# Polygon Gas Tracker: POL Gas Price and Network Activity

> Polygon gas tracker: the base fee and priority fee in gwei block by block, block fullness and the cost of a USDC transfer in POL and USD, with daily fees.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/polygon-gas-tracker

**Question:** What is the gas price on Polygon PoS right now?

- Kind: Dashboard in Voltfin Vantage
- Topic: [Layer 1 chains](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/chains)
- Chains: Polygon
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

Polygon PoS charges gas in POL with the same two-part fee as Ethereum: a base fee that the protocol sets from how full recent blocks were, and a priority fee for validators. This dashboard reads both from every block as it lands, with how full blocks are and what a USDC transfer costs at those prices, so you can see what a transaction needs to pay right now.

Two Polygon rules shape the figures. Validators enforce a floor on the priority fee, so tips seldom fall below it even when the base fee is tiny, and the base fee is collected in a contract and burned in batches rather than destroyed in each block. The history page follows daily fees, activity and the POL waiting to be burned. Each figure is pinned to its block, with a receipt.

## Blueprint

### Now

The fee of the latest blocks and what a USDC transfer costs at it.

- **Base fee** (gwei): The base fee per gas of the latest Polygon PoS block, read from its header.
- **Priority fee, median** (gwei): The median priority fee paid by transactions in recent blocks, measured from what the blocks included.
- **Block fullness** (%): Gas used as a share of the gas limit in recent blocks: when blocks run above their target, the next base fee rises.
- **USDC transfer cost** (POL): What a native USDC transfer costs now: its typical gas times the current base fee plus median tip, in POL, with the USD value beside it.
- **Base fee and tips, recent blocks** (gwei): The base fee and the median tip of each block over the last hours, so a spike shows the block where it starts.

### History

Daily fees, transactions and the POL waiting to be burned.

- **Transactions, latest day** (count): Transactions in Polygon PoS blocks on the latest complete UTC day.
- **Active addresses, latest day** (count): Distinct senders of successful transactions on the latest complete day.
- **Fees paid, latest day** (POL): Fees paid on the latest complete day: the base fee collected for burning plus tips to validators.
- **POL awaiting burn** (POL): POL held by the base fee collector contract at the latest block: base fees collected but not yet burned.
- **Fees by day** (POL): Fees paid each day over the selected period, split into the base fee collected for burning and the tips paid to validators.

Filters: Period (Last day, week or month).

## How it will be measured

- The base fee is read from each Polygon PoS block header (base_fee_per_gas) as blocks arrive and is shown in gwei, a billionth of a POL.
- Priority fees are measured from the transactions each block included, as effective gas price minus the base fee, at the median and the 90th percentile, rather than from a node's estimate.
- The cost of a USDC transfer multiplies the typical gas of a native USDC transfer, measured from recent transfers, by the current base fee plus median tip, and converts POL to USD with the Chainlink POL/USD feed on Polygon at the same block.
- Polygon PoS does not destroy the base fee inside each block: it accrues to a collector contract, whose balance is read at each block, and the batch burns are recorded as they happen.
- Every figure carries a receipt with the block number and hash and the reads behind it.

## Data it needs

- `gas_blocks` (to build): Base fee, priority fee percentiles, gas used and gas limit for each block on fee-market chains, for a near-live gas tracker.
- `chain_fees_daily` (to build): Fees paid per chain per day in the native token: base fee and priority fee percentiles, total fees, and the share burned where the chain burns fees.
- `chain_activity_daily` (to build): Transactions, active sending addresses, new addresses, contracts created and gas used on each chain per day, counted from blocks and transactions.
- `native_prices_daily` (to build): Reference prices of major assets read from on-chain oracle feeds (Chainlink latestRoundData) at each day's last block, with each round's update time.
- Source: Polygon PoS block headers: base_fee_per_gas, gas_used, gas_limit and timestamp
- Source: Effective gas price of every transaction in each block, for tip percentiles
- Source: Gas used by recent native USDC transfers, for the typical transfer cost
- Source: POL balance of the base fee collector contract at each block, and the transactions that burn from it
- Source: Chainlink POL/USD feed on Polygon at the same block

## Questions

### What is the gas price on Polygon right now?

A Polygon PoS transaction pays the base fee, set by the protocol from how full recent blocks were, plus a priority fee to validators. The dashboard shows the latest base fee and the tips recent blocks actually included; a transaction offering the median tip on top of the base fee is normally included promptly when blocks have room.

### Why does Polygon have a minimum priority fee?

Polygon governance set a network-wide floor on the priority fee through PIP-35, to keep validators paid and to limit spam, and node clients enforce it. That is why tips on Polygon cluster at the floor even when blocks are far from full, while the base fee itself can fall very low.

### Is POL burned for gas on Polygon?

The base fee part of each fee is set aside for burning. On Polygon PoS it accrues in a collector contract instead of being destroyed in the block, and the collected POL is burned in separate transactions. The dashboard shows the base fee collected each day and the POL still waiting in the collector.

### Why do Polygon gas fees spike?

When demand for block space jumps, during a token launch, an airdrop claim or a wave of automated transactions, blocks fill and the base fee rises block after block. Polygon's blocks come quickly, so a spike can build and fade within minutes; the recent-blocks chart shows it as it happens.

### What changed with the Rio upgrade?

Rio, activated in October 2025, introduced validator-elected block producers: validators choose a small set of producers, and one of them produces blocks for a span while the others stand by. Fees are shared among all validators. The change was designed to raise throughput and to end the chain reorganizations Polygon had seen before.

## Glossary

- **POL**: Polygon's native token since September 2024, when it replaced MATIC for gas and staking on Polygon PoS.
- **Gwei**: One billionth of a POL. Polygon gas prices are quoted in gwei per unit of gas, as on Ethereum.
- **PIP**: A Polygon Improvement Proposal, the governance process behind changes such as the priority fee floor and the Rio upgrade.
- **Base fee collector**: The contract that receives Polygon PoS base fees and holds them until the collected POL is burned.

## Related apps

- [Polygon Stablecoin Payments: Volume, Senders and Sizes](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/polygon-stablecoin-payments)
- [Ethereum Gas Tracker](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-gas-tracker)
- [BNB Chain Gas Tracker](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/bnb-chain-gas-tracker)
- [Cheapest Blockchain Fees: Median Cost per Transaction](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/cheapest-blockchain-fees)
- [USDT Transfer Fees by Chain](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/usdt-transfer-fees-by-chain)
- [Daily Transactions by Blockchain: Leaderboard](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/daily-transactions-by-blockchain)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F