How much is a Zcash transaction fee?

Under ZIP 317 the conventional fee is 5,000 zatoshis per logical action, with a minimum of two actions. A minimal transaction therefore pays 10,000 zatoshis, which is 0.0001 ZEC. Larger transactions with many inputs or outputs pay proportionally more.

The smallest unit of ZEC, equal to 0.00000001 ZEC. There are 100,000,000 zatoshis in one ZEC, just as there are 100,000,000 satoshis in one bitcoin.

What is a logical action in ZIP 317?

The unit the fee is counted in. For transparent parts it is the larger of the input count and output count, measured by standard sizes of 150 and 34 bytes. For Sapling it is the larger of spends and outputs, and for Orchard it is the number of actions. Each logical action costs the marginal fee.

Is the Zcash fee a consensus rule?

No. ZIP 317 says wallets should follow the formula to avoid leaking information about their transactions, unless the user overrides it. It is a wallet standard with matching relay and block-template policies (at most 50 underpaid actions per block), not a consensus rule.

Why did Zcash change from a flat fee?

A flat fee charged a transaction with 1,100 outputs the same as one with 2 outputs. ZIP 317 makes fees reflect the processing cost of inputs and outputs, which discourages abusive transactions while keeping fees low for regular use.

Do shielded transactions cost more than transparent ones?

Not by rule. The same formula counts logical actions for every pool. A simple shielded payment and a simple transparent payment both land at the two-action minimum of 10,000 zatoshis, though shielded transactions are larger in bytes and use more computation on the sender's device.

Do memos cost extra in Zcash?

Not under the active ZIP 317 Revision 0. A draft Revision 2 would add a fee for memo chunks beyond two free ones; it depends on ZIP 248, which is not deployed, so it does not apply today.

Who sets the fee, me or the wallet?

The wallet calculates it automatically by following ZIP 317. Some wallets let advanced users override it, but a fee below the conventional amount can make a transaction stand out or be dropped by nodes that limit underpaid actions.

Zcash Transaction Fees: ZIP 317 Explained

A normal Zcash transaction costs 10,000 zatoshis, or 0.0001 ZEC. The rule behind it, ZIP 317, charges 5,000 zatoshis per "logical action" and counts every transaction as at least two actions. Bigger transactions with many inputs or outputs pay more. The fee is calculated by your wallet, so you normally just see the amount before you confirm.

What 10,000 zatoshis is worth

One ZEC is 100,000,000 zatoshis, so the minimum fee is 0.0001 ZEC. At a ZEC price of about $1,220 (October 10, 2026) that is roughly $0.12. The dollar figure moves with the price; the fee in ZEC does not.

The ZIP 317 fee formula

ZIP 317 gives wallets this formula: the conventional fee equals the marginal fee multiplied by the larger of the grace actions and the number of logical actions. With the current parameters, the marginal fee is 5,000 zatoshis and the grace actions are 2. That is why even the smallest transaction pays for two actions (2 × 5,000 = 10,000 zatoshis).

Logical actions are counted per part of the transaction:

Part of the transaction	How logical actions are counted
Transparent inputs and outputs	The larger of: input size ÷ 150 bytes, and output size ÷ 34 bytes, each rounded up
Sapling	The larger of the number of spends and the number of outputs
Orchard	The number of actions
Sprout (legacy)	Two per JoinSplit
Ironwood	One per action; this is part of Revision 1, a Draft enacted with NU6.3

Worked examples

One transparent input, two outputs (payment plus change): 1 input action and 2 output actions, so the larger count is 2. Fee: 2 × 5,000 = 10,000 zatoshis.
A transparent transaction with ten outputs: 10 logical actions. Fee: 10 × 5,000 = 50,000 zatoshis (0.0005 ZEC).
A single-recipient shielded payment: typically lands at the two-action minimum, 10,000 zatoshis. The exact action count depends on how your wallet builds the transaction.

The point of the design is simple: a transaction that makes the network do more work pays more, and ordinary payments stay cheap.

Why did Zcash move away from a flat fee?

According to ZIP 317's motivation section, some usage of the chain consisted of transactions with around 1,100 outputs that paid the same flat fee as a two-output transaction. The goal of the new rule is for fees to "fairly reflect the processing costs" that inputs and outputs impose, which discourages denial-of-service patterns without raising costs for regular users.

Is the fee a consensus rule?

No, and this surprises many readers. ZIP 317 says wallets "SHOULD" use the formula, mainly so that transactions do not leak information through unusual fees, unless the user overrides it. There are two network-level pieces:

Block production: when a miner builds a block, a transaction that pays less than the conventional fee counts as "unpaid actions" for the shortfall. Under the ZIP's block-production algorithm, a block contains at most 50 unpaid actions in total (the block_unpaid_action_limit).
Relay: nodes may drop transactions that carry more unpaid actions than their configured limit.

So an underpaying transaction is not "invalid", but it may be slow or may not be relayed at all. Use the amount your wallet proposes.

Do shielded transactions pay more?

By the formula, no. Every pool is counted in logical actions, and a simple payment lands at the same two-action minimum whether it is transparent or shielded. Shielded transactions are larger in bytes and need more computation on the sending device, but that does not change the conventional fee. For the privacy side of the trade-off, see our guide to shielded vs transparent transactions and the address types guide.

Do memos cost extra?

Not today. ZIP 317 Revision 0 is the Active version. A Draft Revision 2 would add a fee for memo chunks beyond two free chunks per transaction with a shielded output; it depends on ZIP 248, which is not deployed. Until then, the encrypted memo field (see the glossary entry) does not change the fee under the active rules.

What this means in practice

Use the fee your wallet suggests. It follows ZIP 317 and avoids the odd-looking fees that can make a transaction identifiable.
Batch carefully. Sending to many recipients in one transaction costs more than a single payment, because each additional action adds 5,000 zatoshis.
Consolidating many small inputs costs too. A transaction that spends many small inputs pays for them.
Compare costs per ZEC amount, not per dollar. The fee in ZEC is fixed by the formula, so its dollar cost rises and falls with the ZEC price.

For the broader context of how Zcash upgrades are specified, see the glossary entry on transaction fees, the ZIP explainer and our network upgrade tracker. If a transaction seems stuck or pending, our wallet troubleshooting guide walks through the usual causes.

Sources and methodology

Checked on October 10, 2026 against ZIP 317: Proportional Transfer Fee Mechanism (Revision 0 Active; Revision 1, which counts Ironwood actions, and Revision 2, which adds memo fees, are Drafts). The dollar figure uses the ZEC price shown on ZecZcash on the same day and is only an illustration. Wallets may display fees slightly differently depending on how they build a transaction, so always read the amount in your wallet before confirming. New articles first appear in the ZecZcash Telegram channel.

Zcash Transaction Fees Explained: ZIP 317 and the 10,000-Zatoshi Minimum