I have a soft spot for ZebPay. It was the first app I ever used to buy crypto in India, sometime in 2016. Back then, the options were ZebPay and not much else. The interface was basic — almost comically so — but it worked, and it felt legitimate in a way that a lot of the scrappy alternatives did not.

Ten years on, ZebPay is still here. That alone makes it remarkable. It survived the 2018 RBI banking ban by relocating to Malta and then returned after the Supreme Court ruling. No major hacks. No founder drama. Just quiet, consistent operation over a decade.

But is quiet and consistent enough in 2026? I spent three weeks using ZebPay as my primary exchange to find out.

Fees: Honest But Not the Cheapest

ZebPay charges 0.15% to 0.25% on spot trades depending on volume tier. That's higher than Binance India (0.1%) and CoinDCX (0.1%) but lower than CoinSwitch's effective spread-based pricing for most users. INR deposits are free. INR withdrawals via IMPS cost ₹8 — a small charge that competitors don't have.

Where ZebPay is genuinely competitive: their Earn products. Fixed staking on BTC and ETH offers rates between 1.5-3.5% APY. Not the best in market, but the safety track record of the platform gives these rates a credibility that newer exchanges haven't earned.

Coin Selection: Conservative by Design

Around 200 cryptocurrencies. That's less than half of CoinDCX's catalogue. ZebPay is deliberate about this — they have a stricter listing process that filters out low-quality tokens. In practice, this means you're unlikely to find the newest DeFi tokens or recently-launched altcoins.

For investors who primarily hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the top 10-15 by market cap, ZebPay covers everything you need. For altcoin hunters, it's limiting.

The Interface: Surprisingly Modern

The 2025 app redesign was overdue and well-executed. The interface is clean, charts are responsive, and the onboarding flow is one of the simplest in the Indian market. My 58-year-old uncle set up a ZebPay account on his own — I mention this as a genuine data point because most crypto exchange apps would have defeated him at step two.

Customer Support: The Gold Standard

This is where ZebPay pulls ahead of every other Indian exchange. Response time in my testing: average 3.2 hours. One ticket was resolved in 47 minutes. The support agents actually read the query before responding — no copy-paste template answers. In six years of using various Indian exchanges, ZebPay support is consistently the most human and most helpful.

The Proof-of-Reserves Advantage

ZebPay publishes proof-of-reserves reports quarterly. You can verify that your assets are actually held 1:1. No other major Indian exchange does this with the same consistency. After the WazirX hack made everyone suddenly care about proof-of-reserves, ZebPay's decade-long practice of publishing them became an actual competitive advantage.

Should You Use ZebPay in 2026?

ZebPay is the right choice for investors who prioritise safety and reliability over fees and coin selection. If you're holding Bitcoin or Ethereum long-term, want a clean app, and value customer support that actually helps — ZebPay is excellent. If you need 500 altcoins and the lowest possible fees, it's not the right fit.

I'd trust ZebPay with a larger allocation than any other Indian exchange, specifically because of their 10-year hack-free track record and proof-of-reserves transparency. That trust costs slightly higher fees. For long-term holders, it's worth paying.

Quick Verdict

Fees: 3.5/5 — Above market average
Security & Trust: 5/5 — 10 years, no major incidents
Coin Selection: 3/5 — Conservative but curated
App Quality: 4/5 — Clean, genuinely beginner-friendly
Support: 5/5 — Best in the Indian market
Overall: 4/5