Beginner

What Is a Gwei?

By DappAtlas editors ·

On this page

Gwei is a unit of ether equal to one billionth of an ETH (0.000000001 ETH). Wallets and gas trackers quote gas prices in gwei.

Key takeaways

  • 1 gwei = 0.000000001 ETH = 1,000,000,000 wei.
  • Gas prices on Ethereum and its L2s are shown in gwei.
  • Your fee is gas used times the gas price in gwei.

How gwei works

Ether has several named units. The smallest is wei; one gwei is a billion wei, and one ETH is a billion gwei. Gwei is used because gas prices would be long decimals in ETH.[2]

Gwei and gas fees

A transfer that uses 21,000 gas at a gas price of 10 gwei costs 210,000 gwei, which is 0.00021 ETH. See gas fee.[1]

The Bottom Line

Gwei is just a convenient unit for small amounts of ETH, used mainly to express gas prices.

Educational content, not financial advice.

Gas feeWhat you pay the network to process a transaction.Layer 2A network that runs on top of Ethereum to make transactions cheaper.
Pros
  • Makes gas prices easy to read
Cons
  • Easy to confuse with wei when converting by hand
  • Needs converting to ETH or dollars to see the real cost
Sources (2)
  1. [1] ethereum.org. “Gas and fees.” Accessed Sep 26, 2026.
  2. [2] ethereum.org. “Ether denominations.” Accessed Sep 26, 2026.
Basics

Gwei FAQ

How many gwei are in one ETH?

One billion (1,000,000,000) gwei.

Is gwei a separate coin?

No. It is a unit of ETH, like cents are a unit of the dollar.

How this page works

Sources: ethereum.org, ethereum.org. Data as of Sep 26, 2026.

How we review

Not affiliated with any project listed. Educational content, not financial advice.