What Is the PolygonScan Gas Tracker?
The PolygonScan gas tracker is a real-time tool that displays current gas price recommendations on the Polygon PoS network. Gas is the unit of computational effort required to execute transactions and smart contract interactions. On Polygon, gas prices are denominated in Gwei and because Polygon's base fees are significantly lower than Ethereum's, most transactions cost a fraction of a cent.
Current Polygon Gas Price Tiers
The PolygonScan gas tracker provides three recommended gas price tiers updated in real time:
- Safe (Low): The minimum gas price currently being accepted by validators. Transactions sent at this price will be confirmed but may wait longer during periods of network congestion.
- Standard (Average): The median gas price of recent transactions. Suitable for most non-time-sensitive transfers and interactions.
- Fast: The gas price needed for near-instant confirmation in the next block. Recommended for time-sensitive transactions or urgent smart contract calls.
How Gas Prices Are Determined on Polygon
Following Polygon's implementation of EIP-1559, each block has a base fee that is algorithmically adjusted based on demand. When blocks are more than 50% full, the base fee increases; when they are less than 50% full, it decreases. Users also have the option to include a priority fee to incentivize validators to include their transaction ahead of others at the same base fee level.
Why Gas Prices Matter for PolygonScan Users
If you submit a transaction with a gas price below the current network minimum, your transaction will remain pending indefinitely. The PolygonScan gas tracker helps you avoid this by showing exactly what gas price is needed for confirmation at different speed tiers. Checking the gas tracker before submitting high-value transactions is a simple way to avoid unnecessary delays.
How to Access the Gas Tracker
The gas tracker is accessible directly from the PolygonScan homepage under the network statistics summary. It can also be accessed via the API using the gas oracle endpoint, which returns the safe, average, and fast gas price recommendations in Gwei format — useful for wallets and dApps that need to set gas prices programmatically.