How to move crypto between networks: bridge, exchange or cross-chain swap

Three routes, one job

A bridge moves value from the network your funds are on to another one, in a transaction you sign from your own wallet. How bridges do that, and what you trust along the way, is in what a crypto bridge is.

An exchange does the same job in two steps: you deposit on one network, then withdraw on another. Between the two, the exchange holds the funds.

A cross-chain swap is a bridge that may also change the token. MetaMask’s own description of its Crosschain Swaps calls them bridges (MetaMask). If you send USDC and ask for ETH, the swap is part of the route and part of its cost.

What a bridge transfer asks of you

1. Pick the two networks, the token and the amount. The route and its price depend on all four.
2. Approve the token, if it is one. Token standards such as ERC-20 let an account approve how much of a token a third party may spend (ethereum.org). A bridge contract is that third party, so moving a token can take an approval before the transfer itself.
3. Sign the transfer and pay the source network’s fee in that network’s own coin — on Ethereum, ether (ethereum.org).
4. Wait for arrival. How long depends on the route. On Base, a standard withdrawal to Ethereum through the network’s own bridge waits seven days, while some providers pay users before that withdrawal completes (Base documentation).
5. Arrive able to move again. The destination network charges its own fee in its own coin: POL on Polygon (Polygon), MNT on Mantle (Mantle). A stablecoin that arrives alone cannot be sent onward until some of that coin arrives beside it.

The exchange route

Two steps, two sets of rules. The deposit has to be credited, and the withdrawal needs the network chosen to match the receiving side — Binance warns that a mismatched network can cost you the funds (Binance). The withdrawal fee is the exchange’s own and changes over time; for USDT the published figures are in our live table with the date each was checked.

Which route costs less

There is no standing answer. The fee of a bridge moves with the network, the route and the amount; an exchange’s withdrawal fee is flat per withdrawal, which weighs differently on a small transfer than on a large one. The only honest comparison is the one taken at the moment you send, with every route asked the same question — which is what the comparison on this site does, and what our methodology explains.