Live Gas Price Tracker — Ethereum, BNB Chain & Base

Gas fees are payments to validators/miners who process and confirm your transactions on the blockchain. Without gas fees, no one has an incentive to maintain the decentralized network. On Ethereum, gas fees also serve a deflationary function: part of every fee is burned (destroyed) per EIP-1559, reducing ETH supply over time. Gas fees ≠ exchange fees — they go to the blockchain itself, not to the app or DEX you're using.

ETH gas changes every block (~12 seconds). Calculation: Cost (ETH) = Gas price (Gwei) × Gas used ÷ 1,000,000,000. Example: an ETH transfer uses 21,000 gas × 2 Gwei = 0.000042 ETH ≈ $0.09 (at $2,000/ETH). A complex swap uses 150,000–400,000 gas. This Gas Tracker shows the live rate and pre-calculates USD costs for common transaction types.

Gas price: the price per unit of gas (in Gwei) — you set this when sending a transaction. Gas limit: the maximum gas units allowed — wallets estimate this automatically, but you can override it. Network fee (transaction fee): total cost = Gas price × Gas actually used (always ≤ gas limit). Unused gas is refunded. Setting the gas limit too low → transaction fails with 'Out of Gas' — but you still pay for the gas already consumed.

Gas price is the fee you pay validators to process your transaction. It fluctuates based on supply and demand: when many users transact simultaneously (NFT mints, token launches), competition for block space pushes prices up. During off-peak hours, gas naturally falls to its minimum floor.

Under normal conditions (no congestion): 1–5 Gwei, equivalent to $0.50–$5 for an ETH transfer and $2–$15 for a DEX swap. During high-traffic periods: 20–100+ Gwei, with swaps costing $30–$100+. Use this tracker to see the current live rate.

BSC has a fixed minimum gas floor — when uncongested, all transactions pay that floor. Base is an L2 with a sequencer controlling pricing — priority fees are typically 0, so all tiers equal the base fee. This is correct behavior, not a bug.

Base fee (post EIP-1559 on Ethereum and Base): the mandatory minimum — burned rather than paid to validators. Priority fee (tip): an optional extra to get included in the next block faster, paid to validators. This tracker displays the total = Base fee + Priority fee.

1) Transact on weekends, 8 PM to 6 AM UTC. 2) Set your max fee just above the current base fee — avoid overpaying. 3) Use a DEX aggregator like 1inch to find gas-efficient routes. 4) Bridge to Base or BSC if you don't strictly need Ethereum mainnet.

Under normal network conditions, Standard is sufficient and confirms within 30 seconds. During extreme congestion (hot NFT mint, major token launch), the base fee can spike after you submit — in those cases, choose Rapid to ensure timely inclusion.

If you need to interact with Ethereum-only protocols (Uniswap V4, Aave mainnet, many NFTs): use Ethereum and accept higher fees. If the protocol is available on BSC or Base: use those — fees are 100–1000× lower. Browse available networks on our Chainlist tool.