Understand Polygon Gas Fees

Polygon (formerly MATIC) gas fees in 2026 — typical costs in POL, why Polygon is cheaper than Ethereum mainnet, and how EIP-1559 works on Polygon.

Updated June 2026 · Reviewed by the PipeFlare team

Less than 1 cent for most transactions

Polygon fees are sub-cent for almost every transaction type, including DeFi swaps

Learn more →

Fee category

Polygon gas

What drives it

Base fee + priority tip (EIP-1559 model) × gas units × MATIC/POL price

How to lower it

Polygon is already very cheap — standard wallets set optimal fees automatically

Worst-case spike

Occasional MATIC/POL price spikes or congestion events push fees temporarily, but still far below Ethereum mainnet

About polygon gas fees

Polygon gas fees are what you pay to execute a transaction on the Polygon PoS network, an EVM-compatible sidechain that runs its own validator set and checkpoints state to Ethereum. Fees are paid in POL (rebranded from MATIC in 2024) and are sub-cent for almost every operation — a simple transfer costs $0.0001–$0.001 and a complex DeFi swap costs $0.001–$0.01 in typical conditions. Polygon PoS adopted the EIP-1559 base-fee-plus-priority-tip model in its London-equivalent hard fork, making fees more predictable than pure-auction chains while keeping them far below Ethereum mainnet.

How it works

Polygon PoS calculates fees using the EIP-1559 formula: (base fee + priority tip) × gas units used × POL price in USD. The base fee on Polygon is set algorithmically per block and adjusts to target 50% block utilization — it typically runs 30–100 gwei on Polygon. But POL trades for roughly $0.20–$0.80, which is 1,000–10,000× cheaper than ETH, so even 100 gwei on Polygon translates to fractions of a cent. A simple MATIC/POL transfer at 21,000 gas and 50 gwei costs about 1,050,000 gwei (0.00105 POL) — at $0.50 per POL that's $0.0005 total. In 2024, Polygon completed its token migration from MATIC to POL as part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap. Note that EIP-4844 blob transactions do not apply to Polygon PoS — it is a sidechain, not an Ethereum rollup, so it does not post transaction data to Ethereum as blobs.

How to pay less

1Hold some POL in your wallet on the Polygon network — without it you cannot pay gas.
2Most wallets auto-set optimal fees for Polygon; manual adjustment is rarely necessary for routine sends.
3For large DeFi operations, check Polygonscan's gas tracker (polygonscan.com/gastracker) to confirm baseline gwei.
4If bridging from Ethereum to Polygon, factor in the bridge cost — once on Polygon, individual transactions are very cheap.

Pros

Sub-cent fees for almost every operation, including multi-step DeFi swaps.
EIP-1559 fee model makes costs predictable and refunds unused max-fee buffer.
Deep DeFi and gaming ecosystem — Aave, QuickSwap, and many protocols are native to Polygon.

Watch out for

Polygon PoS is a sidechain, not an Ethereum rollup — its security model relies on its own validator set rather than Ethereum's full security.
POL price changes directly affect USD gas cost — a doubling of POL price doubles the dollar cost of every transaction.
Bridging assets to Polygon from Ethereum mainnet costs Ethereum gas and takes time.

Common questions

How much does a Polygon transaction cost?

A Polygon PoS transaction typically costs $0.0001–$0.001 for a simple POL transfer and $0.001–$0.01 for a DeFi swap in normal conditions. These figures assume a 30–100 gwei base fee and POL priced at $0.20–$0.80. Even during brief congestion events, Polygon fees rarely exceed a few cents — far below Ethereum mainnet levels.

What token pays gas on Polygon?

Gas on Polygon PoS is paid in POL, the native token formerly known as MATIC. In 2024, Polygon completed its 1:1 token migration from MATIC to POL as part of the Polygon 2.0 upgrade. If your wallet still shows MATIC, it is the same token — POL and MATIC are interchangeable at a 1:1 ratio after the migration.

Does Polygon use EIP-1559?

Yes. Polygon PoS adopted the EIP-1559 fee model in its London-equivalent hard fork. This means each transaction has a base fee that adjusts algorithmically per block (targeting 50% utilization) plus an optional priority tip. The base fee is burned in POL. The EIP-1559 model makes fees more predictable than a pure gas-price auction.

Is Polygon a rollup or a sidechain?

Polygon PoS is a sidechain, not an Ethereum rollup. It runs its own proof-of-stake validator set and periodically checkpoints its state to Ethereum, but it does not post full transaction data to Ethereum as blobs (EIP-4844) the way Ethereum rollups like Arbitrum, Optimism, or Base do. This means Polygon PoS does not inherit Ethereum's full data-availability security — it relies on its own validators.

Why are Polygon fees so low compared to Ethereum?

Polygon fees are low primarily because POL (the gas token) trades at a far lower price than ETH, not because the gwei figures are dramatically lower. A 100-gwei transaction on Polygon might cost $0.001, while the same 100 gwei on Ethereum mainnet costs far more because ETH is priced much higher. Additionally, Polygon's PoS sidechain design processes more transactions per block than Ethereum mainnet, reducing per-transaction costs.