Stablecoin fee tracker
What it costs to send USDT and USDC on each network, right now
Right now the cheapest network on this list is Optimism, at under $0.0001 for a USDT transfer. On Tron, a USDT transfer costs about $2.24 when the sender pays the fee by burning TRX, and about $4.42 to an address that has never held USDT. On Ethereum it's about $0.026.
Network fees only, in USD. Updated , refreshed every 10 minutes.
| Network | Token | Fee per transfer | To a new address | Final in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optimism | USDT | Under $0.00010.000000039 ETH | $0.0001 | 3 to 9 minutes |
| Aptos | USDC | $0.00010.00015 APT | $0.0040 | Under a second |
| Aptos | USDT | $0.00010.00015 APT | $0.0039 | Under a second |
| Optimism | USDC | $0.00010.000000049 ETH | $0.0002 | 3 to 9 minutes |
| Solana | USDT | $0.00050.000005 SOL | $0.16 | Under a second |
| Solana | USDC | $0.00050.000005 SOL | $0.16 | Under a second |
| Base | USDC | $0.00070.00000027 ETH | $0.0009 | 3 to 9 minutes |
| Avalanche | USDC | $0.00100.00011 AVAX | $0.0015 | About 2 seconds |
| Polygon | USDC | $0.00150.017 POL | $0.0020 | About 8 seconds |
| Polygon | USDT | $0.00150.017 POL | $0.0020 | About 8 seconds |
| Arbitrum | USDT | $0.00220.0000009 ETH | $0.0030 | 4 to 6 minutes |
| Arbitrum | USDC | $0.00220.00000092 ETH | $0.0031 | 4 to 6 minutes |
| Ethereum | USDC | $0.0260.000011 ETH | $0.036 | About 3 minutes |
| Ethereum | USDT | $0.0260.000011 ETH | $0.036 | About 3 minutes |
| Tron | USDT | $2.246.8 TRX | $4.42 | About 1 minute |
“Final in” is how long Circle waits before crediting a USDC deposit on that network, and for Tron, how long a block takes to become irreversible according to TRON's documentation. These times depend on the network, not the token.
How the numbers are worked out
Each figure is the network fee for one transfer of USDT or USDC to an address that already holds the token, converted to dollars at the latest Kraken price of the network's own token. The amount sent doesn't change the fee.
- Ethereum, Polygon and Avalanche: the gas a token transfer uses times the current gas price. We measured the gas on 22 October 2026 by simulating transfers of each token: about 45,000 to 47,000 units on Ethereum and Avalanche, and about 61,000 on Polygon.
- Base, Optimism and Arbitrum: the same, plus the fee these networks pay to post data to Ethereum. For Base and Optimism we use the upper bound their fee oracle reports; for Arbitrum, the estimate from its NodeInterface contract.
- Tron: the energy a USDT transfer uses, priced at the current rate for burning TRX, plus 345 bytes of bandwidth. On 22 October 2026 a transfer used 64,285 energy, about 49,600 of it the surcharge on the USDT contract, and 130,285 to an address that had never held USDT. The surcharge is read live from the contract.
- Solana: the 5,000-lamport fee per signature plus the median priority fee recently paid around the token, for a 20,000 compute-unit limit. A first transfer also funds the recipient's token account, at the live rent-exempt amount.
- Aptos: the gas units a transfer used on 22 October 2026 (about 150, or about 5,100 when the recipient's store is new) times the current gas price.
Not included: exchange withdrawal fees, bridging, conversion spreads and Align's own pricing, which is quoted on request. A sender with staked TRX or rented energy pays less on Tron than shown here.
Use the data
The same numbers are available as JSON at alignlabs.dev/api/stablecoin-fees, refreshed every 10 minutes and open to any site or agent. If you publish them, please link back to this page.
Choosing between the two tokens? See USDT vs USDC for business payments, how to pick a network in which network to use for USDT and USDC payments, and how to turn a balance into a bank payment in how to pay overseas suppliers from USDT or USDC.
Common questions
- Which network is cheapest for sending USDT or USDC?
- Solana, Aptos and layer-2 networks such as Base, Optimism and Arbitrum usually cost a fraction of a cent per transfer. Tron costs more per transfer, but it's where many counterparties hold USDT, so check which network the recipient supports before you choose.
- Why does a USDT transfer on Tron cost more?
- Tron charges smart contract calls in energy, and heavily used contracts such as USDT pay a surcharge under its dynamic energy model. If the sender has no staked or rented energy, the fee is paid by burning TRX, which comes to about $2.24 at the moment. Businesses that send often stake TRX or rent energy to bring this down.
- Why does the first transfer to a new address cost more?
- The network has to create new storage for the recipient. On Solana the sender usually funds the recipient's token account, which takes the cost to about $0.16. On Tron and the EVM networks, writing a new balance uses more energy or gas than updating an existing one.
- Are these Align's fees?
- No. These are the network fees the blockchain charges for one transfer. AlignPay sponsors gas: when you send USDC or USDT from your AlignPay balance, Align pays the network fee for you, so you never need to hold or top up a network token. The figures don't include exchange withdrawal fees, conversion spreads or Align's pricing, which is quoted on request.
Sources
- Circle, Blockchain confirmations (Circle Mint)
- TRON, Consensus: block solidification
- TRON, Resource model: energy and bandwidth
- Solana, Fees
- Optimism, Transaction fees on the OP Stack
- Arbitrum, How to estimate gas
- Aptos, Gas and storage fees
- Kraken, Public market data API
- Live data: public RPC endpoints for each network (publicnode.com and the networks' own), TronGrid and the Aptos API.
Estimates of network fees for information, not financial advice. Actual fees depend on network load at the moment you send and on the wallet or provider you use.
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