RPC method

eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum

Supported on SwiftNodes

Everything below was measured on 2026-10-13 by calling eth_estimateGas on Arbitrum 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: what we measured

Zero-value ETH transfer to an EOA	21,593 gas
Same on Ethereum	21,000 gas
1 wei from an empty account	failed with 50000427 gas: insufficient funds for gas * price + value: address 0x375103A9bDA8C1339E4d62d2E550e299Ae0C4dC6 have 0 want 1

What the numbers mean

A plain transfer estimates at 21,593 gas, not 21,000. On Arbitrum 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 50000427 gas: insufficient funds for gas * price + value: address 0x375103A9bDA8C1339E4d62d2E550e299Ae0C4dC6 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?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?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 the estimate follows Ethereum's fees; re-estimate rather than caching it

Other methods on Arbitrum

eth_estimateGas on other chains

Frequently asked questions

Does Arbitrum support eth_estimateGas?

Yes. eth_estimateGas answered on the SwiftNodes Arbitrum endpoint when our weekly probe called it through the customer path (2026-10-13).

How much gas does a plain transfer use on Arbitrum?

eth_estimateGas returned 21,593 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?

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 endpoints, live block height and WebSocket status are on the Arbitrum RPC page.

One key covers every chain we serve, and SwiftNodes has a free tier.