eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum Nova
Everything below was measured on 2026-10-13 by calling eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum Nova through the same endpoint customers use, and is re-measured weekly.
What eth_estimateGas does
Runs a transaction against current state and returns the gas it would use, so you can set a gas limit. If the transaction would revert or the sender cannot pay, the node returns an error instead of a number.
eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum Nova: what we measured
| Zero-value ETH transfer to an EOA | 1,160,280 gas |
|---|---|
| Same on Ethereum | 21,000 gas |
| 1 wei from an empty account | failed with 51128986 gas: insufficient funds for gas * price + value: address 0x4c21270668899Cf33ebA67Dbb7d5A40E0Bbe3495 have 0 want 1 |
What the numbers mean
A plain transfer estimates at 1,160,280 gas, not 21,000. On Arbitrum Nova the estimate includes the gas that pays for posting the transaction's data to Ethereum, so it moves with Ethereum's fees. Never hard-code 21,000 here: re-estimate before sending.
An estimate for a sender that cannot pay fails with: "failed with 51128986 gas: insufficient funds for gas * price + value: address 0x4c21270668899Cf33ebA67Dbb7d5A40E0Bbe3495 have 0 want 1". Your app sees this text when a user's balance is too low, so match on it to show a clear message.
Chains where a transfer is not 21,000 gas
Of the 53 chains we measure, 6 estimate a plain transfer at something other than 21,000 gas.
Example request
curl -s https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/arbitrum-nova?key=YOUR_API_KEY \
-X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_estimateGas","params":[{"from":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000","to":"0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD","value":"0x0"}]}'import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
const client = createPublicClient({
transport: http("https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/arbitrum-nova?key=YOUR_API_KEY"),
});
const gas = await client.estimateGas({ account: from, to, value });
// Add headroom: state can change between estimate and inclusion
const gasLimit = (gas * 120n) / 100n;
// On Arbitrum Nova the estimate follows Ethereum's fees; re-estimate rather than caching itOther methods on Arbitrum Nova
- eth_blockNumberSupported
- eth_chainIdSupported
- eth_getBalanceSupported
- eth_getBlockByNumberSupported
- eth_getTransactionByHashSupported
- eth_getTransactionReceiptSupported
- eth_callSupported
- eth_gasPriceSupported
- eth_maxPriorityFeePerGasSupported
- eth_sendRawTransactionSupported
- eth_getTransactionCountSupported
- eth_getCodeSupported
- eth_subscribeSupported
- eth_getLogsSupported
- eth_getBlockReceiptsSupported
- eth_feeHistorySupported
- eth_getProofSupported
- eth_createAccessListSupported
- debug_traceCallSupported
- trace_blockNot available
- trace_transactionNot available
eth_estimateGas on other chains
- Ethereum
- Base
- Arbitrum
- Optimism
- Polygon
- BNB Smart Chain
- Avalanche
- Sonic
- Linea
- Scroll
- zkSync Era
- Blast
- Mantle
- Gnosis
- Celo
- Berachain
- Monad
- Unichain
- Kaia
- PulseChain
- World Chain
- Ronin
- Abstract
- ApeChain
- MegaETH
- Fantom
- Lisk
- Hemi
- X Layer
- BOB
- Plasma
- Fraxtal
- Zora
- Story
- Soneium
- Sei
- Hyperliquid
- Taiko
- Morph
- Ink
- Katana
- Ethereum Classic
- opBNB
- Mode
- Flare
- Core
- Chiliz
- Telos EVM
- Tempo
- Cronos
- Manta Pacific
- Shibarium
- Boba Network
- Immutable zkEVM
Frequently asked questions
Does Arbitrum Nova support eth_estimateGas?
Yes. eth_estimateGas answered on the SwiftNodes Arbitrum Nova endpoint when our weekly probe called it through the customer path (2026-10-13).
How much gas does a plain transfer use on Arbitrum Nova?
eth_estimateGas returned 1,160,280 for a plain transfer on 2026-10-13; it is not the 21,000 of Ethereum.
What does "insufficient funds for gas * price + value" mean from eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum Nova?
The sender's balance cannot cover the value plus the gas. Fund the account or lower the value; the have and want figures in the message are in wei.
Arbitrum Nova endpoints, live block height and WebSocket status are on the Arbitrum Nova RPC page.
One key covers every chain we serve, and SwiftNodes has a free tier.