If you've moved assets between chains, you've probably used an aggregator like Jumper, which runs on LI.FI's routing. The idea makes sense: one screen compares bridges and DEXs and hands you what it thinks is the best route.
But the aggregator usually isn't what moves your money across chains. It picks a bridge underneath and hands your transfer to it, and one of the bridges it picks most is Across. On LI.FI's own public dashboard, Across was the third-largest bridge by volume over the 90 days to September 20, with about 14% of bridged volume, and its share has grown every month since June.
So when your transfer is going to end up on Across anyway, it's worth asking: what are you paying for the layer in between?
Aggregators support different bridges. Across supports different rails.
LI.FI and Jumper compare quotes from many bridges and exchanges, choose one, and send your transaction through their own router contract to whichever protocol won.
Across does routing too, but inside the protocol that delivers your funds. You tell Across what you want to receive and where. Then, an intelligent system routes and delivers it:
• The Across relayer network for speed. Relayers front the funds on the destination chain from their own capital, so you don't wait for the source chain to finalize. Most transfers land in about two seconds.
• Circle's CCTP for native USDC, burned on one chain and minted on the other.
• LayerZero's OFT for assets like USDT0.
• Paxos Labs' Amplify Transit for large USDC<>USDG transfers into and out of Robinhood Chain, up to $50M in a single transfer.
The difference is where the decision gets made. An aggregator's routing sits outside the thing that moves your money. Across routing sits inside it, so whoever quotes your transfer also has to deliver it.
Some aggregators have started running their own intent networks alongside third-party bridges, which says a lot about where the market thinks the value is. But most aggregator volume is still handed to a bridge underneath, and that hand-off is where the extra layer, and the extra fee, come in.
1. Aggregators add a fee on top
When an aggregator routes you through Across, you pay standard fees like gas plus whatever the aggregator adds.
LI.FI's own documentation says it charges a 0.25% service fee on each transaction, and that fee appeared on every quote we pulled from its public API. Large partners can negotiate volume discounts, and apps built on LI.FI can add their own fee on top. Jumper, LI.FI's own app, charges a smaller fee of its own: 0.02% on the ETH routes we quoted.
To see what LI.FI's fee means in practice, on September 25, 2026 we quoted the same five transfers directly on Across and through LI.FI's API, a few seconds apart. Going direct returned more every time: $2.40 more on $1,000 of USDC, $24 more on $10,000, $60 more on $25,000, $236 more on $100,000 and $6.74 more on 1 ETH. At size, it adds up: 0.25% is $2,500 on every $1M you move.
Every aggregator sets its own fee, and some are small or zero on certain routes. But on a transfer that ends at Across anyway, any aggregator fee is money you didn't need to spend. Across shows you its fee and the amount you'll receive before you sign, with nothing added on top.
2. The cheap aggregator route is often the slow one
Sometimes an aggregator's quote does match Across on price for USDC. When it does, check the time estimate. In our comparison, most routes where an aggregator matched Across's price used Circle's standard transfer, which LI.FI itself estimates at 18 minutes. Across quoted within about a basis point of those prices, with the funds arriving in seconds.
3. One less layer between you and your funds
With an aggregator, your transaction goes through the aggregator's router contract first, which then calls the bridge, sometimes with a swap added along the way. That's one more contract between you and your funds, and one more place for something to go wrong. Going direct removes that layer.
4. Built for size
An aggregator can only move as much as the protocols underneath it can handle. When Across is the best route for a large transfer, the aggregator sends you to Across anyway, and takes its percentage on the way through.
Across was built for size, with deep relayer liquidity, native USDC through CCTP, and Transit for transfers of up to $50M on Robinhood Chain routes. That makes it a natural fit for treasuries, market makers and anyone moving serious amounts.
5. One protocol accountable end to end
If a transfer through an aggregator is delayed, the first question is where the delay is: the router, a swap, or the bridge underneath. Answering it can mean going back and forth between several teams.
With Across, there's one protocol, one transfer to track and one team to ask. Across is responsible for the transfer from quote to delivery.
6. A track record you can check
Across has moved more than $40B+ across chains since 2021, and it's the same protocol many aggregators already route to.
For builders: integrate the layer that delivers
If you're adding crosschain transfers to a wallet, app or protocol, the same logic applies. Integrating an aggregator adds a dependency on its routing, its contracts and its fee, and your users pay that fee on every transfer. Integrating Across connects you directly to the protocol that delivers. The Across API is one integration that picks the right rail for each route and size, with crosschain actions that can bridge and act on the destination chain in a single flow. If you'd rather not integrate at all, you can link users straight to a pre-filled route in the Across app
When does an aggregator make sense?
Aggregators are useful tools. If you need a chain Across doesn't support yet, a long-tail token, or just a second opinion on price, comparison shopping helps. We're happy to be judged on the quote.
For the transfers most people make most of the time (stablecoins, ETH and major assets between leading chains), going direct is simpler and usually cheaper: no aggregator fee, a clear upfront quote and one protocol responsible for your funds.
Go direct
Next time an aggregator shows you its "best route," check what's underneath. If it's Across, you can skip the middle layer and the fee that comes with it.
