In this blog post, you will learn the potential costs of creating an NFT (non-fungible token) collection, including fees for minting, collection generation fees, possible platform fees, and marketing expenses. Factors such as the collection size and blockchain also impact the overall cost.
Key Takeaways
- The costs of creating an NFT collection depend on the blockchain, collection size, the amount of art created and needed, and the marketing budget.
- NFT collection costs range between $30-$300,000+
- Consider blockchain transaction fees.
- Collection size and the possible art generator you use affect the overall cost.
- Artist fees if you are not an artist yourself.
- Consider what fees accrue from using different services and add-ons.
- Marketing budget if you opt to use paid ads to promote your NFT collection.
Table of Contents
Blockchain Transaction Fees
Blockchains use their native token to validate transactions. When you mint or launch your NFT collection, there is a smart contract creation transaction fee. The transaction fee is paid with a native token of the blockchain.
Here’s a list of the most popular blockchains to launch your NFT collection to and their native token:
| Blockchain | Native token | Average transaction fees (can and will fluctuate) | Gas Fees |
| Ethereum | ETH | $0.30-$300 (on worst days, it can be even more) | Ethereum Gas Fees |
| Solana | SOL | $0.00025 | Solana Explorer |
| Binance Smart Chain | BSC | $0.10 | BNB Smart Chain Gas Tracker |
| Polygon | MATIC | $0.05 to $0.2 | Polygon Gas Tracker |
| NEAR | NEAR | <$0.01 | Gas |
| Immutable X | IMX | $0, but the protocol fee is 2% | Fees on Immutable X |
| Avalanche | AVAX | $0.08 | Avalanche C-Chain Gas Tracker |
| Metis | METIS | $0.3? | Metis homepage |
When choosing the blockchain to launch your NFT collection, think about the market size and the volume of a particular NFT marketplace like OpenSea or Blur. You can check the latest data on NFT marketplaces through DappRadar.
With that knowledge, you can determine which has enough volume (users and sales) but not too much competition, or if you want to get to the big market, just choose Ethereum.
Using a blockchain requires transactions, and every transaction has a fee. The more congested the blockchain gets, the more fees you have to pay. Ethereum is the most expensive chain, whereas Solana is extremely cheap.
Deploying a smart contract will cost a bit of money as you create a smart contract (NFT collection) on a blockchain. Deploying a smart contract (creating an NFT collection) to Solana with 1,000 NFTs costs roughly $30 and on Ethereum costs roughly $1,000. These values can fluctuate, and deploying larger collections can cost more or less than what was mentioned.
While you deploy the smart contract to a blockchain, it does not mean that the NFTs are then live. It just means that the contract is alive and that people can mint the NFTs based on the rules applied to the smart contract.
Collection Size, Pricing, And Generators
There are NFT art generator platforms that charge $0 for creating the NFT collection, like LaunchMyNFT. However, they do charge a 2.5% initial mint fee. When someone mints (buys) an NFT from your smart contract (NFT collection), the 2.5% is extracted from the sale and transferred to LaunchMyNFT’s digital wallet automatically.
On top of this, you have to pay transaction fees for deploying (creating) the smart contract (NFT collection), and whenever someone mints/buys an NFT from the collection, they will have to pay transaction fees.
There are plenty of options out there to create an NFT collection, and one site that we can (currently) recommend is NFT Art Generator by OneMint. They have created a no-code platform where you can create complex NFT collections with a drag-and-drop builder.
The reason why you might want to choose an NFT art generator is that it enables you to create more quality-looking collections. With LaunchMyNFT, you are limited in what you can do with it. With OneMint, you can do complex collections that have multiple characters and character traits.
Pricing for OneMint
- 1,000 NFTs / $199 USD
- 5,000 NFTs / $349 USD
- 10,000 NFTs / $529 USD
The fee will be paid after you have assembled the collection and are about to create the NFTs/ variations. When you pay the OneMint fee, it will not create the collection on the blockchain. It will create the WEBP or PNG files (the different layer combinations) that you can then upload to an IPFS, after which the collection will be turned into a smart contract (that picks the files from an IPFS system).
Key Tip!
Remember to choose a service that has a REAL IPFS system in place.
If you know how to create smart contracts and know how to deploy them to a blockchain, then you don’t have to NFT art generators to create your NFT collection. What you might still need is a Google sheet to add the needed data of the layers, traits, and such to create the NFT collection.
Buying Or Creating The Art For The NFT Collection
If you are an artist, you already have a headstart on creating an NFT collection. If you are a digital artist, then the situation is even better. As a digital artist, you know how layers work, and already, with this knowledge, you can imagine creating cool-looking NFT collections.
If you are not an artist, you can hire an artist to create the needed layers and traits for your NFT collection. You can find artists from Fiverr to do the work for you.
While Fiverr and Upwork are one way to find NFT artists, another is to find them on Instagram or Behance. If you have a specific style in mind and want to hire a specific artist, you should be ready to pay anything between $10,000 to $300,000+ to get the art for your NFT collection.
Professional artists don’t come cheap, and even with those prices, you might still not get your favorite artist to do the collection for you. Artists can be picky about what projects they accept and want to work on. Creating an NFT collection is not an easy task and requires a lot of work and thinking (how layers work in every possible scenario, how to draw traits, so they don’t cover crucial parts, etc.).
Key Takeaways
- Fiverr and Upwork offers artists, but you might lose on quality
- Professional artists can cost anything between $10,000-$300,000 (and you still might not get your favorite artist onboard)
Tools And Services For NFT Collection
The trend is to have a Discord server of some kind to create a community around your NFT project. The discord server, while being free to create, is hard to manage without Discord bots (these bots are useful, not harmful).
Discord bots help you automate tasks, create welcoming messages, and make your Discord server easier to manage and control. The lifetime plan costs $89 and is the best option to go for. If you want to create better visuals and add some custom perks, you can also buy Discord boosts and or Nitro.
Discord Nitro is a subscription-based service and costs $9.99/month or $99/year. These little services and bots will add to the costs of creating an NFT collection.
Luckily there are some free tools like Collab.Land that enables you to have an NFT verification feature (among other features) for your Discord channel. What the tool does is it will enable you to create private Discord channels only for the ones who own one or more of your NFTs. You can also create different Discord roles for the NFT holders with that tool.
Marketing Budget
Getting your NFT collection out there and getting a sold-out collection takes a massive marketing effort. You either pay for ads or spend a lot of time doing “manual” marketing. Twitter is the place to market your NFT collection as there’s the majority of NFT and crypto enthusiasts.
Twitter ads cost as much as you want to, so it depends on your campaign budget. Twitter campaigns are priced in an auction model. The price of each billable action will be influenced by the targeting, creatives, and bid you choose during campaign setup.
The Cost of Advertising on Twitter in 2023
- Promoted tweets cost: $0.50 to $2 for each action
- Promoted accounts cost $2 to $4 for each follow
- Promoted trends cost $200,000 per day
Conclusion
Creating an NFT collection costs anything between $30 to $300,000+ USD. This depends on the blockchain you are using to launch your NFT collection to. Whether you use an NFT art generator, buy art from artists, or use paid ads, all add to the costs of creating an NFT collection.
The cheapest way to create an NFT collection is to create the art yourself and launch it on an affordable blockchain like Solana. This way creating an NFT collection costs around $30, not including tools and services (Discord, etc.).
The most expensive way to create an NFT collection is to hire an artist and launch the collection on the Ethereum blockchain. This solution can cost anything from $500 (average rate of artists on Fiverr) to $300,000+ USD.
FAQs For NFT Collection Costs
How much does it cost to create a 10,000 NFT collection?
Creating a 10,000 NFT collection can cost anything between $30 to $300,000. It depends on where you launch your NFT collection and what service (if any) you use to launch your NFT collection.
Is creating an NFT collection free?
No. You will at least have to pay the transaction of deploying the smart contract (NFT collection) to a blockchain. While you can create the art for free, have a free Discord server for community management, and even do zero marketing, you still need to transact with a blockchain and pay transaction fees. General transaction fees can range between $0.00025 to $300, but the smart contract deployment can cost around $30 (depending on the blockchain).
Is creating an NFT collection worth it?
Several factors affect the worthiness. While NFT collections generally create income from initial mint and in the form of royalties, the (maybe constant) needs and wants from the NFT community might become cumbersome. Following a plan or a roadmap of some sort might become difficult or even impossible, which can create stress for you. Creating an NFT collection can be a fun experience, but the stress can kick in after launching the collection, as buyers might expect something to come along with the NFT (referring to the roadmap).
How much does it cost to mint a collection of NFT?
This depends on the size of the collection, the price of the NFT, and the chain being used. Minting 1,000 NFTs on Solana can cost a dollar or less (assuming the average transaction cost is $0.00025), whereas minting 1,000 NFTs on Ethereum can cost $7,000 (assuming the average transaction cost is $7/transaction). The mentioned costs are calculated with the idea that the NFT costs $0 or 0 native chain tokens to mint, so only transaction fees ar left to be paid.
