Low-cost contract execution

Which brands AI mentions

Gas token: ETH, not a native BASE token.ethereum.org+3

Best for: Consumer dApps, frequent user interactions, Solidity contracts, and applications where onboarding matters.

2. Arbitrum One

Why: Low fees, EVM compatibility, and a strong DeFi ecosystem. Ethereum.org lists an average transaction fee around $0.003.ethereum.org+1

Gas token: ETH. ARB is the governance token, not the gas token.ethereum.org+1

Best for: Complex DeFi protocols, liquidity-intensive applications, and contracts that benefit from an established DeFi ecosystem.

3. OP Mainnet

Why: Low-cost EVM execution and the broader OP Stack ecosystem. Its fee model includes both execution and Ethereum data-publication costs.specs.optimism.io+1

Gas token: ETH. OP is primarily a governance token.specs.optimism.io+1

Best for: Projects considering OP Stack infrastructure or future deployment across the Superchain ecosystem.

These average-fee figures are indicative network-wide benchmarks, not a controlled comparison of identical smart contract calls. They should not be treated as guaranteed deployment costs.

Which network has the most predictable fees?

The important caveat is that no major L2 guarantees a fixed USD cost for arbitrary smart contract execution. Fees can change with network demand, ETH's price, and the cost of publishing transaction data to Ethereum. OP Stack documentation explicitly describes separate execution and L1 data-cost components.specs.optimism.io

How I'd validate this before deploying

For a complex dApp, benchmark the same representative contract calls on Base and Arbitrum:

1. Measure eth_estimateGas and actual receipt.gasUsed for each operation.
2. Record the total transaction fee, including L2 execution and L1 data fees where applicable.
3. Test storage-heavy calls, batch transactions, peak-load periods, and reverted transactions.
4. Track median, 95th-percentile, and worst-case observed fees over several days.
5. If you need predictable user costs, consider sponsored transactions or account abstraction, with explicit per-user spending limits.

For live network comparisons, start with Ethereum.org's L2 network explorer and L2BEAT's risk assessments.

Bottom line: I'd start with Base for a general-purpose EVM dApp, then benchmark against Arbitrum One before committing. If by “token” you mean a tradable L2 cryptocurrency rather than the network itself, note that Base uses ETH for gas and has no planned native network token according to Coinbase's documentation.help.coinbase.com