Which Blockchain Has the Lowest Fees in 2025? Full Comparison

This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Crypto investments carry risks, including loss of capital. Always do your own research or consult a licensed advisor before investing.

Which Blockchain Has the Lowest Fees?

The blockchains with the lowest fees today include Nano, IOTA, Stellar, Algorand, Solana, Tron, and Ripple, all offering extremely cheap or near-zero-cost transactions. These cryptos with low gas fees make everyday payments, remittances, and even DeFi operations far more affordable compared to Ethereum or Bitcoin.

What Are Gas Fees in Crypto?

Gas fees are the small costs users pay to send transactions or run smart contracts on a blockchain. They cover the computational and storage resources that keep the network secure. On networks like Ethereum, these costs can spike to tens of dollars when demand is high. On others, however, fees stay close to zero.

When people look for crypto low gas fees, they’re really asking which chains can process transactions efficiently while avoiding congestion.

Why Some Blockchains Have Low Fees

Not all blockchains are equal when it comes to transaction costs. Blockchains with low gas fees share some common traits:

• High throughput: able to process thousands of transactions per second without congestion.
• Efficient consensus: Proof of Stake (PoS), Delegated PoS, or DAG structures reduce resource costs.
• Fee markets or subsidies: some chains set minimal fees or even subsidize transactions.
• Scalability features: sharding, sidechains, or rollups spread the load and keep fees low.
  

In contrast, blockchains with slower confirmation times or limited block space (like Ethereum mainnet) face higher gas fees because users compete to get their transactions confirmed.

Why Blockchain Fees Are Important

Blockchain fees are more than just a technical detail, they directly affect usability, adoption, and scalability of crypto. For everyday users, high fees can make small payments impractical. For developers, they can determine whether launching a DeFi protocol, NFT marketplace, or gaming app is financially sustainable.

High transaction costs can also discourage mainstream adoption, since people expect near-instant and cheap payments like they get with credit cards or mobile banking. This is why blockchains with low gas fees are critical for the next wave of crypto growth. They unlock use cases such as:

• Micropayments: Sending small amounts of money without losing value to fees.
• Cross-border transfers: Enabling remittances that cost cents instead of dollars.
• DeFi participation: Allowing users to swap, lend, or stake assets without spending more on gas than the value they move.
• NFTs and gaming: Supporting millions of in-game or collectible transactions at scale.
  
  

In short, crypto low gas fees are not just a nice-to-have, they are essential for making blockchain accessible to everyday people and competitive with traditional financial systems.

Blockchains with Low Gas Fees

Here are the most notable cryptos with low gas fees and how much you can expect to pay per transaction.

Layer-2 and Sidechains: Even Cheaper Options

Even on blockchains with historically high fees like Ethereum, layer-2 networks and sidechains provide alternatives. Rollups such as Arbitrum and zkSync batch transactions off-chain and settle them on Ethereum at a fraction of the cost. Sidechains like Polygon also cut fees drastically, while networks like SKALE even market themselves as “gas-free.”

For users who want access to Ethereum’s security but can’t afford its base-layer costs, these solutions are often the most practical low gas fee crypto environments.

Best Layer-2s for Low Gas Fees

While some base chains like Nano, IOTA, and Stellar already have near-zero fees, many popular ecosystems rely on Layer-2 networks (L2s) to scale and reduce costs. These solutions process transactions off-chain or in side networks, then anchor them to the main chain for security. This approach dramatically lowers gas fees while keeping the benefits of the base chain.

Ethereum

• Arbitrum One: Optimistic rollup with fees around $0.05–$0.30 per transaction, far cheaper than Ethereum mainnet.
• zkSync Era: Zero-knowledge rollup with fast finality and very low fees, typically below $0.10.
• Optimism: Optimistic rollup widely adopted in DeFi, with fees under $0.50 in most cases.
• Base (by Coinbase): A newer optimistic rollup offering low fees and strong integration with Coinbase products.

Bitcoin

• Lightning Network: Payment channel system enabling instant and near-free BTC transfers. Perfect for micropayments and remittances.
  

Polygon (as Ethereum’s sidechain & L2 ecosystem)

• Polygon PoS: Technically a sidechain, but widely used for cheaper Ethereum-compatible DeFi and NFTs. Fees are around ~$0.002.
• Polygon zkEVM: zk-rollup solution providing Ethereum compatibility with even lower costs.
  

Solana

• While Solana doesn’t need L2s thanks to high throughput, some scaling layers are being developed (e.g., state compression for NFTs). For now, Solana itself remains a low gas fee crypto without requiring L2s.

Avalanche

• Avalanche Subnets: Custom blockchains that run on Avalanche’s infrastructure, letting projects scale with predictable low fees.

Cardano

• Hydra: Cardano’s state channel solution, still rolling out, designed to scale transactions off-chain and keep fees very low.

Algorand & Stellar

• Both are efficient enough at the base layer that they don’t rely heavily on L2s, but integration with payment networks and custodians plays a similar role to scaling layers.

How to Choose the Right Low Gas Fee Crypto

Choosing the best low gas fee blockchain depends on your goals.

• For micropayments: Nano and IOTA are unmatched thanks to zero fees.
• For cross-border payments: Stellar and Ripple are the strongest options.
• For DeFi and NFTs: Solana, Tron, and Algorand balance low fees with robust ecosystems.
• For Ethereum compatibility: Arbitrum, zkSync, or Polygon offer affordable access to Ethereum-based dApps.
  
  

FAQs on Blockchains with Low Gas Fees

Which crypto has the lowest gas fee?

Nano and IOTA are effectively feeless, making them the lowest-fee cryptocurrencies.

Why does Ethereum have high gas fees?

Ethereum’s limited block space and high demand create competition, pushing fees up, especially during network congestion.

What are the cheapest cryptos to transfer?

Stellar, Ripple, Nano, and IOTA consistently rank as the cheapest to transfer due to their efficient design and low or zero fees.

Are low gas fee blockchains secure?

Most are secure, but decentralization varies. Ethereum and Bitcoin remain more decentralized, while some cheaper networks prioritize speed and efficiency.

Conclusion

The blockchain with the lowest fees depends on your use case. For pure value transfers, Nano and IOTA offer unmatched zero-cost transactions. For global remittances, Stellar and Ripple are highly efficient. For DeFi and NFTs, Solana, Tron, and Algorand combine affordability with strong ecosystems. And if you need Ethereum’s security at lower cost, layer-2 solutions are the best choice.

Ultimately, there isn’t one single winner. Instead, the best strategy is to match your needs with the right crypto low gas fees network, saving money while still getting the performance and features you require.