Search
Results for “Base fee vs Priority fee”
Base fee
The base fee is the minimum price per unit of gas a transaction must pay to get into the next Ethereum block. The protocol sets it automatically from how full recent blocks were, and the base fee part of every fee is burned rather than paid to anyone.
What it means for you. You cannot bargain over the base fee; you can only pay it or wait for it to fall. It can rise from block to block when the network is busy, so a transaction whose max fee drops below the current base fee sits unconfirmed until the fee comes back down or the transaction is replaced.
Sources: ethereum.org: Gas and fees, EIP-1559: Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain, ethereum.org glossary · checked 4 October 2026
Priority fee
The priority fee, or tip, is the part of an Ethereum transaction fee that goes to the validator who includes the transaction in a block. It is added on top of the base fee, and a higher tip can get a transaction included sooner when blocks are busy.
What it means for you. Wallets usually set the tip for you, and raising it helps only when there is competition for block space. The tip is paid only on gas actually used and is capped by your max fee: if the base fee rises, the tip is squeezed first, which can leave a transaction too unattractive to include.
Sources: ethereum.org: Gas and fees, EIP-1559: Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain · checked 4 October 2026