How Much Does It Cost to Create NFT?

Non-Fungible Tokens(NFTs) are gaining much popularity around the world. This is why a lot of people are interested in NFTs. Today, people sell NFTs and become millionaires overnight. But did you know creating an NFT is not free? Then you might be like to know how much does it cost to create an NFT? In this article, we will break down the complete expense from cost to create NFT to cost to sell NFT.

What is the Cost to Create NFT?

There are three main expenses associated with creating an NFT.

Gas fees
Account set-up fees
Sales fees

To sell NFTs in the NFT marketplace, you have to pay three different charges. First, you have to pay a Gas fee, which is around $70 on the Ethereum blockchain. Second is the fees for creating the NFT which is also known as minting fees. Minting fees depends on the platform and range between $70 to $300. You might also find some platforms that don’t charge minting fees. Third, you have to pay a site fee for listing your NFTs on the marketplace for sale. This fee varies from almost nothing to $900 (maximum) depending upon the marketplace.

As a result, the cost to create an NFT is not that burdensome as compared to the expenses of buying an existing one. This is why the new NFTs are coming into the market and the industry continues to boom.

What are Gas Fees?

A Gas fee is a common expense that all crypto users have to pay in order to perform any function on the blockchain. Most of the NFTs are backed by the Ethereum blockchain. As Ethereum transactions require computational power for securing the network, the blockchain charges users a “gas fee” based on the Ethereum metric of “Gwei”. The Gas fee depends upon the number of transactions performed at the time, therefore, it fluctuates depending on the time of day.

Gwei is the small amount of Ethereum and is used to calculate costs involved in processing transactions.

Real-time cost of Ethereum gas

Previous price trends

A Gas Fee may be the most expensive fee that you may need to pay as it depends on the transaction on the blockchain. But creating an NFT takes up more time than transferring money, so you might have to pay higher gas fees.

The average gas fee for Ethereum blockchain is somewhat around $70.

Tips to reduce your Gas Fees

If you follow these steps you might get reasonable fees.

Wait until it’s the night before processing the NFT: As we have seen, the amount of gas fee depends upon how busy the network is, therefore, wait for the night when the number of transactions is less.
Be patient: If you need something urgently, the network needs to prioritize that task, resulting in higher gas fees.
Avoid weekends: It is the time when most people try to access the network. And because of the increased demand, gas fees will be higher.
Create an NFT series: Create one NFT with multiple editions and sell the editions individually.
Choose the right currency: Check out different currencies.

However, you won’t know the actual fee that you need to pay until the time comes to process the transaction. Also, cryptocurrency price is always fluctuating, so it makes it harder to predict the cost of the actual transaction.

It should be noted that these are the early days of crypto, and the technology is continuously evolving, so the fees will reduce in future.

What is Minting?

Let’s dig deeper to understand the costs you can expect to pay for minting your NFTs. Minting refers to the process of creating the actual NFT. An NFT could be any item such as digital art, books, Tweets, random images, memes, audio, concert tickets, or video, just to name a few. Any such thing can be minted and converted into an NFT.

To create and list your NFT on any marketplace, you must have a wallet like Metamask.

List of crypto wallets

Here is a list of the top 9 crypto wallets to buy and sell NFTs.

Metamask
Alpha Wallet
Trust Wallet
Math Wallet
Pillar
Enjin
Coinbase Wallet
Argent
Guarda Wallet

List of NFT Marketplace

Next, you need to upload your NFTs to the marketplace. Here is the list of top platforms to list your NFTs.

OpenSea
Axie Marketplace
Larva Labs/CryptoPunks
NBA Top Shot Marketplace
Rarible
SuperRare
Foundation
Nifty Gateway
Mintable
Theta Drop

How much does it Cost to sell NFT?

As NFT gas fees are based on the size of the digital asset and the complexity of the transaction, it’s tricky to nail down exact costs. Nevertheless, the following are estimates of NFT transactions based on average gas prices:

Minting cost: $40-$100 ($70 average) to create a single NFT
Listing cost: $10-$70 ($40 average)
Commission: 1%-15%
Transaction cost: $10-$40 ($25 average)

How to pay for NFT?

Let’s see how you can pay for NFTs. Well, NFT payments are dependent on site. Therefore, on some sites, you have to pay the fees before adding the NFT to the blockchain, whereas some sites charge some percentage (commission) of the sale. Some websites may also charge a subscription fee for keeping the NFT for sale.

The best option is to pay upfront. This gives you an idea of how much profit you will make from any potential sale. Also, any additional fees involved in the buying or selling will be relatively low.

Fee Charges by NFT Marketplace

1. OpenSea

2.5% fee on sale price
Sellers can add additional fees for the buyer to pay
No gas fees after initializing your account
Gas fees passed on to the buyer

2. Nifty Gateway

No initial fees for sellers
Highly exclusive with a high barrier of entry
5% + $0.30 fee on secondary sales
Creators can choose a 5-50% commission on secondary sales
Gas fees only when withdrawing currency off-site

3. Rarible

2.5% fee on sale price
Gas fees on minting, listing, etc.
Optional “collections” cost $600-$1400 in gas fees to create

4. Super Rare

15% fee on the final sale value
Creators receive a 10% commission on any secondary sales
Buyers pay a 3% transaction fee
Gas fees apply

5. Christie’s

Charges a seller’s commission rate based on a percentage of the hammer price
Exact fee not disclosed and can vary between 10-50% of the sale price
2% performance fee if the high estimate is exceeded
Highly exclusive and high barrier of entry

FAQ

Can You Mint an NFT for Free?

Yes, there is a way by which you can Mint an NFT for free. A site like OpenSea allows you to pass on the minting and listing costs to the buyer. This is called lazy minting. Currently, it is limited to very few sites. But in future, there will be many platforms offering this same option.