BNB Chain vs Optimism: which has cheaper gas?
Optimism, decisively. It was cheaper than BNB Chain in 100% of the last 332 hours we observed — not most of the time, effectively all of the time. This is not a close call and there is no window in which the answer flips.
Priced as a swap at each chain's own mean fee, that is $0.0056 on BNB Chain against $0.0000024 on Optimism. Steadiness differs too: BNB Chain's fee spans 1.0× between its quiet and busy hours, Optimism's 62×. BNB Chain is the more predictable of the two, which can matter more than the average if you are pricing transactions in advance.
BNB Chain pays gas in BNB and Optimism in ETH, so their gwei numbers are not comparable to each other — BNB gwei and ETH gwei denominate different assets. Only the dollar column compares these two.
Optimism is a rollup, and the figure shown for it excludes the L1 data fee that settles its transactions on Ethereum — usually the larger share of what you actually pay. The real gap between these two is therefore narrower than it looks here.
Side by side, right now
| Transaction | BNB Chain | Optimism |
|---|---|---|
| Current fee | 0.050 gwei | 0.000000515 gwei |
| Send native token | $0.00078 | $0.000000025 |
| Send an ERC-20 token | $0.0024 | $0.000000078 |
| Swap on a DEX | $0.0056 | $0.00000018 |
Gas units are typical values, not measurements. Dollar figures use the current BNB and ETH price.
Over the last 30 days
- Hours compared
- 332
- BNB Chain cheaper in
- 0%
- Times the lead changed
- 0
- Mean swap cost gap
- $0.0056
Questions
Is BNB Chain or Optimism cheaper for gas?
Optimism was cheaper in 100% of the 332 hours compared over the last 30 days. The ranking did not flip once in that window.
Can I compare their gwei figures directly?
BNB Chain pays gas in BNB and Optimism in ETH, so their gwei numbers are not comparable to each other — BNB gwei and ETH gwei denominate different assets. Only the dollar column compares these two.
Are these the full fees?
Optimism is a rollup, and the figure shown for it excludes the L1 data fee that settles its transactions on Ethereum — usually the larger share of what you actually pay. The real gap between these two is therefore narrower than it looks here.