How Much Does It Cost to Create 10,000 NFTs?

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Table of Contents
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Key Takeaways:

  • The cost of creating 10,000 NFTs can vary significantly depending on the chosen blockchain platform, such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, or Cardano
  • Alternative blockchains like Solana, Polygon, or Cardano can offer lower gas fees compared to Ethereum, providing cost-saving opportunities for creating large NFT collections
  • Creating a collection of 10,000 NFTs can provide diversification and increase the chances of having a standout NFT, offering potential benefits to NFT creators

How Much Does It Cost to Create 10,000 NFTs?

The costs for creating 10,000 NFTs will differ depending on the platform and its blockchain you decide to use. 

You could pay any amount from $1 up to hundreds or thousands of dollars if you use Ethereum’s blockchain. 

In the past, single transactions on Ethereum had fees of up to $500 . These are extreme prices to provide an NFT collection. You could get it cheaper, but you would have to use another blockchain for it. 

Besides Ethereum, there are other blockchains like Solana, Polygon or Cardano. These blockchains provide lower gas fees than Ethereum. 

Polygon even lets you create NFTs without gas fees so you could create an NFT for free, which can help you create the cheapest NFT creation process. These cheaper prices come at another cost. Ethereum is the big player. All NFT platforms use it. 

This increases the cost of creating NFTs on Ethereum but also allows you to create for a bigger audience. If you create NFT art on another blockchain, you will be more limited in what you can do with your NFT. 

Your market will be much smaller and people who want to stay in Ethereum only won’t buy your NFT. For this reason, these alternative blockchains were created as Layer 2

This means their blockchain are connected and built on top of Ethereum’s blockchain to get the security features from. People are more likely to switch to another network.

Why Should You Create NFTs With 10,000 Pieces?

10,000 NFTs is a lot and can get expensive to create, but it has been established as a standard for collections. 

CryptoPunks, one of the first NFT collections, were created with 10,000 different NFTs. 

Since then, this number has always been mentioned as the standard for NFT collections. Many NFTs give you a lot of options and opportunities because you can make them digital and create them relatively fast on this scale. 

With an extensive collection, you can diversify it and increase your chances of having the one NFT that could skyrocket your entire collection. 

If you want to establish yourself in the NFT community, then you should be able to provide a standard NFT collection in your portfolio. This will give you credibility and show that you can provide a variety of assets. 

A collection can even push your sales. Buyers see they can trust this NFT because it is part of a comprehensive collection. This could even lead to a hype, resulting in higher prices. 

Overall, if you want to go serious about NFTs, aim to provide a collection of 10,000 NFTs.

What Are 10K NFT Collections?

A “10k NFT” is what a collection of 10,000 NFTs is called. 

It is the standard for NFT collections with which the famous collection CryptoPunks pioneered. 

An artist creates this huge amount of NFTs based on one character. In order to do that, the same avatar or main character is used with many variations. 

This way, it is possible to create your NFT relatively quickly, but will need more work than to just mint a single NFT in a marketplace. 

Therefore, if an artist publishes this type of collection, then it is something more serious and will be more likely bought by others and gain popularity. 

NFT creators should note that entire collections of NFTs could not only mean more work but also a lot more cost to create an NFT collection. If you decide to mint it directly on Ethereum, then you could face pretty high costs. 

This is another reason people will take a collection more seriously because you have to invest money upfront to create such a collection. 

Depending on the blockchain you choose, you can of course save some money but could deal with some drawbacks as stated before. If you are a serious or known artist, then a collection is a must to establish yourself in the NFT space.

What Are the Costs to Mint an NFT Project on the Ethereum Blockchain?

As already stated, fees can vary and could theoretically go up to millions of dollars for a 10k NFT collection. 

This will depend on many factors. 

One common factor is the timeframe you choose to mint on a particular blockchain. Gas fees for an NFT can vary depending on the network congestion. The more traffic there currently is, the higher the fees will be. 

For one NFT, this could be not the biggest deciding factor, but for a 10k NFT collection, the fees can add up heavily. It is important to understand how much fees you will pay per NFT you mint. 

The more NFTs you have, the more fees you will have to pay. If a fee changes just slightly, it will change the costs heavily for this amount of NFTs. Another aspect to think of is not the blockchain itself but the marketplace you will use. 

If you mint an NFT, you will always do it in a marketplace. They also take listing fees if you want to sell an NFT. 

How to Make 10,000 NFTS?

Creating NFTs in this amount is not as difficult as you think. 

In the first step, you will need to create your base character, which will be the same in all your single NFTs. 

Next, create different layers. These layers are parts of your image which you can change. You could change sunglasses, hats or hair as an example. These parts need to be saved as their own layer so they can be easily interchangeable. 

In the last step, you would need to create every single image with a unique combination of your layers. This would take a long time to do it for 10,000 images. Therefore, you could use an NFT generator. 

This is a service where you can upload all your layers as single files and the generator will combine these layers in all combinations. Now you can mint your NFTs on blockchains that can cater this amount of NFTs. 

Your possibilities will depend on the NFT marketplace you choose.

How Many Traits Do You Need to Make 10,000 Nfts?

You should create this collection of NFTs using a proper amount of traits to ensure variability.

One trait is one part of your image, which is interchangeable to change the look of your main character. 

If you take only a few traits, you have less work, but your collection will be less appealing. But if you use too many traits, people can get overwhelmed by the chaos. About 100 traits should be a good starting point. 

From there you can check if your images are too similar or maybe even too different. This will be a long process and the decision is up to you, as this is a design question. You won’t have a correct number, just the amount you think you can use. 

As a guiding point, the Bored Ape Yacht Club with its 10,000 NFTs consists of about 170 traits. Overall, anywhere between 100 and 200 should be a good range in most cases.

Can You Mint NFTs in Bulk on Opensea’s NFT Marketplace?

Yes, you can bulk list NFTs on OpenSea, but this is not directly possible. 

The upload process limits the file upload to one file per transaction. 

If you have 10,000 of these, then you cannot upload it to the market at once. For this you will need to use a workaround in order to mint NFTs on OpenSea. This bulking can also save you mint fees because you don’t have to provide 10,000 single transactions. 

Your cost of minting decreases and therefore bulk uploads can even provide you with advantages in terms of NFT minting fees.

How to Upload 10,000 NFTs to Opensea at Once?

Uploading an entire NFT collection is not always possible in an NFT marketplace. 

You will need to use a custom smart contract to bulk all your NFTs in one place before. 

These so-called “NFT bulk uploaders” store all your NFTs into one smart contract and you can then use this single smart contract to upload it onto the marketplace within a single transaction. 

This would also reduce your fees on the platform because you need only one transaction instead of uploading thousands of NFTs. This is another factor which will impact your costs. 

FAQ

Can You Earn a Lot of Money Using NFTS?

Yes, you can even make millions of dollars if you are lucky enough. 

Each NFT is unique because of its data stored on the blockchain which provides value to them. 

The amount of value will depend in the same way as with real art. The more known an artist is and the more hype is generated, the more people will pay for it. So a key factor is to have a community of people behind you to have enough interest. 

If nobody knows you and your collection looks mediocre, you won’t stand out from the crowd and earn nothing. Here, you would even lose money because the costs to mint NFTs have to be paid by you.

How Much Does It Cost Creating an NFT Collection?

This will depend on how big your collection will be. 

Every single NFT will cost you a specific amount of ETH. 

The more you create, the more you will have to pay such as gas fees, the cost of blockchain. You could save some fees if you would mint NFTs on Solana or Polygon. As Layer-2 blockchains, they are built on top of Ethereum and provide cheaper fees. 

However, this comes with a smaller blockchain without the size of Ethereum. It is important to understand how many costs you will face to decide what steps you will undergo to create NFTs, as it can get expensive to make NFTs.

Can You Create NFT for Free or Make an NFT Collection for Free?

Yes, you can make an NFT collection for free, but you won’t be able to sell it. 

As long as you make it for a game or another place to use without selling it, then you can do it for free. 

If you want to mint your NFT collection to sell it, you will need to pay fees like for the blockchain and the listing in this marketplace itself.

Conclusion: How Much Does It Cost to Create 10,000 NFTs?

The cost of creating a collection of 10,000 NFTs can vary significantly based on several factors. The blockchain platform chosen, such as Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, or Cardano, can influence the costs due to differences in gas fees.

While Ethereum is the dominant player, alternative blockchains may offer lower fees. Creating a large NFT collection can be beneficial in terms of diversification and increasing the chances of a standout NFT.

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About the Author:
Jordan Adams, with a rich background in Finance and Economics and specialized knowledge in blockchain, is a distinguished voice in the cryptocurrency community. Their journey in fintech and digital currency trading has equipped them to offer unique insights into digital finance. Jordan's writing demystifies cryptocurrency concepts with well-researched, practical advice. Engaged in the crypto community, Jordan shares timely market insights, fostering understanding of complex technologies and their practical applications in the evolving digital currency landscape.