Priority fee (Solana)
A priority fee is an optional extra amount of SOL you add to a Solana transaction so the current block leader is more likely to process it ahead of competing transactions. It goes entirely to the validator and is added on top of the fixed base fee every transaction pays.
The two parts of a Solana fee
Solana's documentation says every transaction pays a base fee and can add a prioritization fee. The base fee is 5,000 lamports per signature, half burned and half paid to the validator. The prioritization fee goes 100% to the validator and increases the chance that the current leader schedules your transaction ahead of others.
How it is calculated
The docs give the formula as the compute unit price times the compute unit limit, divided by 1,000,000, rounded up, in lamports. The compute unit price is set in micro-lamports. The default limit is 200,000 compute units per instruction and the maximum is 1,400,000 per transaction.
For example, a price of 1,000,000 micro-lamports per compute unit with a 200,000 unit limit works out to 200,000 lamports, or 0.0002 SOL. Requesting a tighter compute limit lowers the fee for the same price. Pump.fun's program FAQ suggests a static limit of about 100,000 units for buys and sells rather than simulating each one.
How trading apps present it
Bots and terminals usually show a priority fee setting next to slippage, sometimes alongside a separate Jito tip or bribe. Trojan's FAQ describes the priority fee as the amount paid to validators to speed up execution and notes that returns may diminish at higher amounts.
GMGN's docs warn that frequent copy trades with high priority fees can quickly drain a SOL balance. Some users end up losing money even on profitable copy trades. If speed is not critical, GMGN suggests a lower priority fee of about 0.002 to 0.006 SOL.
What it means before you trade
Priority fees are a cost per transaction, not a percentage of trade size. On small trades they can be a larger share of your cost than the platform fee. Set them per situation: higher when you are competing for a fast fill, lower for routine orders. Then check the actual fee paid on an explorer.
Where this shows up
- Trojan — Solana memecoin traders outside the US and EU who want one account across a Telegram bot and a web terminal.
- GMGN — Multichain memecoin traders who want smart-money tracking and copy trading across a web terminal and Telegram bots.
- BONKbot — Solana traders who want a simple Telegram bot linked to the BONK ecosystem, with a web terminal option.
- Photon — Solana traders already using Photon; verify current fees on the site before trading.
- Axiom — Desktop Solana and BNB Chain memecoin traders who want spot, Hyperliquid perps and wallet tracking in one web terminal.
- Phantom — Solana-first users who want one self-custodial app for swaps, cross-chain swaps, Hyperliquid perps and predictions.
Sources
Last checked . Fees and terms change often; the venue's own page wins if it disagrees with ours.
- Fees (Solana docs) — checked 2026-10-16
- Pump program FAQ (pump.fun public docs) — checked 2026-10-16
- FAQs (Trojan docs) — checked 2026-10-16
- Copy Trade: Copy smart money (GMGN docs) — checked 2026-10-16