Jerry
What is a gas fee?
Gas pays the network to process your transaction. It is paid in ETH, and it goes to running the network, not to the app you are using. Sending a token, swapping and minting all use gas.
Why Base is so cheap
Base is a layer 2 network. Instead of putting every transaction on Ethereum one by one, it bundles thousands of them together and posts them to Ethereum in one go. The cost of that single post is shared by everyone in the bundle, so each person pays a tiny slice.
The two parts of a Base fee
- The Base part for running your transaction on Base. Usually extremely small.
- The Ethereum part for your share of posting data to Ethereum. Also small, thanks to bundling.
Your wallet adds these up and shows you one number before you confirm.
What makes fees go up?
When lots of people use Base at the same moment, fees rise a little until things calm down. Complex actions, like a swap that touches several contracts, also cost a bit more than a simple transfer. Even then, fees on Base usually stay at cents, not dollars.
See it live
Jerry's Base Lab shows real Base blocks landing every couple of seconds and the live cost of sending a token, pulled straight from the network.
Tips
- Always keep a little ETH on Base for fees, even after a swap.
- A failed transaction still uses gas, so double check before confirming.
- Some Smart Wallet apps pay gas for you, so you might not see a fee at all.