Ethereum Priority Fee Guide

Since the London hard fork introduced EIP-1559, every Ethereum transaction includes a two-component fee structure: a base fee and an optional priority fee (miner tip).

Understanding the Max Priority Fee

The Max Priority Fee — also known as the miner tip — is paid directly to the validator in order to incentivize them to include your transaction in a block. Under normal network conditions, a tip of around 2.0 GWEI is sufficient for most standard transactions. However, when the network is highly congested — such as during a major NFT drop or DeFi event — a higher Max Priority Fee may be necessary.

The Max Priority Fee represents the maximum tip you are willing to pay to a validator to prioritize your transaction.

Max Fee Per Gas Explained

The Max Fee Per Gas is the absolute maximum amount you are willing to pay per unit of gas. Your actual transaction cost will be the base fee (which is burned) plus the actual priority fee (which goes to the validator). If the base fee rises above your max fee minus your priority fee, your transaction will not be included. Doubling the current base fee when calculating your Max Fee ensures your transaction remains viable for up to six consecutive fully congested blocks.

Transaction type matters: legacy (Type 0) transactions use a single gas price, while EIP-1559 (Type 2) transactions allow you to separately specify the base fee ceiling and the priority tip. Most modern wallets like MetaMask now default to Type 2, giving you finer control over fees during volatile network conditions.