Polygon Network is a Layer 2 attempt at solving Ethereum's high gas fees. Every few months, something new comes around to clog up the network and sends ETH gas soaring. We can see, recently, ETH fees have skyrocketed due to NFT Mania.

So, let's compare average fee per tx.

Don't be fooled by the scaling. ETH is fixed to the left and MATIC to the right. At its worst, MATIC was averaging $0.0138 in gas per transaction compared to $57.67 on Ethereum.

Again, context is important. Despite the uptick in both of these, Ethereum is massively larger than Polygon.

Polygon is not totally insulated from this increased fee generation, however. And it is worth noting, fees in general are not bad. Fees keep the network running, fees keep validators going. We cannot have a network without fees. However, that does not mean they cannot be reasonable. And that's where Ethereum is currently struggling (some would say failing).

We need some more context to both of these pictures. I say above that ETH fees are soaring because NFTs are flying off the shelves faster than toilet paper in March of last year. Polygon is similarly experiencing an increase in network activity.

Finally, however, let's take a look at a proxy for reliability. Fees paid (lost) on failed transactions.

Polygon is on the below chart, and don't let them totally off the hook. Burned $ due to failed transactions on Polygon have grown from <$1,000 on June 1 to over $330,000 as of 14 September (note: cumulative fees).

Unfortunately, this is where Ethereum blows them away with over $72mm in failed transaction fees over that same period of time. That's 24k ETH gone as wasted gas.