Polygon vs NEAR Gas Fees: A Complete Breakdown of Transaction Costs

🌐 Introduction

Gas fees are the heartbeat of blockchain networks. Whether you're transferring tokens, deploying contracts, or interacting with dApps, you’ll pay a transaction fee.

Two blockchains—Polygon (MATIC) and NEAR Protocol (NEAR)—are among the cheapest platforms today. But how do their fees really compare across different transaction types?

Let’s break it down.

⚡ NEAR Protocol Gas Fees

NEAR uses a gas model measured in Tgas (tera-gas). Each action consumes a fixed amount of gas, multiplied by the gas price, which fluctuates slightly with network usage.

Base Gas Price: ~0.0001 NEAR per Tgas
Fee Split: 70% burned, 30% goes to contract developers (if applicable)

Common Transactions on NEAR

Action	Gas Used (Tgas)	Fee (NEAR)	Approx. USD*
Transfer NEAR	0.45	0.000045 NEAR	~$0.0001
Create Account	0.42	0.000042 NEAR	~$0.0001
Function Call (simple)	50	0.005 NEAR	~$0.01
Function Call (complex, max cap)	300	0.03 NEAR	~$0.06
Deploy Smart Contract (~16KB)	2.65	0.000265 NEAR	~$0.0005

*USD based on NEAR price ~$2.00 (Aug 2025).

👉 Bottom Line: NEAR transactions are fractions of a cent to a few cents max, even for complex smart contract executions.

🔗 Polygon (MATIC) Gas Fees

Polygon is an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution that inherits Ethereum’s EVM structure but drastically reduces fees.

Fee Basis: Gas × Gas Price × MATIC price
Typical Gas Price: 30–40 gwei
MATIC Price (Aug 2025): ~$0.55

Common Transactions on Polygon

Action	Gas Used (avg)	Fee (MATIC)	Approx. USD*
Transfer MATIC	21,000	0.00042 MATIC	~$0.0002
ERC-20 Token Transfer	50,000	0.001 MATIC	~$0.0006
Approve (ERC-20)	45,000	0.0009 MATIC	~$0.0005
Simple Contract Call	100,000	0.002 MATIC	~$0.0011
Complex dApp Interaction	500,000	0.01 MATIC	~$0.0055
NFT Mint (ERC-721)	600,000	0.012 MATIC	~$0.0066
Contract Deployment (large)	2,000,000+	0.04+ MATIC	~$0.02+

*USD based on Polygon price ~$0.55 (Aug 2025).

👉 Bottom Line: Polygon fees range from fractions of a cent (basic transfers) up to a few cents for dApps and NFTs. Still cheap, but more variable than NEAR.

📊 NEAR vs Polygon: Fee Comparison

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two blockchains:

Transaction Type	NEAR Fee (NEAR / USD)	Polygon Fee (MATIC / USD)	Winner
Native Token Transfer	0.000045 NEAR / $0.0001	0.00042 MATIC / $0.0002	NEAR
ERC-20 / FT Transfer	0.005 NEAR / $0.01	0.001 MATIC / $0.0006	Polygon
Contract Call (simple)	0.005 NEAR / $0.01	0.002 MATIC / $0.0011	Polygon
Contract Call (complex)	0.03 NEAR / $0.06	0.01 MATIC / $0.0055	Polygon
Contract Deployment	0.000265 NEAR / $0.0005	0.04 MATIC / $0.02	NEAR
NFT Mint	0.005–0.03 NEAR / $0.01–$0.06	0.012 MATIC / $0.0066	Tie (Polygon cheaper avg, NEAR cheaper max)

🚀 Key Insights

NEAR is cheaper for native token transfers and contract deployments.
Polygon is cheaper for most smart contract calls and token transfers.
Both are extremely cost-efficient compared to Ethereum mainnet (where fees often run $1–$50).

In practice:

If you’re building dApps with heavy contract interactions, Polygon edges out NEAR.
If you’re focusing on user adoption with frequent micro-transactions or account creations, NEAR crushes fees.

📝 Final Summary

Both NEAR and Polygon are low-cost, developer-friendly blockchains with fees that are a fraction of a cent.

NEAR = predictable, ultra-low fees (great for scale and onboarding).
Polygon = slightly higher but still cheap (great for dApps, NFTs, and EVM compatibility).

👉 The choice isn’t just about cost—it’s about ecosystem fit. Polygon benefits from Ethereum’s massive dApp network, while NEAR’s architecture optimizes for scalability and user onboarding.