Generally, NFT minting is not free. Creators are required to pay a transaction fee called the “gas fee” for the minting process to be carried out. This gas fee depends on the volume of computational power required for the minting process. The amount also differs depending on the blockchain network.
However, it is important to note that some NFT marketplaces now provide an option called “lazy minting”. This option enables users to mint NFTs without having to pay gas fees. Instead, the gas fees are deducted from the first sale of the NFT. This has made the process significantly easier.
As earlier stated, the gas fee required for minting an NFT differs according to the type of blockchain network (and the marketplaces that are hosted by these networks). Regardless of this, some factors determine the size of a gas fee. These factors include the price of the accepted cryptocurrency and the complexity of the transaction. The differing gas fees across the blockchain networks are:
- Gas Fees on Ethereum
For gas fees, Ethereum charges a base fee, a fee for gas units, and a tip for the miners. The gas units are determined by the computational power required for the transaction, with a gas limit of 21,000. The standard gas fee on Ethereum is about $25. In addition, ethereum-backed marketplaces like OpenSea require that about $70-$300 be paid to merge the creator’s account with OpenSea. Also, a further gas fee range of $10-$30 is required to process OpenSea’s access to the creator’s NFTs. Finally, a gas fee of about 2.5 percent of the selling price is charged on every NFT sale conducted on OpenSea.
2. Gas Fees on Solana
The gas fees charged by Solana are significantly lower than the fees charged by Ethereum. To conclude an NFT minting process, creators have to offset three groups of costs. These costs are transaction approval and listing costs. However, the uniform gas fee for each transaction on Solana is 0.00045 SOL which amounts to about $0.00012 (as at March2022).
3. Gas Fees on Polygon
Polygon is one of the cheapest blockchain platforms for the minting of NFTs. It is often hailed as the most cost-effective alternative to Ethereum. The standard gas fee on Polygon is about $0.01 per transaction. According to reports, the highest gas fee that has ever been paid on the Polygon network towers at about 9.50 MATIC (about $14 as of March 2022).