44.07 $
+0.07% +0.03 $
44.07 $
+0.07% +0.03 $
How much does it really cost to send $100? Compare Litecoin against every alternative.
| Method | Fee ($100) | Speed | Limit | Global | Privacy | 24/7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Litecoin (LTC) | <$0.0005 (live) | 2.5 min | No limit | ✓ | ✓* | ✓ |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $2–5 | 10–60 min | No limit | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $0.50–5 | 12 sec | No limit | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| XRP (Ripple) | $0.0002 | 3–5 sec | No limit | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| Solana (SOL) | $0.001 | <1 sec | No limit | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| USDT (Tron) | $1.00 | 3–5 sec | No limit | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| SWIFT Wire | $25–50 | 1–5 days | Varies | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| PayPal (G&S) | $3.98 | Instant | $60,000 | 200+ countries | ✗ | ✓ |
| Western Union | $8–15 | Min–days | $50,000 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Visa / Mastercard | $1.50–3.00 | Instant auth | Card limit | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Zelle | $0 | Minutes | $500–5,000 | US only | ✗ | ✓ |
| Venmo | $0–3.00 | 1–3 days | $7,000/wk | US only | ✗ | ✓ |
* All public blockchains (LTC, BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, USDT) are pseudonymous — transactions are visible on a public ledger. Litecoin additionally offers optional confidential transactions via MWEB that hide amounts.
Crypto fees are typical values and rise with network congestion — the LTC figure above is live. Traditional fees: PayPal Goods & Services 3.49% + $0.49 (domestic Friends & Family transfers are free; see PayPal merchant fees), card networks 1.5–3% (merchant discount rate), Western Union varies by corridor and payout method, SWIFT wires typically $25–50 plus possible intermediary bank charges. Live LTC fee data: litecoinspace.org.
Average total transaction fees collected in each Litecoin block, converted to USD at the time. Real on-chain data from litecoinspace.org, aggregated daily. Each block's fees are shared across all of its transactions — the per-transfer fee you actually pay is shown live above and stays in the sub-cent range.
Litecoin transaction fees are calculated based on the size of the transaction in bytes, not the dollar amount being sent. A typical native SegWit transaction is around 141 vbytes (a legacy transaction roughly 225 bytes). Modern Litecoin Core releases accept relay fees as low as 0.00001 LTC/kB — just 1 sat/vB — and because the network is rarely congested, most transactions confirm at or near that floor. A typical transfer therefore costs a few hundred litoshi, well under a cent at current prices. This means sending $10 or $10 million costs essentially the same fee.
Litecoin was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to activate Segregated Witness (SegWit) in May 2017. SegWit separates signature data from transaction data, effectively reducing the weight of transactions by 30–40%. If your wallet supports native SegWit (bech32 addresses starting with ltc1), you automatically benefit from lower fees.
The MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) upgrade, activated in May 2022, introduced optional confidential transactions to Litecoin. MWEB transactions are slightly larger due to the cryptographic proofs involved, but fees remain extremely low — typically under $0.01. MWEB provides enhanced privacy by hiding transaction amounts while keeping fees negligible. Learn more in our MimbleWimble privacy guide and the What is Litecoin guide.
For a deeper dive, read our complete Litecoin guide or use the LTC calculator to check current conversion rates.
See how much your business could save by accepting Litecoin instead of credit cards or PayPal.
Assumptions: credit card 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (typical online blended rate), PayPal commercial payments 3.49% + $0.49, Litecoin network fee <$0.0005/tx (live) plus a 0.5% estimate for converting LTC revenue to fiat on an exchange. Excludes chargeback costs, POS hardware and payout timing — all of which further favor crypto.