What if I don't have enough gas to cover my transaction?
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If you don’t have enough gas, also known as a network fee, to cover a transaction, or you want to use a different token to cover gas, you’re in the right place. With MetaMask Gas Station, you don’t need a network’s native token to cover the network fee. Instead, you can pay the network fee using a different token, all in the same transaction.
The following transactions are currently eligible for MetaMask Gas Station:
- MetaMask Swaps
- Send
- Dapp transactions
To use MetaMask Gas Station in both these circumstances, you need to be using:
- Ethereum mainnet
- Smart Transactions
- MetaMask Extension - version 12.6 or later (or version 7.43 or higher of MetaMask Mobile for MetaMask Swaps)
Use MetaMask Gas Station
MetaMask Swaps
If you don’t have enough ETH to cover your swap’s network fee, MetaMask Gas Station will automatically include the fee in your swap quote.
Let’s say you want to swap 400 USDC into DAI, but you don’t have enough ETH to cover the network fee. If the max gas fee is estimated to be $9.41, that amount is subtracted from the amount of DAI you would receive.
The ‘max fee’ associated with your swap will be priced into the quote, and if the actual network fee is lower than this estimated amount, any unused ETH will be added to your wallet following the completion of your transaction.
Dapp transactions and send
When you’re confirming a dapp transaction, or using MetaMask’s send feature, MetaMask Gas Station gives you the option to select what token you’d like to use to pay the network fee.
You can pay the network fee with the following tokens:
- USDT
- USDC
- DAI
- ETH
- wETH
- wBTC
- wstETH
- wSOL
If you have enough ETH to pay the network fee, you can select a different token to use. If you don’t have enough ETH to pay the network fee, MetaMask Gas Station will automatically select an eligible token for you. If you would like to use a different token, click the token dropdown menu next to ‘Network fee’.
You’ll see the eligible token balances you have on the transaction’s network and the estimated network fee for each token, including a small MetaMask fee.
Frequently asked questions
What if the value of my swap is less than the cost of gas?
You’ll be unable to use the MetaMask Gas Station if the value of your swap is less than the cost of gas. In this case, you can always buy more ETH to cover gas.
Can I use MetaMask Gas Station on other networks?
MetaMask Gas Station is only available on Ethereum Mainnet at this time, with other popular networks to come in the future. For other networks, MetaMask offers the ability to purchase tokens with fiat via the MetaMask Buy feature, or you can swap tokens from another network using the bridge,. This provides you with a convenient way to top-up your gas balance and continue with your swap.
What tokens can I use MetaMask Gas Station with?
For swaps, you’ll be able to use the MetaMask Gas Station for transactions that include one or more of the following tokens. For dapp transactions and send, you can use MetaMask Gas Station to select from any of the following tokens.
- USDT
- USDC
- DAI
- ETH
- wETH
- wBTC
- wstETH
- wSOL
Can I use MetaMask Gas Station if I have enough gas already?
If you’re using MetaMask Swaps and have enough gas, you will not be able to select a different token for the network fee. If you’re executing a dapp transaction or a send, you can always choose to select a different token to pay the network fee in.