It’s a long-debated question: what’s best, Betdaq or Betfair?
Depending on your situation, the answer will likely be different.
But reading terms and conditions sucks, and things get even more confusing when it comes to extra charges like Betfair’s Expert Fee. So this post breaks everything down in plain English.
We’ll look at:
- What’s Betdaq liquidity like now?
- Difference in commission and charges on Betdaq and Betfair
- Is there a Betdaq premium charge?
- Betting in-play on Betdaq and Betfair
Quick Comparison: Betdaq vs Betfair
Liquidity: Betfair volumes are strongest by far, especially on UK horse racing. Betdaq liquidity is poor.
Commission: Both charge commission on winning bets. Betdaq offers lower flat rates.
Exchange Fees: Betfair applies extra fees to profitable accounts. Betdaq bespoke fees are secret.
In-Play: Betfair has deeper liquidity. Betdaq is viable in-play on big races, with thinner markets.
Betdaq v Betfair: Has Betdaq’s Liquidity Improved?
Professional traders and punters often share the same problem: getting a large bet matched at the right price.
Active liquidity (the money available to be matched) is everything. The more money, the more opportunity.
Betfair remains top dog, although liquidity has certainly improved on Betdaq since I first started trading. Bigger meetings bring the most opportunity, but general liquidity has increased across the board. Here’s a quick clip recorded recently. It’s not huge money, but you can see genuine liquidity in places on the Betdaq’s exchange…
YouTube – Betdaq v Betfair: Is Betdaq Liquidity Increasing?
Hopefully, this trend continues. The lack of heavy-duty fees makes Betdaq appealing to many, but as always, it’s a chicken-and-egg situation: traders need punters, punters need traders…
Who turns up first?
Betdaq v Betfair: What Commission Differences?
Both exchanges work the same way because winning bets are charged a small commission. Odds are nearly always better than a bookmaker.
However, there are two big differences:
- Betdaq’s commission rates and rebates are more generous for the average user.
- Betdaq does not charge variable rates and a flat Expert Fee. Betfair does.
Betfair recently rebranded the old ‘premium charge’ as the Betfair Expert Fee. If you want the detailed breakdown, I’ve covered that here.
A handful of Betdaq customers are rumoured to be paying around 10% commission, which is still mild compared to Betfair’s Expert Fee structure.
Because Betfair dominates the market, they get away with charging more – customers don’t seem to mind. Here’s a snapshot of Betdaq’s in-play liquidity…
Betdaq v Betfair: Can You Bet In-Play on Betdaq?
In-play trading on Betfair is no joke. In the early days, some individuals struck gold, and plenty still do.
So what about Betdaq?
The difference in charges makes Betdaq attractive for in-play trading, but liquidity has always been the stumbling block. That said, Betdaq does seem to be putting effort into education and content via Betdaq Tips, which is refreshing. In-play on Betdaq is certainly possible, especially at big meetings like Cheltenham and Ascot. It just requires more patience and discipline.
In-play on Betfair remains unchanged – huge liquidity, fast-moving prices, and plenty of opportunity. Their recent marketing pushes may bring fresh money, which is great for everyone. Younger bettors seem far more interested in exchanges, decimal odds, and data tools like Timeform.
Final Verdict: Which Is Best?
If you depend on deep liquidity and tight spreads, Betfair remains the stronger exchange. If you’re profitable long-term and want to avoid the Expert Fee, Betdaq becomes attractive – especially during big racing meetings. Many traders now jump between both to take whichever offers the best price or liquidity on the day. Who would blame them?
In the future, it’s hard to say what will happen, but it doesn’t look like Betdaq has the competence to take on Betfair properly.
Related Article: 3 Simple Horse Racing Trading Strategies
12 thoughts on “Betdaq vs Betfair: Commission, Liquidity and Exchange Fees Compared”
A good idea maybe is create a big campaign like “NO BETFAIR DAY”.
One day a week all users go to Betdaq or another betting exchange platform.
If all blogs and big forum users participate promoting this day, who knows if betfair wake up.
That’s a great shout!
sounds unlikely… but like the idea. thing is, if you remove profitable traders it will leave a better market to trade…. is everyone likely to stick together? no
Yes but with poor liquidity the market wont be better.
Traders don’t bring liquidity to markets they just take it, if most traders left the ones left behind would be having a field day.
…..put it a bit better than me Dave 🙂
Dave you may be confusing the term liquidity with profit potential. All traders increase liquidity in markets in which they trade (profitable or not). The higher the volume of business transacted by an increasing number of traders the greater the increase in liquidity.
” if most traders left” (the market) as you say, liquidity would be greatly reduced.
ya DanielPC its a good idea.
I just can’t get my head round the possible 60% premium betfair charges some Traders. Surely the trader must have to go the betdaq!? It’s huge!
Executing a successful trade and watching 60% go to Betfair must be soul destroying.
The day that Betdaq finally gets the numbers and the monopoly will be a good day for us all. Betfair just don’t seem to be working with the people…. t
the sportsbook advertising seems to cause the biggest problem imo
I can’t imagine there are many traders clued up enough to win £250,000 but not wise enough to get their comms up to over 10%. Most of us are in the 40% bracket and watching a Betfair take over a grand each week is painful to say the least but Betdaq just isn’t a viable option for most of us so we stick where we’ll get matched and a wage.
Betdaq have been around since 2001, owned by one of the UK’s biggest bookmakers and still pretty much dead in the water, I wouldn’t expect them to make any inroads soon at their current rate. I’ve bots running on there but the amounts they make are pitiful compared to what can be made on Betfair. Although having said all that I would advise anyone new to trading to trade on Betdaq as it is tradeable and the amounts you can win could easily give you a decent income.
The fact is Betfair has merged with Paddy power. They want to become a bookie.
The reason I say this look at what has changed in Betfair.
When they came out they were a facilitator for betting and charged a commission .
Now they are doing fruit machines, Casinos and taking away the exchanges and bringing in a sportbook.
They are looking to become The biggest bookie because most people are using the internet.