed, minimums and lock time are whatever the partner offers.

Best for. Tor users, and anyone swapping Monero who wants to see a partner’s KYC record before sending. Choose an A-rated partner and the hold risk drops close to the Superswap level.

Godex.io

What it does well. Godex has run about eight years with no registration, a 900-plus coin list including native XMR pairs, a fixed-rate mode that freezes the quote for roughly 30 minutes, and a floating mode. Its marketing leans on "no limits", and reviewers report large swaps going through unchallenged. Fees sit around 0.5% all-in, an onion address is listed on kycnot.me, and support is rated well. See Superswap vs Godex for pair-level detail.

Where it falls short. "No limits" is not "no checks". Godex’s terms allow risk-based AML scoring, and kycnot.me rates it level 3: transactions are monitored, data may be shared with authorities, and a deposit flagged as high-risk can be frozen with the refund conditional on KYC. Swapzone says the same in softer words: swaps "flagged for suspicious activity, unusual volume, or ties to sanctioned or illicit funds" can trigger enhanced due diligence. In practice rare; on paper identical to ChangeNOW.

Best for. A ChangeNOW-sized coin list with a fixed rate and a better record on actually asking, for users who accept that the policy still allows it.

StealthEX

What it does well. StealthEX is the other long-running no-registration exchange: roughly 1,500 assets, Monero and Zcash in both directions, and a fixed-rate toggle (the padlock icon) that locks your output before you send; floating is the default. The published service fee is 0.4% plus network costs, minimums are shown live, an onion address is listed on kycnot.me, and Swapzone rates KYC frequency "Rare", with users confirming XMR, ZEC, BTC and ETH swaps going through without contact. The Superswap vs StealthEX page has more.

Where it falls short. When it does flag a swap, the process is heavy. kycnot.me rates it level 3 and records users asked for identity documents and proof of source of funds, with refunds of a failed swap conditional on verification, in one case by video. Fiat purchases above a cumulative $700 go to a partner that always verifies. Transaction data is retained five years, and XMR pairs are not exempt from the risk filter.

Best for. Altcoin breadth with a fixed rate and a reasonable record on holds; the sensible alternative to Godex.

SimpleSwap

What it does well. SimpleSwap has the cleanest first-time flow of the big aggregators: no account for crypto-to-crypto, Monero supported, a fixed rate that holds for 20 minutes, and a floating rate for wallets that cannot send an exact amount. It has run about eight years, lists an onion address on kycnot.me, and most swaps are uneventful. Superswap vs SimpleSwap covers fees in detail.

Where it falls short. Its FAQ says it "may request KYC or additional information in certain cases" when it "or a partner system recognizes a transaction as suspicious". kycnot.me gives it the lowest score here, 3 out of 10, and records two documented frozen-fund incidents, including a large XMR swap held pending verification with the refund conditional on passing it. Card purchases always require KYC and cost 4.95%. Its policy most closely mirrors ChangeNOW’s, so switching changes little.

Best for. Small mainstream swaps in a familiar interface; not a meaningful upgrade for anyone leaving ChangeNOW because of a hold.

Exolix

What it does well. Exolix lists over 1,200 assets including XMR and ZEC, needs no account, and offers the longest fixed-rate lock in this group, 60 minutes, alongside a floating mode. No maximum, per-pair minimums, an onion address on kycnot.me, and a free AML score check on your address before you deposit, which tells you whether your coins will be flagged before they are stuck. See Superswap vs Exolix.

Where it falls short. The margin is high, roughly 1.9% by Swapzone’s measure. And in May 2026 a security researcher showed that Exolix’s partner API used unscoped, non-expiring keys with no rate limiting, letting anyone page through a partner’s full swap history: about 355,000 transactions and $39.5 million in volume, with deposit and payout addresses, amounts and on-chain hashes. For a Monero user that is the worst kind of leak, because it links a transparent-chain deposit to an XMR payout. Exolix disputed the severity; kycnot.me marks the incident unresolved and rates the service level 3, with flagged deposits reported held for weeks.

Best for. Slow wallets and uncertain coins, thanks to the 60-minute lock and the pre-deposit check. Weigh those against the spread and the API history.

SideShift.ai

What it does well. SideShift is fast, has no account, offers a 15-minute fixed-rate lock and a variable mode, builds its margin (about 0.5% to 1%) into the rate, and has an unusually good API and Lightning support. Swapzone rates its KYC frequency "Never", the only partner in that network with the label. Superswap vs SideShift has the numbers.

Where it falls short. It fails on the two things that usually prompt the search. Monero and Zcash have been delisted, so it cannot do XMR at all. And kycnot.me, with a longer memory than Swapzone, rates it level 3: automated screening pauses flagged deposits for manual review, identity verification is required for a refund on serious flags, and users report unexplained holds and market losses during them. It blocks the United States and several other countries, publishes no onion address, and users report the clearnet site refusing Tor traffic.

Best for. Quick BTC, ETH and stablecoin shifts from outside the US, via API or Lightning. Not for Monero, and not for Tor.

FixedFloat: Still Listed Everywhere, Rarely the Right Answer

FixedFloat still appears in most "ChangeNOW alternative" listicles because it was, for years, the default no-fuss Monero swap. In February 2024 an attack drained roughly $26 million from its hot wallets, the service went dark for weeks, and it relaunched on ff.io with a coin list cut to a couple of dozen. The site was accepting orders when we checked in September 2026, so "shut down" overstates it, but the service that came back is not the one people remember: kycnot.me rates it level 3 and its listing since the relaunch is dominated by frozen deposits, escalating document requests and holds that stretch for months. We kept it out of the table because we would not send a ChangeNOW user there. The FixedFloat shut-down post and FixedFloat alternative guide cover the replacements; Superswap vs FixedFloat is the head-to-head.

Which ChangeNOW Alternative for Which Need

• You were held once and never want it again. Superswap.cx, the only service here with no mechanism for a hold. The shorter coin list is the price.
• You swap Monero and want a fixed amount. Superswap.cx for the majors; Trocador via an A-rated partner if you start from a coin Superswap does not carry. The no-KYC swap guide walks through the steps.
• You need an altcoin the no-KYC-first services do not carry. Godex or StealthEX: ChangeNOW-scale lists, a fixed rate, and a better record on actually asking, with the same policy risk on paper.
• You are on Tor. Trocador, then Godex or StealthEX via their onion addresses. Not SideShift.
• You want to know whether your coins will be flagged before you send. Exolix’s pre-deposit AML check or Trocador’s address check, then swap wherever the result suggests.
• Your wallet cannot send an exact amount. Any floating-rate service; StealthEX and Godex are the sensible picks. Not Superswap.
• You need to buy with a card. ChangeNOW, SimpleSwap or StealthEX through their fiat partners; all verify for that, so no-KYC does not apply.

Whatever you pick, send a small test swap first from the wallet you will use for the real one. A hold on $20 is an anecdote; a hold on $20,000 is a week of your life. The Reddit no-KYC FAQ collects the other lessons people learned the hard way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read our FixedFloat after-the-hack post or the FixedFloat alternative guide.

Related Reading

• Superswap vs ChangeNOW: the head-to-head
• How to swap crypto without KYC, step by step
• FixedFloat after the hack: is it safe again, and what to use instead
• THORChain 3.20 native Monero swaps vs an instant swap
• No-KYC crypto exchange: the Reddit FAQ
• Swap BTC to XMR at a fixed rate
• Monero hub: wallets, routes and guides