Onboarding: 10 minutes to first buy
ID verification cleared in minutes, the bank link worked first try, and the app walks you through your first purchase without jargon. Nothing else we tested comes close for a first-timer. The tradeoff is that the easy path is the expensive path: the big blue button routes you through instant buy, where fees run 3–4× what the same order costs on Advanced Trade — same account, different screen.
When things go wrong: support
Our test ticket (a locked recurring buy) took 3 days for a human response — acceptable, not great. Phone support exists for account takeovers, which matters more. As a publicly traded company Coinbase publishes audited financials, which is the strongest solvency signal available in this industry.