How Much Does It Cost to Mint an NFT

With the term “NFT” floating around as a potential investment opportunity, it wouldn’t be surprising if the question of “how much does it cost to mint an NFT” has crossed your mind. The cost of minting NFT varies depending on if you want to use a marketplace or launchpad, a blockchain network you want to mint an NFT on, and the kind of marketplace or blockchain used.

Refer to this article to understand how NFT minting works, and read on to find out more about NFT minting fees.

What Factors Affect the Cost to Mint NFT?

The cost to mint an NFT depends on the blockchain network that you want to use. Generally, higher fees mean a busier blockchain network. Additionally, the blockchain that you use also determines the kind of NFT platform that you can use to mint, list, and sell your NFT. The added safety and security offered by these platforms can also ensue further charges.

NFT Gas Fees

You can think of NFT gas fees as something that can be compared to transport services. If you want to transport heavy services over congested roads for higher paying clients, you can earn more money. However, if you are transporting goods over empty roads for a very low number of clients, you need to reduce your charges.

The NFT gas fee is the charge that you pay to carry out transactions on the underlying blockchain. It is used to compensate for the computing energy and resources used by miners. For example, in the Ethereum network, it is calculated using gwei, which is equivalent to a very small fraction of Ethereum (0.000000001 ETH). Gas fees for minting NFT  fluctuate based on the  traffic load on the network where you mint and the computational power required per transaction. 

NFT Listing Fee

Once an NFT is minted, you can set its prices and create a listing for sale. Listings are created on an NFT marketplace, and NFT listing fees are the price you pay for listing your NFT on the marketplace.

Similar to gas fees, listing fees also vary greatly on the marketplace you choose to list. A secure and popular marketplace charges higher fees while there are also some marketplaces that do not take NFT listing fees.
When you list an NFT for sale, the NFT listing fee is not immediately deducted from you, but is deducted from the price the buyer pays when the trade happens. So NFT listing fees are 0 for the seller on most platforms, but the revenue the seller gets is reduced by the platform service fee.

NFT Account Fee

An NFT account fee is the fee that you have to pay to set up an account with the NFT platform. Previously, platforms like OpenSea initially required users to carry out a transaction when interacting with the OpenSea protocol for the first time. This entailed a transaction charge. However, this kind of NFT account fees have now been removed from most of the platforms and have instead been replaced with free signup and zero NFT account fees.

How Much Does Minting an NFT Cost: Top Marketplaces & NFT Launchpads

NFT launchpads as the name suggests, help you launch your NFTs easily. They offer minting services. NFT marketplaces on the other hand, offer minting, listing, selling, as well as buying services all in one place. If you want to mint an NFT in a code-free, hassle-free manner with an easy to use interface, NFT marketplaces and launchpads can be your best bet.

The only requirements expected of you when you mint NFTs in marketplaces and launchpads are:

• A crypto wallet compatible with the NFT-enabled blockchain.
• Native tokens to pay for transaction gas and platform fees.
• A user account with your chosen marketplace. 

Generally, marketplaces are used for NFT art finance listing. Some popular options are OpenSea, Rarible, Fair.xyz, and Manifold.xyz.

How Much Does It Cost to Mint NFT On OpenSea?

OpenSea is a peer-to-peer, Web3 marketplace for NFTs that allows you to buy, sell, create, and auction NFTs. As the most trusted marketplace, it is a safe and popular option to mint and sell NFTs.

OpenSea accepts fees in Ethereum (ETH), and the gas fees on OpenSea can vary greatly at any given time. At its lowest supply period, you can expect to pay around 40 USD for minting your NFTs. NFT gas fees in OpenSea have also reached up to 300 USD at peak network usage periods.

Previously, a special fee called the OpenSea account initialization fee was charged from users when initializing an account. Its price ranged anywhere between 70 USD to 300 USD. However, minting NFT on the platform has become even more accessible now than it was during the 2021 NFT boom. Opensea has moved to a new protocol Seaport and you can now sign up without additional fees and create your first NFT for free.

How Much Does Rarible Minting Cost?

Rarible is a community-owned NFT marketplace with a simple-to-use interface. Rarible gas fees are also dependent on the underlying network load and gas price. At low loads, Rarible charges approximately 15 USD to create a collection and mint an NFT. At peak loads, you can expect to pay around 200 USD for Rarible minting.

Rarible also charges listing/selling fees of 1% per transaction from both the seller and the buyer. In the battle between Rarible vs OpenSea fees Rarible is the cheaper option but OpenSea is the more adopted option with wider opportunities with an expanded protocol.

How Much Does It Cost to Mint NFT On Fair.xyz?

The no-code NFT minting platform Fair.xyz is designed to get you started with minting and selling NFT in minutes, and this new marketplace has garnered a lot of attention and momentum.

Fair.xyz, much like other platforms, has variable gas fees, though it claims to have extremely low gas fees owing to its smart queueing technology. By providing the infrastructure needed to launch your NFT collection, Fair.xyz takes 6% of the primary sale revenue.

How Much Does It Cost to Mint NFT On Manifold.xyz?

Manifold.xyz is yet another booming NFT launchpad that allows creators to mint their NFTs in a zero-code framework. Manifold.xyz gas fees also depend on supply and demand, but they allow batch minting to save costs. It does not take account fees or listing fees.

How Much Does Minting NFT Cost: Blockchain Networks

Minting NFT in blockchain networks requires you to upload metadata and features of your asset manually. Doing this requires some amount of sophisticated coding knowledge. The cost of minting NFTs in blockchain networks varies greatly depending on the congestion of the network but the values below can be used as an estimate.

Ethereum NFT Fees

Ethereum is the blockchain with the widest NFT adoption. It was the first blockchain to support NFTs with its ERC-721 standard. The cost to mint NFT on Ethereum is considered to be the highest among all blockchain networks. NFT ETH gas fees range from 10 to 200 gwei based on the network load. The USD equivalent of this depends on the current price of Ethereum in USD, and it can take around 0.002 ETH / $3.51 for a mint transaction when the network isn’t busy and 0.04 ETH / $70.17 when the network is loaded. The network is least loaded around EST morning time (5-8 AM EST) and is most loaded during EST afternoon hours. The price in USD is based on ETH / USD price which as of 27th Mar, 2023 is 1754.31 USD. 

Solana NFT Fees

Solana is the world's fastest and one of the most scalable blockchain, with dozens of projects covering DeFi, NFT and Web3. It is not as congested and popular of a blockchain as Ethereum. The cost to mint NFT on Solana used to be 0.00001 SOL, which is < 0.01 USD as of 27 Mar, 2023. 

Polygon Minting Fees

Previously known as MATIC, Polygon is a platform that runs alongside the Ethereum main chain, and handles off-chain computations. Minting NFT on Polygon is similar to Ethereum but with faster transaction times and cheaper gas fees. It is one of the cheapest and one of the most widely adopted sidechain networks.

Similar to ETH gas fees for minting NFTs, Polygon NFT gas fees depend on the gas price and the MATIC/USD price. In most cases Polygon NFT gas fees cost up to 1 USD, and the cost to mint an NFT usually is a couple of cents. You can use the Polygon Gas Tracker tool to monitor the current gas price.

Cardano NFT Fees

Cardano is a fully open-source network, highly favored as a blockchain for NFT minting alongside Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. Cardano NFT gas fees are around 0.17 ADA on average and its USD equivalent is based on the ADA/USD price which as of 27th Mar, 2023 is 0,059 USD.

Does Free NFT Minting Exist?

Technically, NFT minting entails gas fees. However, platforms like Rarible and OpenSea allow you to create as many NFTs as you want for free.

Free NFT mints are only applicable to creators as buyers still need to pay the fees associated with minting. The gas and service fees are included in the final purchase price, so the creator does not have to spend a penny. This process to mint NFT for free is called lazy minting.

What Is Lazy Minting?

Lazy minting, as the name suggests is the process of deferring the cost of minting NFT, until it is sold to its first buyer. Lazy minting involves the following steps:

1. The idea behind it is to create a cryptographic signature of some data, which acts as a voucher that can be exchanged for an NFT. The voucher holds the information required to be included in the final NFT and acts as proof that the NFT creator authorized the creation of the NFT.
2. When a buyer needs to purchase the NFT, the voucher is redeemed.
3. The final NFT is created based on the voucher information and transferred to the buyer. Thus, the final cost paid by the buyer includes the NFT minting costs.

This form of free NFT mint has been adopted by Rarible and OpenSea to lower the barrier to entry of new creators into the NFT world. Lazy minting does remove the need to pay gas fees but it has its share of cons.

• Lazy minting with OpenSea or Rarible never lets you truly own your contract.
• Lazy minting binds you to the platform that you use to create your NFT (e.g. Opensea). Minting NFT on contract on the other hand ensures that the contract exists on the blockchain immediately, and can be sold on any other platform that supports the blockchain. 
• With lazy minting, you are susceptible to the changes brought about by the platform that you choose. For example, OpenSea limits the number of possible lazy minted NFTs to be a maximum of 50. This restriction has caused many creators to abandon this practice and adopt custom contracts itself. It is entirely possible for platforms like OpenSea to remove lazy minting totally.
• The power of modern NFTs is the ability to create utility around them, as opposed to churning out pictures of monkeys on the internet. With custom contracts, and with people like Aegas who can build your smart contract, you have the ability to build something custom.

Rarible Lazy Minting

Rarible lazy minting is a way to defer NFT creation till the time for purchase, and to reduce the number of unrequired transactions on Ethereum for NFTs that are never purchased.

You can lazy mint on Rarible using the steps below:

1. Connect your wallet to https://rarible.com/

2. Click Create and fill the required information for your NFT.

3. Choose the Free minting option and click Create item to sign authorizations from your wallet.

Your NFT will be listed for free in the marketplace just like any other NFT. The data of the NFT is stored in IPFS and upon purchase, the NFT is transferred automatically to the new owner.

OpenSea Lazy Minting

Lazy minting on OpenSea works pretty much like the lazy minting Rarible employs. It is also the cheapest way to mint NFT by simply creating a collection, uploading your work to be listed in the marketplace, and waiting for your creation to be bought. The buyer pays the combined gas fees and transaction fees, so creators do not have to worry about spending gas fees on an NFT that has the potential of not being bought.

OpenSea offers lazy minting on the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Follow the steps below for lazy minting on OpenSea:

1. Connect your wallet to https://opensea.io/.

2. Click Create in the profile menu and submit the content required for your NFT by filling the required details.

3. Select the blockchain you wish to create an NFT on as the blockchain and click Create to start minting NFT for free.

NFT Minting Cost When Hiring an Agency

The NFT world is surely a world of wonders riddled with heavy jargon and complicated processes. It is not just difficult to create an NFT, but the work associated with listing your collection for sale, and getting a profit out of it can be a daunting task. While lazy minting and NFT launchpads can seem to be alluring ways to mint NFTs, doing this binds you to the platform you use, and reduces the possibility for customizing your NFTs for better utility.

This is where hiring an agency can come to your rescue. Agencies like Aegas can provide you with professional guidance since we understand the latest market trends. We can offer a high return on investment by setting up diverse sales mechanics for you. We can also track your outcomes, help you embrace change, and provide a swift launch for your NFT collection.

With Aegas, you get the swiftest launch you can imagine, unique mechanics around your NFT collection, and the features of agility, quality, guidance, and efficiency for all your NFT needs.  With us, you can rest assured that your ideas are refined, and your launch is supported so you can reap the benefits of this interesting and booming industry of NFTs. Get in touch with us for all your NFT needs today!