How Sui gas and programmable transactions affect cost

Sui gas is the network payment for executing a transaction and storing the objects it creates or changes. A gas budget is the limit submitted with the transaction. The budget, the eventual charge, and an application's commission are related to one action but are different numbers.

Execution and storage are separate inputs

Sui's gas documentation gives the fee structure as computation units multiplied by the reference gas price, plus storage units multiplied by the storage price. More complex commands can require a higher computation bucket. Creating or mutating data adds storage work; deleting stored data can create a storage rebate.

The net formula is:

net gas fees = computation gas fee + storage gas fee − storage rebate

The rebate is about storage that the transaction deletes. It is not a discount on a route commission, and it does not mean every transaction receives SUI back. The transaction explorer's gas section is the right place to inspect the computed result after confirmation.

The budget caps the attempt

Every Sui transaction includes a budget in SUI units. The official rule is that successful execution requires the budget to cover the greater of computation fees and total gas fees. If the budget is too low, the transaction fails and some gas is still charged. When it cannot cover computation fees, the full budget is charged; when it covers computation but not total gas, computation and fees for mutating input objects are charged.

That is why “the budget” and “the fee” should not be read as synonyms. A successful transaction may spend less than its budget. A failed transaction can still consume gas. A high storage rebate can make the final net fee lower than the minimum budget needed to let the transaction run.

The documentation currently lists a minimum budget of 2,000 MIST and a maximum of 50 billion MIST (50 SUI). Those are protocol limits from the source page, not a recommendation for a particular action. Use the wallet's current simulation and request details rather than copying a fixed budget into a live transaction.

An official arithmetic example

The same Sui page gives a hypothetical “basic transaction storing 10 bytes” with a 1,000 MIST reference gas price, 1,000 computation units, a 75 MIST storage price, and 1,000 storage units. Its computation fee is 1,000 × 1,000 = 1,000,000 MIST; storage is 75 × 1,000 = 75,000 MIST; with no rebate, the total is 1,075,000 MIST.

The page also gives a “complex transaction storing 120 bytes and deleting data” with 500 MIST computation price, 5,000 computation units, 200 MIST storage price, 12,000 storage units, and a 5,000,000 MIST rebate. The minimum budget shown is 2,500,000 MIST, while the net fee is 5,000 × 500 + 12,000 × 200 − 5,000,000 = -100,000 MIST. This is an explanatory protocol example, not a promised live refund or a quote for your transaction.

Keep product terms separate

If a route shows a commission, treat it as an application term. In the current SUIBROKERS Swap contract, the configured partner commission is 30 bps, or 0.30%; on a hypothetical $100 base, that rate is $0.30. Sui gas still comes from the network transaction, while price impact and slippage describe the trade's execution conditions. Do not add or subtract those labels as if they were one fee.

Before signing, compare the network, gas budget, asset inputs, commands, output conditions, application commission, and slippage. Afterward, use the digest and effects to see whether the transaction succeeded and what gas was charged. A failed transaction is evidence about that request's outcome, not a reason to assume the next request will have the same cost.

For the transaction shape behind these costs, see how Sui PTBs compose operations and how a route finds a price.