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We compared Route with MetaMask’s swap quote service on Robinhood Chain. Route returned more output in all 7 usable comparisons out of 12 attempts. Five attempts could not be compared. They are not wins.
This is a small quote-service test from September 6, 2026, not a comparison of completed swaps. Network gas and approval costs are excluded. MetaMask’s wallet interface may choose a different quote or apply account-specific settings. These results do not prove Route is always cheaper or faster.

Output before network gas

MetaMask is the 0 bps baseline for each input. Positive values mean Route returned more output. 1 bp = 0.01%. Provider fees are already reflected in the outputs.
Route output advantage over MetaMask before network gas: 22.9, 87.2 and 85.7 bps for 0.01, 0.1 and 1 ETH to USDG; 56.7, 29.1 and 87.6 bps for 0.01 ETH to PIPEDOG, PONS and CHUMP. CHUMP has two comparable observations; each other input has one.
Bars show the mean of the usable observations for each input. The thin line shows their observed range, not a confidence interval. Only CHUMP has two usable observations. All other bars are single observations. Displayed results use three significant figures. Download all 12 attempts, including the five excluded results. Output amounts are in each token’s base units. Blank comparison fields mean unavailable, not a tie.

Fees included in this test

Route charged 0 bps. The selected MetaMask quotes reported 87.5 bps (0.875%), matching its published swap fee. For a 0.01 ETH input, MetaMask’s response allocated 0.0000875 ETH to its fee and 0.0099125 ETH to the swap. We checked that these added up to the full requested input and that the transaction’s ETH value matched it. The returned token output already accounted for that fee, so we did not subtract it again. A lower platform fee does not guarantee better output. Different liquidity sources and prices can offset the fee difference. This test measures the returned output, not an assumed saving based on the fee alone. This compares MetaMask Swaps, not using the MetaMask wallet to connect to Route. Connecting that wallet does not add a MetaMask Swaps fee to a Route swap.

How we compared

We requested six fixed native-ETH inputs over two rounds, reversing their order in the second round. Each Route/MetaMask request pair started together, with at least five seconds between pairs. The run lasted from 23:04:50 to 23:05:47 UTC on September 6, 2026. Route used its live service with direct and Kyber routing enabled, 0x disabled and no Route fee. We used Route’s simulated output. MetaMask used its same-chain getQuote service with chain ID 4663, a synthetic caller, 0.5% slippage and gas-inclusive modes disabled. We did not override its fee settings or request a discount. For MetaMask, we selected the highest destination output among returned candidates that matched the chain, token pair, recipient and full input. The selected sources were KyberSwap and OpenOcean. This is a before-gas selection rule, not a reproduction of MetaMask’s wallet ranking.

Failed attempts and limits

Route returned simulated quotes for all 12 requests. MetaMask returned parseable quote arrays for seven. The last five responses failed JSON parsing in the collector. Its initial parser did not retain their HTTP status or body, so we cannot say whether those were rate limits, service errors or another response type. We kept the failures and did not retry them into wins. Successful-response median time was 1.57 seconds for Route across 12 responses and 1.34 seconds for MetaMask across seven. These have different sample counts and do not measure wallet confirmation or total swap time. They do not establish a Route speed advantage. The quote blocks were not matched. We did not independently simulate MetaMask’s transactions, compare gas costs, test ERC20 inputs, reproduce wallet account settings or measure final token receipts. The sample is too small and incomplete to establish broad reliability or a best-price guarantee. No signatures, approvals or transactions were sent. Route’s contracts remain unaudited.

Evidence

The downloadable results include every attempted comparison. The parser was subsequently improved to retain HTTP status on non-JSON responses; it does not recover the missing details from this run. Raw result SHA-256: 2b8e2dd703449c12961f8b06168d778c196fbee5c48a98028a67cab9ced7e03b.