Solana stands out as one of the most cost-efficient and high-performing cryptocurrency networks available today. On the Solana network, a single transaction typically costs around $0.002796 (0.000015 SOL).
When Solana launched in 2020, it operated with a fixed transaction fee model, where the gas fee per transaction was just 0.000005 SOL. However, this changed in 2022 with the introduction of an optional additional fee, designed to prioritize specific transactions for an extra cost, and again in 2025 with the introduction of Jito tips, which serve a similar function to the optional fee.
In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about Solana gas fees, including how additional fees function, transaction statistics, and more.
Key highlights:
- Solana offers some of the cheapest transaction fees in the cryptocurrency market, typically costing between $0.000933 and $0.2798.
- An additional fee, optional and paid for transaction prioritization, constitutes around 93% of all fees on the network.
- Solana burns 50% of all transaction fees, with the rest distributed to validators.
- Despite challenges, Solana’s low gas fees and high transaction capacity position it as a strong competitor in the blockchain industry.
How much can you expect to pay for Solana gas fees
According to Solscan, one of the best Solana explorers, regular Solana transaction fees range between $0.0024 and $0.048. As of November 20th, the base fee paid for a single non-vote transaction on Solana amounted to $0.00093, or 0.000005 SOL.
However, transactions on the Solana blockchain incur the so-called additional fee in addition to the base fee, as well as the newly introduced Jito tips. These fees ensure that the transaction is prioritized. In practice, most users transacting on Solana choose to pay the additional fees for faster processing. In the last 24 hours, the average additional fee amounted to 0.000014 SOL, or $0.002618.
So, what’s the difference between regular and additional fees on Solana? Let’s take a look.
Regular Solana gas fees
A regular Solana gas fee is the cost of making transactions on the Solana network. Thanks to the innovative Proof-of-History (PoH) consensus mechanism, Solana features some of the cheapest fees on the market, usually costing just a fraction of a penny.
Additional Solana gas fees
The additional Solana gas fee (also called the priority fee) is an optional fee that allows users to boost their transactions against other users, resulting in quicker execution times. Here’s how the prioritization fee is calculated according to Solana documentation.
“The prioritization fee is calculated by multiplying the requested maximum compute units by the compute-unit price (specified in increments of 0.000001 lamports per compute unit) rounded up to the nearest lamport.”
For additional context, lamport is a fractional native token with the value of 0.000000001 SOL.
Solana gas fee and transaction stats
On average, about 40,000 SOL in total fees and over 36,800 SOL in prioritization fees are paid by users each day. The prioritization fee represents over 91% of all fees paid on the network in absolute dollar amount, although that number varies from day to day quite considerably (for context, the ratio between base and additional fees ranged from 91% to 95% over the past week).
The average amount of base Solana gas fees paid in the last week was between 18,000 SOL and 32,000 SOL per day. (Source: Solscan)
How much of Solana’s gas fees are burned
Solana employs a system in which 50% of all transaction fees are burned. The other 50% is distributed to the validator that processed the transaction.
When referring to blockchain statistics on Solana, epochs are typically used as the most common time reference. Each epoch lasts about two and a half days. In the last epoch (number 790), 33,276 SOL was burned per data from Solana Compass.
A diagram showing how Solana gas fees work. (Source: Solana Compass)
How Solana stacks up against other blockchains
Solana is one of the fastest and cheapest blockchain networks in the industry. Founded in 2017 by software engineer Anatoly Yakovenko, followed by the mainnet launch in 2020, Solana is capable of handling up to 65,000 transactions per second. Moreover, the network could soon process up to 600,000 TPS if scalability improvements by Firedancer developers are successfully implemented.
That’s a way higher number of transactions than other popular networks – for instance, Bitcoin is capable of handling 7 transactions per second, and Ethereum about 120. Here’s how Solana stacks up against several other platforms:
| Blockchain | Average Tx Fee | TPS | Transaction Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | $0.0028 | 65,000 TPS | 5 seconds |
| Bitcoin | $1.38 | 7 TPS | 10 minutes to 1 hour |
| Ethereum | $1.51 | 119 TPS | 13 seconds |
| Polygon | $0.037 | 714 TPS | 2 seconds |
| XRP | $0.0002 | 3,400 TPS | 3-5 seconds |
*Data collected on May 23, 2025
Why low transaction fees matter
The cost of transactions is one of the primary reasons that determines how active a blockchain ecosystem is. Low fees make it possible for various blockchain use cases, like smart contracts, non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance applications, and games, to become viable. If the cost of transactions is prohibitive, these use cases have no chance of emerging or reaching any meaningful adoption.
Since the cost of gas fees on Solana is low, the NFT activity on the network took off in the last year, with Solana NFT marketplaces like Magic Eden leading the way. The long-term prospects of cheap transactions are one of the reasons why Solana is one of the best cryptos to buy for the long term, at least in our opinion.
Solana gas fees FAQs
Does Solana have gas fees?
Solana, like virtually every other blockchain network, charges gas fees per transaction. Cryptocurrencies charge gas fees to compensate the miners or validators for the computing power they use to process and validate transactions. These fees also help to prevent spam and congestion on the network.
Is Solana gas cheaper than Ethereum?
Yes, Solana’s gas fees are way cheaper than Ethereum’s. As of May 23, 2025, an average transaction fee on Solana amounted to roughly $0.0028, while the gas fee on Ethereum was about $1.51. The low transaction costs and fast transaction speed are some of the main reasons why Solana is considered one of the top Ethereum competitors.
Why are Solana fees so low?
The main reason why fees on Solana are low is the Proof of History consensus mechanism, which is very efficient and does not require a lot of computing power. In addition, Solana can process multiple transactions in parallel, which helps to increase throughput and reduce fees. Last but not least, Solana boasts high block time and block size, which further lowers transaction costs.
The bottom line: Solana gas fees are some of the lowest in the industry
Following a spectacular market run in 2021, during which the SOL price exploded by roughly 11,200%, Solana experienced a massive downturn in 2022, losing 94% of its value during the year. In addition, the network experienced several outages, leading many crypto users to to call it dead. However, Solana is apparently still very much alive and has increased over tenfold in value since its low point in late 2022, not to mention that it recorded a considerable increase in DeFi and NFT activity as well as the growth in popularity of Solana wallets.
Low gas prices could certainly help Solana stage an even bigger recovery and help the cryptocurrency reach beyond $1,000. However, the time horizon for that price target is most likely years, if not decades. In the meantime, you can check the pros and cons of Solana as an investment.
Source:: How Much Is Solana Gas Fee? A Detailed Look at Transaction Costs on the Solana Blockchain