Swapping tokens on Solana feels nearly free compared to Ethereum. Base transaction fees are fractions of a cent, and there is no gas auction driving costs into the hundreds of dollars. But "nearly free" is not the same as "free." Every Solana trade involves multiple layers of fees, and depending on which DEX you use, which pool your trade routes through, and whether you are using a trading bot on top, those layers can add up to meaningful amounts — especially if you are trading frequently or with larger size.
This guide breaks down the fee structure of every major Solana DEX, compares them side by side, and explains how to calculate the true total cost of any trade.
How Solana DEX Fees Work
Before comparing individual DEXs, it helps to understand the three distinct fee layers that apply to every on-chain swap on Solana.
Layer 1: DEX / Pool Fees
This is the fee charged by the automated market maker (AMM) or liquidity pool itself. It goes to liquidity providers (LPs) as compensation for supplying the tokens you are trading against. Some protocols also take a cut for their treasury or token buybacks.
Pool fees vary by protocol and by the specific pool. Concentrated liquidity pools typically offer multiple fee tiers — lower fees for stable pairs, higher fees for volatile ones.
Layer 2: Solana Network Fees
Every transaction on Solana pays a base fee of 0.000005 SOL (5,000 lamports) per signature. On top of that, you can optionally pay a priority fee to incentivize validators to include your transaction faster. During high-congestion periods like memecoin launches, priority fees can range from 0.0001 to 0.01 SOL or more.
Jito tips are a separate mechanism where you pay Jito-Solana validators directly for block inclusion. Many trading bots and frontends automatically include Jito tips to improve transaction landing rates.
Layer 3: Frontend / Bot Fees
If you are trading through a third-party interface — a Telegram bot, a web-based trading terminal, or an aggregator with its own fee — there is an additional percentage on top. This is where costs can increase significantly.
DEX Fee Breakdown
Jupiter is Solana's dominant swap aggregator, routing trades across dozens of underlying DEXs to find the best price. Jupiter itself charges zero platform fees on standard swaps. When you swap through Jupiter, the only DEX-level fee you pay is whatever the underlying pool charges.
However, Jupiter does charge fees on some of its other products:
- Standard swaps: 0% Jupiter fee. You pay only the underlying pool fee.
- Limit orders: 0.1% taker fee when an order is filled.
- DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging): 0.1% per order execution.
- Jupiter Perpetuals: Fees vary by position (open/close fees, borrow fees).
The zero-fee swap model is why Jupiter handles the majority of Solana DEX volume. When Jupiter routes your trade through a Raydium pool, you pay Raydium's pool fee but nothing extra to Jupiter. When it routes through Orca, you pay Orca's pool fee. Jupiter's value proposition is finding the cheapest route, not adding its own markup.
Raydium
Raydium is Solana's largest AMM by TVL and the default liquidity venue for most new token launches. Raydium operates two types of pools with different fee structures:
- Standard AMM pools (CP-Swap): 0.25% fee on every swap. Of that, 0.22% goes to liquidity providers and 0.03% goes to the Raydium treasury (RAY buybacks).
- Concentrated Liquidity (CLMM) pools: Variable fee tiers of 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.25%, and 1%. Pool creators choose the tier at creation. The 0.05% tier is common for major pairs like SOL/USDC. The 0.25% tier is used for most altcoin pairs. The 1% tier is for highly volatile or exotic pairs.
Most memecoin trading happens on Raydium standard pools at the 0.25% rate. When a token graduates from Pump.fun or LaunchLab, its initial liquidity lands on a Raydium standard pool, so 0.25% is the fee most traders encounter by default.
Orca / Whirlpools
Orca was one of the first Solana DEXs and now operates primarily through its Whirlpools concentrated liquidity system. Orca's fee structure is similar to Raydium CLMM:
- Whirlpool fee tiers: 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.04%, 0.05%, 0.16%, 0.30%, 0.65%, 1%, and 2%.
- The most common tiers for major pairs are 0.01% to 0.05%.
- Volatile and exotic pairs use higher tiers.
- Orca does not charge an additional platform fee on top of pool fees.
Orca's advantage is the granularity of its fee tiers, which allows LPs to fine-tune their pricing. For traders, this means some Orca pools may offer slightly lower fees than equivalent Raydium pools, especially for stablecoin pairs where the 0.01% tier is available.
Meteora introduced Dynamic Liquidity Market Making (DLMM) pools to Solana, and their fee model is unique: fees adjust dynamically based on market volatility.
- Base fee: Set by the pool creator (common values: 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.25%).
- Variable fee: Increases automatically during high volatility. The more the price moves, the higher the fee climbs. During calm markets, the variable component drops to near zero.
- Total fee range: Typically 0.05% to 2%+ depending on conditions.
The dynamic model means you might pay 0.10% on a SOL/USDC swap during quiet trading, but 0.50% or more during a volatile memecoin pump. This protects LPs from impermanent loss during fast price moves, but it means traders face unpredictable costs.
Meteora also operates standard constant-product pools with fixed fees, but its DLMM pools are what set it apart.
Lifinity is a proactive market maker that uses oracle-based pricing instead of the traditional constant-product formula. This means Lifinity does not rely on arbitrageurs to keep prices accurate — it reads price feeds directly and adjusts.
- Swap fees: Typically 0.1% to 0.3% depending on the pool.
- Rebalancing: Lifinity continuously rebalances its pools using oracle data, which reduces the impermanent loss problem and allows tighter spreads.
Lifinity's fee is competitive, but its real advantage for traders is lower slippage on supported pairs. Because it prices using oracles rather than a bonding curve, large trades can sometimes execute with less price impact compared to AMMs of similar TVL.
The trade-off is that Lifinity supports a smaller set of token pairs compared to Raydium or Orca.
Fee Comparison Table
| DEX | Pool Type | Fee Range | Common Fee | Platform Fee | Notes |
|---|
| Jupiter | Aggregator | 0% (routes to others) | 0% | 0% on swaps | 0.1% on limit orders and DCA |
| Raydium | Standard AMM | 0.25% | 0.25% | Included | 0.03% to treasury |
| Raydium | CLMM | 0.01% - 1% | 0.05% - 0.25% | Included | Pool creator picks tier |
| Orca | Whirlpools | 0.01% - 2% | 0.01% - 0.30% | 0% | Widest tier selection |
| Meteora | DLMM | 0.05% - 2%+ | 0.10% - 0.25% | 0% | Dynamic, rises with volatility |
| Meteora | Standard | 0.25% | 0.25% | 0% | Fixed fee pools |
| Lifinity | Oracle AMM | 0.1% - 0.3% | 0.1% - 0.2% | Included | Lower slippage on supported pairs |
Trading Bot Fees
Most active Solana traders do not trade directly through DEX interfaces. They use web-based trading terminals or Telegram bots that add their own fees on top of the underlying DEX fee.
These fees are in addition to whatever the DEX pool charges. So if you buy a token through Photon and the trade routes through a Raydium 0.25% pool, your total DEX + bot cost is 1.25% before network fees.
Some bots offer fee reductions. Trojan drops to 0.9% by default and even lower for referrals. BullX occasionally runs promotions. But the standard for most trading bots is 1%.
Calculating the True Cost of a Trade
Here is a concrete example of what a typical memecoin trade actually costs.
Scenario: You buy 1 SOL worth of a newly launched memecoin using Photon. The trade routes through a Raydium standard pool. You have priority fees set to "medium" and Jito tips enabled.
| Fee Layer | Amount | Percentage of Trade |
|---|
| Raydium pool fee (0.25%) | 0.0025 SOL | 0.25% |
| Photon platform fee (1%) | 0.01 SOL | 1.00% |
| Solana base fee | 0.000005 SOL | ~0% |
| Priority fee (medium) | 0.0005 SOL | 0.05% |
| Jito tip | 0.001 SOL | 0.10% |
| Total | ~0.014 SOL | ~1.40% |
That 1.40% is your cost to enter the position. When you sell, you pay most of those fees again (another 1.25% in DEX + bot fees, plus network fees). So a round trip — buy and sell — costs roughly 2.80% to 3% of your trade size.
For a 1 SOL trade, that is about 0.028 to 0.03 SOL. For a 10 SOL trade, it is 0.28 to 0.30 SOL. If you are making 20 trades a day, fees become a significant line item.
Trading Directly Through DEX Interfaces
If you want to minimize fees, you can trade directly through the DEX's own interface:
- Jupiter: 0% platform fee + underlying pool fee (typically 0.05% to 0.25%)
- Raydium: 0.25% on standard pools
- Orca: Pool fee only (as low as 0.01% on major pairs)
The trade-off is convenience and speed. Trading bots give you one-click buys, automatic slippage settings, copy trading, token scanning, and faster execution. The 1% fee is payment for that infrastructure.
How to Minimize Trading Fees
Choose the Right Tool for the Trade
Not every trade needs a 1% bot. Use trading bots for time-sensitive trades where speed matters — sniping new launches, reacting to news, copy trading. For planned swaps of established tokens, go directly through Jupiter and save the bot fee entirely.
Optimize Priority Fees
Most wallets and trading interfaces let you adjust priority fee levels. During normal network conditions, the lowest priority fee setting works fine. Only increase during high congestion (active launches, market-wide pumps). Many traders leave priority fees on "high" permanently out of habit, wasting SOL on every routine swap.
Use Jito Tips Strategically
Jito tips improve transaction landing rates, but they are most valuable during competitive trading — sniping new tokens, front-running migrations, or trading during extreme congestion. For regular swaps, a small Jito tip (0.0001 to 0.001 SOL) is usually sufficient. There is no need to tip 0.01 SOL on a casual swap.
Consider Fee Tiers When Choosing Pools
If you are swapping major pairs like SOL/USDC, check whether a CLMM pool with a lower fee tier is available. Jupiter's routing usually handles this automatically, but if you are trading directly on Raydium or Orca, selecting the right pool can save 0.10% to 0.20% per trade.
Watch for Hidden Costs: Slippage
Fees are explicit. Slippage is implicit. When you trade a low-liquidity token, the price impact of your trade can dwarf the fee. A 0.25% pool fee means nothing if your trade moves the price 5% against you. Always check the price impact shown on the swap confirmation before executing, especially on tokens with thin liquidity.
How Solana DEX Fees Compare to Other Chains
For context, here is how Solana's fee structure compares:
- Ethereum Uniswap: 0.30% pool fee + $2 to $50+ in gas fees depending on congestion.
- Base/Arbitrum DEXs: Similar pool fees to Solana (0.05% to 0.30%) but with L2 gas fees of $0.01 to $0.50.
- Solana DEXs: 0.01% to 0.25% pool fee + $0.001 to $0.05 in network fees.
Solana's advantage is not cheaper pool fees — those are roughly comparable across chains. The advantage is near-zero network fees, which makes high-frequency trading and small-value trades economically viable.
Conclusion
The fee you pay on a Solana swap depends on three layers: the DEX pool fee, the Solana network fee (priority fee and optional Jito tip), and any trading bot markup. For most traders using popular bots, the round-trip cost of a trade lands between 2.5% and 3%. For traders going directly through Jupiter or a DEX interface, round-trip costs drop to 0.10% to 0.50%.
Understanding these layers helps you make informed decisions about when to use a trading bot versus swapping directly, when to increase priority fees versus leaving them low, and which DEX pools offer the best rates for your specific trade.
The cheapest path for any Solana swap is almost always through Jupiter directly — zero platform fee, optimized routing across all underlying pools, and no bot markup. Save the trading bots for situations where speed and convenience justify the extra 1%.
