The understanding of people on Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs is substantially increasing as the subject of the creation and sale of NFTs is gaining popularity. Given these changes, people are willing to know in-depth about NFTs, understand the meaning of NFT minting, and learn more about NFT minting cost.

Consequently, like in any other instance, people search the web to find concrete material that would clarify the conceptual elements concerning NFTs and NFT minting cost. However, since the idea is still nascent, the availability of information is quite haywire.

NFT minting is simply the process of creating NFTs, which are deemed as the new face of blockchain technology after cryptocurrency and as a new version of art.

The best thing about minting an NFT is that it isn’t restricted to specific works by art professionals. Instead, anyone from any background can mint NFTs. In addition, apart from traditional digital art, poems, concert tickets, memes, sports collectibles, and a variety of other things can also be minted as NFTs.

In this article, we elaborate on NFT minting cost and certain additional fees charged when one wants to sell or buy NFT. In addition, we’ll reveal why the price to mint NFT varies and learn about the factors that affect the NFT minting cost. So, read till the end to learn more!

What Is NFT Minting Cost? 

Factually, each NFT has to be ‘minted’ on the blockchain, such as Ethereum or Bitcoin. It is a relatively straightforward process where using a cryptocurrency wallet with some crypto fund NFTs are made accessible on the blockchain.

A certain amount of crypto transactional fee is charged during the NFT minting process, and therefore that fee is known as NFT Minting Cost.

It is imperative to note that for seamless and smooth transactions, the cryptocurrency wallet that you would use to mint NFT should be able to access the blockchain network that you’ve selected for your NFT. in addition, it should be able to approve the transactions and maintain the balance “on-chain.”

These little steps in the process accrue some costs. The price to mint NFT depends on a few factors that we’d discuss in the later sections of the article. Also, another key thing to consider is that platforms or marketplaces charge different NFT minting fees.

Minting an NFT

How Much Does It Cost To Mint NFT?

According to Slate, the cost to mint NFT can range from under $1 to over $1,000. As NFTs have increased in popularity in recent years to include a wide spectrum of goods from art to audio files and virtual worlds, the NFT mint price also varies across a wide range.

The ups and downs of NFT minting costs have been mentioned frequently by the NFT artists. For example, Allen Gannett, an NFT developer, posted a tale for OneZero about how he manufactured four NFTs of famous paintings that he obtained for free from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then had to pay over $1,300 as NFT minting fees.

Many popular NFT crypto wallets will allow people to create their crypto art and publish it on the blockchain without charging any NFT minting fees.

However, some platforms have a basic NFT mint price which ranges from $70 to $120. The price charged to mint NFT is to provide some assistance to get you started.

Interestingly, during peak times, the cost to mint NFT has risen by $200-300. Reportedly, people have also tried to mint and sell their NFT on Rarible for $600.00.

This is why it is critical to conduct thorough research with due diligence and understand the very basics of NFT minting when looking for a new platform to coin your NFT in the first place. Finding a system that is simple to use, secure and safe to transact with, and won’t drain your bank account to pay the NFT mint price is important.

NFT Minting Cost

NFT Minting Cost: What Are The Things To Know? 

Now that we’ve understood what it costs to mint NFT let’s know a few things about NFT minting costs that would significantly help you analyze different platforms and choose wisely. Also, it will prevent the NFT minting fees from draining your bank account.

1. A Variety Of Different Costs 

The first and foremost thing to understand is that there are various fees associated with NFT or Crypto Art. It is essential to have basic knowledge of these to clearly understand which cost is directly related to the price to mint NFT and which is not.

Gas Fee – In general, a gas fee is an amount that users pay to complete a transaction or execute a contract on a blockchain platform. Similarly, the gas fee in NFT is the amount of cryptocurrency needed over and above the transactional value to process the transaction.

Upfront Fee – Among the other NFT minting costs are additional expenses incurred for running a marketplace. Therefore, the marketplace calculates the cost per NFT and then adds their profit margin, leading to the upfront fee.

If the platform you choose charges an upfront fee, you would have to pay it to get your crypto art minted.

You might have to pay this even if the item does not sell in some cases. However, the general rule is that you pay no or minimal upfront fees when you buy, sell, or trade after the first transaction.

Per Sale Fee – A marketplace will take the initial hit of the NFT minting fee. However, they usually take a percentage of the sale when the art sells, which might vary across different platforms.

You must be attentive to the numerous other fees they may tack on to everything you buy, sell, or trade. Since these platforms are a business that provides services to the people, they calculate the per sale fee for operational efficiency.

Subscription Fee – The last kind of fee is a subscription fee wherein the platform might offer you to charge a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription rather than exacting an upfront or per sale fee.

Different marketplaces might offer varied combinations of these fees that you may choose per your needs. For instance, you may upgrade your standard account to a Pro/Premium account in case you become a regular seller.

2. Volatile In Nature

NFT mining cost is volatile because of their direct relationship to the gas fee. The gas fee is directly transferred to the miners who pump out the computational power necessary for the verification of the transactions.

Therefore, updating prices and listing pieces for sale and transacting the collectibles takes a “gas fee.” Interestingly, depending on the network congestion, the gas fee can vary wildly from one moment to the next, especially when there’s a lot of activity.

Hence, due to the volatility of gas fees, NFT minting cost is also highly fluctuating in nature.

3. Cost Prediction Tools

Fortunately, to help NFT creators, buyers and sellers predict the gas rate of different blockchains over different days and times of the week, several prediction tools and features have been developed.

Examples of some cost prediction tools include GasNow, NFT Gas station, and Ethereum Price. In addition, there are other applications that compare the gas fee on different blockchains and present the data in an understandable manner for the people to analyze.

4. Profits Of Creators And Artists Are Affected

The last thing to note about the cost to mint NFT is that the other associated NFT minting fees mentioned above affect the on-sale profits of the creators and artists.

Therefore, the fluctuating NFT minting cost can slice the profits of NFT creators and sellers. These fluctuations in the NFT mint price could be influenced by gas fees, upfront fees, per-sale fees, subscription fees, or a combination of all.

Gas Fees

What Factors Affect NFT Minting Cost

Besides the general things to know about the cost to mint NFTs, some additional specific factors or determinants, too, affect the NFT mint price. Awareness of these factors might assist NFT creators, buyers, or sellers devise cost-effective, personal cheap NFT minting practices.

1. Gas Fees – Gas fees are the primary factor that affects the cost to mint NFT. If the gas fee is low, then the probability of cheap NFT minting increases. On the contrary, higher gas fee results in increased NFT mint price.

2. Computational Power – The second factor that influences the NFT minting cost is the computational power required to mint or make the NFT accessible on the blockchain. The computational power requirement varies per the file type and size of the NFT. The greater the file size of the NFT, the more would be the computational requirement, as a result of which the gas fee would increase, thus affecting the NFT minting cost.

3. Time Taken To Mint The NFT – The time factor to mint an NFT relates to how fast you wish to mint your NFT. Therefore, choosing the speed option to mint the NFT will cost more, thus increasing the NFT minting fee. On the other hand, a more affordable price to mint NFT would be when you choose the slower option.

4. The Platform or Blockchain Chosen – Lastly, the platform you choose would largely influence the NFT minting cost for you. Why and How? Because these platforms are the perfect mediums to make the NFT available on the blockchain. The different kinds of fees they entail altogether affect the cost to mint NFT.

NFT on Blockchain

Are There Any Best Practices For Cheap NFT Minting?

There are certain ways by which one can affordably mint NFT. These include minting the NFTs on blockchain sidechains that are separate blockchains, acting as an extension to the parent blockchain.

By following this approach, creators, buyers or sellers would be able to transfer their NFTs across chains. It would be the best solution for cheap NFT minting by minting on the less expensive chains. And later, they may move the NFTs to a different blockchain where they enjoy cheap NFT minting costs and more ROI if felt necessary.

In addition, there are five NFT platforms that have relatively cheap NFT minting costs. These are as follows:

1. NFT Showroom – NFT Showroom is a digital art NFT marketplace built on Hive, a fast and free blockchain. The NFTminting cost on Hive is an absolute minimum.

The platform’s mission is to provide an easy-to-use medium that has a reasonable cost to mint NFT for the creator and the collector, solving existing problems in the crypto art sphere.

2. Atomichub – Atomic is an NFT platform based on EOSIO blockchain technology for all types of digital collectibles. It enables users to tokenize and create digital assets and buy, sell, and auction off NFTs within the marketplace.

The website is an excellent source of statistics for determining how much art is bought and sold, and it also displays the top users. Hence it’s a great NFT platform with cheap NFT minting and high-quality work.

3. Kalamint – Kalamint is a community-owned public NFT marketplace that allows users to create, buy, exchange, and collect NFTs on a sidechain called Tezos using the FA2 token standard.

It recently collaborated with the PangeaSeed Foundation to spread the word about Clean NFTs. Kala specializes in Indian subcontinent art and promises cheap NFT minting at a fraction of the cost of marketplaces on the Ethereum blockchain.

4. VIV3 – VIV3 is an NFT marketplace built on Flow, a scalable smart contract platform that delivers performance while allowing creators to keep costs low while retaining the value of decentralization.

Its vision is to enable a billion people to create, trade, and own the most valuable creations with cheap NFT minting costs.

FAQs – NFT Minting Cost

Here are some frequently asked questions that would help to give greater depth to your knowledge on NFT minting cost.

Q.1 Can One Mint An NFT For Free?

An NFT creator can mint an NFT for free on Rarible by using short lines of codes provided by the platform itself. The cost to mint NFT will therefore be nill if one incorporates those code lines while making the NFT.

Q.2 The Most Expensive NFT Ever Sold Was At What Price?

The most expensive NFT ever sold was PAK’s “The Merge.” The price of this NFT was quoted at a record high of 91.8 million dollars. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway. Besides The Merge, Beeple’s “First 5000 Days” is another one of the most expensive NFTs sold at a price of 69 million dollars.

NFT Minting Cost – The Bottom Line  

The NFT minting cost depends on a varied number of things. Hence, it becomes imperative for NFT enthusiasts to have knowledge of the different elements of NFT minting fees and the factors that affect the price to mint NFT so that NFT minting cost does not drain their bank accounts.

In addition, NFT creators and artists should compare different NFT platforms and choose the one that enables cheap NFT minting. Once they follow these basic practices and even use gas fee prediction tools, they’ll be able to put their work on the blockchain with a minimum NFT minting cost.