Short answer: As of 4 November 2026, 1,814 active businesses and services in the XMRList directory accept or support Monero (XMR), across 20 categories and 102 countries. Monero acceptance is confirmed on the business's own website for 1,073 of them (59.2%), 562 (31%) publish that they need no KYC, and 181 (10%) run a Tor onion site. These figures come from the free Monero Merchant Index, which recalculates them every day, freezes a dated copy, and publishes them as CSV and JSON for anyone to use.
Why a Monero merchant count was missing
Ask how many businesses accept Monero and you mostly find an old figure: about 950 merchants, counted by Cryptwerk in 2021 and repeated in articles ever since. The official Monero site doesn't give a number. Newer pages quote anything from "50+" to "1,600+" with no explanation of how they counted. Bitcoin has a well-known monthly count from BTC Map; Monero had nothing comparable that is dated, explained and reproducible.
XMRList already tracks every listing's category, country, KYC policy, Tor address, payment processor, XMR discount and whether its website is up. The Merchant Index turns that into numbers anyone can check and cite.
What the index measures
| Measure | 4 Nov 2026 | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 1,814 | Every listing not marked as a scam |
| Monero confirmed on the site | 1,073 (59.2%) | We read the business's own site and it lists XMR |
| Verified by editors | 226 | Listings with XMRList's Verified status |
| Publish no KYC | 562 (31%) | The site says no identity documents are needed |
| KYC on some orders | 174 | ID can be asked for some amounts or flagged orders |
| KYC always required | 35 | ID needed for every customer |
| Tor onion site | 181 (10%) | A .onion address is on record |
| Countries | 102 | Operator's stated location |
| Websites up at last check | 92% | Every site is checked once a day |
Where Monero is accepted
Businesses (shops and services) are the largest group with 441 listings, followed by exchanges and swaps (402), non-profits taking donations (238), web hosting (190) and utilities (63). By the operator's stated location, the United States leads with 228 listings, then Russia (90), Germany (61), the United Kingdom (46) and the Netherlands (34). Many of these sell worldwide, so the country is where the business is based, not where it delivers.
How merchants take the payment
Where we recorded how a business receives Monero, 71.3% take it straight to their own wallet. BTCPay Server, the self-hosted payment processor, is next at 7.8%, followed by NOWPayments (4.1%), CoinPayments (3.4%) and Cryptomus (2.1%). In other words, most Monero merchants don't use a payment company at all. 36 listings publish a discount for paying in XMR, with a median of 10%.
Health and freshness
A directory is only as good as its upkeep. 87.3% of listings were checked against their own website in the last 12 months, three days ago on average at the time of writing, and every website is tested for reachability daily. The index reports these numbers next to the totals, so you can judge how current the count is rather than take it on trust.
How the index works
- Daily calculation. Once a day the server recomputes every figure from the directory.
- Frozen snapshot. The result is saved as a dated snapshot that never changes afterwards. Any number quoted from the index can be checked later against the snapshot for that day.
- Change over time. Once 30 days of snapshots exist, the page shows how each figure moved over the last month.
- Clear definitions. Each figure says what it counts. "Monero confirmed" means we saw XMR on the merchant's own site, not that a customer told us.
Free data you can download
Everything on the index page is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0; just credit XMRList and link the page.
- JSON: /api/v1/stats returns the latest snapshot.
- CSV: categories, countries and daily history.
- Snapshots:
/stats/snapshots/YYYY-MM-DD.jsonfor any published day. - Full directory: /data.json lists every graded listing with its key facts.
- Developer docs: the open data API page and an OpenAPI spec cover these plus exchange availability, regulation, software releases, advisories and network fees.
No key, no sign-up, and the endpoints allow requests from any website.
curl https://xmrlist.com/api/v1/statsSuggested citation: XMRList Monero Merchant Index, snapshot 2026-11-04, xmrlist.com/stats (CC BY 4.0).
How it helps different people
- People who want to spend XMR: see which categories and countries have the most choice, then browse them in the directory.
- Merchants: see how other businesses take Monero (mostly direct to wallet) and how many offer a discount, before setting up your own checkout. Our guide to accepting Monero payments covers the options.
- Journalists and researchers: a dated, reproducible figure to cite instead of a 2021 estimate.
- Developers: build dashboards, maps or bots on the JSON and CSV feeds.
Related free data pages
The index sits alongside other free data pages that update on their own: where to buy Monero (exchanges with a live XMR market, updated daily, with a delisting log), the privacy-coin regulation tracker (rules by country, each with its source), and the grading rubric behind every listing's A to F grade.
FAQ
How many businesses accept Monero in 2026?
The XMRList Monero Merchant Index counted 1,814 active businesses and services on 4 November 2026, with Monero acceptance confirmed on the business's own website for 1,073 of them. The figure is recalculated every day on the index page.
Is the Monero Merchant Index free to use?
Yes. The page, CSV files, JSON API and daily snapshots are free under CC BY 4.0. Please credit XMRList and link the index page.
Why is "Monero confirmed" lower than the total?
Some listings were added from community submissions and we haven't yet seen Monero named on their own site, or their site doesn't list payment methods publicly. We show both numbers rather than round the total up.
How often is the data updated?
Every day. Each day's figures are also saved as a snapshot that never changes, so earlier numbers stay checkable.
Does the country show where a business ships?
No. It is where the operator says the business is based. Many Monero merchants sell worldwide.
Can I get the data without using the API?
Yes. Download the CSV files from the index page, or the daily snapshot JSON files linked from the snapshots page.
See today's numbers: Monero Merchant Index.