Definition
Priority fee is a transaction cost component that represents the extra amount a sender offers to validators or miners on top of the base network fee. As a metric, it quantifies the incremental incentive attached to a transaction to influence its ordering and inclusion relative to other pending transactions in a blockchain’s block production process.
In Simple Terms
Priority fee is the extra tip added on top of the normal network charge for a transaction. It measures how much additional value is offered to the block producer so the transaction may be treated as more attractive than others waiting to be processed.
Context and Usage
Priority fee is commonly referenced when analyzing transaction cost breakdowns, fee market behavior, and block composition in public blockchains. It appears in transaction data, block explorers, and analytics dashboards as a separate metric from the base fee. Discussions of transaction ordering, competition among pending transactions, and economic incentives for block producers frequently refer to priority fee levels and distributions.