PancakeSwap vs Uniswap
Neutral on-chain benchmarking of slippage, revert rates, and overall execution quality.
PancakeSwap shows tighter execution than Uniswap on ClearTrace's on-chain slippage benchmark on Ethereum, 91.6 vs 88.7 out of 100 (a 2.9-point edge), measured across 13,963 and 392,464 benchmarked transactions there. Slippage, revert rate, and MEV exposure are scored separately. The gap is not the same on every chain these two share: Base (within measurement noise, 0.0 points). ClearTrace publishes one chain rather than a blend, so read this as a finding about Ethereum. (data as of October 5, 2026)
Protocol Scorecard
| PancakeSwap | Uniswap | |
|---|---|---|
| Slippage Score (0-100) | 91.6 Ethereum |
88.7 Ethereum |
| Trades Analyzed Ethereum |
13,963 | 392,464 |
PancakeSwap and Uniswap are both decentralized exchanges (AMMs), where trades execute directly against on-chain liquidity pools. The comparison comes down to pool depth, fee tiers, and how exposed each venue's order flow is to MEV such as sandwich attacks.
Across the flow ClearTrace benchmarked, PancakeSwap posted a slippage score of 91.6/100 versus 88.7/100 for Uniswap, a meaningful but not decisive edge of 2.9 points on Ethereum. Ethereum is ClearTrace's publication chain: ClearTrace compares a pair on its publication chain when both venues are benchmarked there, and otherwise on the shared chain carrying the most data on the smaller side. Either way the comparison is one chain, not one venue's all-chain rollup set against another's, because two rollups cover different chains. The gap is not the same on every chain these two share: Base (within measurement noise, 0.0 points). ClearTrace publishes one chain rather than a blend, so read this as a finding about Ethereum. The score reflects realized slippage only, derived from median slippage versus a minute-level off-chain reference price (Dune prices.usd, an interpolated 5-minute exchange-aggregate feed and not a VWAP), where a higher number means lower slippage. The median is taken over individual fills, while the counts below are distinct transactions, and one transaction can contain several fills. MEV exposure and revert rates are tracked as separate metrics. PancakeSwap was measured over 13,963 benchmarked transactions (2% of its benchmarked flow) and Uniswap over 392,464 benchmarked transactions (26% of its benchmarked flow).
The sample sizes differ substantially (Uniswap: 392,464 transactions; PancakeSwap: 13,963), so PancakeSwap's score reflects a narrower slice of activity and may move as more volume is observed.
On this data, PancakeSwap holds the stronger slippage score on Ethereum, but the gap reflects routing and slippage differences rather than one venue being universally better. That edge is a statement about Ethereum. Results shift with trade size, token pair, and market conditions, and MEV exposure and revert rates are separate considerations. Scores update on each data refresh; see our methodology for the full approach.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which has better execution quality, PancakeSwap or Uniswap?
Based on ClearTrace's slippage score (median slippage vs a minute-level off-chain reference price from Dune prices.usd, which is not a VWAP) on Ethereum, ClearTrace's publication chain, PancakeSwap edges out Uniswap, 91.6/100 versus 88.7/100 (a 2.9-point gap). ClearTrace compares the two on one shared chain rather than setting one venue's all-chain rollup against another's. The gap is not the same on every chain these two share: Base (within measurement noise, 0.0 points). ClearTrace publishes one chain rather than a blend, so read this as a finding about Ethereum.
Does PancakeSwap or Uniswap offer better MEV protection?
ClearTrace publishes a slippage-based score and per-aggregator revert rates, not a per-aggregator MEV-protection score. On slippage, PancakeSwap was tighter on Ethereum (~8.4 bps vs ~11.3 bps). For MEV specifically, the dashboard surfaces detected sandwich activity as a separate metric.
Is PancakeSwap or Uniswap better for large trades?
For large orders, the venue with deeper liquidity for your pair usually wins on price impact. Both PancakeSwap and Uniswap are AMMs, so compare pool depth for your token pair; the live dashboard tracks current execution quality.