An overview of the best ways to token gate
As Web3 brings new experiences to users, token gating is exploding in popularity. This new authorization method provides access to static or dynamic content based on the user’s ownership of one or more tokens. It can be used to access private Discord channels, Shopify products or perks, digital content, and exclusive IRL events. As brands and creators adopt Web3 and the possibilities of the Metaverse continue to expand, more and more projects are looking to implement their own gating mechanism. The question is: which solution is the right one for you?
In this post, we’ll focus specifically on the different ways to create token gating mechanisms on EVM compatible chains. Various methods have cropped up over the past couple years or so, but which option is right for you will depend on three factors: what your level of technical expertise is, what requirements you want to set for access, and how much control you want over the implementation.
To make this guide easier to follow, I’ve separated each option into two distinct buckets: non-technical and technical. Further, I’ve ordered them by level implementation control — the last option giving you most control. If you think I’ve missed an option, let me know, I’d be happy to review and add it!
Non-technical Solutions
Option 1: Mintgate
Mintgate is a no-code platform that allows creators to mint NFTs and tokens on the Polygon blockchain that can then be purchased by their followers to access the token-gated content they have created.
As a creator, you don’t need any blockchain expertise to understand how the platform works, it only takes a couple minutes to get started, and you can upload several different types of content: video, audio, embedded links, tickets, pdfs, and images. Any user can then purchase the required NFTs and access this content directly on the creator’s Mingate portal, making it a fully self-serve option.
Whom it’s great for: If you’re a budding creator and want to share content with your die-hard followers, this is a great option. While the gating condition is quite simple (i.e., owning one of your NFTs), you most likely don’t need more complicated options at this stage.
For a more in-depth tutorial, I would recommend this guide, written by Mintgate’s co-founder, Jennifer Tan.
Option 2: Submarine.me
Submarine.me is an app that makes creating unlockable content possible for all creators, allowing them to share premium content with their community.
As you may have guessed from the above description, Submarine has a lot of the same functionality and ease-of-use as the previous option. Any creator can quickly upload and share their content directly through the platform; minting the NFTs is also done through the creator’s Submarine portal. Two added benefits, however, are that you can also upload games for your followers and this product is created by the Piñata team, which means all content will be hosted on their private IPFS nodes.
Whom it’s great for: Small to medium creators will find this to be a great solution. The team behind its creation is only getting started with this recent addition to their product kit.
Submarine also has an SDK. For a more in-depth guide on this, I highly recommend Justin Hunter’s explainer.
Option 3: Unlock Protocol
Unlock is a protocol for memberships as NFTs which allows creators and communities to monetize their work, on their own terms. By creating locks to gate content and selling keys as NFTs, they help anyone create a membership community.
Of the non-technical options, Unlock provides the most flexibility in terms of what experiences you can create for your users. Because the protocol focuses on creating only the lock/key mechanism, a creator is in full control of how their content is shared with their users. This means that instead of using the Unlock website as the place where your followers will see your content, you actually embed their widgets into your own (no-code) website to sell the NFT keys.
As people try to access the gated portions of your website, they will first be prompted with an Unlock message that will check their NFT ownership. Additionally, the team behind the project has enabled creators to use NFTs they have minted outside of the protocol as keys to content (though this does require following a few technical steps). As a whole, this allows a creator to provide a much more customized user experience, even if the token gating conditions still remain simple (i.e., owning an NFT of a collection).
Whom it’s great for: If you’re a creator that already has or wants to create their own website (using a no-code tool like Webflow) and/or has minted NFTs on another platform, Unlock gives you the flexibility to combine these different parts into one unified token gating experience.
Technical Solutions
Option 4: Lit Protocol
Lit Protocol allows any developer to grant access to content, software, and data using tokens, NFTs, and blockchain identity as keys.
With their toolkit, you can harness their on-chain access control conditions to: encrypt and decrypt static content (images, videos, music, etc), authorize network signatures that provide access to dynamic content (e.g., a server), and request a network-signed JWT that provisions access and authorization to dynamic content. In other words, it’s not just hiding content behind a gate, but actually encrypting and storing the content, which can then be decrypted by the original uploader (or anyone who has the authorization delegated to them).
Relative to non-technical options, Lit Protocol allows for more complicated access control conditions: ownership (NFTs, ERC-20s, ETH), membership (being part of a DAO or signed up for websites like creaton.io), and combinations of multiple requirements. However, since it is more of a decentralized encryption and decryption engine, there are a few steps to implementation: getting an auth signature for the Lit Protocol client, uploading the access conditions and the content using an API call (which will need to be done every time the gated content is edited), and then checking for these conditions with another call for specific users.
Whom it’s great for: If you are a developer looking to encrypt and store content on a decentralized network, and may need to delegate access to other users, this option provides the tools needed. In addition, the team is constantly updating their network to provide more options.
Option 5: Guild.xyz
Guild.xyz provides automated membership management for the platforms your community already uses.
As its name suggests, everything revolves around guilds. A developer can create a guild (i.e., an online community) through an API call that also includes the access conditions (e.g., owning 1 or more tokens, being part of a specific user list, owning 1 or more NFTs with metadata attributes). Then, another call can be used to add a user address to this guild (as long as the corresponding wallet satisfies the requirements).
Once in a guild, guild.xyz has created several integrations with third-party tools (e.g., Google docs, Telegram, Discord) that will then be available to your guild members. In addition, a developer can also use a third API call to give different roles to specific users, which can help access more or less of each third-party tool. It should be noted, however, that these APIs can only be used in relation to creating/managing guilds, which may not work for all scenarios.
Whom it’s great for: If you are a developer for a DAO or an NFT community, this is a great way to connect your community (around functions or goals or interests) and give them exclusive access to many third-party tools. Much easier to manage a DAO if you all have access to the same Google Drive!
Guild.xyz also provides a self-serve platform that allows you to use their API endpoints without any code.
Option 6: 3mint
3mint is a developer-focused toolkit that enables quick and easy development of Web3-enabled products and experiences. With its token gating API, developers can create even the most complicated gating mechanics with a single call and users are guaranteed fast response times.
Obviously, I’m a little biased here, but we at 3mint truly believe we’ve created an option that provides both great developer and user experience. As a developer, you don’t need to first deploy your gating conditions on the blockchain (which Lit Protocol and Guild.xyz require), you simply integrate one API directly into your codebase. Additionally, you have the most ways to create a gating condition, which allows you to create different tranches of access for users. You can gate based on:
- Ownership of one or more NFTs / tokens
- Metadata attributes
- Time (e.g. days held)
- Combinations of the above
As a user, you’re guaranteed a very fast UX, since 3mint has the fastest response times for checking conditions. If ever the access condition takes more than 500ms to verify, the request is cached and constantly verified asynchronously to ensure token gating provides all the benefits, without harming the current UX.
Whom it’s great for: This is the ideal solution for developers that are creating end-to-end web3 experiences, but don’t want to roll their own gating mechanism from scratch. Because the token gating mechanism does not live in association with any other 3mint products, it can be used in any situation.
Conclusion
There are already several token gating methods available today. Which one you choose will depend on what kind of creator or developer you are. As the web3 space continues to grow, we at 3mint will continue to adapt our token gating API to satisfy the needs of projects needing fully customized experiences.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here!
Disclaimer: the author is the co-founder and CTO of 3mint.
Can’t find the right solution for you? Looking for a solution for other chains? Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions and feedback at dimitri@3mint.io
Interested in joining 3mint? We’re hiring! Check out our open positions here.
