How Much Does It Cost to Create an NFT? A Breakdown of the Expenses Involved

Although NFTs have been around for some time, 2021 saw a huge surge in their popularity. The total value of the NFT market increased from $340 million in 2020 to $24.9 billion in 2021—a 7200% growth. In 2021, NFTs were undeniably a cultural phenomenon.

The Merge, a digital artwork, was the most expensive NFT ever sold at $91.8 million.

As more famous people participate in NFTs, the topic remains in the news. That’s when NFT artists started showing up and when investors started making millions off of NFT sales. For this reason, NFT Cost includes how to mint them on the most widely used blockchains.

All About NFT Minting:

If this is your first time making an NFT, it’s time to talk about NFT minting, which is making your NFT and putting it on the blockchain. Even though it sounds hard, it’s not.

Making unique NFTs from art pieces and collectibles must first be “minted” on the blockchain. The art or collectible is sealed with a unique code and stored on a blockchain. This makes it possible for the owner to be known by name.

So, each piece of art or treasure becomes an NFT on a smart contract blockchain like Ethereum, Solana, or other NFT-compatible chains. This is done using the native blockchain cryptocurrency wallet and the native blockchain currency to pay the transaction fees. All transactions on the blockchain need to be registered and have gas fees. This gives the network a reason to check and add your transaction to the blockchain.

You can think of the NFT process as adding a personal picture to a social media site. In this case, it is a piece of digital art or a souvenir.

The crypto wallet used to mint NFT is a collector’s item that gives them access to the blockchain. It also records every exchange.

Also, the crypto wallet lets you get to the NFT thing by using public names and secret keys. NFT Cost will vary based on the blockchain and NFT store you choose to mint your NFT.

What are the Costs of NFT Minting?

On average, it costs between $0.05 and over $150 to make NFT. The cost of making NFTs relies on many things, such as the cost of blockchain, gas fees, trade account fees, selling fees, etc. 

Ethereum is the most expensive blockchain, and Solana is the least expensive. The blockchain fee is the most expensive part of NFT mining. At the busy times of the Ethereum blockchain, it can cost up to $500 to make a single NFT.

Cost Factors in Creating NFTs:

These are the three most common prices that come with making an NFT. But because each blockchain has its own set of rules, the costs are different. Even in the same database, the cost of making one NFT might differ from that of making another.

NFT Costs can be affected by the amount of data, the speed of transactions, the desire for blockchain, the time of minting, the quality of the project, and the gas fees.

Gas Fees

A gas fee is the cost of doing business on the blockchain. The gas fee is based on how busy the blockchain is when the transaction is started. There is a gas fee for making an NFT, putting it on the market, accepting bids, changing who owns the NFT, and buying NFTs.

Account Charges

Account fees are what you pay to the NFT platform. It is a one-time fee when the Marketplace account is set up, and the cryptocurrency wallet is added.

Listing fees

Some NFT markets let users “mine” NFTs for free but charge a “listing fee” to put them up for trade.

NFT Creation Cost on Various Platforms

On NFT platforms, it’s easy for anyone to make an NFT. OpenSea, Rarible, and Mintable are well-known, big, easy-to-use platforms. These sites give users at least two blockchains to choose from when minting NFTs. And the NFT cost relies on which blockchain the author chooses. 

The Ethereum network is the most widely used blockchain for NFTs since it was the first programmable blockchain to register digital objects. But now, with platforms like Polygon and Solana, creators have more choices than ever.

Ethereum-based NFT Creation

The most famous network for minting NFT is Ethereum. It was also the first site to allow them, and most buyers in NFTs go straight to Ethereum, even though it’s no longer the only NFT blockchain. 

But how much does making an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain cost?

The App Founders Investors who have been around for a while will remember when minting a single NFT costs more than $50–$100, based on the time of day and the price of ETH. But that’s no longer the case, and the popular NFT markets have found a way to get around those fees. Creators can now create NFTs for free on the Ethereum system. 

To create an NFT on Ethereum, you can use famous platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, or Mintable. After you connect your wallet, you can make a new NFT. During this process, you can choose between normal and lazy minting. Here is the most important choice regarding how much it will cost to make your NFT on Ethereum. 

Regular Minting:

On the Ethereum system, it costs a lot to mint an NFT. How much it costs depends on the time of day, the day of the week, and the price of Ethereum (ETH). When we tried to mint an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain using OpenSea, Rarible, and Mintable, the gas fee ranged from 0.0468 to 0.0616 ETH, or $65 to $86, based on the price of 1 ETH at the time, which was $1,400. This was true no matter how much the NFT was listed for. 

But if you want to sell your NFT on Ethereum, there is another way that doesn’t require authors to pay upfront minting fees.

Lazy Minting:

Lazy minting lets NFT producers and artists mint their NFTs without paying anything upfront. If you choose lazy minting, your NFT won’t be registered on the blockchain until someone buys it. 

In this case, the cost of making the NFT is covered by the price at which it is sold. In practice, the buyer, not the person who made the NFT, mints the coins.

With lazy minting, the creation of NFTs happens later, which saves computing power because only NFTs that have been sold go through the minting process. All digital artists and NFT makers can get more visibility by using the answer, which is offered on the most famous NFT markets. Using lazy minting, they can make a free non-fungible token (NFT) on the Ethereum network.

Solana-based NFTs Creation:

Solana is the second most famous blockchain for NFTs after Ethereum because new projects are being started daily. Solana is cheaper to create NFTs than Ethereum, which has a high gas fee. 

Minting NFTs on the Solana blockchain requires a wallet like Phantom that supports the network. You can sell your NFT on any of Solana’s famous NFT markets, such as SolSea, SolanaArt, or Magic Eden.

So, how much does it cost on the Solana blockchain? The costs are low, and you only have to pay the Solana transaction fees for each operation that happens on the blockchain. 

Note that minting an NFT on the Solana blockchain will require three blockchain transactions: two to approve the minting and one to set the price when selling the NFT. But each transaction costs about 0.00045 SOL. This was the fee when we tried the minting process on SolSea. 

If 1 SOL is worth $36, a transaction fee is $0.0162. On the Solana blockchain, minting an NFT costs three network transaction fees, up to 0.00135 SOL.

For $36 per SOL in July 2022, the cost of making an NFT will go up to $0.0486.

Vital Aspects Unraveled

Ethereum vs. Solana: NFT Creation Cost 

Choosing amongst the most common blockchains for making NFTs comes down to the creator’s interests and the specifics of the project. Every NFT developer has to find out which blockchain works best before making a fresh set of NFTs. Creatives should research the blockchain’s current community and environment.

When compared head-to-head, though, the prices are very similar. The most well-known NFT exchanges let you easily create your own NFT at no cost by providing lazy minting on the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Lazy minting allows users to create NFTs on the Polygon or Ethereum blockchains for free through exchanges like OpenSea and Rarible.  You may still use the traditional and costliest method of minting NFTs on Ethereum, but there’s no need to spend over $100 to advertise an NFT that could be sold.