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Start hereLesson 7 of 7 · 4 min read

Network fees in plain words

What you pay to use Solana, who gets it, why trading costs more, and what your first $100 really costs from start to finish.

On this page
  1. The base fee
  2. The priority fee
  3. The token account deposit
  4. Costs that are not network fees
  5. Quiz

Every action on Solana, whether a payment, a swap or a sell, is a transaction, and every transaction pays a small fee in SOL. People also call it gas, a word borrowed from Ethereum. Here is what makes up that fee, and the other costs that ride along with it.

The base fee

Each transaction pays 5,000 lamports for every signature on it. One signature is normal, so a simple payment costs 0.000005 SOL. At $100 per SOL that is $0.0005, a twentieth of a cent. Solana burns half of it, removing that SOL forever, and pays the other half to the validator that processed it.

You pay the base fee even when the transaction fails, because the network still did the work. On a simple payment that is a twentieth of a cent. On a trade, a failure can cost more, as the next section shows.

The priority fee

When the network is busy, you can add a priority fee: an optional extra that asks validators to handle your transaction sooner. All of it goes to the validator. Wallets usually set it for you. Memecoin trading apps often set it higher, because when a coin is moving fast, being a second late changes the price you get. This is where most of an active trader's network spend goes.

A failed trade pays its priority fee too, not just the base fee. If your buy reaches the chain and then fails, for example because the price moved too far, both are charged. With a 0.001 SOL priority fee, about $0.10, every failed buy still costs about 0.001 SOL, so five failed tries at a launch burn about 0.005 SOL for nothing. Traders who fire off hundreds of attempts can burn real money on trades that never happened. The fees track explains why trades fail and how to stop paying for it.

Some trading apps add one more extra, a tip: a separate bonus paid to get the trade landed faster. You will meet tips again in the fees track.

The token account deposit

The first time your wallet holds a new token, Solana opens a small account to record it. That account needs a refundable deposit in SOL, called rent. In late October 2026 it is about 0.0015 SOL for a normal token account, and Solana is partway through a 2026 plan that cuts it in steps to a tenth of its old size. You get the deposit back when you sell all of that token and close the empty account. Some wallets and tools can do this for you.

Costs that are not network fees

  • Exchange withdrawal fee. Set by the exchange, not by Solana, and usually far bigger than the network fee. You see it before you confirm.
  • App fees. Wallets and trading apps charge their own fee on swaps, such as Phantom's 0.85%. Trading terminals and bots charge theirs, and the trading platforms track lists them.
  • Pool or launchpad fees. The pool the coin trades in takes its own cut of every buy and sell, whatever app you use, and part of it often goes to the coin's creator. It is 1.25% while a coin is on its pump.fun curve, as of October 2026, and less on big coins that have graduated.
  • Price impact and slippage. Not a fee, but a real cost. On a small memecoin, your own buy pushes the price up while it fills, so you get fewer tokens than the first quote showed.
The costs on one tradeA bar for one buy. Most of it reaches the coin, and six slices come off the end: the network fee paid to Solana, which is tiny; an optional priority fee so validators pick your transaction first; a tip some apps add to land the trade faster; the trading app's platform fee on each buy and sell; the fee the coin's launchpad or pool takes on every swap, part of which often goes to the coin's creator; and slippage, the price moving against you before you fill. You pay them again when you sell. Not to scale.One buy, and what it costsWhat reaches the coinNot to scaleNetwork feePaid to Solana for every transaction. Tiny.Priority feeOptional extra so validators pick yours first.TipA bonus some apps add to land the trade faster.Platform feeThe trading app's cut of each buy and sell.Pool or launchpad feeThe launchpad's or pool's cut, part to the creator.SlippageThe price moving against you before you fill.You pay them again when you sell.
One buy and the slices that come off it: network fee, priority fee, tip, platform fee, the pool or launchpad fee and slippage. You pay them again when you sell.
Example

What your first $100 really costs

Using the numbers from this track: SOL at $100, a card issued outside the EU, an assumed withdrawal fee of 0.01 SOL each time, and a first swap in Phantom.

  1. Step 1: Card purchase: $100 minus 3.70% leaves $96.30, about 0.963 SOL.
  2. Step 2: Two withdrawals (the test and the rest): 0.02 SOL, about $2. You now hold about 0.943 SOL in your wallet.
  3. Step 3: You swap 0.2 SOL, about $20, for a memecoin still on its pump.fun curve. Phantom's fee: 0.85%, about $0.17. The curve's own fee: 1.25%, about $0.25. Network fee: far less than a cent, plus any priority fee. Token account deposit: about 0.0015 SOL, about $0.15, which you can get back later.
  4. Step 4: Total spent on getting started: about $6.10 of your $100, plus the $0.15 deposit, before you have made or lost anything on a trade.

Most of that is a one-off. The costs that matter later are trading fees. If an app charges 1% on the buy and 1% on the sell, that is 2% per round trip, and fifty round trips a month eat a big slice of any account. The fees track later in this guide spends a whole lesson on it.

Next track: Memecoins 101

Check what you learned

0 of 5 answered

  1. Question 1What is the base network fee for a simple Solana payment with one signature?
  2. Question 2Who receives the priority fee?
  3. Question 3TrickyYour buy transaction fails. Did it cost you anything?
  4. Question 4You sell all of a token and close its empty token account. What happens to the small rent deposit?
  5. Question 5TrickyThe exchange charged you 0.01 SOL to withdraw, but the Solana network fee is 0.000005 SOL. Why so different?

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This guide is for learning. It is not financial advice. Most memecoins go to zero and most people who trade them lose money. Only ever trade what you can afford to lose.