Lightning network fee calculator
A Lightning payment pays each node on its route a base fee plus a small share of the amount, and this calculator adds them up. Enter the amount, the number of hops and the fees, and it shows the routing fee in satoshis, the effective rate in parts per million, and what an on-chain payment would cost at a fee rate you enter. Bitcoin was 74,861 USD on November 8, 2026.
- Lightning routing fee
- 33 sats · 0.0247 USD
- Effective fee (ppm)
- 330
- On-chain fee, same payment
- 705 sats · 0.528 USD
Rate as of November 8, 2026. Fetching the live rate.
Worked example
Sending 100,000 satoshis over 3 hops that each charge a base fee of 1,000 millisatoshis and 100 parts per million costs about 33 satoshis in routing fees. An on-chain payment of the same amount, one input and two outputs in native segwit at 5 sat/vB, costs about 705 satoshis.
How it works
Fee per hop = base fee in millisatoshis ÷ 1,000 + amount × ppm ÷ 1,000,000, in satoshis. Routing fee = hops × the fee per hop, rounded up to a whole satoshi. Effective rate = fee ÷ amount × 1,000,000 ppm. The on-chain fee = rate in sat/vB × 141 vB, the size of a native segwit transaction with one input and two outputs, rounded up.
What your wallet may do differently
Your wallet picks the route, and every channel sets its own fees, so the real route may have fewer or more hops at other rates. Some wallets and services also add a fee of their own on top of the routing fee. Treat the figure as an estimate from the numbers you enter.
Frequently asked questions
How much are Lightning network fees?
Usually a few satoshis for a small payment. Each hop charges a base fee, often 1 satoshi or less, plus a proportional fee in parts per million. Enter your own figures above to see the total.
What is ppm on the Lightning network?
Parts per million: the proportional fee a node charges on the amount it forwards. A node charging 100 ppm takes 100 satoshis for every 1,000,000 satoshis sent, which is 0.01%.
Is Lightning cheaper than an on-chain payment?
For small payments it usually is, since an on-chain fee is set by the size of the transaction and the fee rate, not the amount. Opening a channel needs an on-chain transaction of its own, which this calculator does not count.
More bitcoin tools
- On-chain dashboardBlock height, hashrate, difficulty, mempool and fees, live from mempool.space.
- Fee estimatorCurrent network fees in sat/vB and what a typical transaction costs at each speed.
- Address checkerCheck that a bitcoin address is valid and see its type and network, in your browser.
- Mining calculatorBitcoin and profit per day for any miner, from hashrate, power and electricity price.
- Bitcoin supplyCoins issued so far, coins left to mine, daily issuance and the supply on a date you choose.
- Halving countdownWhen the block reward next halves, counted down block by block.
These tools are for information, not financial advice. An exchange quotes its own price, which includes its spread and fees.
Sources
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