Which Cryptocurrencies Have the Lowest Transaction Fees?

When you’re just starting your crypto journey, the world of cryptocurrencies may seem like heaven with astronomical profits, no third parties that can influence how you use your money, and an open-minded and innovative community.

However, many investors soon come to realize that quite a few challenges exist in this decentralized paradise: equally astronomical losses, ever-present scams, and thousands of “shitcoins.” All these things can stand in the way between you and whatever you seek to gain from crypto — be it total financial independence or high-profit margins.

There’s also a hidden obstacle that many investors get curbed by — transaction fees. Although everyone seems to be aware of their existence, they still take away thousands of dollars worth of profit from crypto investors every day.

So, how do you beat an enemy like this? You look for the cheapest crypto to transfer, of course!

What Is a Crypto Transaction Fee?

Although anyone who has ever tried buying, selling, or exchanging crypto has probably heard of cryptocurrency transaction fees, not everyone knows what they are and how they are determined. Before we go any further, let’s take a look at what transaction fees actually entail in the crypto world.

To put it simply, a crypto transaction fee is a sum of money that has to be paid every time a certain amount of a particular cryptocurrency is transferred from one wallet to another. 

Besides being different for various cryptocurrencies, transaction fees can also differ even for the same coin or token bought on the same exchange. How can that happen? Well, the answer lies in different transaction fee types.

Types of Transaction Fees

You should be aware of three different types of fees when making crypto transactions: network fees, exchange fees, and wallet fees.

Network Fee

Network fees are the fees that are paid to, well, the network — the people who service the blockchain used for the transfer, the miners. They also often contribute the most to transaction fees, as in many cases, they are not fixed. 

They are driven by demand. If the network is congested, and there are a lot of transactions trying to be pushed through, then the ones with the highest network fee paid will go through first. That essentially means that when demand for the coin or token is high, the network fees can skyrocket.

Exchange Fee

Crypto exchange fees are no different from a fee every single person pays when they make any fiat transactions. They are the amount charged by crypto exchanges for executing transactions. Exchange fees are the primary source of revenue for most centralized crypto exchanges. They pay for things like extra security, usability features, and so on. Some crypto exchanges have several fee tiers and allow some users to pay a reduced transaction fee if they use the platform a lot and transfer large amounts.

You can learn more about different exchange platform types and their fees in this article. And if you’re looking for an exchange that has both low fees and a wide variety of coins and tokens available — you can always buy and exchange crypto on Changelly! 

Get one of the cryptocurrencies we mention in this article via our website, app, or the widget below.

Wallet Fee

Crypto wallet fees are the amount one has to pay to withdraw or send crypto from one wallet to another. If it’s an exchange’s built-in wallet, then the fee will be minimal, if not non-existent. If it’s an external wallet, you will have to pay a small fee.

To see a list of our favorite crypto wallets, almost all of which have low fees, check out this article.

Cryptocurrency with the Lowest Transaction Fees

High transaction fees are an issue that not only users but also crypto developers are very well aware of. After all, you can’t exactly entice people to use a new currency if they have to pay abysmally high fees every time they want to buy a pint of beer or a cinema ticket.

Nowadays, there are a lot of crypto projects that have made it their, if not priority, then at least a focus to have the lowest fees possible. Here are some of them.

Nano

Fee: $0

Nano’s zero-fee structure isn’t an accident or a result of a lack of demand on the network — it was built into the protocol. What’s more, Nano transactions are not only cheap but also incredibly fast: they take around 0.14 seconds to be confirmed.

In addition to having zero fees, Nano is also unbelievably eco-friendly. All of this makes it one of the best candidates for becoming a decentralized worldwide payment method.

DigiByte

Fee: $0.0005 fee

DigiByte, or DGB, is a cryptocurrency whose transaction fees are among the lowest in the industry. Although it has a proof-of-work consensus mechanism like Bitcoin, its transaction fees are low. Additionally, its confirmation time is relatively quick — transactions clock in at around 5 minutes.

Unlike Nano, DGB unfortunately has some inflation. This means that your funds will decrease in value over time if you plan on holding them in the long term.

Bitcoin SV

Fee: $0.00055

Bitcoin SV may be a fork of Bitcoin, but it doesn’t share its older cousin’s high transaction fees. On the contrary, this cryptocurrency has one of the lowest transaction fees on the market. With its average transaction fee starting from $0.0005, it can truly be considered one of the cheapest cryptocurrencies to transfer. Additionally, BSV regularly breaks its own transaction records, with millions a day becoming the norm. 

Although Bitcoin SV often gets forgotten when people talk about major crypto projects, it is still more than thriving. Its high daily transaction number is driven by various decentralized applications like blockchain games using BSV for micropayments.

XRP

Fee: $0.00078

Just like all the other cryptocurrencies on this list, XRP has one of the lowest transaction fees in the world and an extremely fast confirmation time — 4 seconds. Although some people have written XRP off due to either its SEC lawsuit or its decrease in popularity, this coin is still going strong. This cryptocurrency is still one of the biggest in the world by market cap.

Check out our XRP price prediction here.

EOS.IO

Fee: $0

EOS.IO is an open-source blockchain platform with smart contracts functionality. It aims to create a scalable developing hub for industrial-scale decentralized applications. Its native token, EOS, is completely fee-less, so users don’t have to pay fees — the network ones — when using it.

All transactions on the EOS.IO blockchain are free, which makes this cryptocurrency perfect for making smaller payments.

Bitcoin Cash

Fee: $0.0024

According to its creators, Bitcoin Cash is a “peer-to-peer electronic cash.” It is a fork of Bitcoin that has also gone through its own forking. The original Bitcoin Cash split into the present-day BCH and BSV. Transaction fees on the BCH network are in part so low due to its ability to record more transactions in a single block compated to the original Bitcoin.

Check out this article to learn more about the differences between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Stellar

Fee: $0.004

Stellar (XLM) transactions are both quite cheap and incredibly fast: their confirmation time is as low as 4 seconds. One downside of Stellar is that its transaction fees are calculated in XLM, Stellar’s token. Therefore, if the price of Stellar and its token go up significantly, so will the transaction fees. However, at the moment, Stellar is still an incredibly popular choice when it comes to making both small and large transactions.

Zilliqa

Fee: $0.01

Zilliqa, or ZIL, also has one of the lowest transaction fees in the industry. At the moment, it would cost you around a cent to make a transaction on the Zilliqa network.

The Zilliqa platform was built to be a development and launch hub for dApps and various DeFi projects. Therefore, it’s actually perfect that its token has one of the cheapest transaction fees on the market — this makes it easier for creators to build and monetize their projects on the ZIL network.

Dash

Fee: $0.0031

Dash stands for “digital cash,” so it’s only natural that this cryptocurrency would have low transaction fees — it is meant to be used for making everyday transactions. In addition to being cheap, Dash transactions are also very fast. Overall, it has one of the lowest average transaction fees on the market, with many users saying they can send thousands of dollars for just a penny.

Litecoin

Fee: $0.007

Litecoin has always been envisioned by its creators as a payment method, so it’s no surprise its transaction fees are so low. It was designed to make LTC transactions as attractive and lucrative as possible. Although Litecoin has fallen off a bit in recent years, it is still one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world by market cap.

Monero

Fee: $0.0696

Although Monero’s primary focus is being a privacy coin, this cryptocurrency still has one of the lowest transaction fees in the world. Additionally, its confirmation time is also relatively quick, as it takes less than an hour for a Monero transaction to go through.

Monero’s focus on privacy makes it the perfect cryptocurrency for anyone who truly values security and anonymity.

Dogecoin

Fee: $0.24

Dogecoin is probably one of the most famous projects on this list. Although this cryptocurrency does not really have a purpose (other than being a meme), it is still quite a good payment method. Although you will have to pay fees when using DOGE, they will round up to around 20 cents. Its confirmation time is quick, too — it takes around 20 minutes for Dogecoin transactions to go through.

Zero-Fee Cryptocurrencies

There are also projects that went one step beyond and completely removed all fees. By all means, they are the actual coins and tokens that have the lowest transaction fees out of all digital assets. While we’ve already mentioned some of them in the list above (e.g., Nano, EOS), there are also some others, like IOTA. When you use these cryptocurrencies, you won’t have to pay transaction fees at all.

Low transaction fees benefit both institutional and retail investors alike, and they, of course, promote mass adoption. We look forward to seeing more zero-fee projects in the near future and potentially witnessing some older coins and tokens lower transaction fees on their existing networks.

If you want to see an average transaction fee breakdown for the cryptocurrency you’re interested in, you can look it up on the website BitInfoCharts.com.

Disclaimer: Please note that the contents of this article are not financial or investing advice. The information provided in this article is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as offering trading or investing recommendations. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. The cryptocurrency market suffers from high volatility and occasional arbitrary movements. Any investor, trader, or regular crypto users should research multiple viewpoints and be familiar with all local regulations before committing to an investment.