See exactly how gas fees compare across 6 major networks. Updated June 2026.
| Network | Simple Transfer | Token Swap | NFT Mint | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | $0.0001 | $0.001–0.075 | $0.004 | ~400ms |
| Polygon | $0.001 | $0.01–0.05 | $0.02 | ~2s |
| Base | $0.01 | $0.05–0.15 | $0.08 | ~2s |
| Arbitrum | $0.05 | $0.15–0.40 | $0.20 | ~1s |
| Optimism | $0.02 | $0.05–0.20 | $0.10 | ~2s |
| Avalanche | $0.003 | $0.01–0.05 | $0.02 | ~1–2s |
| BNB Chain | $0.03 | $0.15–0.35 | $0.25 | ~3s |
| Ethereum | $0.45 | $3–15 | $5–25 | ~12s |
| Network | Type | Consensus | EVM Compatible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | Layer 1 | Proof of Stake | ✅ Native |
| Solana | Layer 1 | Proof of History + PoS | ❌ No |
| BNB Chain | Layer 1 | Proof of Staked Authority | ✅ Yes |
| Polygon | Layer 2 (PoS sidechain) | Proof of Stake | ✅ Yes |
| Arbitrum | Layer 2 (Optimistic Rollup) | Inherits Ethereum security | ✅ Yes |
| Base | Layer 2 (Optimistic Rollup) | Inherits Ethereum security | ✅ Yes |
| Optimism | Layer 2 (Optimistic Rollup) | Inherits Ethereum security | ✅ Yes |
| Avalanche | Layer 1 | Avalanche Consensus | ✅ Yes (C-Chain) |
For lowest fees: Solana or Polygon — both cost fractions of a cent for most transactions.
For maximum security and liquidity: Ethereum mainnet — still hosts the deepest DeFi liquidity despite higher fees.
For Ethereum-compatible apps at lower cost: Arbitrum or Base — Layer 2 networks inheriting Ethereum's security at a fraction of the fees.
The "best" blockchain network depends entirely on what you're trying to accomplish, and treating fee comparison as the only variable misses important context that affects the real-world decision for most users and developers.
Applications involving many small transactions — gaming, micropayments, social tipping — benefit most from Solana's fixed, near-zero fees or Polygon's consistently sub-cent costs. The predictability matters as much as the absolute cost here: a gaming application can't function well if transaction costs occasionally spike to dollars during network congestion, which rules out Ethereum mainnet for this category of use case almost entirely.
When moving genuinely significant value, the small percentage difference in fees between networks becomes irrelevant compared to security assumptions. Ethereum mainnet's larger validator set and longer operational history make it the conservative choice for transactions where the absolute dollar value of the transfer dwarfs any reasonable gas fee consideration.
Developers building dApps that need EVM compatibility but want to avoid mainnet's cost structure increasingly default to Arbitrum or Base, both of which offer near-identical development experience to Ethereum mainnet while settling transactions far more cheaply through their rollup architecture.
Many sophisticated users and applications don't pick a single network exclusively, instead routing different activities to whichever chain fits best: routine trading and gaming on Solana or Polygon, established DeFi protocol interactions on Arbitrum, and only the highest-value or most security-sensitive transactions on Ethereum mainnet itself.
While this page reflects typical, well-documented fee ranges as of mid-2026, blockchain networks periodically adjust their underlying parameters, and market prices for gas tokens fluctuate independently of any protocol changes. For any transaction of meaningful value, checking the live tracker for your specific network — rather than relying solely on these general comparisons — ensures you're working from current numbers rather than historical averages that may have shifted.