A Phantom confirmation screen can list more than one charge, and your SOL balance can drop by more than the fee line seemed to say. Almost every amount falls into one of three groups: Solana's network fee, a Phantom fee on certain actions, and a rent deposit that isn't spent at all. Here's what each one is, using the figures Phantom publishes itself (all checked October 7, 2026).
Does Phantom charge fees?
On some actions. As of October 7, 2026, Phantom's help center lists a 0.85% Phantom fee on most swaps. For sends, it lists only Solana's network fee, which Phantom says it doesn't receive. Buying with a card, funding Cash and liquid staking have separate charges.
You don't need to calculate any of it before you trade. Phantom's terms say the fees for a feature are made visible when you use it and that "rates that appear in the Phantom application are calculated with fees applied." The same terms say fees can change without notice, so treat the table below as a snapshot and the confirmation screen as the final word.
| What you do in Phantom | What it costs, per Phantom (checked October 7, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Send SOL, a token or a collectible | The Solana network fee. Phantom says it doesn't receive network fees |
| Swap tokens | A 0.85% Phantom fee on most swaps, plus the network fee and price impact |
| Cross-chain swap (bridging) | The Phantom fee where it applies, network fees on both chains and a bridge fee, shown inside price impact |
| Gasless swap or send | A flat fee, taken from the token you're using, that covers the network fee in place of SOL |
| Buy crypto with a card in the browser extension | Fees and exchange rates set by the provider you pick, such as Stripe, MoonPay or Topper |
| Add money to Cash on mobile | 1.75% by debit card or 3.50% by credit card through Stripe (US and EU), then 0.85% to swap Cash into other tokens |
| Native staking | Nothing beyond network fees |
| Liquid staking (PSOL) | 4% of staking rewards, plus a 0.1% exit fee when you unstake or swap PSOL |
| A transaction that opens a token account | A rent deposit held in that account, not a spent fee |
The network fee every Solana transaction pays
Every Solana transaction pays a fee in SOL: a base fee of 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) per signature, plus an optional priority fee that helps it get scheduled sooner when the network is busy. Phantom's network fee guide says: "Phantom does not receive these fees." A failed transaction still pays it if the network processed the attempt.
Phantom usually picks the priority fee for you. Its developer docs say it calculates and applies priority fees to the transactions it builds and to app transactions that meet its conditions. On a swap, you can switch the priority fee, or an optional tip, from Auto to a custom amount between 0.00001 and 1 SOL in swap settings.
Phantom suggests keeping about 0.02 SOL on hand for fees, and says that's a starting balance, not a per-transaction cost. For how the base and priority fees are worked out, see our guide to Solana transaction fees.
What is Phantom's swap fee?
Phantom's swap guide breaks a swap's cost into three parts:
- Phantom fee: 0.85%, applied to most swaps. A few flows, such as deposits to your perps balance, carry no Phantom fee, and swapping supported stablecoins into your Cash account is free.
- Network fee: paid to the network in SOL to process the swap.
- Price impact: the cost of trading against on-chain liquidity. It grows with bigger trades and thinner markets.
The quote already reflects these, and the review screen shows the fees before you confirm. Slippage tolerance isn't a fee: it caps how far the price you get can drift from the quote.
Cross-chain swaps. Swapping SOL into BTC, or moving a token to another network, goes through a bridge. Alongside the Phantom fee where it applies, Phantom says a cross-chain swap can involve a source network fee, a bridge fee, a destination network fee and price impact. The main confirmation screen folds the bridge fee into price impact; open swap settings, then Provider, to see it on its own.
Low on SOL? Phantom can run an eligible swap or send as a gasless transaction, taking a flat fee from the token you're using instead of SOL. The token has to be verified and the amount at least $0.30, and gasless swaps don't work with a manual priority fee, a tip or an exact-output amount.
Buying crypto, Cash and staking
In the browser extension, a card purchase runs through a third-party provider such as Stripe, MoonPay or Topper. Phantom's buying guide says each provider sets its own limits, fees and exchange rates, so choose a different one on the payment method screen if you want to compare.
On mobile, you buy through your Cash account instead: add money, then swap Cash into SOL or another token. Phantom's Cash fees page lists 1.75% for adding money by debit card and 3.50% by credit card through Stripe (US and EU), 0.30% for direct deposit (US only) and 0.85% to swap out of Cash into other tokens. It also says that whenever a Cash fee applies, you'll see it before you confirm.
For staking, Phantom's comparison of the two options lists:
- Native staking: no fees beyond network fees. It needs at least 1 SOL and the browser extension. You choose the validator, and Phantom suggests comparing their commission when you do.
- Liquid staking: you stake SOL and receive Phantom Staked SOL (PSOL). Its fee table shows a 4% protocol fee on staking rewards and a 0.1% exit fee when you unstake or swap PSOL.
What about NFTs?
Sending a collectible is an ordinary send, so you pay the network fee. Phantom's help center doesn't publish a separate fee schedule for collectibles. If you buy, sell or list through a marketplace or another app, Phantom's terms note that third parties can charge their own fees. Phantom says it simulates every transaction before you sign and shows a plain-language preview of what will happen, so read it before you approve.
Why did my SOL drop by more than the fee?
Often because the transaction opened a token account. Solana keeps each token balance in a token account, and a new one has to hold a minimum amount of SOL, its rent-exempt deposit. At the rate checked October 7, 2026, a standard 165-byte token account needs 0.00148844 SOL and a 170-byte Token-2022 account needs 0.00151384 SOL. Accounts opened under Solana's original rent setting, before the two September 2026 cuts, hold 0.00203928 SOL. A priority fee, tip or swap fee can also add to the total.
Phantom's help pages call this deposit a "token account creation fee" on prediction trades and a "one-time setup fee" when CASH goes to a wallet for the first time, adding that it's "a network requirement, not a Phantom fee." Unlike a network fee, it isn't used up. The SOL sits in the account and goes to the account's owner when the account is closed.
Who funds it depends on the transaction. Swap into a token you've never held and the swap usually opens a new account for you, funded with your SOL. Send a token to someone who has never held it and your SOL may fund their account, so that deposit belongs to them. Later, selling or sending your whole balance of a token can leave its account open and empty, with the deposit still inside.
Getting those deposits back
Connect Phantom to Sol Incinerator and the free, read-only scan lists the empty token accounts you can close. Fun Mode, the default, closes them without touching the tokens and NFTs you hold, and each account's deposit comes back to your wallet, minus our fee. Bigger cleanups can take more than one approval in Phantom.
We charge a 2% base fee, so most of every deposit lands back with you. Each token account also has a minimum fee, which raises the effective rate on accounts opened since the rent cuts and on Token-2022 accounts, where the minimum is higher. Before Phantom asks you to approve, the preview shows the SOL expected to reach your wallet.
Out of SOL for the network fee? Gasless Pay is automatic! When your cleanup qualifies, we cover the upfront network fee and take our charge for it from the SOL that comes back. Still holding tokens you've finished with? Burning tokens in Phantom covers destroying them and closing their accounts, which is permanent, so check what you select.
Sol Incinerator
Connect Phantom and see which empty token accounts can return their SOL deposits.