Crypto transaction fees explained
There are usually three or four different fees hiding in one purchase. Here's each one.
When you buy or send crypto you may pay several fees: a network fee to the miners or validators who process the transaction, a trading fee to the exchange, a spread (the gap between buy and sell prices), and sometimes a withdrawal fee. Network fees rise when the network is busy.
The four kinds of fee
| Fee | Who gets it | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
| Network fee (gas, miner fee) | Miners or validators | From under a cent on some networks to many dollars on a busy Ethereum or Bitcoin |
| Trading fee | The exchange | Roughly 0.1%–1.5%; "instant buy" buttons are often the most expensive |
| Spread | The exchange or market maker | Built into the price; can be 0.5%–2% on simple buy screens |
| Withdrawal fee | The exchange, to cover the network fee | A fixed amount of the coin per withdrawal |
See all of them together with the true cost calculator.
How network fees work
Bitcoin: blocks have limited space, so you pay per unit of space your transaction uses, in satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vB). A typical simple payment is around 140 vbytes. At 10 sat/vB that's 1,400 sats.
Ethereum: every action uses a certain amount of gas (a simple ETH transfer uses 21,000), and you pay a price per unit of gas in gwei (a billionth of an ETH). Part of the fee (the base fee) is burned and the rest (the tip) goes to the validator. Fee = gas used × gas price.
Work out either one in dollars with the network fee calculator.
How to pay less
- Use an exchange's advanced or "pro" trading screen instead of the instant-buy button.
- Send when the network is quieter, often weekends, if it isn't urgent.
- Use a cheaper network or layer 2, if the receiver supports that exact network.
- Withdraw less often, in larger amounts, if the withdrawal fee is fixed.
If a transaction fails (for example, a smart contract rejects it), the network fee is usually still charged, because the network did the work.
Check what you learned
3 quick questions. Answers stay on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Why are Ethereum gas fees so high sometimes?
Fees rise when many people want to use the network at once, because each block has limited room and users bid for it.
What is gwei?
One billionth of an ETH. Gas prices are quoted in gwei to keep the numbers readable.
Why was I charged a fee when my transaction failed?
The network still used computing power to process it, so the gas spent is kept by validators.
Where to next
Sources
Written for beginners and checked against the sources listed. Last reviewed October 26, 2026. This page is educational and is not financial, tax or legal advice. How we write and check pages.