Live gas prices for Ethereum and major Layer 2 networks.
Real-time gwei values and US dollar transaction cost estimates for Ethereum Mainnet plus Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, and BNB Chain. Prices refresh every 30 seconds. Use the grid to compare networks and pick the cheapest route for your next transaction.
Ethereum gas price (last 24 hours)
What is Ethereum gas
Gas is the unit Ethereum uses to measure computational work. Every action on the network, from a simple transfer to a complex decentralized exchange swap, costs a specific amount of gas that reflects how much computation and storage it consumes. Simple operations like moving ETH between addresses use 21,000 gas. A Uniswap swap typically uses 150,000 to 230,000 gas. Minting an NFT can use anywhere from 120,000 to 300,000 gas depending on the contract complexity.
The dollar cost of a transaction equals the gas used multiplied by the current gas price, converted to fiat. Gas price is denominated in gwei, which is one billionth of an ETH. A transaction that uses 100,000 gas at a gas price of 20 gwei costs 0.002 ETH, or roughly 5 dollars at a 2,500 dollar ETH price. The same transaction during peak congestion at 150 gwei would cost 37 dollars.
Gas exists to align incentives. Without it, a malicious actor could write an infinite loop that ran forever and consumed all network resources for free. By pricing each operation, Ethereum creates a market where users with high-value transactions can pay more to get included quickly, and the network has economic defense against spam.
Why gas prices fluctuate
Gas prices change constantly because demand for block space changes constantly. Ethereum produces a new block approximately every 12 seconds. Each block has a target gas usage of around 15 million gas and a hard ceiling around 30 million. When blocks are full, the base fee (the algorithmic component of the gas price under EIP-1559) rises by up to 12.5 percent per block. When blocks are below target, the base fee falls. This feedback loop pushes fees up during congestion and back down when demand eases.
Specific events reliably drive fees higher. Major NFT mints can push gwei into the hundreds for several hours as users race to claim limited supply. Periods of high volatility in centralized exchanges send arbitrage bots onto Ethereum and DEXs, which compete aggressively on priority fees. Airdrops often produce multi-day gas spikes as eligible users rush to claim. Protocol launches and major ecosystem events create their own surges.
Over the past two years, the growth of Layer 2 networks has significantly reduced ETH mainnet demand for routine transactions. L2 rollups batch thousands of transactions into a single mainnet data blob, and users pay fractional gwei rates on the L2 side. This has made mainnet gas cheaper on average than during 2020 to 2021, with occasional spikes still occurring during major events.
Best time to transact
A cheap time and day to transact on Ethereum can cut your fee by half or more compared to peak periods. The table below summarizes the most reliable cheap windows based on historical gas data.
| Cheap window | Typical savings | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Weekends (Saturday, Sunday UTC) | 30 to 40 percent | Global trading activity drops on weekends. Lower demand, lower base fee. |
| 2 AM to 6 AM UTC | 20 to 30 percent | Asian markets closed, US markets closed, EU still asleep. Lowest average demand window. |
| Between NFT drops | 10 to 20 percent | Major NFT mints spike gas for hours at a time. Avoid drops on sites like OpenSea and Blur. |
| Outside DEX arbitrage spikes | 10 to 15 percent | Fast price moves on centralized exchanges push DEX arbitrage. Quiet markets = lower gas. |
| During L2 migration cycles | Variable | When liquidity rotates to an L2 (Base campaigns, Arbitrum DAO events), mainnet quiets down. |
Combining these windows (for example, a Saturday morning UTC during a quiet market) can produce fees 50 to 70 percent lower than peak. For non-urgent transactions like DeFi rebalancing, setting a limit order or scheduling the transaction for a cheap window is often worth the wait.
How to reduce gas fees
Several practical levers reduce gas costs, in rough order of effectiveness.
- Move to Layer 2. For routine swaps, transfers, and DeFi activity, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, or another rollup typically costs 10 to 100 times less than mainnet. This is the single largest cost reduction available.
- Transact during cheap windows. Weekend mornings UTC, avoiding NFT drops, and monitoring network congestion (see the live grid above) directly reduces base fee cost.
- Batch transactions. Multicall contracts and flash loan patterns let you combine multiple operations into a single transaction that amortizes fixed overhead.
- Use a wallet that simulates. Rabby and MetaMask smart accounts simulate transactions before submission and warn about failures. A failed transaction costs gas without any benefit; avoiding failures is a meaningful saving.
- Set priority fee carefully. The default wallet priority fee is often higher than needed. During calm periods, 0.01 to 0.05 gwei priority is usually enough for next-block inclusion. Over-tipping does not speed things up when there is no competition.
- Use specialized routers. 1inch, Matcha, and CoW Swap often produce better net prices than Uniswap directly, not because of lower gas but because they find better execution paths. A 10 basis points execution improvement often exceeds the gas cost entirely.
Layer 2 alternatives comparison
The major Layer 2 networks and their gas economics. All prices are approximate reference figures, not live quotes. Use the live grid at the top of this page for real-time numbers.
| Network | Type | Typical gas price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbitrum One | Optimistic rollup | 0.10 to 0.40 gwei | Largest L2 by TVL. Mature ecosystem, best DeFi liquidity. |
| Optimism | Optimistic rollup | 0.001 to 0.05 gwei | OP Stack base chain, compatible with Base, Worldchain, others. |
| Base | Optimistic rollup (OP Stack) | 0.001 to 0.05 gwei | Coinbase-backed L2. Fast growing, heavy retail user base. |
| Polygon PoS | Sidechain | 20 to 100+ gwei (MATIC) | Independent chain with ETH bridges. Higher throughput, own token. |
| zkSync Era | ZK rollup | 0.02 to 0.20 gwei | Mature zero knowledge rollup. Strong security guarantees. |
| Starknet | ZK rollup | Varies | STRK denominated fees. Cairo programming language. Growing DeFi stack. |
| Linea | ZK rollup | 0.05 to 0.20 gwei | Consensys-operated. Tight MetaMask integration. |
For most DeFi use cases, Arbitrum and Base are the two largest and most liquid L2 ecosystems. For specialized applications, zkSync and Starknet offer zero knowledge security guarantees. Polygon PoS remains popular for its low cost and mature tooling, though technically it is a sidechain rather than an Ethereum rollup.
Common transaction costs
Reference gas usage for common transaction types. Multiply by the current gas price to get the dollar cost. The live grid at the top computes this automatically for common transaction types across all six supported networks.
| Transaction type | Typical gas used | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Simple ETH transfer | 21,000 | The base case. All other transactions start from here. |
| ERC-20 transfer | 65,000 | Standard token transfer. Varies slightly by token contract. |
| Uniswap V3 swap | 150,000 to 230,000 | Average around 184,000. Varies with number of pool hops. |
| Uniswap V2 swap | 120,000 to 180,000 | Slightly lower than V3 for simple pairs. |
| NFT mint | 120,000 to 300,000 | Varies hugely by contract. Heavy metadata = more gas. |
| NFT transfer | 80,000 | Standard ERC-721 transfer. |
| DeFi deposit (Aave, Compound) | 200,000 to 400,000 | Approval + supply can double this. |
| DeFi withdrawal | 150,000 to 250,000 | Faster than deposit in most protocols. |
| Multicall batch | Varies | Often cheaper per operation than separate transactions. |
| Contract deployment | 500,000+ | Scales with contract bytecode size. |
How gas is calculated
The fee formula under EIP-1559 looks like this: fee = gasUsed × (baseFee + priorityFee). Base fee is set by the protocol based on recent block fullness. Priority fee is the tip you pay to the validator for including your transaction quickly. The wallet typically shows both values when you review a transaction and lets you override the priority fee for faster inclusion.
Your wallet also sets a gas limit, which is the maximum amount of gas you authorize. If the transaction uses less than this limit, you pay only for what is used and the rest is refunded. If the transaction hits the limit and still has work to do, it reverts and you pay for the gas consumed up to that point without any benefit. Setting a gas limit that is too tight is a common cause of failed transactions, particularly for complex DeFi calls.
One subtle mechanic worth understanding: the base fee is burned. It does not go to validators. This was introduced with EIP-1559 in August 2021 and has removed a meaningful amount of ETH from circulation during high-activity periods. Priority fees go entirely to validators. The combination aligns incentives so validators capture value only from the genuine congestion tip rather than from baseline network use.
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Frequently asked questions
What is gas in Ethereum?
Gas is the unit that measures computational effort required to execute operations on the Ethereum network. Every operation (storage write, addition, comparison) costs a specific amount of gas. Complex transactions like DeFi swaps or NFT mints involve thousands of operations and therefore a larger total gas budget than simple transfers. The cost you pay is gas limit multiplied by gas price per unit, with the gas price denominated in gwei (one billionth of an ETH).
Why do gas prices fluctuate so much?
Ethereum has a fixed capacity per block (roughly 30 million gas) and an EIP-1559 fee market that dynamically adjusts the base fee based on how full recent blocks are. When demand is high (a popular NFT mint, major DeFi activity, or a volatile market), blocks fill up, the base fee rises, and transactions become expensive. When demand is low, the base fee falls. This is similar to how Uber surge pricing works: the price rises until demand falls back to capacity.
What is the cheapest time to transact on Ethereum?
Weekend mornings UTC (Saturday and Sunday between 2 and 6 AM UTC) typically produce the lowest gas prices. This window avoids Asian market hours, US market hours, and most EU activity. Avoid major NFT mint times and highly volatile market days, when arbitrage bots push gas prices up sharply. See the table above for a complete cheap time guide.
How do Layer 2 networks reduce gas costs?
L2s process transactions off the Ethereum mainnet and periodically post compressed summaries back to L1. Users pay for their L2 transaction at the L2 rate (typically 0.01 to 0.5 gwei) plus a small share of the batch posting cost. The overall fee is usually 10 to 100 times cheaper than mainnet. Trade-offs include longer withdrawal times (especially for optimistic rollups) and a different security model.
What is the difference between base fee and priority fee?
EIP-1559 split transaction fees into two parts. The base fee is set algorithmically by the protocol and is burned (removed from circulation). The priority fee is a tip paid directly to the validator who includes your transaction. Your transaction max fee is base fee plus priority fee. During congestion, priority fees rise as users compete for inclusion. During calm periods, priority fees are often 0.01 to 0.10 gwei.
Are gas prices the same on all L2s?
No, they vary significantly. Arbitrum and Optimism typically cost 0.001 to 0.5 gwei for typical transactions. Polygon PoS is a separate chain with its own fee market (20 to 100 gwei in MATIC). Zero knowledge rollups like zkSync and Starknet have their own dynamics. The comparison table above gives current approximate ranges.
How is gas calculated for a transaction?
Total fee equals gas used multiplied by gas price. Gas used is determined at execution time based on the operations performed. Gas price you set in your wallet before submission. Your wallet shows an estimate based on current base fee plus a recommended priority fee. If the actual gas used is less than your gas limit, the difference is refunded.
Why do my failed transactions still cost gas?
Because the network still did computational work to execute the transaction before discovering the failure. A failed transaction might use 100,000 gas before reverting, and you pay for that gas. This is particularly costly with arbitrage bots that lose races or DeFi transactions that fail due to slippage. Simulating the transaction before submission (wallets like Rabby do this) helps catch failures before you pay.
Related reading
For ongoing coverage of Ethereum upgrades, L2 ecosystem growth, and gas market dynamics, see our Ethereum and DeFi archives. For context on the broader market that drives gas price volatility, browse the market analysis desk. For daily coverage of the events that spike gas, subscribe to our free newsletter.
