The transaction cost
3 minDifficulty Checked 2026-11-10- A standard transaction costs at least 10 drops, which is 0.00001 XRP.
- The fee is destroyed. Validators, Ripple and the recipient get none of it.
- A transaction that fails with a tec code still destroys its fee.
Sending a letter needs a stamp. Sending a transaction on the XRP Ledger needs a tiny bit of XRP. The difference: no post office keeps the money. The ledger burns the stamp.
The usual cost is 10 drops. A drop is one millionth of an XRP, so 10 drops is 0.00001 XRP.
Why charge anything if nobody gets paid? Because every server on the network has to check and pass along every transaction. If sending were free, one person could flood the network with junk. A small cost per transaction makes a flood expensive. When the network gets busy, the cost goes up, and a flood gets more expensive still.
Three things to know:
- Nobody collects it. Not validators, not Ripple, not the person you paid. The XRP is destroyed, and the total supply drops a little.
- Failed transactions can still cost you. If your transaction reaches a validated ledger and fails there, the fee is still burned.
- You pay what you sign. The fee is part of the signed transaction. If you sign a fee far above the minimum, the ledger burns all of it.
This fee is the only one the ledger itself charges for a transaction. Other charges exist around it. A token issuer can set a transfer fee on its token. An exchange can charge you to withdraw. Those go to someone. The transaction cost goes to no one.
The field. Every signed transaction carries Fee, an amount of XRP in drops. Changing it after signing invalidates the signature. The ledger debits the exact value of Fee. It can even destroy XRP that would otherwise be held for the account's reserve.
The minimum. The reference transaction cost is 10 drops on mainnet on 2026-11-10. Most transactions are priced as the reference transaction. Some types cost a multiple of it. See Special costs and fee voting.
When it is charged. The cost is debited only when the transaction is included in a validated ledger. That holds for success and for failure with a tec code. "tec" stands for "Transaction Engine - Claimed fee only." A transaction that never reaches a validated ledger costs nothing.
Not enough XRP.
| Code | When |
|---|---|
terINSUF_FEE_B | The server sees the account cannot pay the fee. It retries without relaying |
tecINSUFF_FEE | The transaction was already relayed. The account pays all the XRP it can and ends at 0 |
Autofill. Client libraries can fill in Fee from current network load. Two cautions from the docs. The cost can rise between filling and submitting, so set LastLedgerSequence so the transaction expires. And cap the value: xrpl.js and xrpl-py have a configurable maximum and refuse to sign above it.
Neutral and optional fees. xrpl.org groups ledger fees into two kinds:
- Neutral: the transaction cost and the reserve. Paid to no one.
- Optional: transfer fees set by token issuers, and trust line quality.
Anything else, such as an exchange's withdrawal charge, happens outside the ledger.
Why it counts as burn. Destroyed fees lower total_coins in the ledger header. See Drops and supply.
- Transaction CostRead 2026-11-10
- Fees (Disambiguation)Read 2026-11-10
- Fee VotingRead 2026-11-10
