# Octav vs Nansen: Portfolio Data vs Analytics

> Nansen is on-chain analytics: labels and smart-money flow. Octav is decoded portfolio data across DeFi, options, perps and Solana. Which one you actually need.

- **URL:** https://octav.fi/blog/octav-vs-nansen
- **Published:** 2026-07-19
- **Updated:** 2026-07-27
- **Author:** Octav Team — Portfolio Intelligence for Digital Assets
- **Topic:** Benchmarks & Comparisons
- **Tags:** comparison, api, benchmark
- **Source:** Octav, Practical guides on crypto NAV reporting, multi-chain portfolio management and digital asset APIs, from the team behind Octav.

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Nansen and Octav get compared because both touch wallets, but they answer
different questions. Nansen tells you **who** is doing what on-chain — smart
money, wallet labels, flow. Octav tells you **what a wallet actually holds**,
decoded and priced across every chain. If you need an accurate portfolio, that
second question is the one that matters, and it is Octav's whole job.

<VersusLogos opponent="Nansen" logo="/providers/nansen.png" />

## Two different products

Nansen is an analytics platform. Its value is labelled intelligence: which
wallets are accumulating, where flows are heading, what "smart money" is doing.
That is research, not portfolio accounting.

Octav is a portfolio data engine — an API and an app on one backend — built to
resolve any address into every decoded position: lending, LP, staking, vaults,
perps and options, valued at the block timestamp. In our
[nine-provider benchmark](/crypto-portfolio-api-benchmark) Octav scored the
maximum on coverage and DeFi decoding; Nansen, measured on the same wallets,
scored lower on coverage and at the bottom on cost.

| | Nansen | Octav |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Primary job | On-chain analytics, wallet labels | Decoded portfolio data (API + app) |
| Portfolio decoding | Secondary to analytics | The core product |
| Benchmark coverage | 67 | **100** |
| Options / perps / Solana DeFi | Limited | Fully decoded |
| Cost | Premium | Credit-based, free tier |
| Best for | Research and flow analysis | Getting the portfolio number right |

## The same data in the API or the app

Everything the Octav API returns is also in the app, free to use at
[pro.octav.fi](https://pro.octav.fi/) — search any address and read the full
decoded portfolio, no analytics subscription required.

![The Octav app decoding a wallet across 48 chains and dozens of protocols — the same data the API returns](./images/octav-pro-board.jpg)

One wallet, 48 chains, every protocol position resolved individually — Aave,
Yearn, Euler, Uniswap, Hyperliquid — priced and categorised.

## Why Octav wins for portfolio accuracy

Analytics tools optimise for signal, not for reconciling every position in a
wallet to a correct dollar value. When the goal is an accurate portfolio — for
reporting, NAV, tax, or a product you are building — coverage and decoding
accuracy dominate, and that is measured, not asserted: Octav ties the top
[benchmark](/crypto-portfolio-api-benchmark) scores and is the only provider
tested that also decodes options, perps and Solana DeFi. See
[Octav vs DeBank vs Zerion](/octav-vs-debank-vs-zerion) for the head-to-head
against the other API leaders.

## Which should you pick?

- **Nansen** — if you want research: smart-money tracking, labels and flow
  analytics.
- **Octav** — if you want the portfolio itself decoded correctly, as an API to
  build on or a free app to look at.

They are complements as often as alternatives. Start with any wallet at
[pro.octav.fi](https://pro.octav.fi/), or read the
[benchmark](/crypto-portfolio-api-benchmark) for the method behind the numbers.