Ethereum vs Polygon: which has cheaper gas?
Polygon, decisively. It was cheaper than Ethereum in 100% of the last 721 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 $0.109 on Ethereum against $0.0032 on Polygon. Steadiness differs too: Ethereum's fee spans 18× between its quiet and busy hours, Polygon's 1.2×. Polygon is the more predictable of the two, which can matter more than the average if you are pricing transactions in advance.
Ethereum pays gas in ETH and Polygon in POL, so their gwei numbers are not comparable to each other — ETH gwei and POL gwei denominate different assets. Only the dollar column compares these two.
Side by side, right now
| Transaction | Ethereum | Polygon |
|---|---|---|
| Current fee | 0.102 gwei | 249.0 gwei |
| Send native token | $0.0050 | $0.00047 |
| Send an ERC-20 token | $0.015 | $0.0015 |
| Swap on a DEX | $0.036 | $0.0034 |
Gas units are typical values, not measurements. Dollar figures use the current ETH and POL price.
Over the last 30 days
- Hours compared
- 721
- Ethereum cheaper in
- 0%
- Times the lead changed
- 0
- Mean swap cost gap
- $0.106
Questions
Is Ethereum or Polygon cheaper for gas?
Polygon was cheaper in 100% of the 721 hours compared over the last 30 days. The ranking did not flip once in that window.
Can I compare their gwei figures directly?
Ethereum pays gas in ETH and Polygon in POL, so their gwei numbers are not comparable to each other — ETH gwei and POL gwei denominate different assets. Only the dollar column compares these two.