Ever since Ethereum was introduced in the crypto space, it has been the talk of the town among Blockchain enthusiasts. Over the past couple of years, Ethereum’s rising popularity has made people think of choosing it over other Blockchain platforms for smart contract development and deployment. However, estimating the actual cost for smart contract deployment on Ethereum even before the start of the process is challenging. This blog sheds light on the estimated cost and key factors that must be considered before starting with smart contract deployment on Ethereum.
We’ve estimated the cost for smart contract deployment on Ethereum based on the following scenarios:
1. The estimated cost charged by Ethereum- that may depend on the below-listed factors:
- Gas fees
- Contract creation
- Contract storage
- Contract execution
2. The estimated cost charged by a smart contract development company- that may depend on the following factors:
- Number of people involved in the smart contract development process
- Tools and technologies required for smart contract deployment on Ethereum
- Project management cost
- Maintenance and post-delivery services
Let’s discuss both scenarios in detail.
Scenario 1: Cost Charged by Ethereum
Gas Fees
The cost associated with spending a single unit of gas on a Blockchain platform is known as gas fees. To price the limited space on each new block, Ethereum uses a system of gas and Gwei (a term used for a very small amount of the Ethereum cryptocurrency). Any operation, whether it’s minting and transferring NFTs or deploying smart contracts that involves modifying data on Ethereum, requires gas. The gas cost for every new operation depends on its size and complexity.
Smart contract creation
As per the data shared in Ethereum’s yellow paper, 32000 gas is the base cost for a “create” operation, whereas entering a new transaction onto the Ethereum block costs 21,000 gas which puts the total smart contract creation price on Ethereum at 53000 gas. The basic formula for calculating the transactional fee is:
Cost = Total gas used * gas price
Contract Storage
Ethereum also charges for the storage of the contracts. According to the whitepaper, Ethereum charges 20,000 gas per 256 bits i.e. for 1 kilobyte of data, the price would be 640000 gas. The more the size of your contract, the more will be the gas price.
Contract execution
Once you’ve paid the gas fees and storage cost, the next step is to run the initialization function of the contract. This is called the block of code that is written for allocation purposes. The allocation of memory for a contract costs 200 Gwei per byte.
Considering the factors shared above, the estimated cost for smart contract deployment could be $5,000 if you want to deploy a moderate size contract. On the contrary, the estimated cost could also turn out to be $500 if you expect to make the smart contract really small and compact.
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Scenario 2: Amount Charged by a Smart Contract Development Company
Number of people
The smart contract deployment cost will rely heavily on the number of people (programmers, UI/UX designers, Quality analysts, Project managers, and more) assigned by a smart contract development company for the smart contract deployment process.
Tools and technologies
Truffle, Web3.js, Visual Studio Code, Ganache CLI, Parity, and Node.js are some tools and technologies required for implementing smart contracts on Ethereum. The subscription prices of some tools may also contribute to the estimated cost for smart contract deployment on Ethereum.
Project management cost
The usage of project management tools such as Trello, Jira, Confluence, etc, by a smart contract development company for testing and timeline tracking, will also add to the cost of smart contract deployment on Ethereum.
Maintenance and post-delivery services
After completing the process of Smart Contracts deployment on Ethereum, there may arise a situation where you have to fix some bugs and errors. A smart contract development company may also charge for the maintenance and post-delivery services on a timely basis.
Conclusion
Though we’ve mentioned the estimated cost and some factors that must be taken care of before starting with the smart contract deployment on Ethereum, beginners may find it difficult to calculate the accurate amount even after considering the data shared in this blog post. In such a case, consultation could be sought from experts.
Antier Solutions is equipped with Blockchain developers, business analysts, and project managers who possess deep domain expertise to devise a comprehensive and mission-driven approach to create a smart contract on Ethereum as well as other blockchains. From choosing a consensus mechanism to the right Blockchain platform that aligns with your business objectives, we ensure efficient management at every step of the smart contract development process.
Connect with our subject matter experts to share your needs for smart contract deployment on Ethereum.
