Koinly Review (2026):
Is It Worth It for Non-US Investors?
Koinly is the most widely used crypto tax tool outside the US. The real question is whether it handles your country’s tax rules accurately enough to actually file — and whether the free plan gets you far enough before you need to pay. This review answers both directly.
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TL;DR
- European and international investors with crypto holdings who need to file taxes.
- Investors using multiple exchanges, wallets, or blockchains simultaneously.
- Anyone with DeFi activity — staking, LP positions, or lending — that a spreadsheet can’t handle.
- Investors who want a free preview of their tax position before committing to a paid plan.
- Complex DeFi portfolios still need manual transaction review — no tool is fully automatic.
- Pricing scales with transaction count, which adds up fast for active traders.
- Country-specific tax reports are a starting point — always verify with a local accountant before filing.
- Do not assume the auto-synced data is complete without checking for flagged errors.
What is Koinly?
Koinly is a crypto tax and portfolio tracking platform. It pulls transaction data from exchanges and wallets, calculates your capital gains and income, and generates the tax reports your accountant or tax authority expects.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in the UK, Koinly supports over 100 countries and connects to more than 800 exchanges, wallets, and blockchains via API or CSV import. It is not a US-centric tool that happens to support international users — international support is its primary positioning, which is why it tends to perform better than US-focused alternatives for European investors.
The free plan lets you import everything and generate a tax preview — you see your total capital gains, income, and losses without paying anything. That preview is the starting point for understanding your tax position. Paid plans unlock downloadable reports in the format your country expects.
How Koinly actually works
The workflow is the same regardless of how many exchanges or wallets you use. Three steps — then review.
For supported exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and 800+ others), you generate a read-only API key and paste it into Koinly. For exchanges without API support, you export your transaction history as a CSV and upload it. Hardware wallets and software wallets connect via public address — no keys required.
Koinly automatically classifies trades, transfers, staking rewards, airdrops, and other transaction types. It flags missing cost basis, negative balances, and duplicate entries. This is where you spend most of your time — reviewing flagged transactions and correcting misclassifications. Budget time for this step if you have an active trading or DeFi history.
Once transactions are reconciled, Koinly generates a downloadable tax report specific to your country and accounting method (FIFO, LIFO, HIFO, or average cost basis). The report is formatted for your jurisdiction — capital gains schedules for the UK, Form 8949 for the US, specific templates for Germany, Australia, and others.
You can invite a tax advisor to access your Koinly account directly, or export an accountant-ready summary. This matters particularly in countries like Germany and France where professional sign-off on crypto tax positions is common practice. Koinly also offers an expert review service where a crypto-specialist accountant reviews your report before you file.
What Koinly actually covers
Eight feature areas worth understanding before you commit.
| Feature area | What Koinly does | Caveats |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange integrations | 800+ exchanges and wallets via API or CSV | CSV import quality varies by exchange format |
| Blockchain wallet sync | Direct sync via public address — ETH, BTC, SOL, and 50+ chains | Some smaller chains require manual CSV |
| DeFi support | Staking, LPs, lending, bridges, airdrops, NFT trades | Complex multi-step DeFi may need manual tagging |
| Portfolio tracking | Live unrealised gain/loss dashboard across all holdings | Free on all plans — not just paid |
| Tax-loss harvesting | Identifies unrealised losses to offset taxable gains | Tool flags opportunities — you make the decision |
| Accounting methods | FIFO, LIFO, HIFO, and Average Cost Basis (ACB) | Method availability varies by country — check local rules |
| Error detection | Flags missing cost basis, negative balances, duplicates | Flags are a starting point — manual review required |
| Accountant access | Invite CPA directly or export professional summary | Expert review service available at additional cost |
The pricing model — and what it means for you
Koinly prices by transaction count per tax year, not by subscription tier with arbitrary feature gates. Understand how it works before importing everything.
| Plan | Transaction limit | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited imports | Full tax preview, portfolio dashboard, no report download | Checking your tax position before committing |
| Newbie | 100 transactions | Downloadable tax reports for your country | Casual investors with minimal trading history |
| Hodler | 1,000 transactions | Full reports + DeFi support | Regular traders or anyone with staking/DeFi activity |
| Trader | 3,000 transactions | All features, higher volume support | Active traders across multiple exchanges |
| Pro | 10,000+ transactions | Maximum volume, priority support | High-frequency traders, multiple DeFi protocols |
Pricing is per tax year — you pay annually per filing period, not as a rolling subscription that covers all past years. Always verify current plan prices on Koinly’s pricing page before purchasing.
Country tax support — the non-US picture
This is Koinly’s main advantage over US-focused alternatives. Here is what the international coverage actually looks like in practice.
Koinly generates localised capital gains and income reports for Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, and most other EU countries. For Germany specifically, it supports the correct FIFO method and the annual disposal exemption logic. For the Netherlands, it can assist with Box 3 asset reporting, though you should verify the output with a Dutch tax advisor given the ongoing political changes to Box 3 rules.
The UK is fully supported with capital gains reports in the format HMRC expects, including same-day and 30-day bed-and-breakfasting rules.
Australia is well supported — Koinly generates ATO-compatible capital gains reports using FIFO or the specific identification method. It handles the 50% CGT discount logic for assets held over 12 months, which is a meaningful feature for long-term Australian holders.
Canada support includes adjusted cost base (ACB) calculations and CRA-compatible reports. The US is supported with Form 8949 and Schedule D, plus TurboTax and TaxAct exports — though if you are US-based, CoinLedger is a closer competitor to evaluate.
What Koinly can and cannot do with your data
Connecting a third-party tool to your exchange accounts is a reasonable concern. Here is what read-only access actually means in practice.
- Read your transaction history via the API
- View your wallet balances and holdings
- Sync new transactions when you refresh
- Store your transaction data on its servers
- Place or cancel trades on your behalf
- Withdraw or transfer funds
- Access private keys or seed phrases
- Move assets between wallets
Koinly is GDPR-compliant and encrypts stored data. The company is based in the UK. When generating an API key on any exchange, always confirm you are creating a read-only key — exchanges label these differently (Binance calls it “read”, Coinbase calls it “view”), but the principle is the same. Never grant trading or withdrawal permissions to a tax tool.
Koinly vs the main alternatives
For non-US investors, the relevant comparison is narrow. Most serious competitors are US-centric tools that added international support as an afterthought.
| Tool | International support | DeFi accuracy | Free plan | Best positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koinly | 100+ countries, localised reports | Good — manual review still needed | Full preview, no download | Best all-around for non-US |
| Divly | EU-first, official local forms (K4, Anlage SO, Form 2086) | Good — manual review still needed | Portfolio tracking only | Best for European-only filers |
| Blockpit | EU-first, strong DACH coverage (DE, AT, CH) | Good — more complex interface | Portfolio tracking only | Best for German/Austrian/Swiss investors |
| CoinLedger | US-primary, limited international | Strong for US DeFi | Limited free tier | Best for US-based investors |
| CryptoTaxCalculator | AU, UK, US focus | Strong DeFi handling | Preview available | Strong DeFi alternative |
| TokenTax | US-primary | Good, but pricey | No free tier | US accountant workflows |
| ZenLedger | US-primary, growing international | Moderate | Limited free tier | US DeFi and accountant tools |
For European investors, the three tools worth evaluating are Koinly, Divly, and Blockpit. Koinly is the broadest globally; Divly is the strongest for EU-specific local forms and human support; Blockpit is the right call if you are based in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. CryptoTaxCalculator is worth considering if your DeFi activity is unusually complex.
If you are deciding between Koinly and Blockpit specifically, see our full Koinly vs Blockpit comparison. Choosing between Koinly and Divly? See our Koinly vs Divly breakdown.
Who should use Koinly — and who should look elsewhere
- You are a European, UK, Australian, or Canadian investor who holds crypto and needs to file taxes.
- You use multiple exchanges or wallets and a spreadsheet is no longer practical.
- You have staking, DeFi, or NFT activity that needs classification beyond simple buy/sell records.
- You want to understand your tax position before paying anything, using the free preview.
- You need to share a structured tax summary with a local accountant.
- You are based in the US and primarily use US exchanges — CoinLedger may be a closer fit.
- You have extremely complex DeFi activity (bridges, perpetuals, multiple chains) — CryptoTaxCalculator’s protocol-level parsing may handle edge cases better.
- You have tens of thousands of transactions — confirm the Pro plan covers your volume and compare pricing across tools before committing.
- You want a tool that files your taxes automatically — no crypto tax tool does this; a local accountant is always the final step.
The free preview is a genuine risk-free way to evaluate whether Koinly works for your situation before you pay for anything. Import your data, run the reconciliation, and check whether the transaction count and error rate are manageable. That is the right signal — not a pricing page.
Try Koinly free
Import your data, run the reconciliation, and see your full tax position — capital gains, income, and losses — before you pay for anything. The free plan preview is the right starting point.
Investing taxes by country
Frequently asked questions
Is Koinly free to use?
Yes — Koinly lets you import all your transaction data and view a tax summary for free. No credit card required to get started. The free plan does not let you download or export the final tax report; you need a paid plan for that. Think of it as a free tax preview tool, with paid plans unlocking the downloadable documents your accountant or tax filing actually needs.
Which countries does Koinly support for crypto tax reports?
Koinly supports over 20 countries with tailored tax reports, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the UK, Australia, Canada, and the US. For European investors, it generates country-specific capital gains and income reports aligned with local tax rules. Always verify that the generated report format matches what your local tax authority accepts before filing.
Is Koinly safe to connect to my exchange?
Koinly only requests read-only API access. It cannot place trades, withdraw funds, or transfer assets. It never asks for private keys or seed phrases. The platform is GDPR-compliant and uses encryption for stored data. That said, you should always generate a read-only API key on your exchange — never a key with withdrawal permissions — when connecting any third-party tool.
Does Koinly handle DeFi, staking, and NFTs?
Yes, with caveats. Koinly covers staking rewards, liquidity pool transactions, lending, airdrops, NFT trades, and most common DeFi interactions. Complex multi-step transactions — particularly across chains or with wrapped assets — sometimes require manual review and reclassification. No crypto tax tool is fully automatic for complex DeFi portfolios; plan to spend time reviewing flagged transactions before finalising your report.
Can my accountant access my Koinly account?
Yes. Koinly supports accountant access, allowing you to invite a CPA or tax advisor to review your data directly inside the platform. This is particularly useful in countries like Germany, France, or Australia where a local accountant needs to validate your crypto tax position before filing. You can also export a CPA-friendly report if your accountant prefers working outside the platform.
How accurate is Koinly, and will I still need to review my transactions?
Koinly is accurate for straightforward spot trading on major exchanges. It detects missing cost basis, duplicate transactions, and balance mismatches automatically. However, no crypto tax software is fully automated for every edge case — failed transactions, bridge transfers, chain splits, token migrations, and spam tokens often need manual classification. Budget time to review flagged transactions, especially if you have an active DeFi history. The tax preview is a starting point, not a finished product.
QuantRoutine provides educational content only. Nothing on this page is an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to purchase any software product or crypto tax service. Tool features, pricing, transaction limits, and supported integrations change frequently — always verify current terms on each tool’s official website before subscribing. Data in this comparison is accurate as of May 2026 and sourced from official product documentation and publicly available information. You are responsible for your own financial and tax decisions and for confirming the rules that apply in your jurisdiction.