How to Create an NFT on Solana (Metaplex Core, 2026)

Q: How much does it cost to create an NFT on Solana?

About 0.003 SOL per NFT with Metaplex Core, about 0.022 SOL with the legacy standard, about 1.25 SOL for 10,000 compressed NFTs including the tree. November 2026 figures.

Q: Can I mint a Solana NFT for free or without coding?

Without coding yes. Not literally free: rent and a protocol fee add up to a few cents per NFT; free-mint collections still cost the minter about 0.02 to 0.04 SOL in fees.

Q: What is a compressed NFT?

An NFT stored in a Merkle tree instead of its own account, almost free per piece, good for tens of thousands of items. It cannot be converted back to a regular NFT.

Q: Which marketplace should I list on?

Magic Eden and Tensor cover most Solana volume; OpenSea is adding Solana collections again since September 2026; Rarible launched on Solana in August with enforced royalties.

Q: Can I store my Solana NFT art permanently?

Yes, upload once to Arweave through Irys. IPFS pinning is included free and works as long as the pin is maintained.

Creating an NFT on Solana in November 2026 means minting a Metaplex Core asset: about 0.003 SOL per NFT all-in, under a quarter at today's SOL price, with confirmation in a few hundred milliseconds. You need a wallet, the art, and fifteen minutes. The choices that matter are the standard (Core, legacy Token Metadata, or compressed), where the art is stored, and whether you enforce royalties. Everything else is a form field in the wizard.

Solana is the cheapest place to mint an NFT and, since 2026, also the busiest marketplace-wise.

Core, Token Metadata or compressed: pick the standard first

Core, unless you have a reason.

Metaplex says it plainly: use Core for all new projects. Core keeps an NFT in a single account instead of three, which is why it costs a fraction of the older Token Metadata standard. Compressed NFTs (Bubblegum v2) store thousands of NFTs in one Merkle tree and cost almost nothing per piece, at the price of some tooling limits.

Standard	Cost per NFT	Notes
Metaplex Core	about 0.003 SOL (0.0015 SOL protocol fee plus rent)	the default for new collections; plugins for royalties, freeze, attributes
Token Metadata (legacy)	about 0.022 SOL (0.01 SOL fee plus rent for three accounts)	only for existing TM collections or pNFT compatibility; no automatic migration
Compressed (Bubblegum v2)	0.00009 SOL per mint plus the tree: 0.34 SOL for 16,384 slots	10,000 cNFTs about 1.25 SOL in total; cannot be decompressed; v2 trees are not compatible with v1

Protocol fees as published by Metaplex on 29 September 2026; rent at the post-September rate of 5,080 lamports per byte. Further rent cuts are scheduled, so these numbers only go down.

How to create a Solana NFT, step by step

Connect Phantom, Solflare or Backpack with a little SOL. 0.1 SOL covers a small collection with room to spare.
Make or upload the art. The AI generator from a prompt, the layer generator from trait folders (up to 10,000 pieces with rarity), or image to NFT for finished work.
Metadata. Name, symbol, description, traits. Written for every piece automatically; you review the preview.
Storage. IPFS pinning is free and included. For permanence, pay once to store on Arweave through Irys; uploads under 100 KiB are free there, larger files cost a few cents each.
Collection settings. Supply, mint price, royalty percentage, reveal timing, allowlist. Choose a public mint site or a marketplace listing.
Deploy. One signature creates the Core collection in your wallet. Minting happens through the mint site (buyers pay their own mint) or in bulk from your wallet.

On iMintify you pick one of two routes in the deploy wizard, and you cannot switch after deploying. Mint site: standard NFTs that work on every marketplace including OpenSea, sold from your own page at yourname.nft.imintify.com; the minter pays about 0.012 SOL rent per NFT. Marketplace: compressed NFTs that cost almost nothing per piece, minted in a batch to your wallet and listed on Magic Eden or Tensor, with no public mint page. Rule of thumb: a hyped drop with your own page is a mint site, a big cheap drop for the marketplaces is compressed. Deploying itself is free; you pay only network fees and nothing per mint to iMintify.

Do you still need a Candy Machine?

Only if you want the classic launch mechanics on your own site: fixed mint price, go-live time, allowlist phases, bot protection. Metaplex's Core Candy Machine replaces Candy Machine V3 for new projects. You can set it up from the command line, but minting still needs a frontend, which is what the hosted mint site gives you without writing one. For a drop where buyers mint one at a time on your page, a Core collection plus the mint site with an allowlist covers the same ground.

Royalties on Solana in 2026

Set them, and expect them to be optional.

There is no chain-level enforcement; marketplaces decide. Core's royalty plugin has three modes: none (advisory), allowlist (only listed programs can transfer, the recommended mode when you want enforcement), and denylist. Magic Eden treats royalties as optional unless the collection enforces them; Tensor enforces on some standards; Rarible's new Solana marketplace requires them. Set your percentage, pick allowlist mode if royalties matter to you, and still price the primary sale as if secondary royalties were zero.

Where Solana NFTs trade now

The market reshuffled in 2026. Magic Eden closed its Bitcoin and EVM markets in March to focus on Solana (about 2% fee). Tensor runs 0% maker and about 2% taker. OpenSea restarted Solana trading in early September after four years away, adding collections one at a time. Rarible launched on Solana in August. Exchange Art closed on 1 August; its NFTs remain on-chain. For a new collection, list on Magic Eden and Tensor first, and submit to OpenSea once it is open to your collection.

Wallets and storage, briefly

Phantom is the default for most buyers, Solflare for staking-minded users, Backpack has the best NFT gallery. Watch for fake wallet domains. For storage, Irys to Arweave is the common permanent option in the Metaplex tooling; IPFS is fine for most drops as long as the pin is maintained, which iMintify does for free.

What changed on Solana this year

Alpenglow consensus went live on 21 October 2026 and cut finality from roughly 12 seconds to about 150 milliseconds, so a mint confirms before the buyer looks up. Slot time dropped to 350 ms in August. Rent fell twice in September under SIMD-0437 with more steps scheduled. Transaction fees stay at a fraction of a cent; priority fees only matter during a congested mint, and the mint site handles them.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to create an NFT on Solana?

About 0.003 SOL per NFT with Metaplex Core (under $0.25), about 0.022 SOL with the legacy standard, and about 1.25 SOL for 10,000 compressed NFTs including the tree. Creating and deploying on iMintify is free beyond those network fees. November 2026 figures.

Can I mint a Solana NFT for free or without coding?

Without coding, yes: the wizard handles the collection, metadata and storage. Not literally free: the chain charges rent and a protocol fee, together a few cents per NFT. "Free mint" collections still cost the minter about 0.02 to 0.04 SOL in network fees according to Magic Eden.

What is a compressed NFT?

An NFT stored in a Merkle tree rather than its own account, which makes it almost free per piece. Good for tens of thousands of game items or tickets. It cannot be converted back to a regular NFT, and some tools treat it differently.

Which marketplace should I list on?

Magic Eden and Tensor cover most Solana volume. OpenSea is adding Solana collections again since September 2026, and Rarible launched on Solana in August with enforced royalties.

Can I store my Solana NFT art permanently?

Yes. Pay once to upload to Arweave through Irys and the file is stored permanently; IPFS pinning is included free and works as long as the pin is maintained.