How Much Does it Cost to Make an NFT? Cheap & Free Options

Raga49

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posted on 1 year ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Want to create your own non-fungible token but don't know where to begin? Before you dive into the world of selling NFTs, you should know that there are usually some upfront costs. The cost to mint an NFT will vary depending on the marketplace you use and the blockchain you mint on. To mint on Ethereum, the most popular blockchain for NFTs, you'll usually have to pay gas fees, which can get costly. Along with listing fees and commissions, your costs could range anywhere from $0.01 to $1000. However, thanks to a process called "lazy minting," as well as gasless marketplaces, there are now ways to mint NFTs for free! This wikiHow guide will break down the costs associated with creating and minting NFTs, and cover your options for making NFTs for free.

Things You Should Know

Gas fees vary by blockchain. Ethereum has the highest gas fees, while blockchains like Solana and Cardano are cheaper.
Marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible allow you to list an NFT without minting until it's purchased, which means you won't have to pay gas fees.
To make an NFT for free, mint it on the Polygon network, or try a marketplace that offers gasless or lazy minting.

NFT Cost Breakdown

Gas fees. When you mint an NFT on a blockchain, you'll often need to pay transaction fees known as "gas." Gas fees are determined by how busy the blockchain is at the moment you mint your NFT. The higher the demand, the higher the gas fees. Additionally, the larger the transaction, the more gas you'll need to execute it. To reduce upfront costs, mint your NFT to a blockchain that has lower fees. Ethereum, the most popular blockchain for NFTs, has higher gas fees than blockchains like Solana and Cardano. Due to the increasing popularity of NFTs, many marketplaces now offer a way to mint NFTs without paying for gas fees. Check out our list of options for making an NFT for free.

Listing fees. Some marketplaces charge a fee to list your NFT for sale, though the most popular marketplaces generally don't do this anymore. Instead, popular marketplaces take a percentage of your sales (typically around 2.5%) instead of charging a flat listing fee up front.

Account fees. While this isn't as common as it used to be, some NFT marketplaces charge an initial setup fee when you create an account. Most of the most popular NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, Magic Eden, and MakersPlace all offer free accounts to NFT creators.

How to Mint an NFT for Free

Publish your NFT on a marketplace that allows "lazy minting." Lazy minting, a feature offered by some popular NFT marketplaces, allows you to list NFTs with no up-front costs. Instead of paying gas fees to mint your NFT, you can upload the NFT to the marketplace without minting to a blockchain right away. The NFT won't be minted until someone buys it, and that that point, the buyer will pay the gas fees. Opensea offers an option to mint and list NFTs, as well as entire collections of NFTs, without paying anything up front. To publish NFTs for free, you'll need to use the Collection Manager. Rarible also offers a lazy minting option, which you can select when uploading your NFT. After connecting your wallet, just click Create, fill out your NFT details, and choose the Free Minting option.

Try another gasless marketplace option. Lazy minting is the most common way to list NFTs for free, but it's definitely not the only way. Instead of listing an NFT without minting it until the sale, you can add your NFT to your cryptocurrency wallet, which makes it available on the Ethereum blockchain immediately. Neither the seller nor the buyer will ever have to pay gas fees. Mintable was one of the first "gasless" NFT marketplaces, offering a completely-free publishing experience on the Ethereum blockchain. When creating your NFT in Mintable, just select Gasless to publish it for free. Curate is another gasless platform that offers free NFT minting on Ethereum. They plan to support Solana, Algorand, Binance Smart Chain, and Avalanche blockchains in the future.

Create your NFT on the Polygon network. If you choose a marketplace that allows you to mint your NFT on the Polygon (Matic) blockchain, you won't have to pay any gas fees up front. The easiest way to do this is to use Polygon's MintNFT NFT maker. Once you mint your NFT, you'll have the option to save and view it in your MintNFT profile or list it on OpenSea. You can also choose a different marketplace that supports the Polygon blockchain. Just make sure to research any marketplaces you learn about thoroughly before signing up.