Four-line comparison
They all look like "hold tokens, receive tokens", and underneath they want entirely different things from you. Filter by what you are and are not willing to do, and see which lines survive.
| Line | What it takes to join | How time is counted | How tokens arrive | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launchpool | Stake BNB or the round's nominated token into a pool; the published minimum is 0.01 of each token | Share is computed hourly across the event, from repeated balance samples | Accrues hour by hour; the principal can be unstaked at any time | Opportunity cost only — no fees |
| HODLer Airdrops | BNB in Simple Earn (flexible or locked) or On-Chain Yields; anything pledged as collateral is excluded | The announced snapshot window, averaged hourly | Sent to the spot account around the listing | Close to nothing — the funds were earning yield anyway |
| Megadrop | BNB must be locked (flexible counts for nothing) and every Web3 quest completed; the wallet has to have been created and backed up in the Binance wallet | Longer locks earn a higher multiplier; the published tiers are 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 days | Paid to the spot account after the event, by total score | The funds are immobile for the lock period, plus the time the quests take |
| Alpha Points · TGE | A 15-day rolling score above that round's cut-off; when balance points are zero, volume points do not count either | The claim window opens on announcement day, usually first come first served | Points are deducted on confirmation; tokens land in the Alpha account | Fees plus spread, every day — and the score decays on its own |
With no filters applied, all four are shown.
How to read this table
What it is for
Most people arrive wanting to know which line to start with, and get answered with a description of all four. The filters turn that around: state your constraint, and the table removes what does not fit.
How the filters work
They combine with AND, not OR. Select two and only lines satisfying both remain. Select all four and you may well see nothing, which is itself the answer — no line is simultaneously free, effortless, small-capital-friendly and unlocked.
What the columns actually mean
"How time is counted" is the column people skim and should not. Launchpool and HODLer both sample repeatedly and average, which means arriving late costs you proportionally rather than costing you nothing. Megadrop instead rewards a committed duration chosen up front. Alpha Points ignore duration entirely and count a rolling 15-day window.
Where these figures come from
Binance's public help pages for each line, read in August 2026. Per-round specifics — supply, snapshot dates, excluded regions, the score cut-off — are set in each announcement and are deliberately not reproduced here, because a stale number is worse than no number.
What it will not tell you
Which line pays best. That depends on the round, the token, and the price on the day, and anyone claiming a general ranking is guessing. What this table settles is which lines you are structurally able to play at all.
What to read next
Start with how Launchpool actually works if you are new; how snapshots are taken if you hold BNB in Earn; and how Alpha Points are calculated if you trade daily.