Ethereum Gas Fee Estimator

Since EIP-1559 (August 2021), each transaction pays a base fee (burned by the protocol) plus a priority fee (tip to the validator). The maximum fee you pay is: Max Fee = Base Fee + Priority Fee (Max Priority Fee Per Gas). Your actual payment is: Total Fee (ETH) = Gas Used x (Base Fee + Priority Fee). The base fee is set by the network based on block demand and cannot be below zero.

Gas limit is the maximum amount of computational work you authorize for a transaction. A simple ETH transfer requires 21,000 gas. An ERC-20 token transfer typically needs 45,000 to 65,000 gas. A complex DeFi swap may require 150,000 to 300,000 gas or more. Setting the gas limit too low causes the transaction to fail (out of gas); setting it higher wastes no money because you only pay for gas actually used.

Gwei is a denomination of ETH: 1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 gwei (one billion gwei). Gas prices are quoted in gwei because they are tiny fractions of ETH. For example, a base fee of 10 gwei means each unit of gas costs 0.000000010 ETH.

The priority fee, also called the miner tip or validator tip, is an incentive you pay on top of the burned base fee. Validators prioritize transactions with higher tips when blocks are full. A tip of 1-2 gwei is typically sufficient during quiet periods; during congestion, 5-20 gwei may be needed for timely inclusion.

The base fee adjusts every block (about every 12 seconds) based on whether the previous block was more or less than half full. When demand is high (NFT mints, token launches, market events), the base fee rises rapidly. When demand is low (nights, weekends), fees fall. Setting a Max Fee cap protects you from overpaying but may delay your transaction if the base fee rises above your cap.