Simpleswap

Simpleswap fees are the difference between deposit value and quoted payout

Updated: 10 Aug 2026

Simpleswap fees are swap costs embedded in the quoted rate, plus the blockchain charge your wallet pays to send the deposit. The clearest comparison converts both legs to one value, subtracts the quoted payout from a same-time benchmark, and then adds the sender-side network charge.

SimpleSwap quotes versus Uniswap v3 pool fees

When the route crosses blockchains, a SimpleSwap quote is easier to compare than a Uniswap v3 pool fee alone.

SimpleSwap prices a wallet-to-wallet conversion as a receive amount. Its crypto-to-crypto service charge isn't added as a universal percentage at checkout; it sits inside the exchange rate. The sender still pays the deposit blockchain fee. Uniswap v3 follows a different workflow: a wallet calls a same-chain liquidity pool, pays Ethereum or another deployment's gas, absorbs price impact, and pays the pool's selected tier. Uniswap v3 deployments include pools at 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.30%, and 1.00%, so the pool percentage is visible even though total execution cost isn't fixed.

The relevant dimensions are workflow, cost driver, dependency, and limitation. SimpleSwap depends on its quoted route and liquidity providers; Uniswap v3 depends on a chosen pool, its liquidity, wallet gas, and any token approval. Compare final wallet value, not one fee label.

Reading the quote before sending a deposit

Before sending funds, three numbers decide SimpleSwap's cost: the deposit amount, quoted payout, and wallet network fee.

Record the asset and network beside every number. One USDT quote on Ethereum uses the ERC-20 route, while USDT on TRON uses TRC-20; identical tickers don't make the transfer costs interchangeable. Next, convert the send amount and quoted receive amount through the same benchmark at the same moment. Add the deposit fee in that benchmark unit. Viewed this way, Simpleswap fees describe the lost value across the complete route rather than an unsupported percentage inferred from two different assets. This prevents a cheap network from being confused with a favorable conversion.

The displayed minimum is another cost boundary. Send at least the amount shown for that exact pair and network, and determine whether your wallet adds its network fee or subtracts it from the entered transfer. The amount arriving at the deposit address controls whether the order can proceed.

Save the rate mode, quote timestamp, and exchange identifier with the figures. Without those fields, later comparisons mix execution conditions and lose their diagnostic value.

The four cost legs behind the payout

For a crypto-to-crypto order, four cost legs explain the gap between market value and the amount that reaches your wallet.

Those legs are embedded service pricing, the sender's deposit fee, the estimated payout-network cost, and rate movement before execution. They don't all go to SimpleSwap, and they don't all appear as separate line items.

The embedded service component

Barring an unusual setup, SimpleSwap doesn't publish one universal commission percentage for crypto-to-crypto swaps. It constructs a rate from market analysis and incorporates its service pricing into that rate. Therefore, the quote itself is the usable evidence: compare its payout with a synchronized benchmark or another executable quote.

The deposit network charge

Your wallet pays the deposit chain's miners or validators. Bitcoin fees follow transaction size and the selected satoshis-per-virtual-byte rate; Ethereum fees use gas; Solana charges a signature fee and supports an optional priority fee. A centralized withdrawal service may also set its own transfer charge, as covered in Simpleswap explainer.

The included payout transfer

Underneath that, SimpleSwap includes an estimated receiving-side network cost in its final calculation, while the initial deposit fee stays outside the quoted payout. For a fixed-rate exchange, the shown receive amount already accounts for the payout transfer. This separation explains why a quote can remain unchanged while the total economic cost rises when the sender's network becomes busy.

Fixed-rate timing changes the comparison

When payout certainty matters, SimpleSwap's fixed rate locks the quoted exchange rate for 20 minutes and requires prompt confirmation.

Either way, SimpleSwap offers two rate modes: fixed and floating. SimpleSwap holds a fixed exchange rate for 20 minutes, and the deposit must gain at least one blockchain confirmation inside that window. A late deposit still proceeds at the original rate if that rate remains available; otherwise the order can receive a new rate or move toward a refund. The timing rule makes the wallet's fee setting relevant because an underpriced deposit can miss the confirmation window.

A floating-rate order has no strict time limit or upper amount restriction, but its receive amount settles at the rate available during processing. Compare a fixed quote with a floating quote only after assigning a value to payout certainty; otherwise the two offers answer different questions.

Network and token standards set the transfer cost

When two quotes use different networks, the network and token standard decide which transfer fee you're actually comparing.

A SimpleSwap route for BTC on Bitcoin pays a different security system from an ETH or ERC-20 route on Ethereum. The same distinction applies to SOL on Solana, TRX on TRON, LTC on Litecoin, and DOGE on Dogecoin.

Bitcoin-style byte pricing

Bitcoin records value in satoshis, and 1 satoshi equals 0.00000001 BTC. Its wallet fee reflects transaction weight, so spending several unspent transaction outputs costs more bytes than spending one compact input. Bitcoin targets a 10-minute block interval; a 20-minute fixed-rate window spans only two target intervals, while actual block arrival remains variable. Litecoin and Dogecoin also use proof-of-work chains, yet their fee markets and confirmation schedules are separate.

Ethereum gas and token calls

A standard ETH transfer consumes 21,000 gas, and 1 ETH equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei. The final fee multiplies gas used by the applicable base fee and priority fee. An ERC-20 transfer calls token contract code, so its gas use exceeds the native transfer's fixed intrinsic amount. Receiving USDT doesn't let the token itself pay Ethereum gas; ETH funds the transaction.

Solana signatures and TRON resources

Solana's base fee is 5000 lamports per signature, with 1 SOL equal to 1,000,000,000 lamports. Half of that base fee is burned, and half goes to the validator; an optional priority fee adds a separate compute-based amount. TRON uses Bandwidth and Energy resources, then burns TRX when an account lacks sufficient resources. These mechanisms make raw ticker comparisons unreliable. For fee comparisons, the resource path matters as much as the token amount.

What does a quote really cost?

When both sides use one valuation snapshot, effective cost equals benchmark output minus quoted payout plus the converted deposit fee.

A hypothetical comparison starts with a benchmark showing that the input should produce 1000 output-value units. SimpleSwap quotes 980 units, while the deposit network fee equals 4 output-value units at the same snapshot. The total economic cost is (1000 − 980 + 4) ÷ 1000 = 0.024, or 2.4%. The wallet receives 980 units, but the route leaves 976 units after recognizing the sender-side fee. This calculation measures the whole route; it doesn't assert that SimpleSwap published a 2.4% commission.

Repeat the arithmetic for every quote without changing the benchmark timestamp, destination network, or deposit size. A larger quoted payout loses its advantage if its deposit chain adds a still larger converted network charge.

Use this method for pairwise comparison, not as a claim about SimpleSwap's internal margin. The benchmark measures opportunity cost, while the quote alone determines deliverable payout.

Quote comparison across instant exchanges

When two offers look close, compare them at the same moment and preserve every input that produced each quoted payout.

Same timestamp and destination

In that setup, SimpleSwap, ChangeNOW, and Changelly present receive-amount quotes for instant exchanges, while Uniswap v3 exposes an onchain pool fee tier and wallet gas. Keep the destination asset and network identical across all four. A BTC payout and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on Ethereum have different custody, transfer, and fee dependencies, even when a market screen assigns similar values.

Large orders and minimums

Quote the exact intended size because liquidity and embedded pricing change with the amount. Preserve the selected rate mode, minimum deposit, quoted receive amount, wallet fee estimate, timestamp, and SimpleSwap Exchange ID. If the amount is material, split testing changes the economics because each deposit creates another blockchain fee; compare the one-order total with the multi-order total before sending.