I’ve been looking at all the NFT collections again and I have to say, the selection has become incredible. When you consider which NFTs to buy, it quickly becomes overwhelming – thousands of projects, but only a few are really worth a look.

Established collections are usually the best starting point. I also tend to focus more on the well-known names rather than any smaller projects that come with too much uncertainty.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is still the number one when it comes to popular PFP NFTs. The project started in 2021 with a mint price of only 0.08 ETH – about $190. Today, the floor price is significantly higher. What made BAYC special back then: they created products and experiences that only BAYC holders could access, and distributed free NFTs from related series. Plus, they granted commercial rights for the artworks. The concept was later copied by many others. Yuga Labs, the team behind it, also came up with ApeCoin as a currency within the ecosystem.

CryptoPunks are basically the classic – they shaped the entire PFP genre in 2017. 10,000 unique avatars, and initially, you could mint them for free, only paying gas fees. Today, CryptoPunks are extremely sought after, and prices are accordingly high. A CryptoPunk with the rare "Alien" trait was sold for over $23 million. Crazy, right?

Azuki is interesting because it has its own anime style and brought something fresh into the game. 10,000 NFTs with different rarity levels. The collection is also more accessible than BAYC or CryptoPunks – the entry barrier is much lower. There are also BEANZ as companion NFTs for Azuki holders.

Otherdeeds are something special – these are plots of land for Yuga Labs’ Otherside metaverse. A total of 100,000 NFTs, some also contain Kodas, these strange creatures. Those with Kodas are significantly more expensive. Honestly, it’s still very speculative, but there’s a lot of trading activity.

If you’re wondering which NFTs to buy for long-term investments, you should also look into generative art. Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs is one of the most renowned collections – 999 NFTs, all generated by code with random parameters. The variety is impressive; some have vibrant colors, others only two. Prices are accordingly high.

Ringers is similar – also generative art by Dmitri Cherniak via Art Blocks. 1,000 artworks based on the concept of strings wrapped around sticks. Some look randomly like real objects – there’s an NFT called "The Goose" because it looks like a goose. Prices here are also on the higher end.

The Doge NFT is a one-of-a-kind – the legendary Doge meme photo as an NFT. PleasrDAO bought it for about $4 million and then made it publicly accessible. Ownership is distributed across billions of DOG tokens, and anyone can buy a part and become a partial owner.

Nouns is an interesting experiment – a new Noun NFT is generated and auctioned every day, forever. The proceeds go to the Nouns DAO, where NFT holders can vote. One Noun = one vote. They fund various projects, even e-sports teams.

CLONE X was created through a collaboration between RTFKT and Takashi Murakami. The avatars can be customized individually, which is relatively rare in NFT projects. The collection regularly ranks among the most traded.

Invisible Friends by Markus Magnusson are animated NFTs with invisible bodies – you only see the clothes and accessories. The project collaborates with the clothing brand Kith. There are also 3D versions of them.

If you’re seriously considering which NFTs to buy for your portfolio, you need to be realistic: the top collections have high entry costs. Minimum prices can be substantial. But these established projects are probably the safer choice compared to any new experiments. It’s worth taking the time to understand the different collections before jumping in. Many good NFT projects are also available for free as drops if you want to get a feel for it. In the end, it all depends on what appeals to you personally and where you see long-term potential.