What Is a Gas Limit?

Gas limit is the highest cost an Ethereum user pays to push a transaction through the network. The limit set depends on the complexity of the activity you want to run the blockchain or the speed you want the transaction fulfilled. Since the ETH-powered platform is a huge ecosystem, it often sees an upsurge in transactions. As such, miners on the protocol tend to prioritize transactions with a high gas limit.

However, if traders set a higher gas limit and the entire amount is not consumed during processing, the extra amount goes back to the user’s account. Note that the services used determine the complexity of a transaction. For example, interacting with smart contracts often leads to high costs since the contracts need more resources to execute.

One advantage of having a gas limit feature is to prevent incorrect codes, especially in smart contracts, from charging more than what is required of a transaction. In the real world, gas can be compared to car fuel, while the gas limit is the car’s fuel tank.

In the above analogy, a driver needs to estimate the correct amount required for a particular trip to avoid inconveniences, such as an aborted journey. Similarly, Ethereum users must provide enough gas limits to prevent their transactions from being aborted and recorded as “Failed” on the blockchain. Unfortunately, when a transaction fails, the gas that is already consumed won’t be refunded. The ETH Gas Station provides an overview of the preferred gas limit. ETH wallets such as MetaMask provide a way to set the gas limit.