Determining NFT Rarity: The best NFT Rarity tools 2023

Discover what NFT rarity is and what tools are out there to give you a clear outlook on the possible rarity of your current our future NFT purchase.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have grown exponentially in terms of market value and popularity in the past year. We have seen a rework of Andy Warhol’s computer image selling for over $3 million at an auction on Christie’s, Mike Winkelmann’s (Beepl) ‘The First 5,000 Days’ selling for more than $69.3 million. But NFTs are beyond mere digital artworks now.

If you’re not sure what NFTs are, have a look at our piece of content explaining the topic first.

Beeple’s Infamous Digital Artwork, Everydays: The First 5000 Days

Several more NFTs are now becoming known in the space today, and most of them have distinct characteristics that have also affected how cheap or expensive they would be at one point. 

We know that NFTs can be scarce, and it is what gives it value.

But how rare can some of them be? How can we reliably find out if an NFT is rare? What tools exist to find out the rarity of your NFTs ?

We’ll answer all those questions in this article and guide you through the whole process step-by-step.

Explaining NFT Rarity

As we have covered in the previous articles, NFTs are a versatile way to tokenize any asset and create unique and valuable tokens. This can be anything, like a virtual lot on a digital world, something that you see in Decentraland (MANA), or an in-game asset, something that you see in blockchain-based games such as Axie Infinity (AXS).

The market for NFTs and virtual goods is growing rapidly. New tokenization platforms and marketplaces on the blockchain are even making it easier to mint and sell NFTs, which in turn has attracted an influx of new users.

The recently popularized NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club

However, not all NFTs can possess a really high monetary value which you can potentially profit from. There are many factors that drive the price of an NFT. Chief among them is an NFTs rarity.

A rare NFT is likely to hold a higher value than the ones that are common.

Take for example the NFTs you get from play-to-earn blockchain games. Typically, you get free, common NFTs among your starter packs when joining and playing a game. The more valuable ones can only be bought from marketplaces or other players, they also vary in terms of price.

Like any other responsible collector, enthusiast, or NFT flipper, you want to be able to conduct proper valuation for everything you want to buy. This is where it is incredibly helpful to know how best to assess an NFTs rarity.

But before we get to that, what do we really mean when we say “NFT rarity”?

What is NFT Rarity?

NFT rarity refers to how limited a certain NFT is.

Note that there are numerous elements that can make an NFT rare, such as its characteristics, type, and scarcity, among many others. Some characteristics, when combined with another trait, make an NFT more expensive. There are some, on the other hand, that can merely possess a single, specific trait yet still rank above other NFTs in the market.

NFTs which hold utility can also be more valuable than a simple piece of digital artwork. It can really be a mix of everything and, like NFTs, no collection can be considered completely identical with one another. Many communities treat some NFT types differently.

Responsible and profitable NFT collectors try to look for rare NFTs they can afford to get the best value out of their money. So how do they assess the value and rarity of an NFT?

How is it calculated?

NFT rarity can be calculated through several means. Here are some of the basic ways you can follow to do your own NFT valuation.

Checking NFT Traits

The most basic method is by taking a look at the attribute or property of an NFT in comparison with other collections available under the same type. A rarity calculation can also be done by looking at statistics shown by “rarity tools” which help determine the rarity score of an NFT. You can see this easily in most NFT platforms.

CryptoPunk Traits

Each trait of an NFT can also bear their own value, they can also be rare in their own right. Check an NFTs physical attributes, as well as the rarity of the traits they possess.

To help you picture this better, look at Bored Apes NFTs. Most of them have different hairstyles, clothing, and more.

These are the traits that make each Bored Ape NFT different from one another and they also affect how rare they can be. The more common some of these attributes are, the lower their rarity becomes.

Average Trait Rarity Method

Apart from trait rarity comparison, others use the average or mean trait rarity model to determine NFT assessments.

In this approach, you can just sum up the traits of an NFT and divide it by its total number of traits. This can be too simplistic, however. A problem with this approach is that it overlooks the rarity of a trait by itself while considering all traits to have equal value.

What’s likely to happen is that there will be rare traits that can be overshadowed by common traits just because they are averaged.

Statistical Rarity Method

Another method you can try involves a little bit more computation. It is the statistical rarity model. In this approach, the percentage of total rarity is computed by multiplying the rarity percentage of all of an NFTs traits to come up with a rarity score.

Now, this is something you need to keep in mind. There are communities that calculate or rank rarity as well differently. There are some that put a premium on the number of attributes an NFT has to determine rarity. There are also others that look into the combination of some attributes.

The approach that you see in CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties involve looking into the number of attributes an NFT has. The other one is something you see on Waifusion where the match of clothing and style is considered when computing rarity.

How do you check for an NFTs rarity?

There are multiple tools you can try for yourself to assess the rarity of an NFT. Some examples are Rarity tools, Rarity sniper, HowRare, and more. While you could perform some of the research on your own, it can be a lot easier to try out a rarity tool.

Below are some of the market’s top rarity tools for NFTs.

Top Rarity Tools for NFTs

Remember to always check out which NFT rarity tool fits your needs. And as we’ve already mentioned, note that not all NFTs are ranked for rarity in the same way as others. These instruments can be incredibly useful in your goal to determine which NFT to buy but they should not be the only standard.

Trait Sniper

Trait Sniper lets you find updated details about an NFT project you are interested in. It also provides you access to some of the NFT projects that are yet to be launched while giving you the privilege to sign-up for NFT drops.

There are two membership categories on the platform, the free and paid version. A free subscription gives you the tool to calculate the rarity of an NFT but the paid subscription lets you set notifications on newly-minted NFTs.

Rarity.Tools

Rarity.tools is an NFT rarity scoring platform that provides users with an accurate listing of the market’s top NFT collections. Anyone can go to the platform to find the NFTs they want, with the ability to conveniently filter according to price, trading volume, owner count, and more. All in all, it provides a complete set of information to help anyone decide which NFT to buy by providing details beyond just the rarity score. You can also check the rarity of your own NFT through the platform.

RaritySniffer

RaritySniffer is an index of NFT collections that provide a ranking and NFT rarity scores for listings on OpenSea. There is also a list for all upcoming NFT mintings that users can look at for free. But above all, it has a blog section where users can get to see recent news and updates in the NFT community.

OpenSea

OpenSea is the biggest NFT marketplace that tops trading volume and number of NFT collections listed. But beyond just being a common ground for buyers and sellers, it also offers information on an NFTs rarity ranking. However, OpenSea does not yet have a feature to come up with an NFTs rarity score.

HowRare

HowRare serves a list of Solana NFT collections to help you find which ones are valuable. It shows a list of all collections along with the rare NFTs included there. It also provides users with information on the rarity rank of an NFT, its rarity score, attributes and traits, and many other relevant elements that are factored in whenever computing rarity.

The platform can be accessed free-of-charge. It even provides details on NFT collections that are set to be launched soon.

Nansen

Nansen is an NFT wallet management tool that lets users view their NFT holdings, identify new trends, find out where investments are going, and more due diligence features. It offers users the privilege to set custom alerts and notifications based on current market activity. The advantage with Nansen is it supports multiple blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Solana, and Terra.

DappRadar

DappRadar is a platform that features a list of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in the market. It also presents a list of NFTs which can be categorized based on top collections, top sales, marketplaces, and fractional NFTs. The interface is easy to understand and provides every trading related data that an NFT buyer might need. However, it does not offer an NFT rarity scoring tool.

NFT Bank

NFT Bank is an NFT portfolio management platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade NFTs easily. It also features a monitoring tool and NFT market statistics that could prove to be useful to any collector who wishes to perform due diligence on any project. Above these features, it offers a free viewing for users on the ownership history and trading activity for an NFT.

Crypto Slam

Crypto Slam is an NFT collection index that aggregates data to present market statistics and ranking. It also allows the user to view the top fan-based NFTs in the market. It offers a pretty comprehensive statistical overview of the NFT market, showing numbers on buyers, sellers, and transactions. Anyone can get a chance to list their NFT collections on the platform.

NFT Scoring

NFT Scoring is a platform that features a list of NFT collections, their corresponding floor price, trading volume, and more details. It lets users view the ranking of NFTs as well as their rarity. For better market overview, users can purchase a premium subscription where they get to see details as far as whale activity.

RarityMon

RarityMon is an NFT tracking platform that ranks NFT collections based on their rarity. It supports numerous listings for NFTs that are on Ethereum and Solana. Creators can also go to the platform to get their collections listed. More than that, it offers users the ability to participate in NFT launches in the future.

MomentRanks

MomentRanks offers a listing of over 60,000 NFT collections and their corresponding rarity score on their platform. The interface offers an intuitive design where users can easily find the price of an NFT collection, their trading volume, total market capitalization, and many others. Users can also take advantage of MomentRanks to create their own communities. Think Coinmarketcap.com, but for NFTs.

NFTSniff

NFTSniff shows a listing of NFT collections which you can easily filter according to certain categories. However, it is as straightforward as it looks. It provides information on the top minted NFTs and offers a feature where users can set notifications or alerts for new NFTs. They have their own Discord community that is only accessible to paid users.

Icy.tools

Icy.tools provides users with an overview of NFT collections, including market statistics that can affect the value of any NFT. It also offers a straightforward list and ranking of NFTs which users can link to their wallet to filter the rankings further. There is a subscription feature where users get to access more specific details such as the history of an NFT and its historical price chart.

Conclusion

You can make your own assessment or valuation of an NFT given some basic details about them on marketplaces.

However, the market always moves too fast and some mistakes are likely to be costly. This reality is why automating the process of determining the rarity score of an NFT is not just helpful, but also effective in removing the guesswork in the calculations.

Rarity tools give you more time to research on any particular project without spending too much effort in identifying how rare your NFT is. There are some tools that offer premium subscriptions too, giving you access to more specific market statistics that could be helpful in your decision-making. In the end, you would not be wrong to look into rarity tools to complement your due diligence efforts.