01What
Shows what a transaction costs to submit right now, including the escalated open-ledger fee when the network is busy.
02Why you'd use it
XRPL fees are tiny (the base is 10 drops = 0.00001 XRP) but they rise briefly under load. Checking first means never overpaying and never getting stuck in the queue.
03How
- 1Run it (no inputs needed).
- 2Read drops.base_fee — the normal minimum — and drops.open_ledger_fee — what it takes to get into the very next ledger right now.
- 3If open_ledger_fee is far above base_fee, the network is busy: pay the higher fee for urgent transactions, or just wait a few minutes.
Watch out
- All values are in drops: 10 drops = 0.00001 XRP.
- Fees are burned — destroyed forever — not paid to anyone. Nobody profits from spam.
- Fee escalation spikes are usually seconds to minutes long; patience is the cheapest strategy.
- The platform's transaction tools set a sensible fee automatically — this tool is for understanding and monitoring.
For example
Your batch job is about to send 500 payouts. It checks the fee first: open_ledger_fee equals base_fee (10 drops), so the whole batch will cost about 5,000 drops — half a cent — and it proceeds.