What a validator's commission really means
A validator's commission is the share of your staking rewards it keeps. There are two: an inflation commission on newly issued SOL, and an MEV commission on tips traders pay, through Jito, to get their transactions ordered. Priority fees go to the validator, which may or may not share them. Low is good; low and steady is better.
When a wallet or a list shows a validator's fee as one number, say 5%, that number usually covers only inflation rewards. A validator can earn from your stake in two other ways, and that's where validators that look identical start to differ.
How does a validator earn from your stake?
Three income streams, each with its own rules:
| Income stream | Where it comes from | What the validator keeps | What reaches you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation rewards | New SOL the network issues every epoch (about a day) | Its inflation commission | The rest, every epoch |
| MEV tips | Tips traders pay, through Jito, to get their transactions ordered in a block | Its MEV commission | The rest, after a small cut for Jito (3% today). Nothing if the validator doesn't run Jito |
| Priority fees | Extra fees users add to get a transaction processed sooner | All of it, unless it chooses to share | Only what it chooses to share |
Inflation rewards arrive every epoch while your validator is voting. MEV tips and priority fees only come in when your validator produces blocks, so they're lumpier and harder to predict. There's also a small base fee on every transaction: half is burned, half goes to the validator that produced the block.
What is inflation commission, and how much do you keep?
Solana creates new SOL every epoch and pays it to stakers. Your validator takes its commission off the top, and you get the rest.
A quick example, with a made-up round number to keep the math simple. Say your stake earns 1 SOL of inflation rewards:
- At 5% commission, the validator keeps 0.05 SOL and you keep 0.95.
- At 10%, you keep 0.9.
- At 0%, you keep all of it.
Some charge 100%, so you get none of the inflation rewards — the main part of staking income — though MEV tips may still be shared. Our Score gives those validators 0 (Disqualified) and marks them "Keeps 100%".
What is MEV commission, and where does Jito come in?
MEV is extra income from choosing and ordering the transactions in a block. The tips go to the validator and its stakers after the validator's MEV commission, and Jito keeps a small cut, 3% today.
A validator without Jito passes on no MEV tips (its MEV fee shows as "—"), and one that charges 0% on inflation can still keep a large share of its tips, so read both numbers.
Who gets the priority fees?
When the network is busy, people add a priority fee to get their transaction processed sooner. That fee goes to the validator that produces the block. Whether any of it reaches stakers is up to the validator: unless it chooses to share, it keeps all of it.
Priority fees aren't part of the fee points in our Score. Those come from inflation and MEV commission only.
Why isn't 0% commission always the best deal?
"How does a 0% validator make money?" is a fair question. Running a validator costs real money every month. A 0% validator may cover it from its MEV commission, priority fees, block fees and rewards on its own stake. Or it may be running at a loss to attract stakers, planning to raise the fee once they're in.
A few things matter more than the number on the day you stake:
- Where the fee goes next. A validator that moves from 0% to 8% a month after you stake ends up costing you more than one that has charged 5% for two years. Our "Fees raised" flag marks any raise in the last 30 days.
- Spikes and drops. Some validators raise their commission sharply for about one epoch's rewards, then lower it again, so it looks low whenever you check. This is called a commission rug. The same flag catches it if it happened in the last 90 days.
- Uptime. A 0% validator that's offline for a week pays you nothing that week. A 5% validator that stays online pays you 95% of your inflation rewards.
That's why fees are worth 35 of the 100 points in our Score, and reliability 65. A low fee can't make up for a validator you can't rely on.
Can a validator change its commission after you stake?
Yes, at any time. Since June 2026 a change to its inflation commission applies only from the epoch after next (SIMD-0249, live from epoch 991), so a raise is public for at least a full epoch before it costs you anything.
Your wallet usually won't tell you. Our Telegram bot will: it watches your validator from your public key and messages you when the commission changes or the validator goes offline. Then you decide whether to stay.
Can I check whether a validator has changed its commission?
Partly. A validator's page says whether it changed its fees in the last 90 days and how many times, and mentions a recent raise or a spike that was lowered again. The validator list marks recent raises with a red "Fees raised" chip. There is no full history chart. For a heads-up, the free Telegram bot alerts you within minutes when your validator changes its fees.
How do you check a validator's commission on our pages?
- On the validator list, the Fees column shows two numbers, inflation / MEV, for example "0% / 5%". A "—" in place of the second means the validator doesn't run Jito, so no MEV tips.
- Look under the name for flags. "Keeps 100%" and "Fees raised" are red flags.
- Check the Score. Fees make up 35 of its 100 points, half for inflation commission and half for MEV commission, and lower fees earn more of them. The methodology page shows exactly how.
- Want a short list? The "Good for beginners" filter only includes validators charging 7% or less.
To see what a stake could earn after commission, try the rewards calculator; it gives an estimate, and the rate varies.
Questions
Close to what most validators charge on inflation rewards, and steady over time. For MEV, 10% or less means most tips reach you. The exact number matters less than the record: no recent raises, no spike-and-drop history, good uptime. A slightly higher fee from a reliable validator can pay more than 0% from a shaky one.
From other sources: its MEV commission, priority fees and base fees from the blocks it produces, or rewards on its own stake. Some run at a loss to attract delegators and raise the fee later. That isn't always a trick, but it's why our "Fees raised" flag marks any raise in the last 30 days.
Only your rewards. Commission is taken from what your stake earns, never from the SOL you staked. Even a validator at 100% can't touch your principal; you'd simply get none of the inflation rewards there, the main part of staking income. That's why a high or rising commission is a reason to move your stake, not a reason to panic.
Commission is the validator's cut. APY is what stakers actually earned over a period, expressed per year, after that cut. Two validators with the same commission can show different APY because of uptime and MEV tips. Treat any APY as past results: rates change every epoch and aren't a promise.