Overview

One of the major value propositions of the Solana blockchain is that it has ridiculously low gas fees. This combined with it's fast transaction speeds makes Solana a great blockchain from a usability standpoint.

The fee prices are dependent on the network congestion of the Solana blockchain. With the high volume of transactions taking place on a daily basis, the severity of network congestion changes and hence the fees fluctuate accordingly.

https://docs.solana.com/transaction_fees

TLDR - Transaction volume on Solana is HIGH. Fees fluctuate because of network congestion.

The first chart below compares the total daily fees on Solana for January 2022.

There are two specific times we see a clear dip in daily total fees - 01/7 and 01/21 to 01/22. This is directly related to the days where the Solana network was shut down for maintenance. Other than the two times mentioned above, the daily fees don't show too much of a deviation.

The fees remain between 280 to 340 SOL.

Analysis

Chart 2 highlight how the Average daily fees on Solana spike. Although the transaction fees on Solana are super cheap, it is interesting to see how the daily average fees changed in January. It is clear that fees spike when the network is congested.

Insights

1. Solana fees are miniscule, yet the fees spike during congested periods.
2. In January, there were three periods where fees spike - chart 2.
3. Overall, in January 2022, total daily fees on Solana remained in a consistent range(280-340 SOL). This is good for the users