USDC payment benchmark | 10 chains
The real cost of sending USDC across blockchains.
Stablecoin payments only work at scale when fees are low, predictable, and fast.
Lowest fee
$0.00001
Highest fee
$1.85
Fee multiple
~185,000x
01 / Live ranking
Fee comparison | $1 USDC transfer
Last updated | May 4, 2026, 3:48 AM UTC
RankingSorted by est. fee | ascending
| # | Blockchain | Est. fee | % of $1 | Finality | Native USDC | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | StellarBest value XLM | $0.00001 | 0.0010% | ~5s Fast finality | Yes | Built for payments. Base fee 100 stroops. |
| 02 | Algorand ALGO | $0.0002 | 0.020% | ~3.3s Instant finality | Yes | Fixed 0.001 ALGO per transaction. Predictable, sub-cent cost. |
| 03 | Solana SOL | $0.00025 | 0.025% | ~13s Probabilistic | Yes | Variable under congestion; priority fees are common. |
| 04 | Celo CELO | $0.0010 | 0.100% | ~5s Fast finality | Yes | Mobile-first Ethereum L2. Fees can be paid in CELO or supported fee currencies. |
| 05 | Base ETH | $0.018 | 1.80% | ~2s L2, ~20m L1 L2 inclusion, Ethereum finality | Yes | OP Stack L2. Fee includes L2 execution and L1 security/data costs. |
| 06 | Polygon PoS POL | $0.022 | 2.20% | ~5s soft Sidechain checkpoint | Yes | Low transaction fees; POL is the Polygon PoS gas token. |
| 07 | Arbitrum One ETH | $0.041 | 4.10% | ~1s L2, L1 varies L2 inclusion, Ethereum settlement | Yes | Fees are paid in ETH; cost depends on L2 execution and L1 data. |
| 08 | OP Mainnet ETH | $0.044 | 4.40% | ~2s L2, ~20m L1 L2 inclusion, Ethereum finality | Yes | OP Stack L2. Fee includes execution, L1 data, and operator components. |
| 09 | Avalanche C-Chain AVAX | $0.085 | 8.50% | ~2s Fast finality | Yes | EVM compatible; fees vary with the base fee. |
| 10 | Ethereum ETH | $1.85 | 185.0% | ~13m Probabilistic, ~2 epochs | Yes | L1 settlement layer. Not designed for micro-payments. |
Sorted by estimated fee, ascending. Fees shown in USD.Estimates | not financial advice
Visual | log scaleFee % of $1 transfer | highest/lowest ~185,000x
$0$0.01$0.10$1.00$2.00
03 / Methodology
How fees are estimated
Transparent, reproducible, and intentionally conservative. Open to scrutiny; pull requests welcome.
01
USD conversion
Network transaction fees are converted to USD using a recent reference price for each chain's fee currency.
02
Congestion variance
Some chains have variable fees that rise during network congestion; ranges represent typical conditions.
03
Predictable vs. dynamic
Chains like Algorand and Stellar have fixed or near-fixed minimum transaction fees. EVM L1/L2 fees fluctuate with gas prices and data costs.
04
Finality approximation
Confirmation and finality times are approximate and depend on the consensus mechanism of each chain.
05
Native USDC support
Whether USDC is issued natively by Circle on the chain, or arrives via a bridge. Native is generally lower-risk.
06
Live data sources
Public RPC endpoints, on-chain explorers, and Circle's published mint locations. Data sources will be linked when integrated.
04 / Context
Why small transfer fees matter
Stablecoins promise programmable money. That promise gets harder to keep when a $1 transfer costs $1.85 to send.
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Micropayments
Tipping, in-app purchases, and pay-per-use APIs only work when fees are a tiny fraction of the transaction.
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Creator payments
Splitting revenue across thousands of small payouts requires near-zero per-transaction overhead.
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API payments
Programmatic, machine-to-machine billing demands predictable, sub-cent fees at high request volumes.
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Cross-border
Remittances and B2B settlement compete directly with traditional rails on cost, speed, and reliability.
MR
SaaS subscriptions
Monthly recurring stablecoin charges only make sense when network fees do not eat the margin.
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On-chain commerce
Checkout flows need fast finality and low fees to feel comparable to card networks.
A blockchain is more useful for payments when sending small amounts is cheap, fast, and predictable. Fee structure is a design choice, not an accident.