How much does it cost to launch a token in 2026?
Launching a token in 2026 costs anywhere from under $50 to well over $150,000, and the gap comes down almost entirely to how much you build yourself. A bare contract deploy is a few dollars in gas. A full custom launchpad, with sale, staking, vesting and an audit, is a multi-month engineering project with a six-figure bill. Most teams land somewhere in between, paying a flat fee to a self-serve platform instead of hiring a team to build one.
The honest answer is that "cost to launch a token" is not one number, it is a stack of line items that show up on every launch regardless of chain: the token contract deploy itself, a smart contract audit if you are custodying funds, the sale or launchpad software, and whatever percentage or fee the platform (if any) takes on the raise. The rest of this post breaks down each of those, with ranges and where the numbers come from, so you can build a real budget instead of guessing.
What are crypto launchpad fees?
Crypto launchpad fees are what a sale platform charges to run your token sale, usually as a percentage of the funds raised rather than a flat price. Some platforms also charge a listing fee, a setup fee, or a monthly subscription on top. The percentage model aligns the platform's incentive with yours: it only gets paid if your sale actually raises money.
Saleium's fee is a flat 15% of a successful raise on Token Sale, across every self-serve plan, with your own project free to add its own markup on top if you choose. There is no separate audit fee and no per-transaction sale fee beyond that 15%, and the number does not change based on how much you raise. See the full fee and plan table for exactly what each tier includes.
The percentage model exists because launchpads are judged on raises actually settled, not features shipped. Cumulative launchpad fundraising tracked by CryptoRank, roughly $66.8M for DAO Maker, $32.2M for Polkastarter and $122M+ for Binance Launchpad, moved through this same percentage-of-raise structure, which is why almost every platform, self-serve or not, still prices itself as a cut of the raise rather than a flat listing fee.
How much does it cost to deploy the token contract itself?
Deploying the token contract itself is the cheapest line item on the list: a standard ERC-20 deploy runs on the order of 1.3 million gas, with one commonly reported deploy costing 1,311,213 gas. Converted to dollars, that swings roughly $30 to $500 or more, purely based on the network's gas price at the moment you deploy.
That range is wide because gas price, not the contract itself, drives the dollar cost. A deploy during a quiet network period and the same deploy during a congested one can differ by 10x or more. Check a live gas tracker before you deploy, and consider deploying during off-peak hours if the chain you are using has predictable cycles. OpenZeppelin's audited ERC20, ERC20Burnable, ERC20Capped, ERC20Pausable and ERC20Permit implementations are the reference building blocks most teams start from, and using them does not change the gas cost meaningfully versus a minimal custom contract.
How much does a smart contract audit cost?
A smart contract audit for a token sale, staking or vesting stack commonly costs $10k to $40k, according to crypto dev-cost guides, and that is per contract or per suite, not a one-time flat fee across your whole project. The price scales with lines of code, complexity (custody logic, upgradability, cross-chain messaging) and how fast you need the turnaround.
Skipping the audit is not a real way to cut cost. Contracts that hold user funds, sale proceeds, staked tokens or vesting balances are the highest-value target on your entire stack, and an unaudited custody contract is a liability, not a savings. If you build your own contracts, budget the audit as a fixed cost independent of raise size. If you use a platform whose contracts are already audited, like Saleium's CertiK-audited stack, that line item disappears from your budget entirely.
Build vs buy: which is cheaper?
Buying is cheaper for nearly every team running one launch, since a custom build commonly costs $70k to $150k for a single chain, and $200k or more once you add multi-chain support, per crypto dev-cost guides, before you even add the audit. A SaaS platform replaces that upfront capital cost with a percentage fee on the raise and a monthly plan, so you pay only if and when you actually raise.
| Line item | DIY / custom build | SaaS / Saleium |
|---|---|---|
| Token contract deploy (gas) | About 1.3 million gas, roughly $30 to $500+ depending on network gas price | Same on-chain gas cost; Token Creator adds one on-chain deploy fee in the chain's native token, no subscription |
| Smart contract audit | $10k to $40k for a sale, staking and vesting suite, per dev-cost guides | Included: contracts are already CertiK-audited as part of the platform |
| Platform / build | $70k to $150k for a single chain, $200k+ for multi-chain, per dev-cost guides | $0 to build; you pay a plan fee instead, from Free ($0) to Business ($999/mo) |
| Platform / sale fee | $0 platform fee, but you carry all build, audit and maintenance cost and risk | 15% flat take of a successful raise on Token Sale |
The build path only wins if you plan to run many launches over years and want to own and maintain the infrastructure yourself, including future audits when you change the contracts. For a first launch, or an occasional one, the math favors buying. Our build-vs-buy guide and custom-build cost breakdown go deeper on where that math flips.
What does a self-serve platform actually charge?
A self-serve platform like Saleium charges per product, not one blended fee, so your total cost depends on which pieces of the stack you actually use. Token Sale takes a flat 15% of a successful raise. Staking takes a percentage of rewards distributed: 5% on the base tier, stepping down to 4.75% on Growth, 4.50% on Pro, and 3.75% on Business and Enterprise. Vesting and Airdrops are priced near-free, meaning you pay only the per-transaction platform cost plus network gas, no percentage cut.
That structure matters for budgeting because a team that only needs a claim portal or a vesting schedule, without a public sale, pays almost nothing beyond gas. A team running a full IDO with staking on top pays the 15% sale fee and the staking cut, but nothing extra for vesting or a later airdrop on the same infrastructure. If you are still deciding whether to run the sale on a launchpad at all, see running a token sale without a launchpad for the tradeoffs.
How much do Saleium plans cost?
Saleium plans cost from $0 to $999 a month, and the plan sets your raise cap, not your platform fee, since the 15% sale take is the same on every self-serve tier. Free is $0/mo and covers airdrop deployment only, no sale. Growth is $99/mo with a $10k raise cap. Pro is $499/mo with a $100k cap. Business is $999/mo with a $250k cap. Enterprise is custom-priced with no cap.
- Decide your raise target: it sets which plan covers your cap.
- Add the 15% sale fee to your budget as a percentage of what you expect to raise, not a fixed number.
- If you are staking rewards after the sale, budget the 5% to 3.75% cut based on your plan tier.
- If you only need vesting or an airdrop claim portal, skip the sale entirely and budget near-free per-transaction cost plus gas.
- Annual billing takes 33% off the monthly price on any paid plan, worth factoring in if you know you are launching this year.
What hidden costs do teams forget to budget for?
Teams most often forget the costs that sit outside the contract stack entirely: KYC and compliance tooling if your sale is gated by jurisdiction, marketing and community spend to actually fill an allowlist, legal review of your token's structure, and the ongoing cost of running staking and vesting infrastructure for months or years after the sale closes, not just on launch day.
None of those show up in a gas estimate or an audit quote, which is why a pure "deploy plus audit" budget consistently undershoots the real number. Multi-chain support adds its own line item too: deploying and maintaining contracts across BNB Chain, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum and Avalanche multiplies deploy and audit cost if you are building custom, while a platform already live on all five absorbs that cost for you. Compare the full landscape in best token sale platforms for 2026 before committing to one path.
How do you build a realistic launch budget?
You build a realistic launch budget by pricing every line item as a range, not a single number, since gas, audit scope and even platform fees vary with timing and choices you have not made yet. Start from the four core items (deploy, audit, platform or build, sale fee) and add the hidden costs above on top before you commit to a plan or a build path.
- Token contract deploy: budget $30 to $500 in gas, and check a live tracker before you deploy.
- Audit: budget $10k to $40k if you are building custom contracts; budget $0 if your platform ships pre-audited infrastructure.
- Platform or build: budget $70k to $200k+ if building custom; budget your plan's monthly fee if using a SaaS platform.
- Sale fee: budget as a percentage of your expected raise, not a fixed dollar figure, since it only applies if the sale succeeds.
- Post-launch: budget staking, vesting and marketing costs as ongoing, not one-time.
If you want a no-code way to get the token contract itself deployed before you commit to a full sale, Token Creator deploys an OpenZeppelin-based ERC-20 on BNB Chain for a one-time on-chain fee, with no subscription required.
The bottom line
The real cost to launch a token in 2026 is not one figure, it is a build-versus-buy decision. Build it yourself and you are looking at $80k to $190k or more before a single dollar is raised. Use a self-serve platform and that upfront cost mostly disappears, replaced by a flat 15% sale fee, a staking cut that falls as low as 3.75%, and a monthly plan starting at $0. Check the full fee and plan breakdown against your own raise target before you decide which path to take.