What Is Base Fee in Solana?
The base fee is a fixed fee of 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) per signature on every Solana transaction. This fee is charged regardless of the transaction’s compute usage or priority fee. Most transactions have one signature, so the typical base fee is 5,000 lamports.
How the base fee works
The base fee is calculated as:
base_fee = 5,000 lamports × number_of_signaturesA standard transaction with one signer pays 5,000 lamports. A multisig transaction with three signers pays 15,000 lamports. The base fee is charged even if the transaction fails.
Base fee vs priority fee
| Base fee | Priority fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Fixed: 5,000 lamports per signature | Variable: set by the user |
| Purpose | Spam prevention | Incentivize validators for faster inclusion |
| When charged | Always | Always (even on failure) |
| Distribution | 50% burned, 50% to validator | 100% to validator |
Fee burning
50% of the base fee is burned (permanently removed from circulation). The other 50% goes to the validator that produced the block containing the transaction. This burning mechanism creates deflationary pressure on SOL supply.
FAQ
Can I avoid paying the base fee? No. Every transaction pays the base fee. There is no way to submit a feeless transaction on Solana.
Will the base fee change? The base fee is currently fixed at the protocol level. Changes would require a network upgrade and community governance.
Sources
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