Cycles cost formulas
Canisters are charged for the resources they consume and any operations they perform using features such as HTTPS outcalls, threshold signatures, and the Bitcoin integration API. At a high level this can be visualized using the following diagram:
The cost of cycles is pegged to the value of XDR (Special Drawing Rights). Specifically, 1 trillion cycles = 1 XDR. As of May 22, 2025**, the exchange rate of XDR is 1 XDR = $1.354820 USD. However, this rate may fluctuate over time. For the latest rates, see the IMF’s official XDR exchange data.
The following table shows units of cycles and the respective fiat values:
| Abbreviation | Name | In numbers | Cycles XDR value | Cycles USD value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T | Trillion | 1_000_000_000_000 | 1 | 1.354820 |
| B | Billion | 1_000_000_000 | 0.001 | 0.001354820 |
| M | Million | 1_000_000 | 0.000001 | 0.000001354820 |
| k | Thousand | 1_000 | 0.000000001 | 0.000000001354820 |
Cost calculation formulas
A detailed, mathematical example of how the cost of running a canister on a 13-node subnet is computed can be found on the wiki.
Specific mathematical formulas used to calculate various costs are provided below for reference.
Message transmissions
A fixed baseline fee and per-byte fee are charged for each byte of the message: base-fee + per-byte-fee * size-in-bytes.
Execution
The execution cost consists of a fixed execution fee and a per-instruction fee (on application subnets (13 nodes), 10 instructions cost 4 cycles) that is charged for each executed WebAssembly instruction:
base-fee + per-instruction-fee * number-of-instructions
The current values of fees are base-fee = 5M cycles (or $0.0000067741 USD), per-instruction-fee = 1 cycle (or $0.000541928 USD for 1B instructions).
HTTPS outcalls
The cycles cost of an HTTPS outcall request has both a fixed and variable component. The fixed component accounts for the known overhead associated with an HTTPS outcall, whereas the variable component accounts for the resources consumed during the request.
The cost scales with regard to subnet size, where n is the number of nodes on the subnet.
Currently, these fees are:
total_fee = base_fee + size_fee
base_fee = (3_000_000 + 60_000 * n) * n
size_fee = (400 * request_bytes + 800 * max_response_bytes) * n
The request_bytes includes the entire request, not just the HTTP body:
request_size = url.len + transform.name.len + transform.context.len + body.len + header_len
header_len = header_1.name + header_1.value + ... + header_n.name + header_n.value
max_response_bytes is either set by the canister or defaults to 2M.
Cycles price breakdown
The table below details the cost of compute, storage transmissions, and canister calls.
You can use the pricing calculator to estimate the cost for your dapp.
| Canister transmission | Description | Who pays the cycles fee? | 13-node subnets cycles cost | 13-node subnets USD cost | 34-node subnets cycles cost | 34-node subnets USD cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Query call | Query information from a canister. | N/A | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Canister creation | For creating canisters on a subnet. | Created canister | 500_000_000_000 | $0.677410000000 | 1_307_692_307_692 | $1.771687692308 |
| Compute percent allocated per second | Reserved compute allocation per second. | Canister with allocation | 10_000_000 | $0.000013548200 | 26_153_846 | $0.000035433754 |
| Update message execution | For every update message executed. | Target canister | 5_000_000 | $0.000006774100 | 13_076_923 | $0.000017716877 |
| 1B executed instructions | For every 1B instructions executed. | Executing canister | 1_000_000_000 | $0.001354820000 | 2_615_384_615 | $0.003543375385 |
| Xnet call | Inter-canister call: request + response. | Sending canister | 260_000 | $0.000000352253 | 680_000 | $0.000000921278 |
| Xnet byte transmission | Per byte sent in inter-canister call. | Sending canister | 1_000 | $0.000000001355 | 2_615 | $0.000000003543 |
| Ingress message reception | For every ingress message received. | Receiving canister | 1_200_000 | $0.000001625784 | 3_138_461 | $0.000004252050 |
| Ingress byte reception | For every byte received in ingress message. | Receiving canister | 2_000 | $0.000000002710 | 5_230 | $0.000000007087 |
| GiB storage per second | Cost per GiB of storage per second. | Canister with storage | 127_000 | $0.000000172062 | 332_153 | $0.000000450009 |
| HTTPS outcalls | ||||||
| HTTPS outcall (per call) | Per HTTPS outcall sent to an external server. | Sending canister | 49_140_000 | $0.000066575855 | 171_360_000 | $0.000232161955 |
| HTTPS outcall request message size (per byte) | Per byte sent in HTTPS outcall request. | Sending canister | 5_200 | $0.000000007045 | 13_600 | $0.000000018426 |
| HTTPS outcall response message size (per byte) | Per reserved byte for HTTPS outcall response. | Sending canister | 10_400 | $0.000000014090 | 27_200 | $0.000000036851 |
The following table shows the calculated storage cost per GiB for a 30-day month:
| 13-node subnets | 34-node subnets | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| GiB Storage Per Month | For storing a GiB of data per month | $0.446150495 | $1.70 |