Fee Model - Hedera

Overview

Hedera uses a simplified fee model where every transaction cost is calculated as a base fee plus extras. Introduced in HIP-1261, this model replaces the previous resource-weighted fee schedule with transparent, predictable pricing. All fees are defined in USD as tinycents and converted to HBAR at the current network exchange rate before being charged. The fee schedule is stored as a JSON document in system file 0.0.113 on the network.

What is a tinycent? One cent USD = 10⁸ tinycents. One dollar USD = 10¹⁰ tinycents. Tinycents provide high precision for fee calculations without floating-point math.

Key terms

Term	Definition
Base Fee	The fixed minimum fee in tinycents for a transaction or query before any extras are applied.
Extras	Additional cost factors on top of the base fee, such as signatures, bytes, keys, or gas. Each has a per-unit fee and an optional included count.
Included Count	Units of an extra included for free in the base fee before additional charges apply.
Tinycent	The smallest fee unit. 10⁸ tinycents = 1 cent USD. 10¹⁰ tinycents = 1 USD.
Node Fee	Fee paid to the submitting node. Same calculation for all transaction types.
Network Fee	A multiplier of the node fee covering consensus and storage.
Service Fee	Covers execution costs. Varies by transaction type.

Fee Components

Every transaction fee is split into three components:

Component	What It Covers	How It’s Calculated
Node	Compensates the submitting node for pre-checking and forwarding the transaction	`baseFee` + extras (processing bytes, signatures). Identical formula for all transaction types.
Network	Covers gossip, consensus, signature verification, and blockchain storage	A configurable multiplier of the node fee (default: 9×).
Service	Covers execution costs, state changes, and blockstream output	`baseFee` + transaction-specific extras (keys, token types, gas, etc.). Varies by transaction type.

totalFee = nodeFee + networkFee + serviceFee

The node and network fees are uniform across all transaction types — only the service fee varies per transaction.

Extras

Extras are additional cost factors applied on top of a base fee. Each extra has a name, a per-unit fee (in tinycents), and an optional included count — the number of units included for free before additional charges apply. Hedera transaction and query fees follow a base fee + extras fee model defined by HIP-1261 (Simple Fees). For current per-unit fees in USD, see the mainnet fees page. The following extras are defined in the fee schedule:

Extra	Description
`Signatures`	Signature verifications on the transaction. 1 included in base fee.
`Keys`	Keys defined when creating or updating an entity. 1 included in base fee.
`Accounts`	Accounts loaded during handling. 2 included on `CryptoTransfer`.
`TokenTypes`	Distinct token types referenced in a transfer. 1 included in base fee.
`Gas`	Gas consumed by hook program execution within transfers and by `ContractCallLocal` queries.
`Allowances`	Allowances granted on `ApproveAllowance`, or NFT allowances deleted on `DeleteAllowance`. 1 included in base fee.
`Airdrops`	Pending airdrops created — applies only when the recipient hasn’t pre-associated the token.
`TokenTransferBase`	Applies once per `CryptoTransfer` with one or more token transfers when no token has custom fees.
`TokenTransferBaseCustomFees`	Applies once per `CryptoTransfer` with at least one custom-fee token.
`TokenCreateWithCustomFee`	Added to `TokenCreate` when custom fees or a `fee_schedule_key` are defined.
`TokenMintNft`	NFT serials minted on `TokenMint`. 1 included in base fee.
`TokenMintNftBase`	Added once per `TokenMint` operation that mints NFTs (not fungible).
`NftUpdate`	NFTs updated on `TokenUpdateNfts`. 1 included in base fee.
`TokenAssociate`	Token associations on `TokenAssociate` or auto-associations during a transfer. 1 included in base fee.
`ConsensusCreateTopicWithCustomFee`	Added to `ConsensusCreateTopic` when the new topic has custom fees defined.
`ConsensusSubmitMessageWithCustomFee`	Per message submitted to a topic with custom fees.
`ConsensusSubmitMessageWithCustomFeeBytes`	Per byte of message payload on a custom-fee topic. First 1,024 bytes included in base fee.
`ConsensusSubmitMessageWithoutCustomFeeBytes`	Per byte of message payload on a regular topic. First 100 bytes included in base fee.
`ScheduleCreateContractCallBase`	Added to `ScheduleCreate` when the scheduled inner operation is a contract call.
`Records`	Records returned by `TransactionGetRecord`. 1 included in base fee.
`StateBytes`	Bytes persisted to state on `FileCreate`, `FileUpdate`, or `FileAppend`. 1,000 bytes included per transaction.
`ProcessingBytes`	Transaction body bytes processed by the node. 1,350 included in the base fee.
`EvmDispatchSurcharge`	A 20% premium added to the HAPI fee of any operation invoked from a smart contract via Hedera’s system contracts (HTS, HAS, HSS). Does not apply to pure-EVM operations.

Hedera transaction and query fees follow a base fee + extras fee model defined by HIP-1261 (Simple Fees).

The included count means you don’t pay extra for typical usage. For example, the node fee includes a default allotment of processing bytes and one signature — a small, single-signature transaction pays zero byte and signature extras on the node component.

Fee Calculation Example

Consider a basic CryptoCreate transaction with a single key and 150 bytes:

Calculate the node fee

The node fee applies the same formula to all transactions:

Node baseFee:           100,000 tinycents
ProcessingBytes extra:  150 bytes used, 1,024 included → 0 charged → 0
Signatures extra:       1 signature, 1 included → 0 charged → 0
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Node fee total:         100,000 tinycents

Calculate the network fee

The network fee is a multiplier of the node fee:

Network fee = 9 × 100,000 = 900,000 tinycents

Calculate the service fee

The service fee is specific to CryptoCreate:

Service baseFee:    499,000,000 tinycents
Keys extra:         1 key used, 1 included → 0 charged → 0
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Service fee total:  499,000,000 tinycents

Sum the total

Total = 100,000 + 900,000 + 499,000,000 = 500,000,000 tinycents ≈ $0.05 USD

This amount is converted to HBAR at the current exchange rate and charged to the payer.

If the same transaction used two keys instead of one, the service fee would increase by the per-key extra fee (e.g., 10,000,000 tinycents), because the included count of 1 key is exceeded by 1.

Transaction Outcomes and Fees

Not all transactions succeed. The fee charged depends on how far the transaction progresses:

Outcome	Description	Who Pays	Components Charged
Successful	Transaction executed normally	Payer	Node + Network + Service
Bad	Passed due-diligence but failed during execution (e.g., out of gas, semantically wrong, inconsistent with state)	Payer	Node + Network + Service (full)
Unhandled	Well-formed but not executed (e.g., throttled, duplicate, unexecuted portion of an atomic batch)	Payer	Node + Network
Invalid	Failed due-diligence checks by the submitting node (e.g., payer can’t afford the fee, incompatible fields)	Submitting node	Network only
Unreadable	Bytes cannot be parsed as a valid protobuf `Transaction`	Submitting node	Punitive flat fee

Bad transactions are charged full freight (node + network + service) to protect the network from denial-of-service attacks. This applies even if the transaction fails due to a bug (FAIL_INVALID).

Congestion Pricing

HIP-1313 introduces an optional high-volume lane for entity-creation transactions above the standard throttle. When a transaction opts in with setHighVolume(true), the network may apply a fee multiplier if the high-volume throttle bucket is under load. The multiplier scales with congestion level and is reflected in the high_volume_multiplier field of the fee estimate response. The high_volume_multiplier field uses a 1-based scale (1 = 1×, 4 = 4×). TransactionRecord.highVolumePricingMultiplier — available after execution — uses a 1000-based scale (1000 = 1×, 4000 = 4×). Both represent the same multiplier. To simulate the fee at a specific congestion level before committing, use setHighVolumeThrottle() on FeeEstimateQuery. See Estimating Fees with the SDK for code examples.

Fee Schedule Configuration

The fee schedule is a JSON document stored in system file 0.0.113. It defines:

Section	Purpose
`extras`	All available extra fee definitions (name + per-unit fee)
`node`	Node fee configuration (base fee + extras with included counts)
`network`	Network fee configuration (multiplier)
`services`	Per-service groupings of transaction and query fee definitions
`unreadable`	Punitive fee for unparsable transaction bytes

Example fee schedule structure (JSON)

{
  "version": 0,
  "extras": [
    { "name": "Signatures", "fee": 100000 },
    { "name": "ProcessingBytes", "fee": 10000 },
    { "name": "Keys", "fee": 10000000 }
  ],
  "node": {
    "baseFee": 100000,
    "extras": [
      { "name": "ProcessingBytes", "includedCount": 1024 },
      { "name": "Signatures", "includedCount": 1 }
    ]
  },
  "network": { "multiplier": 9 },
  "services": [
    {
      "name": "CryptoService",
      "transactions": [
        {
          "name": "CryptoCreate",
          "baseFee": 499000000,
          "extras": [
            { "name": "Keys", "includedCount": 1 }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "queries": []
    }
  ],
  "unreadable": { "fee": 100000000000 }
}

The legacy fee schedule in system file 0.0.111 remains available in its existing format for backward compatibility, but it will not receive further updates.

Fee Estimation

You can estimate transaction fees before submitting them using the Mirror Node REST API:

POST /api/v1/network/fees?mode=intrinsic
Content-Type: application/protobuf

<Transaction protobuf binary>

The endpoint supports two modes:

Mode	Behavior
`intrinsic` (default)	Estimates based on the transaction’s inherent properties (size, signatures, keys)
`state`	Estimates using the mirror node’s latest known state (e.g., checks if accounts exist)

See Mirror Node REST API Network for the full endpoint specification and response format.

Queries

Queries follow the same base-fee-plus-extras structure as transactions. Some queries are marked as free in the fee schedule (e.g., CryptoGetAccountBalance, TransactionGetReceipt). For non-free queries, the SDK creates a CryptoTransfer payment transaction to pay the node, network, and service fees.

Fee Schedule Schema (Protobuf)

The fee schedule is defined as a set of protobuf messages. The wire format is JSON, stored in system file 0.0.113.

FeeSchedule

Top-level message defining the complete fee configuration.

Field	Type	Description
`node`	NodeFeeSchedule	How to compute the node fee component. Required.
`network`	NetworkFeeSchedule	How to compute the network fee component. Required.
`unreadable`	UnreadableTransactionFeeSchedule	Fee for unparsable transaction bytes. Optional.
`extras`	repeated ExtraFeeDefinition	All available extra fee definitions. No duplicate names.
`services`	repeated ServiceFeeSchedule	Fee configs per network service. No duplicate names.

ExtraFeeDefinition

Defines a single extra fee — an additional charge for a specific cost factor.

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Unique name. Must match `[A-Za-z].[A-Za-z0-9]`. Required.
`fee`	uint64	Fee per unit in tinycents. Must be > 0. Required.

NodeFeeSchedule

Node fee configuration. Applied identically to all transaction types.

Field	Type	Description
`base_fee`	uint64	Base fee in tinycents. Defaults to 0.
`extras`	repeated ExtraFeeReference	Extras for computing the node fee. No duplicate references.

NetworkFeeSchedule

Network fee configuration. Calculated as a multiplier of the node fee.

Field	Type	Description
`multiplier`	uint32	Multiplied by the node fee. Must be ≥ 1. Required.

ServiceFeeSchedule

Groups transaction and query fee configs for a single gRPC service.

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Service name (e.g., `CryptoService`). Required.
`schedule`	repeated ServiceFeeDefinition	Transaction/query fee configs. Must not be empty.

ServiceFeeDefinition

Fee definition for a single transaction or query.

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Transaction/query name (e.g., `CryptoCreate`). Required.
`base_fee`	uint64	Base fee in tinycents. Defaults to 0.
`extras`	repeated ExtraFeeReference	Extras for this transaction/query. No duplicate references.
`free`	bool	If `true`, `base_fee` and `extras` are ignored — the operation is free.

ExtraFeeReference

References an ExtraFeeDefinition with an optional included count.

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Name of the referenced extra. Must match a defined extra. Required.
`included_count`	uint32	Units included for free in the base fee. Defaults to 0.

UnreadableTransactionFeeSchedule

Punitive fee for nodes that submit unparsable bytes.

Field	Type	Description
`fee`	uint64	Punitive fee in tinycents. Optional (may be 0).

Validation Rules

Before a new fee schedule takes effect, the network validates it. If any rule fails, the schedule is rejected.

Parsing and schema compliance

The JSON must parse and conform to the FeeSchedule protobuf message. All required fields must be present and types must match. No unrecognized fields.

Monetary values

All baseFee and fee fields must be non-negative integers. For extras, fee must be strictly > 0.

Multiplier constraint

The multiplier in network must be a positive integer ≥ 1.

Name uniqueness and format

All names must match [A-Za-z].*[A-Za-z0-9]*. Extra names, service names, and transaction/query names within each service must be unique.

Extra references

Every extra reference must point to a defined extra. No duplicate references within a single list.

Free transactions and queries

If free is true, baseFee and extras are ignored during calculation but must still comply with all validation rules if present.

HIP-1261: Simple Fees

The full Hiero Improvement Proposal specification.

Transaction and Query Fees

Fee tables for all transaction and query types on mainnet.

Gas and Fees

Gas schedule and fee calculation for smart contracts.

HIP-1259: Fee Collection

The fee collection account model that Simple Fees depends on.

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Fee Components

​Extras

​Fee Calculation Example

​Transaction Outcomes and Fees

​Congestion Pricing

​Fee Schedule Configuration

​Fee Estimation

​Queries

​Fee Schedule Schema (Protobuf)

​FeeSchedule

​ExtraFeeDefinition

​NodeFeeSchedule

​NetworkFeeSchedule

​ServiceFeeSchedule

​ServiceFeeDefinition

​ExtraFeeReference

​UnreadableTransactionFeeSchedule

​Validation Rules

​Related

HIP-1261: Simple Fees

Transaction and Query Fees

Gas and Fees

HIP-1259: Fee Collection

Overview

Fee Components

Extras

Fee Calculation Example

Transaction Outcomes and Fees

Congestion Pricing

Fee Schedule Configuration

Fee Estimation

Queries

Fee Schedule Schema (Protobuf)

FeeSchedule

ExtraFeeDefinition

NodeFeeSchedule

NetworkFeeSchedule

ServiceFeeSchedule

ServiceFeeDefinition

ExtraFeeReference

UnreadableTransactionFeeSchedule

Validation Rules

Related