How Much Does It Cost To Make an NFT?

Last Updated on 13th December 2023

How much does it cost to make an NFT?

This is a good question, but there is no straightforward answer because there are several ways you can go about creating an NFT.

Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know in this article, and I’m also going to give you some tips on the absolute cheapest way to make an NFT towards the end of this article.

Let’s get to it!

What Is an NFT?

An NFT is a non-fungible token or cryptocurrency that can be used to represent ownership of something in the real world.

One of the most common use cases for an NFT is as a collectible item in video games and other digital worlds. For example, you could buy a virtual sword with Ethereum (ETH) and then sell it on the open market if you want to trade it for another sword.

NFT art is also very common. Beginners can get started quickly by creating a unique piece of artwork using EOS and then selling it on the OpenSea platform, or other NFT marketplaces. However, there is more sophisticated software out there for creating NFTs than EOS.

Businesses and even large corporations are creating their own non-fungible tokens and then selling them to customers. These businesses are building a lot of value into their NFTs in order to entice people to buy.

For example, a company may offer large lifetime discounts on all their products for anyone who owns one of their NFTs. They may also offer their NFT holders free tickets to events, free access to online courses, and inside info on any up-and-coming product launches.

One huge benefit of NFTs to both the creator and the owner is that an NFT can be resold again and again. Each time an NFT is resold, the original creator will receive a royalty fee. This way, the creator can earn passive income for life off of any NFT they create.

The person who has just bought the NFT can also sell the token again in the future whenever they choose. If the value of the NFT has gone up over time, then they will make money on the sale.

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What is NFT minting?

NFT minting is the process of creating your token and registering it on the Blockchain. It doesn’t matter if you are creating NFT artwork, or you’re a company creating an incentivized token to sell to your customers. Either way, you will still need to go through the minting process before you sell them.

The actual minting process includes the steps of taking high-resolution images of your artwork, scanning those images into a computer, converting them to digital files, and finally encoding them into a format that is compatible with blockchains like Ethereum.

Once your work is ready, you’ll use tools like MyCrypto, Coinomi, Metamask, and others to store your tokens in a blockchain wallet. This way, you can then trade your NFTs directly from your wallet.

Having said that, the most secure way to store an NFT is by using cold storage, which is essentially a hardware device that you can download your NFT to, so it is no longer connected to the internet. This way, hackers cannot access your NFTs.

When you are ready to sell, you can simply upload your NFT to your MetaMask wallet (or whatever wallet you choose to use), and then transfer it to the buyer once the transaction is complete.

How Much Does it Cost to Make an NFT?

There are several things that affect the cost of making an NFT, and there are also a number of costs you will need to incur.

In particular, what blockchain you decide to use, and the complexity of your image can have a big impact on how much it costs to create an NFT.

If you want a short answer, then the cost to make an NFT is typically between $3 and $80. These costs depend on things like the complexity of your image, no-code tools used, which blockchain you are using, the minting fees, and the fees charged by the marketplace that you use.

What Are The Costs Associated With NFTs?

So, in the process of creating an NFT, there will be a number of costs you’ll need to deal with. Here’s a breakdown of those costs:

NFT Minting Costs Depend on The Blockchain You Use

How much it will cost to make an NFT will largely come down to which blockchain you choose to use. For example, NFTs are typically created using either the Polygon, Solana, or Ethereum blockchain.

Minting NFTs on Polygon

If you’re using OpenSea, the most popular NFT marketplace, then you can use the Polygon blockchain to mint your non-fungible tokens.

OpenSea is free to join, so if you don’t yet have an account, all you need to do is to hook up your crypto wallet (we recommend using MetaMask), and you’re good to go.

One huge benefit of using OpenSea as your NFT marketplace of choice is that you can make and list NFTs for free on their platform using the Polygon blockchain.

The reason why you can make NFTs for free on this platform is that OpenSea uses ‘lazy minting’ as a default, so you will not incur any fees here.

When you sell an NFT on OpenSea, you will pay OpenSea a service fee of 2.5%. OpenSea will deduct their cut from the sale price and then send the rest of the money to your crypto wallet. Transactions are in ETH, so this is how you will be paid.

Minting NFTs on Solana

Even though Ethereum is the most popular blockchain currently used to make NFTs, you can incur high gas fees using Etherium. That’s why a lot of people opt to make NFTs with Solana, which is the second most popular blockchain to use for this purpose.

If you’re using the Solana blockchain to make NFTs, then you need to bear in mind that not all wallets will be compatible. You’ll need to use a wallet like Phantom, Atomic Wallet, or Solong Wallet, for example.

With the Solana blockchain, you can choose from a variety of NFT marketplaces including SolanaArt, SolSea, and Magic Eden.

When you make an NFT on the Solana blockchain the costs are quite low, and basically, revolve around your on-chain activity.

When it comes to minting your NFT on Solana, you will need to pay 3 different transaction fees. 2 of these fees are for minting your NFT, and the third fee is paid when you set the listing price for your NFT.

Minting NFTs on Ethereum

As I previously mentioned, Ethereum is the most popular blockchain to use to make NFTs, but it’s also the most expensive in gas fees.

In the past, it used to be particularly expensive to mint NFTs on Ethereum, but nowadays the prices have come down considerably.

You can choose from a range of NFT marketplaces that use the Ethereum blockchain including OpenSea and Mintable. However, bear in mind that regular minting on Ethereum is very expensive.

Fortunately though, you now also have the lazy minting option with Ethereum, which is essentially free.

Steps To Making an NFT That Costs Money

There is a breakdown of the 3 steps of creating an NFT that will cost you money:

1.  Creating your artwork
2. Generating your NFT collection
3. Listing Your NFTs on a marketplace

1. Creating Your NFT Artwork

 The first step to making an NFT is to actually create the artwork. This is the first step that will cost you some moolah.

Here are 2 of the best ways to go about creating your NFT artwork if you’re not an artist with fancy design skills:

Hire a freelance NFT artist on Fiverr

This is a great way to get a high-quality NFT made quickly. I’m a big advocator of outsourcing, so if you can afford to pay someone to do a job better and quicker than you can, then it definitely makes sense to do so.

You’ll be surprised at how inexpensive it can be to get a great NFT design made for you on the Fiverr platform.

Typically, it will cost you between $10-$80 to get your NFT made for you by a freelancer on Fiverr. However, prices can increase depending on the complexity of your design.

You can find some great NFT designers on Fiverr here.

You can check the current Zoot Chain pricing here.

Make NFT images with Canva

You can use the popular design platform, Canva, to create your design. Canva has a free plan, although you’ll need to use Canva pro if you want to make NFT designs.

Bear in mind that this is only the design stage were talking about at the moment, so there is no coding at this level, which is usually more expensive.

Canva Pro will cost you $12.99 per month, or $119.99 per year.

You can get an extended 30-day free trial of Canva Pro with this link here.

Alternatively, you can get a 35% discount on Canva Pro with annual billing with this link here.

2. Generating Your NFT Collection

Once you have created your artwork, you’ll need to turn it into an NFT by using a coding or no-coding generator. Using Zoot Chain is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to do this.

With Zoot Chain you can create all your NFTs from scratch, and you can create as many as you like.

The Zoot Chain software is sold for a one-time price of $250, and you can make as many NFTs as you want with it.

However, you can get lifetime access to Zoot Chain for a one-time price of $100 through this link here.

I’m not sure how long this special $100 offer will be available. However, if you’re serious about making NFTs, then even the regular price of $250 is well worth it.

Here is a video showing you how to make 10,000 NFTs without coding using Zoot Chain.

The alternative is to hire a smart contract developer to mint your NFT collection, but this can typically cost you somewhere in the region of $300-$500.

once you have generated your NFT collection, all that’s left for you to do is to mint your NFTs on a blockchain. This will complete the process of creating your NFTs.

It’s important to know that the cost of NFT minting can vary quite a bit depending on which blockchain you decide to use.

While Ethereum is currently the most popular blockchain for minting NTFs, it’s also the most expensive. This is because you will incur gas fees when minting, and the price you pay for your gas fees will largely depend on network traffic.

Typically, you’ll be looking at anywhere from $10-$100 for gas fees. You can check the ETH Gas Station for the current prices.

If you want a cheaper option, then the Solana blockchain is a good option, as I mentioned previously in this article. The gas fees are much lower on the Solana blockchain, and it’s rapidly growing in popularity.

You can also go the lazy minting route, which is a completely free option to mint your NFTs. For example, you can list and mint your NFTs for free on a platform like OpenSource, but just know that they’ll take a higher percentage of the sale once someone buys your NFT. As I mentioned previously, OpenSea will take a 2.5% cut of your sales.

3. Listing Your NFTs on a Marketplace

Now you’ve created your NFT, you’ll need to list it on an NFT marketplace if you hope to sell it.

Each marketplace charge different fees for listing, so be sure to check this before you sign up.

Here are some of the most popular marketplaces to list your NFTs:

1. OpenSea
2. Portion
3. Nifty Gateway
4. Zora
5. Rarible
6. Bitski
7. Mintable
8. Decentraland

How Much Does It Cost To Create an NFT? – Summary

 Here’s a summary of the price you’re looking at to make NFTs:

1. Artwork creation – $12.99 – $100 if you choose to use either Canva or a freelancer from Fiverr
2. Zoot Chain NFT generator – $100 (one-time fee, you’ll only pay this for your first NFT, and you can generate all future NFTs for free)
3. Minting costs – depends on which blockchain you use – Price ranges from free up to around $100 for each NFT
4. NFT listing fees – depends on which marketplace you use – free up to around $100 per NFT

Tips To Reduce The Cost of Creating NFTs

As you can see, it can become expensive to create NFTs, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are our tips on how to lower the cost of creating NFTs:

1. Use Pro Canva to create your artwork – Only $12.99 per month and you can cancel at any time (35% off Canva Pro annual here)
2. Use Zoot Chain to generate your NFTs – you only pay $100 once, and you can then generate as many NFTs as you like
3. Mint your NFTs on Rarible – no charges for minting and listing, and you’ll only pay 1% sale fee to Rarible per NFT sold, compared to the 2.5% that you’d need to pay if you used OpenSea

Final Thoughts

There you have it, it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money to make an NFT if you know how to navigate this exciting, new landscape.

All in all, you can create NFTs for cheap, get them listed for free, and then make both sales and passive income from your work for years to come!

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