While the XRP Ledger base fee is always 10 drops, the actual transaction cost you need to pay can be higher during periods of network congestion. This is controlled by the load factor, a multiplier applied by each individual rippled server based on its current processing load.

The formula is straightforward: Current Transaction Cost = base_fee_xrp × load_factor. Under normal conditions, the load factor is 1, so you pay exactly the base fee. When a server is under heavy load, the load factor increases — potentially by orders of magnitude — to prioritise legitimate high-value transactions and discourage spam.

Transactions that fail to meet a server's load-based threshold are rejected outright. Transactions that exceed the base fee but fall below the "open ledger cost" are queued for inclusion in a later ledger version. Only transactions at or above the open ledger cost are included in the current ledger.

In early 2026, the XRP Ledger briefly saw fees spike when network activity climbed close to 200 transactions per ledger. Ripple's CTO explained that the automatic scaling mechanism was working as designed — temporary load spikes cause fees to rise, which naturally throttles demand and protects network stability without any central intervention.

Developers should never hard-code the transaction cost. Instead, use the fee API method or query server_info at runtime to fetch the current recommended fee before submitting transactions.