Spawned vs Thirdweb Pricing Guide: 2026 Cost Comparison
Choosing between Spawned and Thirdweb involves more than just upfront fees. Spawned offers a fixed-cost, all-in-one Solana launchpad model with 0.30% creator revenue and holder rewards. Thirdweb provides a flexible, pay-as-you-go infrastructure toolkit for multiple blockchains, with costs scaling with usage. This guide breaks down the true total cost of ownership for token creators.
- •Spawned: Fixed 0.1 SOL (~$20) launch fee includes token mint, DEX pool, and AI website builder.
- •Thirdweb: Usage-based pricing for smart contract deployment, gas sponsorship, and storage; costs scale with activity.
- •Creator Revenue: Spawned takes 0.30% per trade; Thirdweb takes a platform fee (often 0-5%) set by the deployer.
- •Ongoing Fees: Spawned provides 0.30% holder rewards and 1% post-graduation fee; Thirdweb has no built-in holder rewards.
- •Best For: Spawned for fixed-cost, all-in-one Solana launches. Thirdweb for customizable, multi-chain projects with variable scale.
Quick Comparison
Verdict: Which Platform is More Cost-Effective?
Spawned offers predictability; Thirdweb offers flexibility. Your budget and goals decide the winner.
The more cost-effective platform depends entirely on your project's scope, chain, and scale.
Choose Spawned if: You are a solo creator or small team launching a token on Solana. You want predictable, all-inclusive pricing (0.1 SOL), built-in holder rewards (0.30%), and an included AI website builder. The model prioritizes community growth and creator revenue (0.30% per trade) over nickel-and-diming for individual services.
Choose Thirdweb if: You are a developer or established project building on Ethereum, Polygon, or other EVM chains. You need granular control over smart contract deployment and are comfortable with usage-based pricing that scales with your project's activity. You're willing to manage and pay for infrastructure components separately.
Upfront Launch & Deployment Costs
This is where the pricing models diverge most dramatically. Spawned charges a single, flat fee to go live. Thirdweb's costs are variable and component-based.
Spawned Upfront Cost:
- Launch Fee: 0.1 SOL (approximately $15-$25).
- What's Included: Token minting, initial liquidity pool creation on Solana DEX, and a professional website built by the AI builder.
- No Extra Fees: No separate charges for contract deployment, website hosting, or initial setup.
Thirdweb Upfront Costs:
- Smart Contract Deployment: Cost varies by chain and contract complexity. You pay the network gas fee. Thirdweb may sponsor gas, but costs are often passed through or require usage credits.
- Storage & Hosting: Deploying your dApp frontend or storing metadata on Thirdweb's IPFS service may incur usage-based fees.
- Setup: While the dashboard is free, integrating the SDK and setting up your infrastructure has a time cost not reflected in a dollar fee.
Key Difference: With Spawned, you know your maximum cost before you start. With Thirdweb, your initial cost is the gas fee, but ongoing usage fees are the larger, unpredictable variable.
Ongoing Fees, Revenue, and Holder Rewards
Spawned automates value sharing; Thirdweb provides the tools to build your own model.
Long-term sustainability for creators and holders is defined by ongoing fee structures. This is a core differentiator.
Spawned's Ongoing Model:
- Creator Revenue: 0.30% fee on every trade. This is how the platform sustains itself and shares value with you.
- Holder Rewards: 0.30% of every trade is distributed to token holders automatically, fostering a stronger, rewarded community.
- Post-Graduation Fee: After a token 'graduates' from the launchpad, a 1% fee on trades is collected in perpetuity using Solana's Token-2022 standard, ensuring the project's longevity.
Thirdweb's Ongoing Model:
- Platform Fee: When deploying smart contracts (like a token or NFT drop), you can optionally set a platform fee (e.g., 5%) that directs a percentage of primary sales to a designated wallet. This is configurable, not automatic.
- Usage Fees: Continued use of Thirdweb's hosted RPCs, storage, and gas sponsorship features incurs costs based on your plan (free tier has limits).
- No Built-in Holder Rewards: Distributing trading fees to holders requires you to build custom smart contract logic; it's not a native feature.
The Contrast: Spawned bakes community incentives and creator revenue into the core product flow. Thirdweb provides the tools (smart contracts) but requires you to design and implement the economic model yourself, which adds development cost and complexity.
The Hidden Cost of a Professional Website
Every token needs a home. Ignoring website costs creates an incomplete pricing comparison.
- Spawned: Includes a professional, AI-generated website builder. This directly replaces services like Wix, Squarespace, or Webflow, which cost $29-$99 per month. For a 6-month project, that's a savings of $174-$594.
- Thirdweb: Does not include a website builder. You must: 1) Hire a developer to build a custom site ($$$), 2) Use a separate no-code website builder (monthly fee), or 3) Deploy a template using their SDK (developer time required).
- Total Cost Impact: Spawned's included builder represents significant value. With Thirdweb, the website is a separate, often substantial, line item in your budget. Learn about building a crypto website.
Scenario: Estimating Your Total 6-Month Cost
Let's move beyond flat fees and model real-world usage.
Follow these steps to estimate your potential costs on each platform for a typical 6-month token project.
Ready to Launch with Transparent Pricing?
Stop comparing spreadsheets and start building your community.
If predictable costs, built-in holder rewards, and an all-in-one launch suite align with your goals for a Solana token, Spawned is designed for you.
Launch on Spawned today for 0.1 SOL. You get your token, liquidity pool, and a professional website live in minutes, with no hidden fees or surprise bills.
Still evaluating platforms? Compare Spawned to other alternatives like Aave or Alchemy to see the full landscape.
Related Topics
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Thirdweb offers a free tier with limited monthly transactions, RPC calls, and storage. It's suitable for very small-scale testing or prototyping. For any project with real users or volume, you will likely exceed these limits and need to move to a paid plan, where costs scale with your usage. Spawned uses a simple, one-time launch fee with no tiered usage limits.
Thirdweb's primary focus and most robust tooling are for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche. While they have added some Solana support, it is not as comprehensive as their EVM offerings. Spawned is built natively for Solana, offering a complete, optimized launchpad experience specifically for the Solana ecosystem, including direct integration with Solana DEXs.
This is a unique Spawned feature. On every trade of a token launched on Spawned, 0.30% of the trade value is automatically distributed proportionally to all token holders. This creates a direct, ongoing incentive for people to hold your token, strengthening community loyalty. Thirdweb does not have a native, automatic feature like this; it would require custom smart contract development.
Spawned is the clear choice for non-technical creators. The process is a guided, all-in-one flow: connect wallet, define token, pay 0.1 SOL, and you receive a live token with a website. The AI website builder requires no code. Thirdweb, while having a dashboard, generally requires more technical understanding to deploy and manage smart contracts and integrate a frontend, even with their SDK tools.
When a token on Spawned becomes successful and 'graduates' from the initial launch phase (based on volume and liquidity metrics), it moves to a sustainable, long-term fee model. A 1% fee on all trades is enabled perpetually using Solana's Token-2022 program. This ensures the project and its creators continue to receive funding for development, marketing, and operations long after the initial launch hype fades. This is a structured path to sustainability not explicitly provided by Thirdweb's toolkit.
No. The advertised cost is the total cost: 0.1 SOL to launch. This covers token creation, initial DEX liquidity pool, and your AI-generated website. There are no monthly hosting fees, no percentage take from your initial token supply, and no extra charges for using the platform's standard features. Your ongoing cost is the 0.30% per trade revenue share, which is transparent and directly tied to your token's success.
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