Every blockchain transaction has a cost, known as a network fee or gas. With a few exceptions such as gasless transactions on Solana, this fee is always charged in the network's native token and is required for your transaction to go through. Here's what you need to know about how these fees work and why they exist.
Why do I have to pay a network fee?
Every blockchain transaction requires a small fee to be processed. This fee goes to the validators who run the network, not to Phantom. Phantom does not set, control, or receive any part of your network fee.
You pay this fee in the network's native token, such as SOL on Solana or ETH on Ethereum. You cannot pay fees in USDC, stablecoins, or other tokens, even if you hold them on the same network.
I was charged a fee but my transaction failed. Is that normal?
Unfortunately, yes. When you submit a transaction, validators immediately use computational resources to process it regardless of whether it succeeds. Because that work still happened, the fee is non-refundable. Phantom does not receive any portion of this fee and cannot issue a refund.
What is a native token?
Every blockchain network has a native token, which is the token the network itself runs on. For example, SOL is the native token of Solana and ETH is the native token of Ethereum. Network fees are always paid in the native token of the network you're transacting on, regardless of what crypto you're sending or swapping.
How much native token should I keep on hand?
For suggested amounts by network, see How much native token do you need?
Why are fees sometimes higher than usual?
Fees fluctuate based on how busy the network is. A spike usually means high demand from events like a popular token launch, an NFT drop, or a major DeFi event. If your transaction isn't urgent, waiting until off-peak hours such as early morning UTC can result in lower fees.
I'm bridging crypto. Do I pay fees twice?
Yes. Cross-chain swaps require fees on both the source and destination networks since you're submitting transactions on two separate blockchains.
How do fees work by network?
Solana
Fixed-fee model. Most transactions cost less than 0.000005 SOL. Phantom sets the fee automatically. For certain tokens, gasless swaps and sends deduct the fee from the token you are swapping into or sending rather than from your SOL balance. See About gasless transactions on Solana in Phantom.
Bitcoin
Fees are based on transaction size in vBytes and current congestion. You can choose a speed or speed up a pending transaction. See Increase the network fee to speed up a transaction.
Ethereum, Base, Polygon, Monad, HyperEVM
These use a gas-based model. Phantom sets fees automatically. If your transaction uses less gas than expected, the difference is refunded. You can manually adjust speed for pending transactions. See Increase the network fee to speed up a transaction.
Sui
Dynamic fees based on network load and transaction complexity, paid in SUI and estimated automatically by Phantom.