Transparent cross-chain swap fees — all-in fixed quote · what you see is what you get
Multiple vendors compete in the quote-matching engine — every cost is already in the quote
Core principle — all-in fixed quote, what you see is what you get
🔥 Fixed-quote rule (site-wide): the "You receive X" shown in the widget = the amount that finally lands in your wallet. Beyond the quote, UpSwap deducts nothing else.
WYSIWYG — what you see is what you get.
The quote already includes every cost of executing the swap — the routing networks' quotes, bridge fees, destination-chain gas, and all intermediate fees.
That means the number you see before placing the order is exactly the number that settles into your destination-chain wallet, to the last digit. There is no "extra gas", "extra service fee", "network fee", "surcharge", or "withdrawal fee" — those phrases do not exist in UpSwap's vocabulary.
How the quote-matching engine works
Every time you enter a swap request, UpSwap's quote-matching engine does the following:
- Simultaneous RFQ — the quote-matching engine requests live quotes from multiple routing networks and liquidity sources; each independently returns "the amount the user actually receives".
- Best bid wins — the engine ranks the quotes by "the amount the user actually receives", highest first, and picks the winner.
- Fixed quote locked in — the winner's number is shown to you directly — "You receive X". That one line is the only number you need to care about.
- Automatic refund to the source address on failure — if the winning route fails to execute, the system automatically refunds to your source address, with zero service fee on failed orders.
From your side: you don't need to know which vendor executes the order or what each one charges — we run the entire auction for you and hand over only the best result.
Example — the real path of 100 USDC
Say you hold 100 USDC on Ethereum mainnet and want USDC on Arbitrum. Open UpSwap, enter 100 USDC, and the widget instantly shows one quote line — say "You receive: 99.x USDC (Arbitrum)". That one line is the only number you need to care about.
Whether the widget shows 99.4 or 99.6, that is exactly what you get. You will not receive 99.x at settlement and then watch it shrink under a service fee, gas, or some "network fee".
The quote-matching engine automatically ranks every bidder by "the amount you actually receive" — the number you see is the best currently available.
The one exception — gas when your wallet sends the deposit
The only fee outside the scope of UpSwap's quote: when your own wallet (MetaMask / Phantom / Rabby / Backpack, etc.) initiates the source-chain transfer, it pays a send gas fee under the blockchain's own rules.
- This is standard behavior for any blockchain transaction — transfers, swaps, NFT mints all pay send gas. It is not specific to UpSwap.
- That gas goes to miners/validators, not into UpSwap's pocket. UpSwap doesn't collect it and cannot pay it on your behalf.
- Example: sending 100 USDC on ETH mainnet, your wallet deducts roughly 0.5-3 USD worth of ETH as gas on top of the 100 USDC (depending on live congestion). On Solana / Arbitrum / Base it's usually < $0.05.
- That's why your wallet balance shows "100 USDC gone, plus a tiny bit of ETH" — that tiny bit of ETH is what your wallet paid the chain, not something UpSwap collected.
Put differently: UpSwap's all-in fixed quote = the sum of "every fee from the moment UpSwap's quote-matching engine receives your request until the funds land in your destination-chain wallet". The gas for "your wallet sending funds to the deposit address" physically has to be paid by your own wallet — no swap service in the world can change that.
Compared with traditional swaps
Put "quote-matching auction + all-in fixed quote" side by side with the common alternatives and the gap is plain to see:
| Approach | Headline fee | Hidden costs | User experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEX cross-chain | 0% trading fee | 0.1-0.5% spread + network fee + withdrawal fee + fiat on-ramp fee; real total cost often 1-3% | Looks free; the deductions only surface at settlement |
| Typical aggregator | "From 0.05%" | On-chain gas + vendor spread + routing fee each billed separately; often 2-5% in practice | Quote ≠ outcome; you reconcile after settlement |
| Direct DEX | 0.3% pool fee | Ethereum peak gas can hit $50+; a small order can lose it all to gas | Unpredictable; you wait out the market |
| UpSwap quote-matching engine | All-in fixed quote | None — gas / auction / routing all included; the quote is the final price | What you see is what you get, no follow-up deductions |
The pitch is not "lowest fee" — it's "the quote is the final price". No gas math, no spread-watching, no worrying about settlement-time deductions — the X you see is the X you get.
Failure = no fee
If an order fails for any reason (timeout without fill / insufficient liquidity / destination-chain congestion beyond threshold), UpSwap charges no service fee whatsoever. No fill, no fee.
- The only deduction on a refund is the on-chain gas the upstream routing network pays to retransfer funds back to your source-chain address — usually 0.5-5 USD equivalent, taken out of the refund amount.
- This is a physical necessity — any on-chain refund needs a transaction, and any transaction needs gas. UpSwap cannot absorb it or magic it away.
- For the full refund rules and timelines, see the Refund Policy.
🔥 One last time on the all-in fixed quote: the "You receive X" shown in the widget is the X that finally lands in your wallet. Every possible fee — the quote-matching engine's auction cost, the routing networks' execution cost, bridge gas, destination-chain gas — is already included. What you see is what you get: no surprises, pleasant or otherwise.