Understanding Protocol Fees
Learn about gas fees, protocol fees, and how to minimize deployment costs across all supported blockchains.
Fee Structure
When you deploy a token or NFT collection through ChainPortal, there are two categories of cost: protocol fees and network gas fees. Protocol fees are charged by the ChainPortal factory contracts for the service of deploying and configuring your asset. Gas fees are paid to the blockchain network to process and confirm your transaction. Both are paid in the native currency of the chain you are deploying on.
Gas Fees by Network
Gas fees vary significantly between ecosystems and depend on network congestion at the time of your transaction.
- EVM (Ethereum mainnet) -- Highest gas costs, typically ranging from a few dollars to tens of dollars depending on congestion. L2s like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism are significantly cheaper.
- EVM (L2s and alt-L1s) -- Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, and L2 rollups offer gas fees that are usually under $1.
- Solana -- Extremely low transaction fees (fractions of a cent), but requires rent-exempt account deposits for new token accounts.
- Aptos -- Uses gas units priced in APT. Typical deployment costs are well under $1.
- SUI -- Object-based gas model with very low fees, typically fractions of a cent per transaction.
- Cosmos -- Gas fees vary by chain but are generally low, paid in the native staking token of that chain.
- NEAR -- Uses gas units (TGas) with costs typically under $0.01 per transaction, plus storage staking deposits.
Fee Tiers
ChainPortal offers different fee tiers based on how you access the platform.
- Standard deployment -- The base protocol fee applied to all token and NFT deployments through ChainPortal factory contracts.
- Referral-discounted deployment -- When you use a valid referral code during deployment, the protocol fee is reduced. The discount amount depends on the referrer's tier level.
Referral Discounts
Referral codes provide a direct way to reduce your deployment costs while rewarding the person who shared ChainPortal with you.
- Obtain a referral code from an existing ChainPortal user or community member.
- Enter the code during the token or NFT creation process before confirming the transaction.
- The protocol fee will be automatically reduced based on the referrer's tier.
- The referrer earns a percentage of the (reduced) protocol fee as a reward.
Cost Optimization Tips
- Deploy on L2 chains (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism) or alt-L1s (Polygon, BSC) for significantly lower gas fees compared to Ethereum mainnet.
- Use a referral code to reduce protocol fees on every deployment.
- Deploy during off-peak hours when network congestion and gas prices are lower (primarily relevant on Ethereum mainnet).
- Test on testnets first -- testnet deployments are free and let you verify your configuration before spending real funds.
- For non-EVM ecosystems like Solana, Aptos, and SUI, gas costs are consistently low regardless of timing.