# Gas fee (such as TRX or ETH)

Working definition: the network fee for a transaction, paid in the chain's native coin, such as ETH on Ethereum or TRX on TRON.

Canonical: https://achivx.org/glossary/gas-fee/
Updated: 2026-11-01

A gas fee (working definition) is the network fee paid to have a transaction processed. On Ethereum, gas measures the computational effort of operations; the fee is the gas used multiplied by the cost per unit, is paid in ether (ETH), and is charged whether the transaction succeeds or fails. TRON meters transactions with Bandwidth and Energy; Energy has no free quota and is obtained by staking TRX, each account gets a small free Bandwidth allowance, and when resources do not cover a transaction, TRX is burned instead.

## What the sources say

| Source | Quote | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ethereum.org: what gas is | "Gas refers to the unit that measures the amount of computational effort required to execute specific operations on the Ethereum network." | [ethereum.org](https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/gas/) |
| ethereum.org: fee formula, charged on failure | "The gas fee is the amount of gas used to do some operation, multiplied by the cost per unit gas. The fee is paid regardless of whether a transaction succeeds or fails." | [ethereum.org](https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/gas/) |
| ethereum.org: paid in ETH | "Gas fees have to be paid in Ethereum's native currency, ether (ETH)." | [ethereum.org](https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/gas/) |
| TRON docs: Bandwidth and Energy | "Bandwidth — covers the byte size of transactions stored on-chain; larger transactions consume more. Energy — covers the computation the TVM performs when executing a smart contract; every contract call consumes some." | [developers.tron.network](https://developers.tron.network/docs/resource-model) |
| TRON docs: free Bandwidth allowance | "Under the current getFreeNetLimit value, each activated account receives an allowance of 600 free Bandwidth." | [developers.tron.network](https://developers.tron.network/docs/resource-model) |
| TRON docs: Energy has no free quota | "Energy has no free quota — accounts must either stake (or receive delegated) TRX to obtain it, or rely on the TRX-burn fallback." | [developers.tron.network](https://developers.tron.network/docs/resource-model) |
| TRON docs: TRX burned when resources fall short | "For an ordinary transaction, the network tries staked or delegated Bandwidth and then free Bandwidth; each source must cover the transaction's full byte cost. If neither can, TRX is burned for the entire Bandwidth cost." | [developers.tron.network](https://developers.tron.network/docs/resource-model) |

## Related terms

- [Token standard (ERC-20, TRC-20, SPL)](/glossary/token-standard/)
- [Wrong network transfer](/glossary/wrong-network-transfer/)

## See also

- Explainer: [Why do I need TRX to send USDT on Tron — and can I pay the fee in USDT instead?](https://achivx.com/academy/issuers/why-trx-to-send-usdt.html)
- Review: [revain.org/projects/ethereum/](https://revain.org/projects/ethereum/)
- Review: [revain.org/projects/tron/](https://revain.org/projects/tron/)
- Review: [revain.org/coins/usdt0/](https://revain.org/coins/usdt0/)

Checked against the sources on 2026-11-01.

## revain.org
- https://revain.org/projects/ethereum/
- https://revain.org/projects/tron/
- https://revain.org/coins/usdt0/

## Sources
- https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/gas/
- https://developers.tron.network/docs/resource-model