What Is Ethereum Gas? Explained Simply with a List of Top Gas Price Trackers

Ethereum is the second most popular and valuable cryptocurrency in the world, following Bitcoin.

However, Ethereum has the potential to surpass Bitcoin because it was the first to showcase blockchain’s power by enabling the creation of decentralized applications (DApps) to solve real-world problems.

DApps on Ethereum operate through smart contracts written in Solidity, running on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

This allows Ethereum to function beyond simple coin transfers, making it unique.

But to carry out these complex operations, miners use computational power and receive a reward in the form of Gas fees. Even with Ethereum 2.0, which replaces miners with validators, the Gas fee system remains integral.

What Is Ethereum Gas?

In Ethereum, a unit of computational power required to execute specified operations on the Ethereum Blockchain is represented in Gas.

To put it simply, to do any activity on the Ethereum network, whether it is sending small amounts or executing smart contracts, a miner has to put hardwares to work for executing all the activities into the block. In return, they receive a small amount of reward; this reward is called a Gas fee.

Think of it like fueling a car — without Gas, the car won’t run. On Ethereum, without Gas, no transactions or smart contracts can be processed.

Gas is measured in gwei, a smaller unit of Ethereum. One gwei equals 0.000000001 ETH. So instead of saying a transaction costs 0.000000001 ETH, you can say it costs 1 gwei.

Ethereum Gas Limit

There’s a limit to how much Gas can be used for a transaction.

The standard Gas limit for simple Ethereum transfers is 21,000 units, but complex smart contracts may require 100,000 to 200,000 units. The more complex the transaction, the higher the Gas limit.

Each operation on the Ethereum blockchain has an associated Gas cost. For example, adding two numbers might cost 3 Gas, while sending a transaction costs 21,000 Gas. The total cost is calculated by multiplying the Gas units by the Gas price (in gwei).

Validators can decline transactions if the Gas price doesn’t meet their threshold. High demand increases the Gas price, while low demand reduces it.

What Happens if You Set a Gas Limit Too High or Low?

If you set a Gas limit too high for a simple transaction, the excess Gas is refunded.

But if the Gas limit is too low, the transaction will fail. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) will use up all the Gas trying to process the transaction, but it won’t complete, and the Gas will still be consumed.

Ethereum 2.0 Impact on Gas

With the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, the network can process 10,000 transactions per second, up from just 13 transactions per second.

This leap is due to the switch from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which significantly lowers Gas fees.

Validators in Ethereum 2.0 do not need hardware to mine blocks, which reduces the overall cost.

The London upgrade in 2021 also introduced a base fee. Calculating the total transaction fee works as follows: Gas units (limit) * (Base fee + Tip).

Let’s say you have to pay a friend A 1 ETH. In the transaction, the gas limit is 21,000 units, and the base fee is 100 gwei. you include a tip of 10 gwei, to prioritize your transaction.

Using the formula above we can calculate this as 21,000 * (100 + 10) = 2,310,000 gwei or 0.00231 ETH.

When you send the money, 1.00231 ETH will be deducted from your account. Friend A will be credited 1.0000 ETH. Validator receives the tip of 0.00021 ETH. A base fee of 0.0021 ETH is burned.

List of Ethereum Gas Price Tracker

Since Gas prices fluctuate based on demand and supply, it’s important to track them in real-time.

Here I made a list of tools that can help you show the current Ethereum Gas price.

#1. Milkroad.com

Milkroad offers a simple gas tracker.

You don’t get the customization options. The platform offers you the chart and stats to download in different formats instantly.

#2. Etherscan

Etherscan Gas price tracker shows Gas prices in real-time.

The tracker UI is filled with lots of data but Gas prices are divided into fast, standard, and slow like in Ethgasstation.

#3. Ycharts

Ycharts Ethereum Gas tracker gives an overview of Gas prices with the chart and statistics.

But to get an in-depth Gas price analysis, you have to pay and get their premium access.

#4. Crypto.com

Crypto.com DeFi dashboard provides real-time Gas fee tracking.

The tracker shows fast, standard, and slow Gas fees and tracks many DeFi platform's Gas requirements.

Despite these tools, many wallets like MetaMask automatically calculate the Gas fee required for your Ethereum transaction, but it is better to ensure the price from the above tools before selecting any wallet's recommended Gas price.

Final Thoughts…

Gas fees are crucial to maintaining Ethereum’s network security and integrity.

With the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, Gas fees have dropped significantly, making transactions more affordable even as network activity increases.

What Is Ethereum Gas? Explained Simply with a List of Top Gas Price Trackers was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.